What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[richardfinegold]

Hi, Richard, my SONY and Decca documentation (both claiming to be complete) shows only the 1951 San Francisco Symphony recording (mono) and the 1963 LSO (Philips) stereo recording, which was made by Vittorio Negri at Wembley Town Hall.

Monteux recorded La Mer in 1954 and Nocturnes in 1955, both in stereo , with the Boston Symphony, but the stereo tape of La Mer, apart from a 4-minute fragment, is reported 'Lost'. The Nocturnes were issued on a stereo tape and no, of course , on CD.

Charles Munch of course recorded the Images in Stereo in Boston, between December 1957 and March 1958.

Yes, your memory is better than mine. I located the Monteux disc from an RCA Monteux edition from 1994. It features the SF Images from 1951 and the BSO Nocturnes from 1955. The disc is listed as Mono/Stereo so presumably the BSO are in stereo. I can’t listen at the moment due to the slumbering of my 9 year old granddaughter here for a sleepover

[Stanfordian]

Giacomo Meyerbeer
'Le prophète', grand opera in five acts (1849)
Jean de Leyde (Le prophète) – John Osborn; Fidès – Elizabeth DeShong; Berthe – Mané Galoyan;
Zacharie – James Platt; Count Oberthal – Edwin Crossley-Mercer
Lyon Opera Chorus,
Maitrise des Bouches-du-Rhone,
Mediterranean Youth Orchestra,
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder
Recorded Live July 2023, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Provence,
LSO Live, Hybrid SACD
New release

[smittims]

Elgar : Variations op. 36. The London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux. What they used to call 'a classic of the Gramophone', yet at the time many would not have high expectations of it. Decca hadn't shown much interest in Elgar, nor had the LSO since Billy Reed's days, and I think it was Monteux's only Elgar recording. But for some reason it's always been a winner, especially during its long sojourn on the 'World of...' label in the 1970s. One of those happy occasions when everyone was at his* best.

---------------------------

* yes I think only men were involved.

[richardfinegold]

I’m not enamored of the Elgar Symphonies but I do have several versions of the Enigma Variations and that recording is my choice

[Stanfordian]

Giacomo Meyerbeer – 'Le Prophète'
Grand opera in five acts (1849)
Lyon Opera Chorus,
Maitrise des Bouches-du-Rhone,
Mediterranean Youth Orchestra,
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder
Recorded Live 2023, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Provence,
LSO Live, Hybrid SACD

I'm playing this new release again today.

[Stanfordian]

Vivaldi – Magdalena Kozena
Arias from Tito Manlio, RV 783; Juditha Triumphans, RV 644;
La Verita in Cimento RV 739;
Farnace RV 711; Arsilda, Regina Di Ponto, RV 700;
Orlando Furioso, RV 728; Ottone in Villa RV 729; Griselda RV 718;
L’Incoronazione di Dario, RV 719; Orlando Finto Pazzo, RV 727; L’Olimpiade RV 725
Magdalena Kozena (mezzo-soprano)
Venice Baroque Orchestra / Andrea Marcon
Recorded 2008, Gustav Mahler Auditorium, Grand Hotel, Toblach, South Tyrol, Italy
Archiv Produktion, CD

Eugène Ysaÿe – Chamber Music for Strings
String Quintet in B minor for 2 violins, 2 violas & cello 'à mon frère Théophile' (1894)
String Quartet 'Le Londres' (London), arranged Jacques Ysaÿe
Andante in B minor for 2 violins, 2 violas and cello (1893)
Paganini Variations for String Quartet, arranged Jacques Ysaÿe
Kryptos Quartet
Recorded 2009 Studio Toots, VRT, Brussels
Etcetera, Klara, CD

[pastoralguy]

Bach. Brandenburg Concertos 1 - 6.

Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester. I’m not sure how much actual conducting Maestro Chailly would have done here. I suspect he’s been a kind of ‘guiding spirit’ with the players. The playing is absolutely superb and it’s nice to hear these works played on modern instruments.

[french frank]

Brahms: String quintets 1 & 2

Raphael Ensemble: Marwood, Wexler, Boulton, Boyd, Hess, 1995

[gradus]

Just been sent and am looking forward to listening to the highly-regarded recording of the Scriabin 8th sonata played by Yuri Paterson Olenich who has produced wonderful performnces of other Scriabin works as well as a terrific Rachmaninov first sonata and Etudes Tableaux.

[teamsaint]

Symphony #6
Schnittke
BBCNOW/ Otaka

Would be an interesting “ compare and contrast with the first symphony” for students to undertake.

[smittims]

Good choices there,pastoralguy and frankie. I too like to hear the Brandenburgs in 'non-HIPP' performance, of which that Leipzig set was a landmark, marking the fact that the concertos were first revived there when they came to light following the break-up of the Margrave's library (who, it seems, had never played them). I also like older recordings such as Munch and Reiner, both of whom recorded them all.

The Hyperion Brahms chamber music series was I think a major achievement which has not been as widely praised as it deserves. I especially liked the 'New Budapest Quartet' whom I haven't heard since. I wonder what happened to them.

[Stanfordian]

Sabine Devieilhe & Alexandre Tharaud – ‘Chanson d'Amour’
Mélodies by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel & Poulenc
Sabine Devieilhe (soprano),
Alexandre Tharaud (piano)
Recorded 2019 Siemens-Villa, Berlin
Erato, CD

Handel
6 Organ Concertos, Op. 4 (1735/36)
Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone (direction / organ)
Recorded 2008 Bartholomäuskirche, Hallé
L'Oiseau-Lyre, CD

[MickyD]

String Quintets by Michael Haydn in lovely performances by L'Archibudelli. I picked this up in a second hand shop in Marseille last week - a Sony Vivarte disc and a delightful discovery.

[Stanfordian]

Donizetti – 'Les Martyrs' opera in four acts (prem. 1840)
Polyeucte - Michael Spyres (tenor); Pauline - Joyce El-Khoury (soprano);
Sévère - David Kempster (baritone); Felix - Brindley Sherratt (bass);
Callisthenes - Clive Bayley (bass); Néarque - Wynne Evans (tenor)
Opera Rara Chorus,
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / Sir Mark Elder
Recorded 2014, St. Clement’ Church, London
Opera Rara, 3 CD set

[smittims]

Beethoven : Symphony no.1
Schumann: Symphony no.1.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch. Early 1950s recordings.

One might easily overlook these old recordings but they are both very refined , mature readings I found rewarding. Munch repeats the exposition in both the outer movements of the Schumann, which he omitted in his later recording, and his slow tempo forthe second movement is revelatory. He's not often rated as a Beethoven conductor, though he recorded seven (omitting 2 and 4) and hsi NInth was famous for being reissued on one LP with the first three movements complete on side one, quite an achievement in those days