What are you listening 2 now?

[Mapman]

A couple 50 cent CDs from a library sale today:

Brahms: String Quintet #1, Op. 88
Juilliard Quartet, Trampler

My first listen to this work. I'm not as impressed with the tone of the Juilliard quartet as I am with the Emerson quartet.



Borodin: String Quartet #2
Emerson Quartet

I've heard this recording before, so it's nice to finally own it. The first and third movements are gorgeous!

[André]

Gavin Bryars
Cello Concerto, 'Farewell to Philosophy'
Julian Lloyd-Webber
James Judd
English Chamber Orchestra

Brilliant, to be honest. But then, Bryars often is, IMO.

I haven't listened to that disc in ages, but I recall liking the concerto a lot. I should pick this one for this week's listening.

[André]

When leading the Wiener Philharmoniker Böhm became a different conductor and they became better musicians. This recording is very slightly slower than those he made with the Berliner Philharmoniker or the Concertgebouworkest (a glorious disc in its own right). The extra time is entirely spent on painstaking articulation (every string or wind line is heard clear as day), and adding 'air' in and around the attacks. Wind instruments are constantly to the fore, even when playing counterpoint figurations. It's like the proverbial veil being lifted, shafts of light coming through and revealing fine details of texture and rythm. All the extra details add up and make the performances seem incredibly vibrant.

Not every tempo is measured though: both slow movements are faster than similar big band recordings by the BP (Karajan), LSO (Abbado), WP (Bernstein), Klemperer (PO) or Walter (Columbia SO). This Jupiter's Andante cantabile really sings, something you'd never guess from the Bernstein or Walter recordings. The Jupiter finale is a case in point. It's slower than Szell but it bubbles and smiles all the way to the crystal clear canon before the coda.

[DavidW]

Wow, I love it! Can you still play the tape? (or find a digital version, maybe on youtube?)

I can stream it, rereleased on Vox:

[AnotherSpin]

When leading the Wiener Philharmoniker Böhm became a different conductor and they became better musicians. This recording is very slightly slower than those he made with the Berliner Philharmoniker or the Concertgebouworkest (a glorious disc in its own right). The extra time is entirely spent on painstaking articulation (every string or wind line is heard clear as day), and adding 'air' in and around the attacks. Wind instruments are constantly to the fore, even when playing counterpoint figurations. It's like the proverbial veil being lifted, shafts of light coming through and revealing fine details of texture and rythm. All the extra details add up and make the performances seem incredibly vibrant.

Not every tempo is measured though: both slow movements are faster than similar big band recordings by the BP (Karajan), LSO (Abbado), WP (Bernstein), Klemperer (PO) or Walter (Columbia SO). This Jupiter's Andante cantabile really sings, something you'd never guess from the Bernstein or Walter recordings. The Jupiter finale is a case in point. It's slower than Szell but it bubbles and smiles all the way to the crystal clear canon before the coda.

It was a CD that I heard in a friend's apartment in the early 90s, and I was simply left speechless. It felt like I was hearing well-known music for the first time ever. The difficulty was that the availability of CDs in Ukraine at that time was strictly limited, and I had no way to buy the same one for myself. A few years later, the situation improved, and I bought the disc. But somehow, I couldn't recreate that very first impression. I suppose that happens often in life. Will listen to it again, who knows.

[steve ridgway]

Penderecki: A sea of dreams did breathe on me...



I'm enjoying this lengthy cycle of songs for a trio of contrasting singers, choir and orchestra .

[Maestro267]

Penderecki: A sea of dreams did breathe on me...

[image]

I'm enjoying this lengthy cycle of songs for a trio of contrasting singers, choir and orchestra .

I was a tad surprised that it wasn't retroactively considered to be his 9th Symphony. It's similar to his 8th Symphony in that it's songs for soloists, choir and orchestra, and A sea of dreams has the distinction of having the songs grouped into three parts that would correspond to movements in a symphony.

[foxandpeng]

I haven't listened to that disc in ages, but I recall liking the concerto a lot. I should pick this one for this week's listening.

Ah, happy listening. Bryars is fantastic.

Thread duty:

Krzysztof Penderecki
Cello Concerto 2
Antoni Wit
Warsaw PO
Naxos

A suitably Pendereckian Cello Concerto to begin the day.

It is raining outside. Yes, Krzysztof, yes, it is.

[Maestro267]

Delius: A Song of the High Hills
BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus/Andrew Davis

Got reminded of this gorgeous piece yesterday when a new performance showed up on my Youtube feed. I really should listen to/get more Delius for my collection. Stunning music, richly orchestrated, in this case with a wordless choir as well.

[Que]

This arrived on disc:



Johannes Tourout (Tonnrout/Thauranth/Tauront/Thaurath/Torrenth) was a Flemish cantor at the Austrian (Habsburg) imperial court in the 1460's. This recording with songs, motets, a Magnificat and a (almost complete) mass, proves that Tourout was a very significant Franco-Flemish composer.

http://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/Passacaille_PAS1124.html

[vandermolen]

Such a wonderful piece!

And I increasingly admire Handley's recording of it with the Ulster Orchestra.

[Madiel]

Nielsen: Sovnen (The Sleep)



Enjoyable. It seems from my previous notes that I agree with the Gramophone reviewer, this is the best performance on this album.

I do wish there were more options though. Works for choir and orchestra are one genre that, apart from the Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, has really fallen off the radar in the modern world.

[steve ridgway]

Krzysztof Penderecki
Cello Concerto 2
Antoni Wit
Warsaw PO
Naxos

That's one I bought this morning from the Chandos download sale. The samples sounded good .

[Madiel]

Tubin: Concertino for piano and orchestra



For me, one of Tubin's most immediately engaging works.

[Todd]

[Madiel]

Ravel/Ferroud/Ibert/Roland-Manuel/Delannoy/Roussel/Milhaud/Poulenc/Auric/Schmitt:

*breath*

L'éventail de Jeanne



Rather minded to buy this album at some point.

[Traverso]

Mozart & Beethoven

Quintette für Klavier und Bläser

Friedrich Gulda
Bläservereinigung der Wiener Philharmoniker  (1960)

[Iota]

After so many pints of beer amd a prospective bottle of white wine, I am not sure what is perfect or not anymore...

Sounds like you were having a good night. Talking of escapism, alcohol of course might just be about one of its most common embodiments ..

[Cato]

Alexander Nemtin, best known for putting together Scriabin's sketches for what turned out to be his last work, now called Mysterium, was an excellent composer, whose works are rarely available:

[foxandpeng]

That's one I bought this morning from the Chandos download sale. The samples sounded good .

Good call. Count me a fan, at least 🙂

Thread:

Krzysztof Penderecki
Concertos, Vol. 8
Cello Concerto 1
Maciej Tworek
Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Dux

This is not only great Penderecki, but great sound, too!

Edit: NP the Viola Concerto (Version for Cello and Orchestra), which sounds great, too!