What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[bluestateprommer]

Listening now to an archival Boston Symphony Orchestra broadcast concert from WCRB, with Sir Andrew Davis on the podium and Alessio Bax as guest soloist for Mozart 24, bookended by John Harbison's Symphony No. 2 to start, and RVW 5 to follow in the 2nd half:

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2021-08-13/british-orchestral-grace-with-davis-2021

[jayne lee wilson]

Malcolm Arnold Symphony No.2.
NSO of Ireland/Andrew Penny. Naxos CD.

Bartok Violin Concerto No.2.
Tedi Papravami/Luxembourg SO/Krivine. Alpha 24/96 WAV.

Intended just as excerpted comparison for the Kopatchinskaja Prom.... but this is so stunning I played it right through!
Even better than I recalled, in thrillingly physical immediate sound - like a modernised Mercury - all the wildness one could desire but with controlled power and precision, so very, very good to live with and go back to.
(C/W an equally wonderful Concerto for Orchestra - strings do get a little too fierce here). One of my all-time favourite Bartok Singles.

[edashtav]

Malcolm Arnold Symphony No.2.
NSO of Ireland/Andrew Penny. Naxos CD.

Bartok Violin Concerto No.2.
Tedi Papravami/Luxembourg SO/Krivine. Alpha 24/96 WAV.

Intended just as excerpted comparison for the Kopatchinskaja Prom.... but this is so stunning I played it right through!
Even better than I recalled, in thrillingly physical immediate sound - like a modernised Mercury - all the wildness one could desire but with controlled power and precision, so very, very good to live with and go back to.
(C/W an equally wonderful Concerto for Orchestra - strings do get a little too fierce here). One of my all-time favourite Bartok Singles.

Thanks!
I’ve ordered the Bartok as its under-represented on my shelves (I stayed loyal to André Gertler for far too long until I acquired Mullova’s interpretation last year as a bonus whilst studying Stravinsky’s concerto). I’ve never encountered any track conducted by Krivine and, that too, needs to be rectified.

(I’ve never been a fan of Arnold’s easy-going 2nd Symphony.)

[jayne lee wilson]

Thanks!
I’ve ordered the Bartok as its under-represented on my shelves (I stayed loyal to André Gertler for far too long until I acquired Mullova’s interpretation last year as a bonus whilst studying Stravinsky’s concerto). I’ve never encountered any track conducted by Krivine and, that too, needs to be rectified.

(I’ve never been a fan of Arnold’s easy-going 2nd Symphony.)

Great - watch out for those upper strings in the Concerto though, fiercely slav and idiomatic (as well as just plain fierce) as they undoubtedly are ..(**).
Getting into the Malcolm Arnold 4th now (should have been 3, pressed the wrong key) - neither The Cat or I can sleep well, both awaiting medical attention next week - remarkable juxtaposition as I just said on the Arnold Prom thread (in a wider context) of the W.Indian/African Percussion with a suave tune that could be off a TV Romcom...
4 (i) is one of his most cogent, compelling creations..

(**)
If you love a wild and free slav-gypsy take on the Bartok 2nd Concerto, the Kelemen/Kocsis version on Hungaroton is another marvel (with the echt-Bartokian orchestral palette), much admired by Cowan a few years back. But it is a lucky work on Record really, what with Pat Kop, Isabelle Faust, Tetzlaff/Lintu et al....it does benefit greatly from good modern sound.

Back to bed I guess..... where's Kitty got to (she has a habit of curling up in strange places, often on hard surfaces.... go figure etc...)...

[BBMmk2]

This bank holiday weekend, will be a Mahler weekend for me. Certainly a good excuse!

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.1 in Dd major “Titan”
(Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Symphony No.2, “Resurrection”
Christine Schäffer (soprano)
Michelle DeYoung(mezzo-soprano)
Wiener Philharmoniker)

Symphony No3 in D minor
(Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano)
Frauenchor des Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
Wiener Sangerknaben
Wiener Philharmoniker)

Das Klagende Lied
(Dorothea Röschmann, soprano, Anna Larsson, contralto,
Johann Botha, tenor,
Wiener Staatsoper
Wiener Philharmoniker).

Carrying on today

Mahler
Symphony No.4 in G major
(Juliane Banse, soprano,
Cleveland Orchestra)

Symphony No.5 in C# minor
Symphony No.6 in A minor “Tragic”
(Weiner Philharmoniker)
All conducted by Pierre Boulez.

[edashtav]

Great - watch out for those upper strings in the Concerto though, fiercely slav and idiomatic (as well as just plain fierce) as they undoubtedly are ..(**).
Getting into the Malcolm Arnold 4th now (should have been 3, pressed the wrong key) - neither The Cat or I can sleep well, both awaiting medical attention next week - remarkable juxtaposition as I just said on the Arnold Prom thread (in a wider context) of the W.Indian/African Percussion with a suave tune that could be off a TV Romcom...
4 (i) is one of his most cogent, compelling creations..

(**)
If you love a wild and free slav-gypsy take on the Bartok 2nd Concerto, the Kelemen/Kocsis version on Hungaroton is another marvel (with the echt-Bartokian orchestral palette), much admired by Cowan a few years back. But it is a lucky work on Record really, what with Pat Kop, Isabelle Faust, Tetzlaff/Lintu et al....it does benefit greatly from good modern sound.

[…]
...

Some commentators have claimed, I don’t know on what what authority, that Arnold’s #4 and #5 symphonies were written as a pair. It might be interesting to discuss them in that context.

