What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Pulcinella]

I've just ordered my umpteenth set, the Taverner Consort with Andrew Parrott, a recording I missed in the 1980s.

I fairly recently got the ECO/Britten set (primarily for the Sellinger's Round Variations also included); have you heard them?
I didn't enjoy them as much as I'd hoped.

[RichardB]

I never tire of hearing different interpretations of the Brandenburg Concertos.

I agree, although I wouldn't go as far back in time as you! I'm always interested in hearing new ones, although it isn't often that one comes along that takes the favourite spot. The last one was La Petite Bande.

I've just been flying across Europe and listening to Bartók's first two quartets (Hagen Quartett) followed by Tchaikovsky 5 with K Petrenko, which has finally cleared my mind of misgivings I had about that work.

[JasonPalmer]

I am mixing a random cd from my collection with classic fm and radio 3.

[Pulcinella]

I am mixing a random cd from my collection with classic fm and radio 3.

That's pretty close to my idea of Hell!

[smittims]

Dear Richard, 'far back in time' for me means Alfred Cortot's 1932 set!

[RichardB]

Dear Richard, 'far back in time' for me means Alfred Cortot's 1932 set!

You've got me intrigued now... was that the first recording, I wonder.

[BBMmk2]

A new week, after a tribute being paid to Claudio Abbado, with the anniversary of his passing, last Friday, it’s back to the set from Warner Classics of its Dvorak - The Slavonic Soul.

Dvorák
CD 4
Czech Suite, Op.39, B93
Symphony No.5 in F major, Op.76 B54
(Czech Philharmonic Orchestra,
Libor Pešek)
CD 5
Symphony No.6 in D major, Op.60 B112
Scherzo Capricioso, Op.66, B131
CD 7
Symphony No.7 in D minor, Op.70 B141
Symphony No.8 in G major, Op.88 N163
CD 7
Symphony No.9 in E minor, Op.95 B178 “From the New World”
(Philharmonia Orchestra
Carlo Maria Giulini)
Suite in A major, Op.98b, B190 “American”
(Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Libor Pešek)
CD 8
Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104 B191
(Mstislav Rostropovich, cello,
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Carlo Maria Giulini)
Rondo for Cello & Orchestra in G minor, Op.94 B181
(Paul Tortelier, cello,
London Symphony Orchestra
André Previn)
Silent Woods for Cello & Orchestra, Op.68/5 B182
(Jacqueline du Pré, cello,
Chicago Symphony Orchectra
Daniel Barenboim)

[MickyD]

I fairly recently got the ECO/Britten set (primarily for the Sellinger's Round Variations also included); have you heard them?
I didn't enjoy them as much as I'd hoped.

Must admit that I've never heard them, though I was under the impression that they were rather ground breaking at the time.

[MickyD]

I agree, although I wouldn't go as far back in time as you! I'm always interested in hearing new ones, although it isn't often that one comes along that takes the favourite spot. The last one was La Petite Bande.

I've just been flying across Europe and listening to Bartók's first two quartets (Hagen Quartett) followed by Tchaikovsky 5 with K Petrenko, which has finally cleared my mind of misgivings I had about that work.

Is that the older La Petite Bande set or a newer one? Even I lose count of them now!

[smittims]

Yes, Cortot's set, made at the Ecole Normale between 1931 and 33, was the first complete recording of the Brandenburgs, though individual ones had been put on disc earlier: for instance, a fine brisk no.3 by Henry Wood and the British S.O, and Walter Gieseking recorded no.5 in the mid-20s.

Cortot gives a barnstorming performance in no.5, not shy of using '16-foot tone' on what is presumably a Pleyel grand, and Jaques Thibaud plays the solo violin part wih exquisite charm .

I think the first no.5 with Harpsichord was Klemperer's, on Vox, in 1946.

For many years the trumpet part in no.2 was a bugbear. George Eskdale and Roger Voisin (for Busch and Koussevitsky respecytively) have a jolly good stab at it but I'm not sure they actually play the highest notes (concert G) . The first to play the complete part as writen on a trumpet was I think Adolf Scherbaum in the 1950 Munchinger set , and he repeated it in several later recordings, such as Klemperer's 1959 Columbia set.

[Pulcinella]

Must admit that I've never heard them, though I was under the impression that they were rather ground breaking at the time.

Listened to CD1 of the set last night: quite quirky, but interesting, and you're probably right in thinking that they might have been ground breaking at the time.
Harpsichordist in #5 not credited; can it have been George Malcolm, I wonder? Was he associated with the ECO?

[Joseph K]

To my chagrin, I only took the shrink-wrap off this, a Christmas present, today. The Schumann is spinning currently and I'm enjoying it.

[ahinton]

To my chagrin, I only took the shrink-wrap off this, a Christmas present, today. The Schumann is spinning currently and I'm enjoying it.

I believe the Schumann violin concerto to be superior to his far too often played one for his own instrument; not a popular view, I'm sure, but...

[Stanfordian]

J.S. Bach
Mass in B minor
Helen Donath, Brigitte Fassbaender, Claes Hakon Ahnsjö, Roland Hermann & Robert Holl
Chor und Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester / Eugen Jochum
Recorded 1980 Hercules Hall, Munich
EMI Classics, 2 CDs

Chopin – Murray Perahia
12 Études, Op. 10
12 Études, Op. 25
Murray Perahia (piano)
Recorded 2001 Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Sony Classical, CD

[smittims]

I've always enjoyed that Jochum Mass in B minor, being something of a Helen Donath fan. Robert Holl is wonderful too; have you heard his Brahms Lieder on Hyperion?