What are you listening 2 now?

[Karl Henning]

CD 13

Francis Poulenc
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in d minor
Arthur Whittemore & Jack Lowe, pf
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor
recorded 15 Dec 1947, NYC NBC Studio 3A

Johannes Brahms
Variations on a Theme by Haydn in B^b "St Anthony Variations," Op. 56b
Arthur Whittemore & Jack Lowe, pf
recorded 21 Dec 1947, RCA Studio № 2

[Harry]

Gut Wind and Wire.
See back cover for details.
The Baltimore consort.
Recorded probably in 2007.

Rousing and lyrical but without any vocals, which is exactly what I wanted. This is great music to curl up to with a mug of steaming tea or a "hot toddy", (in my case) in the winter. It's the first of a few recordings by the Baltimores I bookmarked, and boy do I like it, yes Siree I do! Expert musicians on original instruments, and a huge dose of goodwill and talent makes this an enjoyable travail. Music that makes ya heart jump and be merry, as said by "Tom Jones", in Henry Fielding's book, "The History of Tom Jones", a book that is in my favourites of all time. Grandiose sound by the way.

[ritter]

How do you like the set? Not a big fan of the cover art.

"Serviceable" would be the word that describes it... 

I actually bought this set for Julián Orbón's Hymnus and Galli Cantum and Tres cantigas del rey which, although not mentioned on the front cover, are "sneaked into" CD 3, between Falla's Maese Pedro and Harpsichord Concerto. These recordings (the only oned of these works AKAIK) were used as fillers in the original releases on thee Dorain label, and Brilliant just kept things as they were. For the Falla works, there's better options elsewhere (some of which, like the "Introuvables" set on EMI, you already know IIRC).

And yes, why Ingres' Grande Odalisque should grace the cover of a CD of (mostly) music by Falla, beats me...

[brewski]

Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 (Orchestre National de France / Cristian Măcelaru, recorded at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest in September 2023).

At today's press conference announcing his inaugural season in Cincinnati, Măcelaru said that the first Romanian Rhapsody was his favorite piece. It is certainly one of mine, since discovering it in childhood. That said, only recently did I take a look at the score, and realize its incredible difficulties — definitely one of the great orchestral showpieces.

On a slightly humorous note: about a minute before the end is a dramatic grand pause, during which some enthusiastic listener yelled out, "Bravo!" which then caused about 15 seconds of audience applause. With an equally enthusiastic grin, Măcelaru simply held his hand aloft the entire time, waiting for the ovation to stop, before the bravura finish. I'll be definitely replaying, and looking forward to the rest of the concert, with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 (with Kirill Gerstein) and Enescu's Symphony No. 3.

[Traverso]

Beethoven

Eroica  1963

[steve ridgway]

Popov: Symphony No.2 'Motherland' New Alto release

Phew, I got a shock there - looked at the small image and thought for a moment they'd invaded the Netherlands! 😨

[Karl Henning]

CD 5
"Wolferl"
Serenade in B^b, K. 361, Gran Partita
Kid Edo

[Brian]

CD 5
"Wolferl"
Serenade in B^b, K. 361, Gran Partita
Kid Edo

Edo came to Dallas last year, and ever since then, I've been amazed every time I see one of his early, youthful recordings with some of the greatest legends of all time. Grumiaux! Ameling! And he's still active!

BTW, I saw your earlier post about the Levant/Mitropoulos disc. Haven't gotten to it so I just opened a tab on my streamer for after lunch.

[North Star]

Heitor Villa-Lobos
Introduction to the Chôros for guitar and orchestra (1929)¹
Two Chôros (bis), for violin and cello (1928)²
Chôros No. 2 for flute and clarinet (1924)³
Chôros No. 3, 'Pica-páu' (Woodpecker), for male choir and winds (1925)
Chôros No. 10 'Rasga o Coracão' (1926)
Chôros No. 12 for orchestra (1929)
Fabio Zanon (guitar)¹
Cláudio Cruz (vn) & Johannes Gramsch (vc)²
Elizabeth Plunk (fl) & Ovanir Buosi (cl)³
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra & Choir
John Neschling

[ChamberNut]

CD 5
"Wolferl"
Serenade in B^b, K. 361, Gran Partita
Kid Edo

Tables be pounded!

[Florestan]

How do you like the set? Not a big fan of the cover art.

Ingres would fit Saint-Saens much better than Falla, that's for sure.

[Karl Henning]

Edo came to Dallas last year, and ever since then, I've been amazed every time I see one of his early, youthful recordings with some of the greatest legends of all time. Grumiaux! Ameling! And he's still active!

He was off my radar for an unconscionably long time. He collaborated with Charles for one of my favorite discs!

[Linz]

Bruckner Symphony No. 3 in D Minor, 1890 Thorough revision Bruckner with Joseph and Franz Schalk Ed. Theodor Raettig, 1876 Adagio only Ed. Leopold Nowak, USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky

[Karl Henning]

CD 15

Robt Schumann
Symphony № 3 in E^b, « Rhenish » Op. 97

Jaromír Weinberger
Polka and Fugue from Schwanda the Bagpiper

Morton Gould
Minstrel Show

Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (Minnesota Orchestra)
Dimitri Mitropoulos
recorded 20 Jan 1947
Mitropoulos gives the first mvt, (Lebhaft) just enough rhythmic urgency to serve the piece well. 

[Elgarian Redux]

With a knowing wink to @Elgarian Redux

I started looking at reviews for recordings of Tchaikovsky chamber music, and then lightning struck my memory. I remembered that years ago I bought the Brilliant Box of Tchaikovsky for some absurdly low price, and I'd forgotten I had it! Sure enough, there was Opus 11, performed by the Endellion Quartet. I seem to be all set!

[pi2000]

Daniil Bulayev Enescu,Bloch,Ysaye

[Cato]

(Edo de Waart) was off my radar for an unconscionably long time. He collaborated with Charles for one of my favorite discs!

Here we go:

[Linz]

Walter Braunfels Phantastische Erscheinungen Eines Themas Von Hector Berlioz, Op. 25
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Concerto no. 3 for horn and orchestra K447
Tadeusz Baird Four dialogues for oboe and orchestra
Dennis Brain, horn, Lothar Faber, oboe
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Günter Wand

[Lisztianwagner]

Sergei Rachmaninov
Morceaux de Fantasie

Pianist: Vladimir Ashkenazy

[ritter]

More Ravel, from the same country (albeit a different region) but from 50 years later as what I was listening to earlier this afternoon.

Lionel Bringuier conducts the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra in Alborada de gracioso and La Valse.

From this set that landed today chez ritter:



I'm liking what I'm hearing...