What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[BachQ]

LvB 33 Variations in C on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli op 120 (Richter) wow!

[Lethevich]

Bax - Symphony no.6 (Handley, Chandos)



The start of this confuses me a little, for around ten seconds it sounds absolutely wonderful and atmospheric, but then it seems to dissolve into less logical sounding sequences... But then Bax's symphonies in general kind of confuse me anyway, gotta listen more.

[Kullervo]

(I hate these tiny images.)

Chausson - Poèmes, Symphony (Dutoit/Montreal)

[Que]

(I hate these tiny images.)

Chausson - Poèmes, Symphony (Dutoit/Montreal)

Better?  Nice Gustav Klimt painting BTW.



Q

[RebLem]

In the week ending Saturday, 27 OCT 2007, I listened to the following:

1. 10/10 Bach, J.S.: Cantatas 152 (18:45), 153 (15:01), 154 (15:49), & 155 (13:03)---Helmuth Rilling, cond. usual suspects—hanssler CD, Vol. 47 of CBE.

2. 10/10 Bach, J.S.: Ein Choralbuch, a book of Choral Settings for Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, & Trinity—Helmuth Rilling, cond. usual suspects—hanssler CD, Vol. 80 of CBE.

4. 10/10 Boccherini: Concerto for harpsichord or pianoforte in E Flat Major (15:52) |Field: Rondo for pianoforte and strings in A Flat Major (7:49) |Schobert: Concerto for harpsichord or pianoforte in G Major (23:17)—Collegium Aureum, Eckart Sellheim, playing a 5 ½ octave 1804 Broadwood pianoforte (Boccherini & Field) and a 5 octave 1796 South German pianoforte (Schobert)—Deutsche Harmonia Mundi CD.

5, 6, 7, 8. 10/10 Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 1-14, Friedrich Gulda, piano—CDs 1-4 of a 10 CD Brilliant set, recorded 1967, lic from Universal Music Operations, orig appeared on Amadeo, and reissued on LP in the US by MHS. CD 1—# 1 in F Minor, Op. 2/1 (1795) (15:14), # 2 in A Major, Op. 2.2 (1795) (21:23), # 3 in C Major, Op. 2/3 (1795) (23:05) |CD 2---# 4 in E Flat Major, Op. 7 (1797) (25:09), # 5 in C Minor, Op. 10/1 (1798 ) (16:03), # 6 in F Major, Op. 10/2 (1798 ) (11:55) |CD 3---# 7in D Major, Op. 10/3 (1798 ) (20:49), # 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 "Pathetique," (1799) (17:49), # 9 in E Major, Op. 14/2 (1799) (12:26), # 10 in G Major, Op. 14/2 (1799) (14:42) |CD 4---# 11 in B Flat Major, Op. 22 (1800) (20:33), # 12 in A Flat Major, Op. 26 (1801) (18:48 ), # 13 in E Flat Major, Op. 27/1 "Quasi una Fantasia" (1801) (14:19), # 14 in C # Minor, Op. 27/2 "Moonlight," (1801) (15:54). These are fine performances, but, in my opinion, do not approach Annie Fischer's set in sheer virtuosity and mastery of every phrase.

9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 10/10 Shostakovich: CDs 6-10 of a 10 CD Supraphon set of all the Shostakovich symphonies—Maxim Shostakovich, cond. Prague Symphony Orch, specifically Symphonies 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, & 15---CD 6—Sym 6 in B Minor, Op. 54 (1939) (32:16), Sym 15 in A Major, Op. 141 (1971) (43:16). CD 7---Sym 7 in C Major, Op. 60 "Leningrad" (1941) (77:59). CD 8---Sym 8 in C Minor, Op. 65 (1943) (66:05). CD 9—Sym 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905" (1957) (60:12). CD 10---Sym 13 in B Flat Minor for bass, chorus, and orch., Op. 113 "Babiy Yar" (1962, words by Y Yevtushenko) (65:18 )---Peter Mikulas, bass, Male Choruses of the Prague Phil Choir & of the Kuhn Mixed Chorus.

A few comments. First is that this is, to the best of my knowledge, Maxim's 3rd recording of the Sym 15. His original on LP was one of the first, available about a year after the work's premiere, and his second was on Channel Classics in the early 1990's. Those two earlier recordings were quite similar to one another, and, in my opinion, are to be preferred to this new version. This one does not convey the sense of the slow fading and ebbing of life one gets in the last movement from the earlier versions.

This new "Leningrad" stands apart interpretively from other versions in the first movement. You still have the idyllic, pastoral theme with which the symphony begins, and then the jaunty, initially hopeful march as the invasion begins. In other versions, there comes a point where discord enters, in catalclysms of dissonance, depicting the realization that this invasion is not the liberation the people may have initially hoped it would be, but the act of a madman bent on destroying the Russian people. In this new version, one senses no sudden realization of the tragic reality of the Nazi menace, but a gradual development which achieves its full effect only after some while.

