What are you listening to now?

[Brian]

RE: Schubert, he says that even as late as 1928, the piano sonatas were so little-appreciated that Rachmaninov could admit to knowing nothing of their existence!

Uh... WHAT?!??! Wow, I'm in shock.

Who do we credit with the Schubert sonata revival?

[Todd]

Who do we credit with the Schubert sonata revival?

Schnabel.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Uh... WHAT?!??! Wow, I'm in shock.

Who do we credit with the Schubert sonata revival?

Todd is correct, per Brendel, and also pianist-composer Eduard Erdmann (1896 – 1958).

[Todd]

Year 3 from Nosikova.  Stark, more than occasionally dark, clear, clean, and cold.  Nosikova's approach is possibly the most "modern" take I've heard.  She's relatively better here than in the first two books.  I'd very much like to hear her in Prokofiev or Ravel.

Jerome Rose is rarin' to go.

[not edward]

Third listen to this, and it's now categorically my favourite Sibelius 6. Tempi in the outer movements are sometimes dangerously slow (the whole symphony is over the half-hour mark) but always make sense, and the closing bars of the finale are shockingly bleak.

[asin]B00E5NXP32[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Now:






Listening to Cello Dreaming. An absolute gorgeous work from one of my favorite composers. RIP, Mr. Sculthorpe.

[Todd]

Some fast, light Bach concertos.  Stadtfeld plays well, but then so do many others.  A couple pieces from the WTC are placed between the concertos, and I have to assume that the recordings are taken from Stadtfeld's recording of Book I, because the sound is notably different.  The piano-centric, close recordings of the concertos give way to a noticeably more resonant sound for the WTC pieces.  I may investigate further.  BWV974 fills out the first disc.

This Japanese issue (looks like I got the last bargain priced one at Amazon) also includes a bonus second disc that includes Berg's Sonata and Schoenberg's Op 19.  I'm not sure if the US/European market version does.  I am sure that Stadtfeld seems strikingly at home in the music.  No ugly, hard playing here.  If anything, I can imagine some people thinking the playing sounds too comfortable, too easy.  I rather enjoy it.  The Berg is nearly of Uchida quality.

[Ken B]

Now:






Listening to Cello Dreaming. An absolute gorgeous work from one of my favorite composers. RIP, Mr. Sculthorpe.

Hear hear. Sculthorpe was consistently good and interesting. I need to get more ...

[Mookalafalas]

Kubelik's Smetana

[Mirror Image]

Hear hear. Sculthorpe was consistently good and interesting. I need to get more ...

Indeed. I love how a lot of his music seems to really evoke vast, open landscapes. He really was one of the great tone-painters. Works like Earth Cry, Kakadu, Mangrove, and Memento mori are masterpieces and should be apart of the standard concert repertoire. I also love his Sun Music I-IV, Piano Concerto, the SQs, Cello Dreaming, Lament, Great Sandy Island, among others. I highly recommend all of these works (if you haven't heard them already). The only downside to collecting Sculthorpe is his music is quite expensive. I think I own all of the ABC Classics recordings now.

[Moonfish]

Kubelik's Smetana

+1


Love that recording. It made me appreciate Smetana in a new way! 

[Moonfish]

Came home after a long day and simply had to enter the underworld in the company of Orpheus!  I am really falling for the Jacobs recording. This is truly wonderful music!!!!   
Fourth time listening to this rendition over the last ten days! 

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice       Fink/Cangemi/Kiehr/Freiburger Barockorchester/RIAS Kammerchor/Jacobs

[asin] B00005O7Z4[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Poor old Bela is being thrown under the bus.

Thread duty:





Listening to Sun Music I-IV. Great stuff from an underrated master.

[Ken B]

Came home after a long day and simply had to enter the underworld in the company of Orpheus!  I am really falling for the Jacobs recording. This is truly wonderful music!!!!   
Fourth time listening to this rendition over the last ten days! 

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice       Fink/Cangemi/Kiehr/Freiburger Barockorchester/RIAS Kammerchor/Jacobs

[asin] B00005O7Z4[/asin]

I binged out on it when I got that box. Must have played it 6 or 7 times in a short period. Never was much impressed by that opera until that recording.

[Moonfish]

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle            Fischer-Dieskau/Varady/Bayerisches Staatsorchester/Sawallisch

Earlier today I decided to put on my neophyte swim trunks and jump into the Bartók Sea for a first listen to 'Bluebeard's Castle'. I did it without a libretto since I simply wanted to take in the soundscape without any storyline to ponder.  It was definitely an interesting experience. I cannot say that I disliked it but I do not exactly like it either.  It is so dark and full of despair and sorrow - the soundscape wraps around the anguish of the two souls in a way I never really experienced before. I was more perplexed and intrigued than anything else, but also quite attracted to the eerie sorrow that tended to be present within almost every passage.  I think I will dig up a version on YouTube so I can experience the staging and the storyline as well as the music.  I sense that Bartók is an acquired taste, but also worth a second chance. I suspect that the music will grow on me (since I am a sucker for sorrowful passages in music)!   


[asin] B00000E3YT[/asin]

[Moonfish]

I binged out on it when I got that box. Must have played it 6 or 7 times in a short period. Never was much impressed by that opera until that recording.

We should start a Gluck Society! 

[Ken B]

We should start a Gluck Society! 

I am tempted by the ugly Gluck box ...
(You are the very last person I should let know that!  )
I put it on my camel3 watchlist.

[Moonfish]

I am tempted by the ugly Gluck box ...
(You are the very last person I should let know that!  )
I put it on my camel3 watchlist.

It arrived here yesterday!   

[Ken B]

It arrived here yesterday!   

Note to self: taunt Moonfish when you buy Gluck box cheap.

[Mirror Image]

Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle            Fischer-Dieskau/Varady/Bayerisches Staatsorchester/Sawallisch

Earlier today I decided to put on my neophyte swim trunks and jump into the Bartók Sea for a first listen to 'Bluebeard's Castle'. I did it without a libretto since I simply wanted to take in the soundscape without any storyline to ponder.  It was definitely an interesting experience. I cannot say that I disliked it but I do not exactly like it either.  It is so dark and full of despair and sorrow - the soundscape wraps around the anguish of the two souls in a way I never really experienced before. I was more perplexed and intrigued than anything else, but also quite attracted to the eerie sorrow that tended to be present within almost every passage.  I think I will dig up a version on YouTube so I can experience the staging and the storyline as well as the music.  I sense that Bartók is an acquired taste, but also worth a second chance. I suspect that the music will grow on me (since I am a sucker for sorrowful passages in music)!   


[asin] B00000E3YT[/asin]

Great to hear, Moonfish! If you're interested, I started a thread on Bluebeard that you may be interested in:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17905.0.html