What are you listening to now?

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Either of the Takacs sets, the Tatrai, the Mikrokosmos, or some other Hungarian group generally. The Ebène's ongoing cycle is also shaping up to be rather accessible.

(My favourite, Juilliard '63, is a rather aggressive take, as are most of the "modern"/good sound recordings—Arcanto, Belcea, Hagen.)

It may help to listen to them in order, and to think of them as Beethoven with slightly different notes and rhythms (the first quartet starts with an overt homage to Op. 131).

Good advice. Sadly, the Ebène's isn't an ongoing project... Bartok was shelved when they joined Virgin, because of the direct competition on the label. Maybe they will return to it, with all five, in the coming years. But then with a new lineup, since the violist M.H. has sadly (sadly for us, not him, perhaps) decided to quite the band and focus on studying conducting.

Thread-duty:


#morninglistening @WienerKonzerthaus


J. Brahms,
Clarinet Quintets
Pacifica Quartet + Anthony McGill
Cedille

German link - UK link

#classicalmusic #morninglistening #Mozart #Brahms @CedilleRecords @mcgillab @PacificaQuartet what a pleasure to listen to!
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/wienerkonzerthaus | http://instagram.com/wienerkonzerthaus | https://twitter.com/Konzerthauswien?lang=en | https://www.facebook.com/konzerthaus

[EigenUser]

Now for something completely different:



Listening to Dream In White On White. Gorgeous stuff.

Woah! I didn't know you liked JLA. I've heard some of his stuff and I like it, too. I think I'll listen to him later today, if I remember to (assuming I can find him on Spotify). I did want to continue with Messiaen La Transfiguration..., but I suppose that can wait. I can't even remember how I discovered him -- it was long before my GMG days, back when I was just trying to play darts in the dark.

I do prefer the music of who can arguably be said to be his predecessor, Morton Feldman. But, I always forget about JLA.

Another concert program idea, by the way: From the Glaciers to the Canyons..., featuring an Alaskan land(sound)scape by JLA and Messiaen's Des Canyons aux Etoiles...

I wonder if Nate (EigenUser) has heard any Honegger?

I love Pacific 2.3.1. I have an (un?)healthy obsession with that piece. I think it is because I study mechanical engineering. I am always on the lookout for things in music that sound like machinery. One of my best friends (also a MechE) works on steam-powered engines as a weekend hobby and when I showed him that piece (with the short film made years later) he loved it, too.

In fact, I've been meaning to start a new thread and keep/update a list of my collections with sound clips, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Give me one Honegger piece (other than Pacific 2.3.1) that I need to hear (either your favorite or the most famous/well-regarded). Don't give me more or I'll get overwhelmed and put it off!

[Karl Henning]

That's Mister Sandwich to you.

Well done!  I should have had to expand the photo to note that . . . .

[Mookalafalas]

I'd been playing a lot of "heavy" classical and needed a break.  This turned out to be just the ticket. (Mine are from the Haydn big box).

[asin]B001P4KG1S[/asin]

[The new erato]

Another concert program idea, by the way: From the Glaciers to the Canyons..., featuring an Alaskan land(sound)scape by JLA and Messiaen's Des Canyons aux Etoiles...

And adding Grofe's Grand Canyon suite?

Re Honegger: Listen to the cello concerto!

[Madiel]

Simpson: Symphony No.10

[asin]B000IB0DJ4[/asin]

This is one of the symphonies I prefer. At least, in this set of recordings. After this gradual runthrough of the set, I can't help feeling that either the music or the performances are rather 'square' at times. It may well be a bit of both. Symphony No.10, though, is one of the ones that I find has a sense of energy and momentum, even though it's the longest work (54 minutes).

[amw]

The performances in that set are not very good (interpretively I mean—the playing is ok). I don't think it's the music, I've heard off-air recordings that bring much more character, not to mention the generally higher-quality performances of the chamber music. However it seems unlikely we're going to see any new Simpson recordings in the next few decades.

[Florestan]

Bruckner - Symphony no. 4 "Romantic" (rec. 1936)

Mozart - Symphony no. 41 "Jupiter" (rec. 1942)

Karl Boehm, Staatskapelle Dresden

I don't know why Boehm's war recordings are not that famous as Furtwaengler's. His Jupiter is just as angst-ladden as Shostakovitch. It's actually kind of "Jupiter vs Thor" in an as of 1942 undecided battle.

