What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[pastoralguy]

Debussy: Chansons de Bilitis; Hindemith/Mallarmé: Herodiade.



96/24 FLACs.

I have been seeking this for some time. I fell upon it on LP in a WH Smith, Notting Hill sale, back in the early 1970s. The Debussy has been a favourite of mine since first hearing it. Zorina/Craft use the Boulez reconstruction of the celeste part. In more recent decades it has largely been displaced by the reconstruction by
Arthur Hoérée is heard more often among the rare performances of this delightful melding of Louÿs's poetry and what was to be recycled as Six épigraphes antiques. The transfer is not too bad. A fair few vinyl glitches have been left unrepaired, but any basic DAW can be used to touch things up, if you want to spend time finding and repairing them, either by using an interpolation tool or by redrawing the waveform, manually. I rather like this recording, and not only for the Boulez reconstruction. Zorina's delivery in both the Debussy and the Hindemith, I find very attractive, musically.

I have a gorgeous recording with Catherine Deneuve reciting the poetry.

[Bryn]

I have a gorgeous recording with Catherine Deneuve reciting the poetry.

Yes, that's probably the best of the more recent recordings. Somehow, DG overlooked it when compiling their supposed complete Debussy boxed set. I was rather taken aback when Radio 3 listed the work on TtN as the Trois chansons de Bilitis. The situation wa made even stranger by the poems having been translated into Finnish. There is also an interesting compilation of related works by Debussy on a Brilliant Classics release. It has the rarely performed, let alone recorded, original version of Syrinx, (with recitation) on it.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes, that's probably the best of the more recent recordings. Sonehow, DG overlooked it when compiling their supposed complete Debussy boxed set. I was rather taken aback when Radio 3 listed it on TtN as the Trois chansons de Bilitis. The situation wa made even stranger by the poems having been translated into Finnish. There is also an interesting compilation of related works by Debussy on a Brilliant Classics release. It has the rarely performed, let alone recorded, original version of Syrinx, (with recitation) on it.

Thanks for this, Bryn. I'm going to enjoy listening to it tomorrow.

[cloughie]

Yes, that's probably the best of the more recent recordings. Somehow, DG overlooked it when compiling their supposed complete Debussy boxed set. I was rather taken aback when Radio 3 listed the work on TtN as the Trois chansons de Bilitis. The situation wa made even stranger by the poems having been translated into Finnish. There is also an interesting compilation of related works by Debussy on a Brilliant Classics release. It has the rarely performed, let alone recorded, original version of Syrinx, (with recitation) on it.

Looks an interesting one to explore!

[Pulcinella]

Stravinsky: Symphony in three movements

Four versions that I hadn't heard before, all streamed (Deezer/Sonos):

San Francisco/MTT
Rotterdam Phil/Conlon
Bamberg Phil/Metzmacher
American SO/Botstein

A pretty clear winner here, I thought: MTT in a very impressive live performance, well captured.
Very much looking forward to BaL on 28 May 2022!

[pastoralguy]

Rachmaninov. Piano Concerto No.3.

Dimitris Sgouros, piano. Yuri Simonov conducting The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. An original EMI cd from 1984 with ‘INDEX’ points!

The Gramophone critic was a bit sniffy but it sounds absolutely fantastic to me! Amazing that the soloist was only 14 when he recorded it.

DSCH. Symphonies 15 & 9

Kirill Kondrashin conducting The Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Melodiya label.

[Alison]

Rachmaninov. Piano Concerto No.3.

Dimitris Sgouros, piano. Yuri Simonov conducting The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. An original EMI cd from 1984 with ‘INDEX’ points!

The Gramophone critic was a bit sniffy but it sounds absolutely fantastic to me! Amazing that the soloist was only 14 when he recorded it.

Seem to recall he was the next Horowitz when I was growing up before disappearing out of sight.

[pastoralguy]

Seem to recall he was the next Horowitz when I was growing up before disappearing out of sight.

I’d never heard of him before today. From what I can tell he still plays in public but there are very few recordings by him.

[Petrushka]

Rachmaninov. Piano Concerto No.3.

Dimitris Sgouros, piano. Yuri Simonov conducting The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. An original EMI cd from 1984 with ‘INDEX’ points!

The Gramophone critic was a bit sniffy but it sounds absolutely fantastic to me! Amazing that the soloist was only 14 when he recorded it.

I remember seeing Sgouros performing that very piece with Rostropovich and the LPO in the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1983. I think it was his UK debut and he was 'The Next Best Thing'. As far as I can recall, I've never heard of him since. In any case, I'd really gone for the Shostakovich 10th in the second half.

[RichardB]

A pretty clear winner here, I thought: MTT in a very impressive live performance, well captured.

MTT never lets you down in Stravinsky, I find.

[Joseph K]

We're nearing the Xenakis centenary and a while ago on this forum I said I'd listen to all my Xenakis CDs around this time, so that's what I've started doing, starting with disk one of this five-disk set -

Disk 2 of this.

[RichardB]

Disk 2 of this.

I've been returning recently to some of those recordings. I found Kyania difficult to get through when it first came out but listened to it spellbound the other day. Of course, things like Synaphai, Metastaseis, Jonchaies, Shaar and Antikhthon, to name only these, are modern classics.

[Joseph K]

I've been returning recently to some of those recordings. I found Kyania difficult to get through when it first came out but listened to it spellbound the other day. Of course, things like Synaphai, Metastaseis, Jonchaies, Shaar and Antikhthon, to name only these, are modern classics.

Agreed. I'm currently listening to Shaar - and before that, Jonchaies - they're very visceral, though with lyrical/modal elements that get abstracted and ultimately blitzed in the maelstrom of massive textures. It's quite delirious and genuinely stormy (much as I like Haydn's Sturm und Drang, I think that description is better suited to much of Xenakis' orchestral oeuvre).

[RichardB]

and before that, Jonchaies

... which is in a few places almost a direct "translation" for orchestra of passages from the electronic piece La légende d'Eer.

[richardfinegold]

I was listening to the Kempe Strauss set with Dresden yesterday. The day before I had been listening to the early digital Karajan Heldenleben, which is ok as a performance but the sonics on the Karajan are just awful, even though it must have been recorded a good decade after the Kempe. There is no soundstage on the DG at all (I have a tubed pre amp, and kept wondering if I had blown a valve). The Kempe give the illusion that there is an actual Orchestra in your room, with low strings and brass laying a foundation and the timpani being placed properly behind the rest of the Orchestra. Only the Alpine Symphony disappoints sonically, but that is a difficult piece to do justice to in 2 channel audio.