Easley Blackwood: Symphony no.1. Written at the age of 21, a strong, well-crafted work with a little (but not much ) Hindemith infuence. He went on to write four more and died atthe age of 90. I used to have a cassttte of the first performane of his fourth , written for the Chicago Symphony.
What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV
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Originally posted by smittims View PostThe fifth is my favourite Tchakovsky symphony. I admire its classical form and singing qualities throughout. I believe , in his own way, he was tryig to do a 'Mozart' symphony on his own terms. I cannot understand why Toscanini thought it 'banal' when he liked 'Manfred' so much.
My last listening was Thurston Dart's 1959 Brandenburg One, with the Philomusica of London. This was the notorious version where he tried out his theory that Bach intended the horn parts, which jam uncomfortably with the oboes in the standard version, to be played an octave higher on piccolo trumpets. It certainly sounds credible to me , and refreshingly different.
I love Manfred and was binging on many versions several months ago (I wish that Monteux had recorded it) but I agree with you that the Fifth is my favorite. The Mozart influence is an interesting suggestion, and hadn’t occurred to me before. Tchaikovsky adored Mozart, as in his suite Mozartiana, the key progression of the Fifth does somewhat bear a resemblance to the famous Mozart symphonies.
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Originally posted by silvestrione View Post
Brilliant post (only just caught up with it)! Ave Maris Stella is my favourite Max piece. With Mirror of Whitening Light, though I haven't played that for a while.
I heard Alan Hacker do the Mozart Clarinet Quintet, years ago, in, I think, Bromsgrove. He also played a tune for the little girl in the front row, with whose family he'd been staying. 'Annie Laurie', or similar.
Isn't there an attractive clarinet-only piece Max wrote for him?
Somehow I managed never to hear Hacker live or even meet him. I grew up in Australia, to be fair, but I've lived in Europe from 2002 so there would certainly have been time. My discovery of his recorded output only really took off once he passed away (indeed that was what spurred it, more or less).
The only piece by Max for clarinet alone is The Seven Brightnesses, as far as I know. I've never played it since although it's a nice little thing it uses the altissimo (up to g'''') with reckless abandon. Of course that was Hacker's speciality.
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Originally posted by smittims View PostEasley Blackwood: Symphony no.1. Written at the age of 21, a strong, well-crafted work with a little (but not much ) Hindemith infuence. He went on to write four more and died atthe age of 90. I used to have a cassttte of the first performane of his fourth , written for the Chicago Symphony.
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Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post
Blackwood used to get a lot of airtime on Chicago WFMT radio station. I remember hearing a few in studio broadcasts with him years ago
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Originally posted by CallMePaul View Post
I have never heard his music. Although I am aware that he was a composer of some renown in the USA, in Britain (and probably elsewhere in Europe) he is best known as the inventor of a popular bridge bidding convention.
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Gustav Mahler. Symphony No.5.
Die Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado.
I already have the standard DG issue of this disc but this was an SACD issue I picked up this afternoon in Oxfam. I was surprised I got it for £2.99 since SACDs are usually priced as premium products. However, although it plays well enough on my non SACD set up it’s rather lacking in impact and requires the volume to be turned way up. I must listen to the original issue and see if there’s any difference.
Just listened to the standard cd version and it does have fractionally more immediacy than the SACD version but the volume still requires to be cranked up a bit. Also not sure why the SACD version is released on two discs. Maybe when I win the lottery and have a huge listening room with a panoramic window view of the sea and a fabulous SACD set I’ll do another side by side comparison…
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I have been comparing two versions on my shelves of the 1942 Furtwängler Beethoven 9, in particular the first movement: a cheapie from a label called Andromeda, bought at a discount shop called Zweitausendeins ages ago, and a very much not cheapie from the BPO themselves in a luxurious box of his wartime BPO recordings. (I was a bit worried that the BPO box might have been too aggressively de-noised, but I think the problem might have been an excessively noisy background while listening with open-back headphones.)
Crikey though, that’s a performance. All those flute top Ds! And that slow steamroller of a coda…
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Originally posted by pastoralguy View PostGustav Mahler. Symphony No.5.
Die Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado.
I already have the standard DG issue of this disc but this was an SACD issue I picked up this afternoon in Oxfam. I was surprised I got it for £2.99 since SACDs are usually priced as premium products. However, although it plays well enough on my non SACD set up it’s rather lacking in impact and requires the volume to be turned way up. I must listen to the original issue and see if there’s any difference.
Just listened to the standard cd version and it does have fractionally more immediacy than the SACD version but the volume still requires to be cranked up a bit. Also not sure why the SACD version is released on two discs. Maybe when I win the lottery and have a huge listening room with a panoramic window view of the sea and a fabulous SACD set I’ll do another side by side comparison…"The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard Haitink
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Originally posted by pastoralguy View PostGustav Mahler. Symphony No.5.
Die Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado.
I already have the standard DG issue of this disc but this was an SACD issue I picked up this afternoon in Oxfam. I was surprised I got it for £2.99 since SACDs are usually priced as premium products. However, although it plays well enough on my non SACD set up it’s rather lacking in impact and requires the volume to be turned way up. I must listen to the original issue and see if there’s any difference.
Just listened to the standard cd version and it does have fractionally more immediacy than the SACD version but the volume still requires to be cranked up a bit. Also not sure why the SACD version is released on two discs. Maybe when I win the lottery and have a huge listening room with a panoramic window view of the sea and a fabulous SACD set I’ll do another side by side comparison…
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Originally posted by pastoralguy View PostJoseph Haydn. String Quartets Op.33 Nos. 4 & 5.
The Aelion Quartet.
I heard the Chiaroscuro Quartet play them on Monday and I realised I didn’t know them at all. Some very unusual writing.
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Originally posted by oliver sudden View PostI have been comparing two versions on my shelves of the 1942 Furtwängler Beethoven 9, in particular the first movement: a cheapie from a label called Andromeda, bought at a discount shop called Zweitausendeins ages ago, and a very much not cheapie from the BPO themselves in a luxurious box of his wartime BPO recordings. (I was a bit worried that the BPO box might have been too aggressively de-noised, but I think the problem might have been an excessively noisy background while listening with open-back headphones.)
Crikey though, that’s a performance. All those flute top Ds! And that slow steamroller of a coda…
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