I needed a relief and went for this:

Beethoven - Violin Sonata in c minor op. 30 no.2

Oistrakh / Oborin

Now, what next? 

[Mandryka]

Good advice. Sadly, the Ebène's isn't an ongoing project... Bartok was shelved when they joined Virgin, because of the direct competition on the label. Maybe they will return to it, with all five, in the coming years. But then with a new lineup, since the violist M.H. has sadly (sadly for us, not him, perhaps) decided to quite the band and focus on studying conducting.

Thread-duty:


#morninglistening @WienerKonzerthaus


J. Brahms,
Clarinet Quintets
Pacifica Quartet + Anthony McGill
Cedille

German link - UK link

#classicalmusic #morninglistening #Mozart #Brahms @CedilleRecords @mcgillab @PacificaQuartet what a pleasure to listen to!
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/wienerkonzerthaus | http://instagram.com/wienerkonzerthaus | https://twitter.com/Konzerthauswien?lang=en | https://www.facebook.com/konzerthaus

You've seen their 4th quartet on youtube? I don't know what to think about it.

[Madiel]

The performances in that set are not very good (interpretively I mean—the playing is ok). I don't think it's the music, I've heard off-air recordings that bring much more character, not to mention the generally higher-quality performances of the chamber music. However it seems unlikely we're going to see any new Simpson recordings in the next few decades.

Yeah, you're not the only person to have made those kinds of remarks about the performances. It's a pity given they're by far the most readily available.

Good to know the chamber music performances are better, as investigating the chamber music is on my (vast) to-do list.

[andolink]

Karol Szymanowski: Mazurkas, Op. 50 nos. 1-20
Martin Jones, piano

Samuil Feinberg:  Piano Sonatas 4 & 5
Nikolaos Samaltanos, piano

[Florestan]

Carl Maria von Weber - "Abu Hassan"

Comic opera in one act
Libretto by Franz Carl Hiemer
Chor der Staatsoper Dresden
Staatskapelle Dresden
Conductor: Heinz Rögner

Abu Hassan: Peter Schreier
Fatima: Ingeborg Hallstein
Omar: Theo Adam
Haroun Al Raschid - Siegfried Göbler
Mesrur: August Hütten
Zemrud: Dorothea Garlin

https://www.youtube.com/v/XjGLX_J8U98

[andolink]

Giovanni Battista Sammartini:  Late Symphonies (1759-1775)
Accademia d'Arcadia/Alessandra Rossi Lürig

[North Star]

Time to revisit this set. 

Villa-Lobos
Chôros
Fabio Zanon (gtr) (no. 1)
Elizabeth Plunk (flt); Ovanir Buosi (clnt) (no. 2)
John Neschling, São Paulo Symphony Winds& Male Voices of the Choir (no. 3)
Dante Yenque, Ozéas Arantes & Samuel Hamzem (horns), Darrin Coleman Milling (bass trombone) (no. 4)
[asin]B002EP8U6K[/asin]

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Reprise of Suk's Summer Tale (and I need to hear his Serenade, cannot for the life of me remember whether I'd heard it before or not, surely I have...)

Catching-up on several titles from my Daedalus order of several weeks ago :

[asin]B000WGMQZE[/asin]

[North Star]

Reprise of Suk's Summer Tale (and I need to hear his Serenade, cannot for the life of me remember whether I'd heard it before or not, surely I have...)

Have you heard Suk's other orchestral works, or the solo piano works, Zauberdrachen? About Mother and Things Lived and Dreamed are gorgeous pieces.

Thread duty, no surprises

Villa-Lobos
Chôros no. 5 'Alma Brasileira'*
Chôros no. 6**
Cristina Ortiz (pf)*
Neschling & São Paulo SO**

[Karl Henning]

Cheers, Karlo!

Thread Duty:

Copland
Suite from Billy the Kid
EnnZedd Symphony
Judd

[asin]B000060O3T[/asin]

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Have you heard Suk's other orchestral works, or the solo piano works, Zauberdrachen? About Mother and Things Lived and Dreamed are gorgeous pieces.

Some of those, thank you!, his Fantastic Scherzo seems to get more radio play than anything else of his.

[Karl Henning]

Cheers, Karlo!

Thread Duty:

Copland
Suite from Billy the Kid
EnnZedd Symphony
Judd

[asin]B000060O3T[/asin]

I love recordings like this:  complete conviction in thoroughly affable music!

[Karl Henning]

Chopin
Mazurkas, Op.30
Andrzej Wasowski