What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

New release. Streaming Qobuz (Roon) SACD.

Dmitri Shostakovich.
Symphonies No.12 & 15.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgards.

This came as a very strong recommendation (Jeffrey-vanderMolen) So here it goes.

Let us know what you think Harry. Roasted Swan enjoyed No 15 much more than No.12.

[vandermolen]

George Lloyd: Symphony No.11
This one reminds me a bit of Khachaturian.
It's the only one I heard live (conducted by GL).
I wrote to him after the concert and had a nice letter exchange:

[Harry]

Let us know what you think Harry. Roasted Swan enjoyed No 15 much more than No.12.

I will Jeffrey, I will write it down in my original posting.

[Brahmsian]

Composer : Felix Mendelssohn
Recording : String Symphony No. 09 (Markiz - 1993)
Performers : Lev Markiz, Amsterdam Sinfonietta

The string symphonies were a wonderful discovery. My personal favourite is the 7th in D minor.

[Lisztianwagner]

On youtube, first listen to this composition:

Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Symphonic Serenade

Matthias Bamert & BBC Philharmonic

[vandermolen]

New release. Streaming Qobuz (Roon) SACD.

Dmitri Shostakovich.
Symphonies No.12 & 15.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgards.

This came as a very strong recommendation (Jeffrey-vanderMolen) So here it goes.
The 12 th Symphony is one of the best orchestral works Shostakovich wrote. Storgards sets the tone already in the first movement, "Revolutionary Petrogard" Magical, Mysterious, he embraces all the thoughts and feelings in the message Shostakovich is giving us, and truly puts it in perspective. This first movement let me fall deeply in the context, followed by "Razliv" which convinced me of the validity Storgards is conveying. The sheer detail and expression of the theme got me in a trance. Amazing so far. Aurora blew me off my socks, the pace and insistance of the musical argument was very convincing. Short but powerful in expression. The closing of Aurora is nothing short as amazing.
And then the "Dawn of Humanity" wow, this made me totally convinced of the performance. Storgards can put himself in the top echelon ranks, but he is certainly not the only one. His interpretation made me think of another powerful performance by Bernard Haitink, also on my top list.
Well next No. 15.
Brilliant, evocative, reveling, masterly done, all the superlatives of the 12th Symphony are valid for the 15th too. The sound is State of the Art, and the performance, recommended of course. Thank Jeffrey you were spot  on. 

Am delighted that you enjoyed it Harry I must listen to it again soon.

[vers la flamme]

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No.12 in D minor, op.112, "The Year 1917". Vasily Petrenko, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Enjoying it, upon this listen I can't really tell why everyone hates this one.

[Operafreak]

Martinu - Cello Sonatas Nos. 1, 2 & 3-Paul Watkins (cello) & Huw Watkins (piano)

[vandermolen]

Kokkonen: Symphony No.4 (Oramo Finnish RSO, Ondine CD)

[Madiel]

Schumann

3 poems of Emanuel Geibel, op.29 - these are ensemble songs. A duet, a trio, and then Zigeunerleben is an octet complete with tambourines and triangles.

3 poems of Emanuel Geibel, op.30 - solo songs



The poetry and music tends towards the light and slightly frothy (only op.29/2 feels a bit darker), and Geibel clearly likes a bit of a faux-Spanish flavour. As well as all the gypsy stuff in op.29/3, Schumann obliges by making op.30/3 a bolero.

[Harry]

New acquisition. Streaming.

Ernst von Dohnanyi.
Symphony No. 1 in D minor.
Symphonic Minutes.
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Roberto Paternostro.

This performance grows on me, like it better as Matthias Bamert's take on Chandos. And of course the Artwork is much better, as what I have seen these last few years.

[San Antone]

James Tenney - 64 Studies for 6 Harps

[Roasted Swan]

Am delighted that you enjoyed it Harry I must listen to it again soon.

I am intrigued!  Time has shown that my musical tastes and preferences align far more often with Harry and Vandermolen than not but clearly with this Storgards DSCH disc its a "not"!  Perhaps I wasn't in the mood - I will certainly listen again.  What is in no doubt is that the Chandos engineering is excellent - very rich but detailed with the percussion especially having tremendous presence - the bass drum in No.12 is worthy of Telarc...

My essential "issue" is the playing and interpretation is just too urbane.  The best analogy I can come up with is driving a Rolls Royce when you want  you need it to be a Ferrari - superb in its own right just not here and now.  To my ear Storgards is caught between the revolutionary fervour of the old Soviet recordings (and Sladkovsky pretty good at his too) of the heroic/epic approach of a Kitajenko.  Interestingly Harry clearly rates the Haitink/Cocnertgebouw which I admire for its sheer quality but less so for its capturing of the mood.  I'm a great believer in turning perceived weaknesses into strengths.  So if this work is perceived as being "just" a propagandist hack job thin on invention and structurally weak then play to the hilt the elements that it does do well which are the visceral drama and sense of peril amongst others.  As I hear it there is little or no danger in this new performance.

