What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams 'Romanza'
This is the beautiful central movement of the Tuba Concerto (1954) rearranged for Cello by VW.
Thanks to Christo for alerting me to the existence of this CD:


Earlier today: Mortensen Symphony No.1
I was very pleased to hear this finally.
It reminded me rather of William Wordsworth's fine Second Symphony.
The third movement also had moments seemingly influenced by the music of his teacher Klaus Egge, whose First Symphony remains my favourite Norwegiam symphony. I look forward to hearing the Mortensen again:

[Maestro267]

Penderecki: Symphony No. 7 ("Seven Gates of Jerusalem")
Soloists, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir
Warsaw PO/Wit

[vandermolen]

Britten: Four Sea Interludes
This nice sea-themed CD added my favourite Stanford Irish Rhapsody to the original Chandos CD release:

[Todd]

[André]

Very clever programming. Interest is sustained throughout. Outstanding playing from Frühwirth. The purity of tone in some high lying harmonics is mesmerizing.

[Traverso]

The Art of Courtly Love

CD1

[vandermolen]

Honegger: Horace Victorieux

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It was my first ever listen to that 'iconic'  Salome. For some reason, criticism (of Nilsson, of Solti, of the engineering, of the third Nazarene etc) always kept me from trying it. I found everything in it first class. I also have a DG video of a Böhm performance and the cd of the Caballé/Leinsorf version. Nilsson/Solti/Decca is superior to both IMO. The only other version I might purchase is an Orange Festival production under Kempe with Rysanek and Vickers as Herod. Having Vickers in this role must be quite the experience  .

The Hétu disc is indeed quite fine. The piano concerto is neo-romantic in style and falls beautifully on the ear. The trombone concerto is the most interesting thing on the disc IMO. It is more adventurous (modern) but entirely approachable. Trudel is a master trombonist. He turned to conducting a few years ago and performs both roles here with equal success.

Have you ever heard her excerpts before André?  A favorite of mine.   

[kyjo]

I think that No.5 (especially in Leppard's recording) is the greatest and most cogent of them all. I've always liked No.4 from the days of Handley's Guidford PO LP taken out of my local record library. As with Shostakovich's 12th Symphony it is generally considered the weakest of the cycle and yet I really like it. I much prefer it, for example, to No.6 which is considered by many to be the greatest.

My order of preference for Bax symphonies are: 5,3,4,7,2,1,6

The 6th is still your least favorite? You've gotta give it another chance!

My preferred Bax symphonies at the moment are 1, 3, and 6. The others all have their great moments, but I find these three to be most consistently great.

[kyjo]

Tavener - The Protecting Veil

The spiritual intensity this work expresses is just heart-wrenching. A marvelous creation.

+1 I wonder if any other of Tavener's works are as good. I'm not very familiar with his output.

[kyjo]

Jaakko Kuusisto: Violin Concerto



Kyle mentioned the Kuusisto a while ago on another thread, and that was an interesting and welcome suggestion, so thank him for that. Written nine years ago I think it must be one of the most interesting concertos of the 21st century.

Glad you enjoyed it!

[kyjo]

My personal favourite is still no.2 but I am well established to have terrible taste.

Schmidt's is one symphonic cycle I have relatively no trouble in ranking my order of preference: 4, 2, 3, 1

[Todd]

[Traverso]

Machaut


Les Motets

CD1

[Iota]

Beauty Farm really living up to their name. These are transfixing. 

[Roasted Swan]

Britten: Four Sea Interludes
This nice sea-themed CD added my favourite Stanford Irish Rhapsody to the original Chandos CD release:

That's a cracking disc in vintage Chandos/Ulster Hall sound.  The last great surge of "The Sea" gets me every time - both in this version and the unforgettable Charles Groves recording from Liverpool.  You can understand why the work made such an impression on the young Britten and led him to ask Bridge to teach and mentor him.

[Daverz]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 - Savall



Wonderful.  Yes, the timpani is very prominent, but sounds great.  (Amazon ASIN tage seems to be no longer working.)

[Symphonic Addict]

It's a great performance Cesar which I originally owned on a double LP set (with Symphony 6 I think). They both also feature in the excellent Berglund Icon box set.

Very good, Jeffrey. I agree it's a powerful performance.

[Symphonic Addict]

+1 I wonder if any other of Tavener's works are as good. I'm not very familiar with his output.

Me either. So far it's the only work I know of him.

[Madiel]

Mozart (arr.), Piano Concerto No.4