What are you listening to now?

[Ken B]

Simeon Ten Holt Canto Ostinato. This is outstanding. My kind of minimalism -- very similar to Reich in a way.
[asin]B00BYQAOQ4[/asin]

There is joy in minimalist heaven when a sinner is saved!
My favorite is Incantatie IV

TD, Grieg Peer Gynt Suites, Bernstein, box 48

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to October. A seldom discussed work. It's quite good.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

I think his star is rising again after some eclipse.  I remember the general feeling of failure that people attached to him a couple decades ago. Part of a reaction against overhype but also against "show business" and his era. it's true as a composer he's no American Beethoven, but so what? He was the public face of serious music in America, and a terrific one, a solid Broadway composer, and a first class conductor. Judged by what he achieved he was exceptionally successful.

I sure hope so, about the resurrection of his star, that is.  He was one of America's few "public intellectuals" and he promised much, not all delivered on including development of what he termed a "new art form."  Lenny's was an interesting, multi-dimensional persona, extraordinarily giving as an entertainer and educator, yet extraordinarily self-indulgent and it was that which took him from us too soon.  By any measure, one of the 20th century's greatest conductors; arguably its greatest if one takes his wide influence into account. 

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Such an incredible work. Brilliant performance from Serebrier/RSNO.

[kishnevi]

  Thanks, I now have it on the list. T'Birds and all.
Yes, this was when West Side Story was still playing on Broadway, Young Peoples' Concerts were on broadcast TV; Lenny was King of the World back in '64. As he should have been; he's the public persona who turned me on to the music I still love today! 

He was effectively the only conductor for my mother.   A logical view, actually.... he was a nice Jewish boy from Brookline and she was a nice Jewish girl from Dorchester,  and only ten years younger than he was.  Never actually met, of course, which is probably a good thing.  (She did date Martin Bookspan very briefly, and was very surprised to hear him doing announcer duties on a Metropolitan Opera TV broadcast I had on a couple of decades later.)
Thread duty
Handel Messiah. The new recording from Emmanuelle Haim/Concert d'Astree.
Small scale, almost chamber music, with so far the slower tempoed movements standing out.  A mellow Messiah so to speak.

[J.A.W.]

I sure hope so, about the resurrection of his star, that is.  He was one of America's few "public intellectuals" and he promised much, not all delivered on including development of what he termed a "new art form."  Lenny's was an interesting, multi-dimensional persona, extraordinarily giving as an entertainer and educator, yet extraordinarily self-indulgent and it was that which took him from us too soon.  By any measure, one of the 20th century's greatest conductors; arguably its greatest if one takes his wide influence into account.

I disagree with your last sentence. While I don't have an opinion on Bernstein as a composer and acknowledge his importance to the American music world, I think his conducting style is overrated; to my ears many of his interpretations are over the top: overly expressive and emotional, exaggerated and sentimental even. I wonder if this difference in appreciation is a cultural thing. Many Americans adore or even idolize him, but in Europe he's less appreciated.

[Ken B]

I disagree with your last sentence. While I don't have an opinion on Bernstein as a composer and acknowledge his importance to the American music world, I think his conducting style is overrated; to my ears many of his interpretations are over the top: overly expressive and emotional, exaggerated and sentimental even. I wonder if this difference in appreciation is a cultural thing. Many Americans adore or even idolize him, but in Europe he's less appreciated.

That is why I prefer the earlier, Columbia/Sony recordings.

[J.A.W.]

That is why I prefer the earlier, Columbia/Sony recordings.

You mean the earlier recordings are less over the top?

[Ken B]

You mean the earlier recordings are less over the top?

Usually. I generally find the NYPO stuff is crisper,  better drive, and there is less of the Lennie Orgasmatron approach. Not always, Mahler 6 is a wallow for sure. But listen to say the Shosty 5 or Nielsen 5 or his Bartok.

[Cosi bel do]

You mean the earlier recordings are less over the top?

They generally are, just consider the Tchaikovsky symphonies for an extreme example...

I am not so sure Bernstein is more popular in the US than in Europe. He might be super popular around NYC where he is kind of a part of local heritage, but apart from there he is as much a respected artist in Paris or Berlin than in Seattle or Dallas...

