What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[AuntDaisy]

J.S. Bach "Mass in B Minor", Karl Richter, Archiv 1961 with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hertha Töpper, Ernst Haefliger, Maria Stader - on CD (sadly, with limited notes!)

[Stanfordian]

Lekeu, Franck, Dupré – 'Works for Violin and Piano'
Guillaume Lekeu
Sonata in G major for piano & violin (1892)
César Franck
Mélancolie for violin & piano (1886)
Marcel Dupré
Sonata in G minor for violin & piano, Op. 5 (1909)
Michał Buczkowski (violin) & Andrew Wright (piano)
Recorded 2022, Steppenwolf Studio, Asch, Netherlands
Austrian Gramophone, CD

[smittims]

Thanks, Aunt Daisy, for reminding me of that fine Richter Mass in B minor. Richter's critical reputation has varied over the years but I've always regarded him as a sound 'happy-medium' interpreter. I've just been listening to others of that ilk in Bach and Handel: Boyd Neel in Brandenburg One (with Dennis Brain) and Adolf Busch in Handel's opus six no. 10.

And to follow, The RPO (in disguise as 'The Philhamonic Symphony of London' ) and Erich Leinsdorf in Mozart's Symphony in E flat, K132, one of four Mozart symphonies that require four horns. This mid-1950s Westminster survey of the traditional 41 symphonies is not well-known (though it has been reissued n CD by DG) but the tempi and articulation are well on the way to being HIPP predecessors. They're all on Spotify if anyone wants to investigate further.

[pastoralguy]

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the new recordings of the Brahms’ Symphonies conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe play absolutely superbly and the recording is first class.

The First Symphony is a little controversial in that some of the tempi are quite brisk but I really enjoyed it. I must have heard dozens of recordings of the Brahms symphonies but I would rate this very highly. I’ve heard so much in these recordings that I’ve not noticed before.

[smittims]

Nicholas Maw: String Quartet no. 2. Unknown artists on a 40-year-old reel-to-reel tape .

Maw's quartets are among his best work, I think, and this is my favourite of the three. He was an uneven composer: I love his Life Studies but was very diappointed by Sophie's Choice. I think his work deserves more broadcast and reappraisal. 'Composer of the Week', perhaps, with Hugh Wood for contrast?

[Pulcinella]

Nicholas Maw: String Quartet no. 2. Unknown artists on a 40-year-old reel-to-reel tape .

Maw's quartets are among his best work, I think, and this is my favourite of the three. He was an uneven composer: I love his Life Studies but was very diappointed by Sophie's Choice. I think his work deserves more broadcast and reappraisal. 'Composer of the Week', perhaps, with Hugh Wood for contrast?

Good idea for a CotW.
I don't know the quartets.

I was at the Oxford premiere of Hymnus (and a later repeat), as a friend was singing in the Oxford Bach Choir. I'm not sure that the recording (made the day after the second performance iirc) does it full justice. It's coupled with Little Concert and Shahnama.
Other pieces in my collection are Scenes and Arias; Life Studies (the track info on the CD inlay is incorrect!); Odyssey, Dance Scenes; Ghost Dances, La Vita Nuova, Roman Canticle; and the Violin concerto.
Am I right in thinking that Sophie's Choice was televised? I have a dim recollection.

[AuntDaisy]

Nicholas Maw: String Quartet no. 2. Unknown artists on a 40-year-old reel-to-reel tape
...

Might it be the Gabrieli String Quartet?
Assuming it's a R3 off-air, Genome has a few suggestions, for example :

Gabrieli String Quartet
First broadcast: Tue 2nd Aug 1983, 14:50 on BBC Radio 3
The fourth of six programmes Mozart String Quartet In E flat (K 428) Nicholas Maw String Quartet No 2 (first broadcast performance)
3.55* Interval Reading
4.5* Debussy String Quartet in c minor (Given in the Pittville Pump Room during the 1983 Cheltenham International Festival of Music) BBC Birmingham.

Anything else on the reel? I used to enjoy the R3 fillers & readings.


