What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[cloughie]

The last 3 posts here are all discs I'm familiar with. I agree about Domaines, a very original and enjoyable piece.

For me this morning, Charles Munch again, conducting the Tchaikovsky Serenade for strings and Elgar's Introduction and Allegro, his only Elgar on disc, I think, with a curious slowing of tempo for the big tune . I haven't heard anyone else do this; I am sure it's a misreading of a tempo marking in the score.

Or maybe a little Gallic Munch idiosyncracy! VICS1540?

[smittims]

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 .

[oliver sudden]

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.

[Pulcinella]

Released today, streaming as I type.

Roberto Gerhard: Don Quixote (complete ballet); Suite from 'Alegrías'; Pedrelliana

BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9640009--roberto-gerhard-don-quixote-complete-ballet-suite-from-alegrias-pedrelliana

[edashtav]

I'm fond if Gerhard's Don Quixote music. Somewhere , I must have a vinyl copy of Antal Dorati conducting the BBC SO in the Dances.

Thanks for the 'heads up', Police.

[smittims]

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).

[LMcD]

I decided to give Sam Smith a miss, and listened to:
Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 2
Elgar: Piano Quinet
Dvorak: String Quartet Op. 51

[Pulcinella]

I decided to give Sam Smith a miss, and listened to:
Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 2
Elgar: Piano Quinet
Dvorak: String Quartet Op. 51

We did the same, and listened to Piston 6 and Martinu 6 (BSO/Munch), flagged up recently by smittins.

[LMcD]

We did the same, and listened to Piston 6 and Martinu 6 (BSO/Munch), flagged up recently by smittins.

According to the review in the Telegraph, the version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow which brought last night's proceedings to a close summed up the whole evening: 'gentle, harmless, slightly sickly subversion'. I shall resist the temptation to compare it with Eva Cassidy's incomparable rendition.

[smittims]

Boulez: Eclat-Multiples: the London Sinfonietta, Thierry Fischer. Interestingly , he takes five minutes longer than the composer in his 1981 CBS recording, but it's a beautifully clear performance and a splendid recording (Cadogan Hall). .

[Stanfordian]

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

[Pianorak]

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

[Pulcinella]

Janáček

Taras Bulba
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Petr Altrichter

Liverpool is indeed fortunate in having its orchestral bell set in addition to the massive number in the Anglican cathedral and the Italianate evangelist quartet in the Metropolitan one.

[richardfinegold]

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

[smittims]

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.