What are you listening 2 now?

[foxandpeng]

Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony 4
Klaus Makela
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

[Mandryka]

Nice, very nice.  I didn't even know of this recording - but the wonders of streaming.... 

When they were with Christopher Page and Emma Kirkby and Margaret Philpot and Rogers Covey-Crump they were impeccable.


I once heard a story that the MD of Hyperion got into a cab and the radio was playing Sequentia's Hildegard recording, and the taxi driver was loving it. He immediately asked Chris Page to record some Hildegard for them and a legend was born.  They made an absolute killing from their Hildegard CD, it was like Top of the Pops.

[Traverso]

Bach

Cantatas

[ritter]

First listen to Elliot Carter's early (1942) Symphony No. 1 (Kenneth Schermerhorn conducts the Nashville Symphony Orchestra).



Really liking this. It's striking how, even before he developed his unique, mature style (in the late 40s or early 50s, with works like the Cello Sonata and SQ No. 1), Carter already was producing music of extraordinary inventiveness and quality.

[Todd]

[Mandryka]

Whenever I come across the name Jayne Mansfield I always think of this -- enjoy

[Todd]

A big old chunk of mazurkas.  More to follow.

[pjme]

[foxandpeng]

Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony 4
Valery Gergiev
Marlinsky Orchestra

This is a far better #4 than the Klaus Mäkelä version from earlier today. This has emotion and drama, whereas the Oslo under Mäkelä has no urgency of rawness at all... it feels somehow domesticated. Not suggesting it doesn't have merits, but the Gergiev seems to 'feel' it...

What do I know?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Gerald Finzi
Cello Concerto
Howard Griffiths
Northern Sinfonia
Naxos

Today has felt like a lighter day, musically, although that may just be my perspective. Enjoyable, nonetheless, and undoubtedly, in this case, more complex than British pastoralia.

I love Finzi's Cello Concerto and that recording.   

PD

[Todd]

An all-local recording.  Cappella Romana is a local choral ensemble specializing in medieval music and modern music composed in the medieval style.  Cappella Records is based in Portland.  This recording of some of Kassia's hymns was recorded in the Madeleine Parish in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland.  I've dabbled with some Kassia before, and this recording, with slightly larger forces is excellent.  The music is spare and devout and serious, with simple-ish yet effective harmonies, and some nifty continuo by the basses, and sounds exactly like it should.  The recorded sound sounds exactly like it should, like an ensemble singing in a small-ish church. 

The ensemble has made multiple recordings in this and other local venues, including the St Stephen Catholic Church where one of the Ēriks Ešenvalds releases on Naxos was recorded by no less than John Atkinson.

I got some more stuff to explore.

[NumberSix]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3
Wand, NDR

[foxandpeng]

I love Finzi's Cello Concerto and that recording.   

PD

I also rate it highly! 🙂

[brewski]

What orchestra opens its new season with a work for violin and soprano? That's what happened a few minutes ago with Pekka Kuusisto and Aphrodite Patoulidou in Kaija Saariaho's Changing Light (2019), which began a fascinating livestreamed program by the Helsinki Philharmonic.

After that, conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste took the stage with two more conductors, Kuusisto and Samy Moussa, for Daniel Bjarnason's From Space I Saw Earth (2023), followed by Moussa's Adgilis Deda – Hymn for orchestra (2024) and after a break, Brahms' First Symphony.

Bravi all around.

-Bruce

[Traverso]

Some songs I like to hear...

Franceso Sacrati

Proserpina



Hugo Wolf

Ich Liess mir sagen



Schumann

Mein Herz ist in Hochland



Mein Herz ist im Hochland, mein Herz ist nicht hier;
Mein Herz jagt im Hochland des Waldes Gethier;
Es jagt dort den Hirsch und es folgt dort dem Reh –
Mein Herz ist im Hochland, wo immer ich geh'.

Lebwohl, du mein Hochland, lebwohl du mein Nord,
Du Wiege von Tapferkeit, Ehre und Wort;
Wo immer ich wandre, wo immer ich bin,
Die Hügel des Hochlands behalt' ich im Sinn.

