What are you listening to now?

[Que]

New stuff, and I already love it!

[asin]B0000D9YD5[/asin]

Q

[EigenUser]

The reason I ask about Takemitsu is because he reminds me a lot of Debussy. His Dream/Window is a favorite of mine. It sounds like a Jeux with all of the melodic fragments reduced (even more so than they already are!) to three and four note motifs. Then there is always Quotation of Dream, with its direct quotes of Debussy's La Mer.

BTW, I think you got the impression early on that I don't like La Mer. I love La Mer. I just get frustrated that Jeux is so overshadowed by it in popularity.

Now:





Listening to Kurtag's Stele. Nate, have you heard this work? I'm as obsessed with it as you are Debussy's Jeux.

A while ago, but I should hear it again. Is that a good recording of the piece? The recording of Gruppen on that disc is not good at all (and I don't care for the piece, but even I can tell when compared to the other one I have heard).

Currently, Maurice Ohana's Piano Concerto
[asin]B002EP8UQK[/asin]

[Harry]

New stuff, and I already love it!

[asin]B0000D9YD5[/asin]

Q

On my order list:)

[king ubu]

Yes well the phrasing in that one is much more interesting, challenging, expressive, than in the one que is listening to. Really interesting to compare and contrast the two performances (like with Harnoncourt's mass recordings.) Has anyone heard the one Harnoncourt recorded with Schreier? How does it compare to the other two?

I only know that one and the Gardiner ... and frankly I think for this work, that's good enough for me (and usually I'm not too big on Harnoncourt ... if you're a fan, make sure never to read any interview).

Now playing:

[asin]B003QLY5J2[/asin]

Actually played disc 1 (cantata BWV 63 "Christen, ätzet diesen Tag" and Magnificat BWV 243a in E-flat) last night (and read up some about the Magnificat in Wolff's book on Bach, which lay under the christmas tree yesterday). Now discs 2 and 3 - Magnificat BWV 243 and some more cantatas (BWV 8, 80, 125 and 138).

[listener]

Staying sober for St. Stephen's Day
BACH:  Cantatas 5: Wo soll ich fliehen hin,  6 Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend warden, 7 Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, 8 Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben
From the Harnoncourt/Leonhardt series.    Nos. 5 & 6 unusual with King's College Choir, Cambridge  as the chorus.
MESSIAEN: L'Ascension,  Le Banquet Celeste
Olivier Messiaen, organ of l'Église de la Trinité
Also MESSIAEN: from La Nativité du Seigneur: Dieu parmi nous     
still seasonal DUPRÉ Variations sur un Noël
+ FRANCK: Final in B^b op. 21, WILLS: Introduction and Allegro, 2 pieces by GIGOUT and because it's Friday something of VIERNE's  Naïades from op. 55
Arthur Wills,  organ Ely Cathedral

[Que]

I have a huge backlog of (French) Baroque operas. They are not easy to fit in my usual listening schedules, since they are long - two and a half hours is common - and need attentive listening, preferably following the texts.

The Christmas holidays are a perfect opportunity to dip into this wealth and abundance!

[asin]B0000057EU[/asin]

Q

[The new erato]

Haydn's op 55 series with the Festetics.

[Mirror Image]

The reason I ask about Takemitsu is because he reminds me a lot of Debussy. His Dream/Window is a favorite of mine. It sounds like a Jeux with all of the melodic fragments reduced (even more so than they already are!) to three and four note motifs. Then there is always Quotation of Dream, with its direct quotes of Debussy's La Mer.

BTW, I think you got the impression early on that I don't like La Mer. I love La Mer. I just get frustrated that Jeux is so overshadowed by it in popularity.

I need to revisit all of these Takemitsu works you've mentioned. I own recordings of them all. I'll have to dig them out at some point as it's been too long.

A while ago, but I should hear it again. Is that a good recording of the piece? The recording of Gruppen on that disc is not good at all (and I don't care for the piece, but even I can tell when compared to the other one I have heard).

Abbado's performance of Kurtag's Stele is masterful, but so is Gielen's on Hanssler. I slightly prefer Abbado because of the Berliners' playing.

[Harry]

More Christmas Music, this time the excellent Oxford Camerata.

[The new erato]

Franck's D minot from the Monteux box. Classic interpretation, fine sound (61 stereo),

[Wakefield]

Bloch: Schelomo/ Voice in the Wilderness



From this box set:

[asin]B00E0H8KAQ[/asin]

Bought as FLAC files here: http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4786111

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Christmas present enjoying in its entirety today :

[Harry]

A fine recording with two of my favourite sopranos, Maria Zadori, and Judith Nemeth. Christmas music from Telemann, beautiful.
Recordings are from April 1991 and were recorded in the Savaria Museum, Szombathely, Hungary.
A little short in playing time, but not short on quality in performance and sound.

[Philo]

Felix Weingartner's Symphony No. 1 followed by Felix Weingartner conducting Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 followed by Felix Weingartner's Cello Concerto

[kishnevi]

Felix Weingartner's Symphony No. 1 followed by Felix Weingartner conducting Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 followed by Felix Weingartner's Cello Concerto

felix Felix?
For true symmetry, he should have conducted something by Mendelssohn.

[Philo]

felix Felix?
For true symmetry, he should have conducted something by Mendelssohn.

Indeedly-do.

Next up:

Rubinstein playing Chopin's Mazurkas

[Drasko]

Films directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara
01. Tanin No Kao [Face of Another, 1966]
02. Sama Soruja [Summer Soldiers, 1972]
03. Otoshiana [The Pitfall, 1962]
04. Shiroi Asa [The White Dawn, 1964]
05. Suna No Onna [Woman in the Dunes, 1964]
06. Jose Torres [Jose Torres, 1959]
07. Moetsukita Chizu [Ruined Map, 1968]
08. Rikyu [Rikyu, 1989]

[André]

Puccini: I Tabarro. Robert Merrill, Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco. Conducted by Gardelli. Very good interpretation, very veristic. For my taste, the Maazel Sony production with Scotto, Domingo and Wixell is more atmospheric, just as well sung and more finely characterized. Still, it does not disfigure what has so far been a no-fault by the Tebaldi-Decca team in this set of Puccini operas.

Mendelssohn: Elijah. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau pontificates and thunders forth as Elijah, with Nicolaï Gedda, Janet Baker and Gwyneth Jones as his foils. Frühbeck de Burgos officiates, the New Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus respond in kind. I would not want to be without Baker's or Gedda's contributions. But I am actively looking for an alternate view and presentation.

Ideas, anyone ? 

[kishnevi]

I have two recordings of Elijah, Herreweghe and Beringer. I prefer the former but am not really thrilled by the work to begin with. Hickox's Paul is good, so you might find his Elijah of value.

Thread duty

CD 19
Enesco: Romanian Rhapsody 2
Brahms: Hungarian Dances (selected)/Haydn Variations
LSO/Dorati

[HIPster]

A first listen:
[asin]B000XJ1444[/asin]