I’ll liste for the fierce string tone in the Bartok Concerto. Although I have a score, I don’t hold a candle for the piece and doubt, unless Krivine persuades me otherwise, that I’ll listen to it many times. The violin concerto is a different affair as it us a favourite of mine.

[Bryn]

This bank holiday weekend, will be a Mahler weekend for me. Certainly a good excuse!

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.1 in Dd major “Titan”
(Chicago Symphony Orchestra) . . . conducted by Pierre Boulez.

Not quite. The cover image get's it right. Boulez did not record 'Titan' but the 1st Symphony which Mahler developed from it, dispensing with the already recycled Blumine and adjusting the orchestation and other details of the composition in the process.



There are now several recordings of the Symphonic Poem in Two Parts - 'Titan' available, my current favourite being that under Roth, who, conveniently, also recorded the 1st Symphony, though with different orchestras and instument technology.

I know it is all too common to refer to the 1st Symphony as 'Titan' but Mahler specifically chose not to append that soubriquet to it. It was dropped by him, along with Blumine and the earlier orchestration, etc.

[Stanfordian]

Véronique Gens – ‘Nuits’
Mélodies for soprano with chamber accompaniment by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, Duparc,
Lekeu, Fauré, Berlioz, Massenet, Chausson, Ropartz, Fauré, Louiguy/Piaf, Messager & Hahn
Instrumental works by Liszt, La Tombelle & Widor
Véronique Gens (soprano)
I Giardini (string quartet & piano)
Recorded 2019 Salle Philharmonique de Liège, Belgium
Alpha Classics

One of the most striking releases of French mélodies I have heard.

[richardfinegold]

I had purchased Mitsubishi Uchida 5 disc set of Mozart Sonatas, for about $8 at a Presto Decca sale. The whole set is wonderful but I particularly like her way with the great K 475 Fantasy

[bluestateprommer]

Continuing with the mini-Boston Symphony Orchestra kick now, with a recent WCRB archival broadcast (for just a few more days now) of a nicely programmed BSO concert with Thomas Ades and Kirill Gerstein,featuring two Haydn symphonies, Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds, and TA's own O Albion:

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2021-06-11/an-evening-with-thomas-ades

If anyone is interested, other offerings include two recent BSO concerts conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, and another conducted by Karina Canellakis:

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/blog/2021-05-28/tanglewood-2021-on-the-air-and-online

Wouldn't advise waiting too long, though (unlike me), to listen to them.

[BBMmk2]

Carrying on today

Mahler
Symphony No.4 in G major
(Juliane Banse, soprano,
Cleveland Orchestra)

Symphony No.5 in C# minor
Symphony No.6 in A minor “Tragic
”
(Weiner Philharmoniker)
All conducted by Pierre Boulez.

Playing these, hopefully today. Time had other things in mind! Well these ones
Mahler Symphony Nos.5 and 6.

[Stanfordian]

Poulenc – ‘Sacred Choral Music’
Stabat Mater
Sept Repons des Tenebres
Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
Cappella Amsterdam.
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir,
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Reuss.
Recorded 2012 Estonia Concert hall, Tallinn, Estonia
Harmonia Mundi, CD

Saint-Saëns – ‘Musique de chambre avec vents’
Septet in E major for trumpet, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass & piano, Op. 65
Quatuor Pascal with Roger Delmotte (trumpet), Jeanne Marie Darré (piano),
Gaston Logerot (double bass)
Recorded 1957, Paris
Bassoon Sonata in G major, Op. 168
Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op. 167
Oboe Sonata in D major, Op. 166
Romance in F major for horn & piano, Op. 36
Cavatine in D major for trombone & piano, Op. 144
Les solistes de l'Orchestre de Paris et de l'Opéra de Paris:
(Maurice Allard (bassoon), Maurice Bourgue (oboe), Gilbert Coursier (horn),
Maurice Gabai (clarinet), Jacques Toulon (trombone), Annie d’Arco (piano),
Recorded 1976 Paris
Indésens (Calliope) CD

[Mario]

MOZART W A

PC No 27 in Bb Maj K 595

Comparing

LSO – Schnabel A – Sir Barbirolli J (1934)
ECO – Barenboim D – Barenboim D
Philharmonia O – Han D – Freeman P
NYPO – Serkin R – Toscanini A (1936)

Mario

[jayne lee wilson]

Malcolm Arnold Symphony No.3; No.4.

NSO of Ireland/Penny. Naxos CDs

and

LSO/Hickox. QOBUZ LOSSLESS.

What wonderful Symphonies these are - and what stunning finales they both have! Utterly exhilarating.
Not much to choose between the two sets; sometimes I prefer one, then the other. Both have exceptionally fine audiophile-level sound, the Naxos of a great 3D spaciousness, detail, wide dynamics and marvellously smooth natural tonal balance; I usually go to this one first.
Perhaps the LSO Brass have the virtuosic edge in those brilliant endings (how they relish it - show-offs!), but….. “how happy can I be with either!”

[Mandryka]

MOZART W A

PC No 27 in Bb Maj K 595

Comparing

LSO – Schnabel A – Sir Barbirolli J (1934)
ECO – Barenboim D – Barenboim D
Philharmonia O – Han D – Freeman P
NYPO – Serkin R – Toscanini A (1936)

Mario

Does Schnabel have a modernist cadenza? I remember enjoying the Serkin/Toscanini -- but it's more than 10 years since I heard it last I think.