What are you listening to now?

[Karl Henning]

Have no fear.  Bartok is safely among the top five.  It is Schoenberg that needs to be tossed out of the top tier...

Oh, gosh.

We can still be friends, of course.

[Karl Henning]

Thread duty

Copland
Appalachian Spring (Original Version)
Paul Jacobs (pf), Broadus Erle, Marilyn Wright, Herb Sorkin, Gerald Tarack, Jeanne Ingraham, Ani Kavafian (vn),
Harry Zaratzian, Harold Coletta (va), Giorgio Ricci, Jesse Levy (vc), Julius Levine (db), Charles Russo (cl), Harold Bennett (fl), Loren Glickman (bn)
Aaron Copland

I love the chamber version!  Did you know it already, Karlo?

[North Star]

I love the chamber version!  Did you know it already, Karlo?

Sure, Karl - the later arrangement I am not that familiar with, though.

[Karl Henning]

Monteverdi
Vespro della Beata Vergine
Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini

Exquisite!

Thread Duty:  Earlier today, the great a minor symphony (together with Mamochka)

[Karl Henning]

Sure, Karl - the later arrangement I am not that familiar with, though.

That's what I meant   What do you think?

[North Star]

Exquisite!

Exquisite indeed! Just continuing it now actually, as I had to pause for a while.

That's what I meant   What do you think?

Now I'm confused.. What do I think about what? And what was it that you meant? 

[Karl Henning]

How do you enjoy the chamber version? Sorry to be unclear!

[North Star]

How do you enjoy the chamber version? Sorry to be unclear!

Tremendously, it's certainly among my favourite music. I haven't heard the orchestral arrangement lately, though. Perhaps I should listen to it some time soon.

[not edward]

7, 8, 9...

[Karl Henning]

7, 8, 9...

Love these!

[Ken B]

Love these!

We can still be friends of course.   

[Mirror Image]

Frankly, I'm not sure why you seem to enjoy being so scathing to a composer that I like so much. It comes across as kind of mean, actually, because it implies that you think that your opinions are more valid than mine. I dislike that very much, just like I disliked it when you seemed to snidely imply that something was wrong with my ears because I found the Faune to be nice, but dull (and what the hell does that even mean, anyway?). It's one thing to say that you don't like him (you did earlier -- I said "fair enough!"), but adding needless negativity here is a different story.

All, of course, IMHO (which should definitely make the above statement sound totally subjective even if it blatantly speaks in the absolute, right?).

I apologize if my remarks were offensive to you, Nate. When I said 'mess,' I was trying to be clever, but I see it backfired (as usual). I'll be honest here and say no composer is off limits. If I want to criticize Messiaen, I'll do it and this was the venue for that, but also I felt that being honest with you about how I felt about his music was better than giving you a reason to continue to recommend works of his for me to listen to, which I would ignore. Disagreements do happen, Nate. I mean we're dealing with things that are completely subjective. Criticism is a part of listening to music and I'm learning as I hope you and everyone else is learning, that we shouldn't take things personally if someone criticizes a composer we admire.

[Madiel]

Somebody help me, I seem trapped in a binge of teenage Chopin.

Just one more little bright sparkling bon-bon, just ONE more...

[listener]

A choral evening:
JANÁČEK   Amarus       
Soloists, Moravian Mixed Chorus, Brno State Philharmonic Orch., Václav Neumann, cond.
MARTINŮ Field Mass
Chorus of the Výt Nejedlý Army Ensemble, soloists of the Cyech Philharmonic Orch., Bohumír Liška, cond.
SVIRIDOV: Kursk Songs
RSFSR Russian Chorus, Moscow Philharmonic Orch.   Kondrashin cond.
Music for Chamber Orch. Barshai, cond.
PROKOFIEV:  Alexander Nevsky
London Symphony O. & Chorus     Previn, cond

[kishnevi]

Somebody help me, I seem trapped in a binge of teenage Chopin.

Just one more little bright sparkling bon-bon, just ONE more...

At least it is a good binge to be trapped in.
Thread duty
Mozart:  The Instrumental Oratorium.  CMW/Harnoncourt
Aka Symphonies 39-41
I see no evidence provided that Harnoncourt's thesis is right, in either the historical tidbits or the performance, which is notable for some strange tempi choices.  I did not recognize the opening of No. 39, for instance.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Medea Suite. Great stuff.

Next:



Going to listen to Holidays Symphony.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Forsyth's Atayoskewin Suite. Love this work. Really invokes a desolate Canadian landscape I think.

[NorthNYMark]

From another thread in which I praised the minimalists: And several more reactions like Karl's. Which is perfectly OK. It's OK to hate music, and it's OK to say so. A lot of composers we discuss explore novel or extreme aspects of music, and it should be obvious not everyone is going to like it.

I think this would have been a more effective example if not for the fact that the post in question was in response not simply to your praise of minimalists, but to your claim that minimalists proved to people that "not all modern music had to be awful." [Apologies if I have misremembered the exact wording).  Had the response been to a simple praising of minimalists, I'd agree that it was out of line; however, your post was so needlessly provocative (and frankly insulting to those of us who enjoy  non-minimalist contemporary compostion) that it pretty much demanded such a response, IMO. 

As to "It's OK to hate music, and it's OK to say so," I guess I'll just repeat what I said before--it seems to me incumbent upon us to express such viewpoints with considered diplomacy.  Why would one not want to?  I don't understand the need for people to be so scathing in their expressions of negative judgments.  For example, my least favorite classical styles tend to be ones that seem to be favorites of yours (minimalism and 18th century classicism); however, I would normally be extra careful about expressing negative opinions about them (and certainly never imply that the music itself is at fault for my lack of full appreciation), both out of respect for those who feel differently, and out of the consideration that I may well change my mind about them as my tastes grow and develop (so why say something now that I'll almost surely regret having said later)? 

[Sadko]

Enjoying some Russian Rameau from the 70's:

Rameau

Pièces de clavecin en concerts + Harpsichord suite in E minor

Igor Zhukov (harpsichord)
Grigory Feigin (violin)
Valentin Feigin (cello)

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to The Tender Land Suite. Great work! Lovely performance from Copland/BSO.