And finally, this Babiy Yar may well be the best I have ever heard, especially in the second movement, "Humor." In other versions, the humor is subdued by the tragedy of the other movements. But Maxim does a very effective job of gear shifting here, making his interpretation of this movement very funny and clownish without trivializing the tragedy of the other 4 movements.

As I said in last week's report on the first 5 CDs in this set, I have seen a fair amount of critical commentary about these performances which express disappointment, and attribute the allegedly inferior quality of these performances to a decidedly second rate orchestra, not to the conductor. IMO, nothing could be further from the truth. These are superb performances (except, perhaps, for # 15, which is not quite interpretively up to the standard of the others) by an orchestra that can hold its own with any in the world, even if it is Prague's second orchestra. The sound quality is up to modern standards, though it does lack just that last little oomph in the bass that distinguishes the Barshai Brilliant set.

And that's about it. On tap for next week—obviously, the rest of the Friedrich Gulda set of the Beethoven piano sonatas, and a 5 CD Decca set of Shostakovich music—orchestral songs on the first two with Jarvi and the Gothenburg Sym., a CD of songs accompanied by pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, and the final two CDs of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District with Myung-Whun Chung and the Bastille Opera.
_________________
"Never drink and drive. You might spill it."--J. Eugene Baker, aka my late father.
"Crescit sub pondere virtus."--Motto on McCann family crest.

[wilhelm]

[Solitary Wanderer]

RIP Thea King

[George]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDNy4YuCxdk

[Mark]

RIP Thea King

Quite so. Sad loss.

[greg]

Boulez- Mahler 5 (first movement) (the clip M Forever posted)

have it cranked up with my parents gone, surfing the web into some pages which create a strong emotional reaction..... let's just put it this way: with this combination, if I were living in a tall building, i'd probably have jumped out by now at the end of this movement....
or i'd just listen to some more Mahler at full volume  while i have the chance

[greg]

now the first movement of Mahler's 6, Boulez

the volume literally all the way up, this is too much fun! I think the room's about to explode, and bleed all over the town

[Kullervo]

Better?  Nice Gustav Klimt painting BTW.

Much better, and yes, that's one of my favorite paintings.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Haydn String Quartets opus 64 # 1,3 & 6

Quatuor Mosaiques

[wilhelm]

[Renfield]

A wonderful recording.

Currently listening to:



Rather fascinating!


(Incidentally, Danae - Klimt, above - is likely my own favourite painting. )

[Tom 1960]

Bruckner - Symphony #7, Eugen Jochum/Berlin Philharmonic

[Mark]

Du Pre/Pleeth - Couperin: Les Gouts-Reunis - Treizieme Concert a deux instruments a l'unisson.

[Lethevich]

Various things by John Tavener (CDs: Out of the Night (various composers), Ikos (various composers), Thunder Entered Her, Children of Men (various), The Protecting Veil). Overall I think that I don't like his work, but there are a few really neat pieces.

Ikon of the Nativity: Very good, engaging from beginning to end and has a lot of melodic appeal.
Magnificat: This nearly pop music (but also fun).
The Lamb (for string orchestra)... I don't know WTF the purpose it is supposed to fulfil. Some people accuse Gorecki's 3rd symphony as being "made for CD" for people wanting "deep"/"spiritual" music to casually listen to and not of much interest in the concert hall, but at least that has some kind of grand sweep, and is dramatically impressive IMO. A 3 minute simplistic piece like The Lamb defies any reason for its existence, it's like film music, where else can it be used? Well, other than these annoying compilations...
Angels: is there anything more to this than the constant repeating?
Thunder Entered Her: This is as appealing as sitting through a sermon (to someone who is not that way inclined), how can it be so long?
The Protecting Veil: This is quite good, and being forced to use a slightly normal format (concertante) seems to have made it unexpectedly focused.
Lament of the Mother God: This actually resembles Hildegard occasionally - it's also rather long and slightly devoid of substance...
Canticle of the Mother God: Less directionless than the previous one, and kind of spooky - this is a pretty unique atmosphere.
Mother of God, Here I Stand: This is vaguely reminicent of Pärt, so at least tries to go somwhere, but like recent Pärt, it doesn't...
Funeral Antiphons: Like Ikon of the Nativity, this is nice tuneful choral music, why doesn't he always write like this...
Threnos: Just put a tune in it please agh...

To try to get an overview on these discs, all I can think is how boring his penchant for 10 minute+ choral works (without the chorus being used very much) with a lot of silence and solo (almost) narration is. Some of the shorter works can be quite appealing, but grr, a frustrating composer... Infinitely more so than even Pärt's recent work which is eminently listenable.

Edit: Tavener seems to be a really hard composer to listen to sympathetically, especially in a CD of just his work. In the Ikos CD, it has picked some of his more appealing ones, and combined them with other appealing pieces by different composers. The problem is, he doesn't seem to have enough appealing material to fill out a CD

[Mark]

Love The Protecting Veil. Kliegel's interpretation really turned me onto that work. Might put it on in a mo ...

[Mark]

This (thanks to a nudge in the right direction from Lethe):