Lebt wohl, o ihr Berge, bedeckt hoch mit Schnee,

Lebt wohl, grüne Thäler, umkränzend die Höh';
Leb' wohl, wilder Wald, niederhangend in's Thal,
Lebt wohl, o ihr rauschenden Bergbäche all'.
Mein Herz ist im Hochland, mein Herz ist nicht hier,
Mein Herz jagt im Hochland des Waldes Gethier.

Es jagt dort den Hirsch und es folgt dort dem Reh –
Mein Herz ist im Hochland, wo immer ich geh'.



My heart is in the highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart hunts the forest beasts in the highlands;
It hunts the stag there, and it follows the deer there –
My heart is in the highlands, wherever I go.
Farewell, my highlands, farewell, my north,
Cradle of valour, honour and word;
Wherever I wander, wherever I am,
The hills of the highlands I keep in mind.
Farewell, O mountains, high covered with snow,
Farewell, green valleys, wreathing the heights;
Farewell, wild forest, hanging low in the valley,
Farewell, O all you rushing mountain streams.
My heart is in the highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart hunts the forest beasts in the highlands. 15
It hunts the stag there and it follows the deer there –
My heart is in the highlands, wherever I go. –





Schubert

Fischerweise

Fischerweise
Den Fischer fechten Sorgen
Und Gram und Leid nicht an,
Er löst am frühen Morgen
Mit leichtem Sinn den Kahn.

Da lagert rings noch Friede
Auf Wald und Flur und Bach,
Er ruft mit seinem Liede
Die goldne Sonne wach.

Und singt zu seinem Werke
Aus voller frischer Brust,
Die Arbeit gibt ihm Stärke,
Die Stärke Lebenslust.

Bald wird ein bunt Gewimmel
In allen Tiefen laut
Und plätschert durch den Himmel,
Der sich im Wasser baut.

Und schlüpft auf glatten Steinen
Und badet sich und schnellt,
Der Große frißt den Kleinen
Wie auf der ganzen Welt.

Doch wer ein Netz will stellen
Braucht Augen klar und gut,
Muss heiter gleich den Wellen
Und frei sein wie die Flut;

Dort angelt auf der Brücke
Die Hirtin – schlauer Wicht,
Gib auf nur deine Tücke,
Den Fisch betrügst du nicht.

Fisherman's tune
The fisherman isn't disturbed by cares
Or worry or pain;
He sets off early in the morning
Carefree as he releases the boat.

All around him there is still peace
In the woods, fields and river,
He calls out in song
And the golden sun wakes up.

And he sings as he works
From a full, fresh heart.
The work gives him strength
And this strength gives him joy in life.

Soon a bright crowd will be
Heard clearly in the depths
And they splash through the sky
Reflected in the water –

And they slip on smooth stones
And they bathe and shoot about,
The big ones eat up the little ones
As happens everywhere in the world.

But anyone who wants to set a net
Needs good clear eyes;
They have to be as jolly as the waves
And as free as the tide.

Angling there on the bridge is
The shepherdess, cunning little thing,
Give up your trickery.
This is a fish you are not going to trick!

[foxandpeng]

Peter Mennin
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
(János Starker)
Jorge Mester
Louisville Orchestra

Following @Karl Henning's recommendation in the relevant thread...

[AnotherSpin]

Some songs I like to hear...



Schumann

Mein Herz ist in Hochland

I have been transfixed by Arvo Pärt's music with the words of the original poem by Robert Burns.

[Iota]

My gesture towards Anton's big day, another go at his much-loved Fourth, which has thus far eluded me in terms of setting my pulse racing in the way other Bruckner symphonies do.
It seems a very decent performance, full of delightful detail, a sense of great spaces/giant breaths, endless melodic charms peeking out from the score etc. And there's plenty I do like about the symphony, the first movement for example, and the rest of the symphony has all sorts of Bruckner goodies to enjoy, but somehow it just doesn't quite hang together for me. I'm not even really sure why, perhaps one day that will change, but for now I just feel like I'm treading water a lot of the time. Having said that, as always there's plenty to catch the ear, and my revisit has by no means been entirely unrewarding or unenjoyable.
Happy b'day, Mr B.

[Florestan]

Some songs I like to hear...