As a composer apart from WSS, few works are frequently played but apart from Broadway I guess it is the case everywhere. Still when recently doing stats on French orchestras I found he would be one of the most played composers from the last century with a good variety of his works performed by several orchestras. I personally quite like his symphonic works and would find them generally quite underrated (when considering many overly played scores).

As a conductor I think he was the most recorded one after Karajan, at least he became a true "standard" in his time and covered a very wide repertoire with a very distinctive style. He also played a big role in making Mahler so popular, and in the defence of his contemporaries (Americans of course but also others, Dutilleux for instance).
His interpretations were certainly emotional and sometimes extreme but this is something we should be glad of. I don't like everything he did but it is in fact these extreme recordings that make him so interesting. I mentioned the late Tchaikovsky symphonies 4-6, of course this is very particular and distorted but still, it is a rare example of such a complete fusion between an orchestra and a conductor, the performance is technically prodigious, and after all not many artists have been capable to put so much energy in the music and make everyone feel it so completely. For an other, different example, his Mahler 9 with the Concertgebouw is tremendously radiant, I never heard such a joyous, sunny first movement (just as Abbado's 1999 version can be shattering with despair, or Barenboim's tense, epic and almost wagnerian).
In addition (4th and maybe most important reason of why he is a great figure of classical music) he acquired a cult status that only compared with Celibidache (maybe Kleiber too but it's always difficult to know if, in his case, the cult wasn't more of a speculative nature based on his strategy of rarity). This is the result of these extreme performance, and also of his versatility. Even in Europe all his concerts were sold out, they are remembered until now (his performances with the Orchestre national de France for instance), frequently known on record (Vienna, Amsterdam), and praised even when actually bad (think about the Mahler 9 in Berlin, his only appearance with the BP and an almost complete failure). I find most interesting that classical music could have such cult figures that were not completely based on marketing as they are now, and who really gathered a new, more diverse and younger public at the concerts. I'd love if we had an equivalent today. In more recent years probably among best loved conductors we can count Abbado, Barenboim, Harnoncourt  (I always saw them in full halls and receive unanimously warm reception), but they were/are certainly not the object of the same kind of adoration (which doesn't mean they wouldn't deserve it, these three would actually).

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

I wonder if this difference in appreciation is a cultural thing. Many Americans adore or even idolize him, but in Europe he's less appreciated.

That could very well be - the cultural thing - as you say. Certainly, not everything he touched turned to gold.  He did have an active career overseas, as the chart linked herewith indicates : 
http://www.leonardbernstein.com/orch.htm - so, apparently he is less appreciated now, in Europe, than during his lifetime.  He can be over-romantic, over-emphatic at times. I don't always hold that against him, truth to tell.  Interestingly, however, Grove comments that in regard to his Mahler interpretations that "they are often far more observant of Mahler's indications than those of other conductors." (Klemperer, Walter).       

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

the Lennie Orgasmatron approach...

[J.A.W.]

the Lennie Orgasmatron approach

[Todd]

Some Borodin and Nielsen.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta. For those that don't own Boulez's first foray into Bartok on Columbia (Sony), this set is a no-brainer. I prefer these performances to his later DG ones.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Symphony No. 6. Great symphony and performance.

[Sadko]

You mean the earlier recordings are less over the top?

I think so too. Many of his later recordings made wonder why he is so famous. Only when I discoverd the earlier ones I began to understand. But even the older ones I'm not always keen on, e. g. his famous Mahler cycle.

[Moonfish]

Berlioz:
Symphonie fantastique
Le Corsaire ouverture
Le Carnaval romain ouverture
Béatrice et Bénédict ouverture

L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Ansermet

from
[asin] B00DT2322E[/asin]

[listener]

BORTKIEWICH Piano Music    Lamentations and Consolations op. 17   Piano sonata 1 op. 9
Lyrica Nova op. 59    bits and pieces from other sets
Ulla Graf, piano
a lot of notes, but quite bland over-all,

[Mandryka]

The Hagen Quartet play Mozart's K 428. I've been listening to a lot of recordings of this quartet since I became intrigued by the one from the Chiaroscuro Quartet - and this Hagen version is the only one I've found with similar depth of feeling.

I really deplore the way that so many musicians jolly up most of Mozart's music to make it more accessible, as if middlebrow listeners only want to be uplifted by what they hear. Hagen don't.

There are lots of live ones from the Hagen on youtube which I will check out later.