But I do always enjoy the fact that we can have such strongly felt but opposite reactions to the same performance!

[Roasted Swan]

James Tenney - 64 Studies for 6 Harps

Is that 10.66666666666666666666666666666666666666666 studies each?

[Harry]

I am intrigued!  Time has shown that my musical tastes and preferences align far more often with Harry and Vandermolen than not but clearly with this Storgards DSCH disc its a "not"!  Perhaps I wasn't in the mood - I will certainly listen again.  What is in no doubt is that the Chandos engineering is excellent - very rich but detailed with the percussion especially having tremendous presence - the bass drum in No.12 is worthy of Telarc...

My essential "issue" is the playing and interpretation is just too urbane.  The best analogy I can come up with is driving a Rolls Royce when you want  you need it to be a Ferrari - superb in its own right just not here and now.  To my ear Storgards is caught between the revolutionary fervour of the old Soviet recordings (and Sladkovsky pretty good at his too) of the heroic/epic approach of a Kitajenko.  Interestingly Harry clearly rates the Haitink/Cocnertgebouw which I admire for its sheer quality but less so for its capturing of the mood.  I'm a great believer in turning perceived weaknesses into strengths.  So if this work is perceived as being "just" a propagandist hack job thin on invention and structurally weak then play to the hilt the elements that it does do well which are the visceral drama and sense of peril amongst others.  As I hear it there is little or no danger in this new performance.

But I do always enjoy the fact that we can have such strongly felt but opposite reactions to the same performance!

Agreed!

[brewski]

Just had a chat with a friend about the Frankfurt Radio Symphony's channel—he was hungry for more livestreams—so watching a performance I hadn't seen: Steven Isserlis in Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1, with Richard Egarr (new to me) conducting. (From October 2021)

-Bruce

[Harry]

Streaming Oobuz 192 KHZ, 24 bit.
Released October 2022.

Giaches de Wert.
Versi d'Amore.
Late Madrigals & Canzonette.
Madrigale: Vago augelletto; Mia benigna fortuna; Amor che sai; Quel rossignol; Che fai Alma; Datemi pace; Misera, quanto tempo; Tu canti e canto anch'io; Non mi conosci tu
+Canzonetten: Voglia mi vien; Un jour je m'en allais; De que sirve; Dica chi vuol; M'ha punto Amor; Mi parto, ahi sorte ria / Partisti, ahi dura sorte
+Vincenzo Galilei: Ricercare.

Voces Suaves.
Lia Andres – soprano
Christina Boner – soprano
Mirjam Wernli – soprano
Jan Thomer – countertenor
Dan Dunkelblum – tenor
Raphael Höhn – tenor
Tobias Wicky – baritone
Davide Benetti – bass
Anna Danilevskaia – treble viol
Giovanna Baviera – treble and tenor viols
Filipa Meneses – bass viol
Tabea Schwartz – bass viol and recorders
Leonardo Bortolotto – violone in G
Thor-Harald Johnsen – baroque guitar
Orí Harmelin – lute and theorbo

An absolute favourite of mine, played it already a dozen times this last month. You may have already an performance of de Wert's of Versi d'Amore, but it is worth to add this one to your collection. State of the Art sound and performance.


After three critically acclaimed albums of sacred music, Voces Suaves now turns to the most important secular genre of the Renaissance: the madrigal. Versi d'Amore is devoted entirely to the madrigals of Giaches de Wert (1535-1596). These too little known, expressive works were the models for the madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi, de Wert's younger colleague in Mantua.

[vandermolen]

Kabalevsky PC No.1

[Harry]

Kabalevsky PC No.1

One of my favourite recordings of Kabalevsky's music.

[VonStupp]

Antonín Dvořák
Silent Woods, op. 68 no. 5
Suite in A Major 'American', op. 98b
Seven Interludes for small orch., B15
Five Prague Waltzes, B99
Nocturne in B Major, op. 40
Mazurka for violin and orch., op. 49
Polka in B-flat Major, op. 53A/1
Rondo for cello and orch., op. 94
Polonaise in E-flat Major, B100

Alexander Trostianski, violin
Dmitry Yablonsky, cello
Russian PO - Dmitry Yablonsky

A bunch of orchestral and concertante miniatures I do not know.
VS