What are you listening to now?

[HIPster]

Playing a new arrival~
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@HIPster: that one's just arrived on my piles as well - good?

Here, a new arrival as well:

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First impression. this is great!

Yes, first impression is very favorable.

That Haydn looks like a winner.

[king ubu]

last one for today - and yet one more new arrival:

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[Wakefield]

Very far of my comfort zone, this has been a delight:

[aligreto]

Szymanowsky: Symphonies 2 & 3 / Dorati....

[listener]

SIBELIUS:   Symphony no, 7    Tapiola    The Oceanides     Pelléas et Mélisande Suite
Royal Philharmonic Orch   Beecham, cond.
fabulous collection and performanes
and sort of related, Romantic Swedish Organ Music
by Otto Olsson, Gustav Hågg, Vaino Haapalainen, Emil Sjøgren and Oskar Lindberg
Dick Klomp, Åkerman and Lund organ of the Kristine Kirche in Jünköping, Sweden (1912)

[Moonfish]

Elgar: Symphony No 1          London PO/Boult

I needed some ear candy  (I heard one too many French symphonies this afternoon..)
A fantastic, lyrical and detailed performance. Love it!

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[Mirror Image]

Continuing on with Saraste's Sibelius on the Finlandia label:



Listening to Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43. Sounds great so far.

[Moonfish]

Brahms: Piano Concerto No 1         Zimerman/Wiener Philharmoniker/Bernstein

First time I heard this recording I was not too excited. However, this time around I found a greater appreciation for Zimerman's performance. Something seems lacking from the WP though - a lack of energy? The orchestra and Zimerman do not seem to harmonize very well.

[kishnevi]

Short opera night

Comes in at almost exactly 90 minutes with two acts of 45 minutes each.  Original version was a one act opera,  but this is the third and final version.  Thelibrettist was Albeniz's main benefactor, Francis Burdett Money-Coutts, which is why a Spanish composer wrote an opera based on a novel by Juan Valera to an English language text, which was translated into Italian for its première in Barcelona. (The recording is in English.). Makes no real difference, since the music is better than the libretto.

[Ken B]

Very far of my comfort zone, this has been a delight:

His symphony on Naxos, I think 3, is dull.

[Moonfish]

Elgar: Symphony No 2          London PO/Boult

I couldn't resist......   0:)

[asin] B000PGTIBQ[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Now:



A new acquisition. This is my first-listen to this work. I've heard the suite for this ballet before, but this is the only recording of the complete ballet. Sounds nice so far.

[André]

Yes, I have yet to get a feel for Maazel's recordings overall. He seems to have a reputation for being uneven. I am curious about his early recordings on DG. Have you heard any of those recordings? Sibelius: If I recall correctly the Pittsburgh cycle is a bit glacial for me, but some listeners argue that it brings out new aspects in the music. Perhaps Maazel's Pittsburgh cycle is the Celibidache version of Sibelius?  At this point I prefer the Wiener Philharmoniker cycle out of the two.  In terms of Sibelius cycles - way too many at about 15/16, but few compared to your 25 cycles (or is it 26 now?  ).  In my mind Lahti/Vänskä rules although I would like to hear the Minnesota recordings (1/4 & 2/5).      Still, it is hard to choose among so many great cycles (as I am sure you are well aware).

On a different note: did you ever listen to Vänskä's Beethoven with the Minnesota Orchestra?

IMHO the young Maazel is akin to the young Mehta or the young Abbado: much better than their mature, career-successful selves, let alone their tired, conservative old, non-innovative last years. Granted, Abbado actually accelerated his tempi somewhat, but his music making became dessicated, bordering on the quasi-suffocated. I do give high marks to his late Mahler recordings, though. On the opposite, Maazel's became more expansive, but that did not induce warmer, rounder, more blended tones. There is an emphysematic, almost dyspeptic quality to his last recordings. No golden sunset, alas.

Mehta is not much active in the recording studios any more, but his concert schedule is quite full. Strangely, no Sibelius from him.

Barenboim is of the same generation and training, but has of late pursued an active operatic career. No Sibelius symphonies from him either and strangely, very little Mahler.

[André]

Some Bartoque under Pierre Boulez (the DG box). All the concertos (violin, piano, alto), Rhapsodies for violin. Whoever plays, this is Pierre's show. Excellent execution, but no dirt or other form of soil, let alone sweat and tears is to be found here. I'm afraid an undiscerning newcomer will get a wrong impression of the composer from these spic&span readings.

[Wakefield]

His symphony on Naxos, I think 3, is dull.

I don't care because symphonies, excepting Classical period, aren't part of my musical habits. My bad. 

I thought the cello sonatas were excellent, although not extraordinarily varied.

The performers are really excellent and should be carefully observed. 

[kishnevi]

Barenboim is of the same generation and training, but has of late pursued an active operatic career. No Sibelius symphonies from him either and strangely, very little Mahler.

But that Mahler is in general high quality...the only exception being his Fifth with the CSO. Two especially to be remarked on

Anyone heard his new M9 released in April?
TD

CD 4
Concerti di Camera performed by Camerata Koln

[André]

Mozart: Requiem. soloists include Irmgard Seefried and Kim Borg. Wiener Symphoniker, under Eugen Jochum. The WS has famously recorded a Requiem under Karl Böhm (Philips label) in the bicentennial year (1956, the year I was born!).

The Böhm is a studio recording, whereas the Jochum was part of a liturgical celebration of the Mass for the Dead, meaning there was a celebrant and the whole thing was a liturgical, not merely musical occasion. Therefore each musical section was followed by a section of the Mass. Nevertheless, when this was eventually reissued by DGG as a recording of the Mozart Requiem alone, no real discrepancy between section could be heard. Such was Jochum's musical acumen that the whole regrouped sections sounded much like a studio recording. Except for the odd triangle part, which must have signalled the moment for the Elevation.

[Moonfish]

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 12 & 18                    Kraus/Boston SO/Monteux 

[Ken B]

IMHO the young Maazel is akin to the young Mehta or the young Abbado: much better than their mature, career-successful selves, let alone their tired, conservative old, non-innovative last years. Granted, Abbado actually accelerated his tempi somewhat, but his music making became dessicated, bordering on the quasi-suffocated. I do give high marks to his late Mahler recordings, though. On the opposite, Maazel's became more expansive, but that did not induce warmer, rounder, more blended tones. There is an emphysematic, almost dyspeptic quality to his last recordings. No golden sunset, alas.

Mehta is not much active in the recording studios any more, but his concert schedule is quite full. Strangely, no Sibelius from him.

Barenboim is of the same generation and training, but has of late pursued an active operatic career. No Sibelius symphonies from him either and strangely, very little Mahler.

No no. I bought the Abbado symphony box, him being a conductor I rately heard, mostly late, and it's really outstanding.

[Todd]