Originally posted by smittims
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What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV
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This is a sticky topic.
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That's it, cloughie. I have it in the big SONY Munch box, though it did appear on a BMG 'Classical Navigator' CD as a fillup to an early Colin Davis Elgar 1. .
I've just been hearing what seems to be a rarity: Peter Maxwell Davies, First Fantasia on an 'in Nomine' of John Taverner: an old reel-to-reel tape by the Netherlands Radio orchestra conducted by that champion of underrated works , the redoubtable David Atherton. Max' Second Fantasia is quite well-known but this is the only performance I've seen of the First. I don't even know if it's in print .
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I was wondering if you were working your way through the Munch box!
The only First Taverner Fantasia I have is a YouTube download of uncertain origin, but at least I’ve heard that one. The Max I’ve always wanted to hear is the Five Motets, whose score I first perused decades ago at university. Looks absolutely fascinating, which makes it all a bit tantalising.
Oh, and Prolation, of which I have two scores thanks to absent-mindedness.
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Released today, streaming as I type.
Roberto Gerhard: Don Quixote (complete ballet); Suite from 'Alegrías'; Pedrelliana
BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena
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Indeed, oliver, I think we should celebrate Max more as an outstanding British composer. Considering how intense and complex his music is (the opposite of minimalist, it's hard to resist the pun : 'maximalist') he was remarkably prolific : all those symphonies and quartets, and many works which appeared and disappeared, such as Vesalii Icones , the Piano Sonata, that lovely cello concerto (all major works): then there's the operas...
Many years ago I was treated to a lecture by John C Waterhouse, a dyed-in-the -wool Max fan , who claimed , in his characteristically eloquent way, that Max was the first Briritsh composer since Dunstable to be a world leader in new music. Elgar , Vaughan Williams and Tippett (and some would add Britten) , for all their profound qualities , were surely followers rather than pioneers.
Meanwhile ...
I've just heard Sibelius' second sympohny: the BBC Philharmonic and John Storgards. I admit I didn't pay much attention to this when it appeared about ten years ago (heigh-ho, yet another Sibelius set) but it's much more than that . Every detail carefully executed, and plenty of verve , outstanding brass, as one might expect from a Northern orchestra, and a special pat on the back for the splendid timpanist, whoever he was (someone will know).
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Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post
We did the same, and listened to Piston 6 and Martinu 6 (BSO/Munch), flagged up recently by smittins.
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Sonya Yoncheva – 'The Courtesan'
Arias by Massenet, Leoncavallo, Giordano, Puccini, Mascagni, Saint-Saëns, Verdi & Orff
Sonya Yoncheva (mezzo-soprano)
Orchestra dell'Opera Carlo Felice Genova / Marco Armiliato
Recorded 2021 Opera Carlo Felice, Genoa, Italy
Charles Castronovo (duets La traviata & Thaïs)
SY11 Productions, CD
Beethoven
String Quartet in F major, Op. 18/1 'Lobkowitz'
String Quartet in C minor, Op. 18/4 'Lobkowitz'
Quatuor Mosaïques (period instruments)
Recorded 2004 Reitschule, Schloss Grafenegg, Austria
Naïve, CD
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Right now - Kevin Chen Recital | Oxford Piano Festival 2024 - Scarlatti, Chopin, Moschele, Schumann
AM - Stephen Kovacevich masterclass
PM - Marios Papadopoulos masterclass
All part of the Oxford Piano Festival live streams
My life, each morning when I dress, is four and twenty hours less. (J Richardson)
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I have been listening to the Haitink RCO Debussy recordings. These were favorites when they originally were on lp and I discovered a few weeks ago that the CDs had gone missing so I reordered them from a German dealer on eBay and they arrived in 2 days! The Apple Music versions of them sound excellent as well but I wanted a physical copy in case they one day disappear, as Classical Recordings seem to bob and weave with availability in streaming music. The RCO of the late seventies and early eighties was such a fine sounding instrument and perfect for Debussy. They had more virtuosity than the nasal sound of the French Orchestras of the period and but not excessively Teutonic either. Those Phillips late analog recordings from their Hall were also superb
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Yes, it was a wonderfully rewarding partnership; I've often appreciated Haitink's clarity and sureness of touch in Debussy and Ravel.
I've lust been listening to Stockhausen: Refrain and Formel . I've always been ambivalent about his music (and his stature as a a composer): I've always loved Gruppen and Carre, but rhe Seven Days and the Helicopter quartet leave me behnd, I'm afraid. But he remains perhaps the most imaginative composer of the last half-century.
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