Franceso Sacrati

Proserpina



Hugo Wolf

Ich Liess mir sagen



Schumann

Mein Herz ist in Hochland



Mein Herz ist im Hochland, mein Herz ist nicht hier;
Mein Herz jagt im Hochland des Waldes Gethier;
Es jagt dort den Hirsch und es folgt dort dem Reh –
Mein Herz ist im Hochland, wo immer ich geh'.

Lebwohl, du mein Hochland, lebwohl du mein Nord,
Du Wiege von Tapferkeit, Ehre und Wort;
Wo immer ich wandre, wo immer ich bin,
Die Hügel des Hochlands behalt' ich im Sinn.

Lebt wohl, o ihr Berge, bedeckt hoch mit Schnee,

Lebt wohl, grüne Thäler, umkränzend die Höh';
Leb' wohl, wilder Wald, niederhangend in's Thal,
Lebt wohl, o ihr rauschenden Bergbäche all'.
Mein Herz ist im Hochland, mein Herz ist nicht hier,
Mein Herz jagt im Hochland des Waldes Gethier.

Es jagt dort den Hirsch und es folgt dort dem Reh –
Mein Herz ist im Hochland, wo immer ich geh'.



My heart is in the highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart hunts the forest beasts in the highlands;
It hunts the stag there, and it follows the deer there –
My heart is in the highlands, wherever I go.
Farewell, my highlands, farewell, my north,
Cradle of valour, honour and word;
Wherever I wander, wherever I am,
The hills of the highlands I keep in mind.
Farewell, O mountains, high covered with snow,
Farewell, green valleys, wreathing the heights;
Farewell, wild forest, hanging low in the valley,
Farewell, O all you rushing mountain streams.
My heart is in the highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart hunts the forest beasts in the highlands. 15
It hunts the stag there and it follows the deer there –
My heart is in the highlands, wherever I go. –





Schubert

Fischerweise

Fischerweise
Den Fischer fechten Sorgen
Und Gram und Leid nicht an,
Er löst am frühen Morgen
Mit leichtem Sinn den Kahn.

Da lagert rings noch Friede
Auf Wald und Flur und Bach,
Er ruft mit seinem Liede
Die goldne Sonne wach.

Und singt zu seinem Werke
Aus voller frischer Brust,
Die Arbeit gibt ihm Stärke,
Die Stärke Lebenslust.

Bald wird ein bunt Gewimmel
In allen Tiefen laut
Und plätschert durch den Himmel,
Der sich im Wasser baut.

Und schlüpft auf glatten Steinen
Und badet sich und schnellt,
Der Große frißt den Kleinen
Wie auf der ganzen Welt.

Doch wer ein Netz will stellen
Braucht Augen klar und gut,
Muss heiter gleich den Wellen
Und frei sein wie die Flut;

Dort angelt auf der Brücke
Die Hirtin – schlauer Wicht,
Gib auf nur deine Tücke,
Den Fisch betrügst du nicht.

Fisherman's tune
The fisherman isn't disturbed by cares
Or worry or pain;
He sets off early in the morning
Carefree as he releases the boat.

All around him there is still peace
In the woods, fields and river,
He calls out in song
And the golden sun wakes up.

And he sings as he works
From a full, fresh heart.
The work gives him strength
And this strength gives him joy in life.

Soon a bright crowd will be
Heard clearly in the depths
And they splash through the sky
Reflected in the water –

And they slip on smooth stones
And they bathe and shoot about,
The big ones eat up the little ones
As happens everywhere in the world.

But anyone who wants to set a net
Needs good clear eyes;
They have to be as jolly as the waves
And as free as the tide.

Angling there on the bridge is
The shepherdess, cunning little thing,
Give up your trickery.
This is a fish you are not going to trick!

You forgot to mention the poets, Jan --- bad form when quoting them in full.     

[JBS]

Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony 4
Valery Gergiev
Marlinsky Orchestra

This is a far better #4 than the Klaus Mäkelä version from earlier today. This has emotion and drama, whereas the Oslo under Mäkelä has no urgency of rawness at all... it feels somehow domesticated. Not suggesting it doesn't have merits, but the Gergiev seems to 'feel' it...

What do I know?

I've not yet gotten to a second listen of the Makela recording, but my first impression was similar to yours. The Gergiev is my favorite recording of the Fourth because of its intensity, but my opinion is undoubtedly flavored by the fact the Gergiev was my introduction to the symphony.