BTW Nicholas Maw was COTW in November 1995 with Jonathan Cross & October 2000 with Donald Macleod.

[richardfinegold]

Might it be the Gabrieli String Quartet?
Assuming it's a R3 off-air, Genome has a few suggestions, for example :



Anything else on the reel? I used to enjoy the R3 fillers & readings.


BTW Nicholas Maw was COTW in November 1995 with Jonathan Cross & October 2000 with Donald Macleod.

What is Genome? When I Googled it I got the usual scientific sites.
I have a number of discs that I have burned to my NAS that came in with Japanese Metadata or unidentifiable metadata and I can’t recall the provenance of some. Now that I’m retired I would like to edit some of these so an app that I could use from my phone would be handy

[AuntDaisy]

What is Genome? When I Googled it I got the usual scientific sites.
I have a number of discs that I have burned to my NAS that came in with Japanese Metadata or unidentifiable metadata and I can’t recall the provenance of some. Now that I’m retired I would like to edit some of these so an app that I could use from my phone would be handy

Genome was a BBC project to digitise the Radio Times (up to 2009) and provide a searchable database - it is now called Programme Index (& has integrated other listings data, e.g. "/programmes" & "PIPs").

[richardfinegold]

Oh, I thought it might be a Classical equivalent of Shazam

[smittims]

Many thanks, Aunt Daisy. That date would fit the age of the tape. It was the only item I recorded from that concert.

[Stanfordian]

J.S. Bach – Cantatas & Chorale Preludes for organ
Cantata, Ich habe genug, BWV 82
3 Chorale preludes for organ:
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 662, 663 & 664
Cantata, Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169
Prelude and Fugue in A minor for organ, BWV 543
Céline Scheen (soprano), Nicholas Scott (tenor), Benoît Arnould (bass)
Le Banquet Céleste / Damien Guillon (direction / countertenor)
Maude Gratton (organ)
Recorded 2018, L’église réformée du Bouclier, Strasbourg
Alpha Classics, CD

[Master Jacques]

Stravinsky - Petrouchka
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
c. Ernest Ansermet
(1957) (Decca 467 820-2, in 8-CD set 467 818-2)

Do we set too much store by virtuosity? The old question returns, hearing Ansermet's 1957 reading of Stravinsky's ballet. Much is fuzzy as to rhythmic precision and pitch, ensemble is occasionally rocky, the brass and woodwind seem right on the edge of their capabilities.

And yet... was there ever a more musically revealing performance of Petrouchka? Ansermet's revelation of the nuts and bolts of orchestration, ear for a wide colour spectrum, and his essentially balletic approach to the score (i.e. slower and steadier than we're used to in the concert hall) makes us more aware of Stravinsky's bold radicalism than more recent, chaffeur-driven limousine performances. I'd not heard this account before, and sat entranced by it, warts and all.

[silvestrione]

Good idea for a CotW.
I don't know the quartets.

I was at the Oxford premiere of Hymnus (and a later repeat), as a friend was singing in the Oxford Bach Choir. I'm not sure that the recording (made the day after the second performance iirc) does it full justice. It's coupled with Little Concert and Shahnama.
Other pieces in my collection are Scenes and Arias; Life Studies (the track info on the CD inlay is incorrect!); Odyssey, Dance Scenes; Ghost Dances, La Vita Nuova, Roman Canticle; and the Violin concerto.
Am I right in thinking that Sophie's Choice was televised? I have a dim recollection.

Sophie's Choice was on DVD, and a copy was on the shelves in Beverley Oxfam last Saturday!
(no, I didn't buy it)

[HighlandDougie]

Maw's 'Scenes and Arias' had long been a favourite work on LP so I was delighted when it finally appeared on CD. Anyway, to accompany this evening's glass (or two) of Provençal Rosé:

Weinberg: Violin Concerto Op. 67/Symphony No 4 Op. 61

Ilya Gringolts (Violin)/ Warsaw Philharmonic/Jacek Kaspsyzk

It was Edgeley Rob who directed me to this CD as a modern update on the Leonid Kogan/Moscow PO/Kiril Kondrashin LP. Excellent recording quality and fine performances.