What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[RichardB]

I still have my LP of Daphnis by Ansermet with the Suisse Romande, bought back in the 1970s - at over an hour in all, one of the longest LPs in my collection.

The longest LPs I ever had were Stockhausen's Stimmung at 72 minutes (but since it's all at a fairly low dynamic level this didn't matter), and Todd Rundgren's Initiation which was 68 minutes long and IIRC came with a note from TR that if you found the level too low you might like to transfer it to cassette. His previous album had been a double album and was almost 2 minutes shorter overall. I blame the recreational substances.

[Bryn]

The longest LPs I ever had were Stockhausen's Stimmung at 72 minutes (but since it's all at a fairly low dynamic level this didn't matter), and Todd Rundgren's Initiation which was 68 minutes long and IIRC came with a note from TR that if you found the level too low you might like to transfer it to cassette. His previous album had been a double album and was almost 2 minutes shorter overall. I blame the recreational substances.

Sadly, my copy of this got damaged beyond playability in a house fire, back in the late 1980s:



No kidding, 78'17" was its playing time.

[pastoralguy]

Schubert. Complete Piano Sonatas.

Wilhelm Kempff, piano. DG. Charity shop find. (Fat boxes). £2.00

Absolutely beautiful playing.

Continuing with this wonderful project.

[Pulcinella]

Elgar
Enigma Variations
BBCSO/Bernstein

It's in the box that contains the Mathis der Maler I was streaming yesterday.

I can live with the extremely slow Nimrod every once in a while.

[richardfinegold]

Janacek: Sting Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters' in the Mandelring reconstruction of the version with viola d'amore.

Be curious to know what you think

[Bryn]

Be curious to know what you think

I got the Diotima recording some 14 years ago and the Mandelrng back in October 2012, so the viola d'amore reconstructions are nothing new to my ears. By and large, I prefer the Diotimas' approach but the surround imaging of the Mandelring recording is very effective. Though an SACD it was mastered in PCM at 44.1kHz and 24-bit dynamics. later being converted to DSD for the SACD. As to the role of the viola d'amore, I find it more interesting than essential. I don't think the newish Urtext edition was much influenced by the idea that Janacek abandoned. I'm glad these attempts at restoration are there to be heard, though. I note that both recordings have risen considerably in price since I got them. The Madering has approximately doubled in price and the Diotima trebled from what I paid. If you are interested in investigating them, I would recommend streaming, unless you have a surround setup.

[smittims]

I enjoyed the Alabiev overture from TTN at about 4.30 this morning and have just heard it again. From what Jonathan told us , poor Alabiev had an unlucky life, but wrote some lovely songs, including 'The Nightingale', admired and transcribed by Liszt.

re long LPs. the first side of the RCA Victrola reissue of Munch's Beethoven Ninth was 38'40", done so as to avoid splitting the adagio, the bane of single-disc Ninths.

Conversely, at the same time as the Everest Mahler 8 they issued Boult's Hindemith Symphony in E flat which was only 29'47" for both sides!

[Bryn]

"the voice of cathy berberian" from the Earle Brown Contemporary Sound Series, Vol. 3 CD 1, comprising:

Luciano Berio– Circles [For Female Voice, Harp And Two Percussionists] (1960)
Harp – Francis Pierre
Percussion – Boris De Vinogradov*, Jean-Pierre Drouet
Voice – Cathy Berberian
Words By [From “Poems 1923-1945"] – E.E. Cummings*

Sylvano Bussotti– Frammento (Pièces De Chair II) [For Voice And Piano] (1958/59)
Piano – Luciano Berio
Voice – Cathy Berberian

John Cage– Aria With Fontana Mix [For Voice And Tape] (1958)
Voice – Cathy Berberian

(Capitalisations reproduced from Discogs. N.B., not mine.)

[Pulcinella]

"the voice of cathy berberian" from the Earle Brown Contemporary Sound Series, Vol. 3 CD 1, comprising:

Luciano Berio– Circles [For Female Voice, Harp And Two Percussionists] (1960)
Harp – Francis Pierre
Percussion – Boris De Vinogradov*, Jean-Pierre Drouet
Voice – Cathy Berberian
Words By [From “Poems 1923-1945"] – E.E. Cummings*

Sylvano Bussotti– Frammento (Pièces De Chair II) [For Voice And Piano] (1958/59)
Piano – Luciano Berio
Voice – Cathy Berberian

John Cage– Aria With Fontana Mix [For Voice And Tape] (1958)
Voice – Cathy Berberian

You might be interested in this: Songs Cathy sang

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Songs-Cathy-Sang-Linda-Hirst/dp/B00000DP3K

[Bryn]

You might be interested in this: Songs Cathy sang

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Songs-Cathy.../dp/B00000DP3K

Thanks but I got it at the time of its release. I recently replaced my damaged copy of her (Cathy's) Edinburgh Festival LP. A real gem:



(https://i.discogs.com/EGuH-nVugr79HT...AzLmpwZWc.jpeg)

Also, just ordered from Youk Records, Walton: Facades 1 & 2 (Berbereion, Tear, Bedford), another LP that was severely damaged in the same house fire:



(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/NYMAA...vKg/s-l300.jpg)

Why this, with its celebrity team of performers, has never made it to a digital release, either on CD for download/steaming, beat me. Damn it, Facade 2 was dedicated to her.

[Pulcinella]

I thought you'd probably have the Linda Hirst CD.

I'm just about to listen to Cathy Berberian doing the Folk songs on this Berio CD:

https://www.discogs.com/release/3006545-Luciano-Berio-Points-On-The-Curve-To-Find-Folk-Songs-Sequenza-VII-Laborintus-II

[Bryn]

I thought you'd probably have the Linda Hirst CD.

I'm just about to listen to Cathy Berberian doing the Folk songs on this Berio CD:

https://www.discogs.com/release/3006...-Laborintus-II

I seem to have missed those recordings. Good to find them at CD rate on QOBUZ. I will import them later. Always happy to find alternative performances to those on RCA/Sony, etc.

[Stanfordian]

‘Aida Garifullina’
Opera Arias from Gounod, Delibes, Rimsky-Korsakov,
Rachmaninov, Solovyov-Sedoy, Tchaikovsky
Aida Garifullina (soprano)
ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien / Cornelius Meister
Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra / Vitaly Gnutov (track 15)
Recorded 2015/16, ORF Großen Sendesaal, Vienna
Decca CD

Holst
The Planets, Op. 32
Frauenchor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Daniel Harding
Recorded Live, February 2022 Herkulessaal, Munich
BR-Klassik CD, recent release

[richardfinegold]

I got the Diotima recording some 14 years ago and the Mandelrng back in October 2012, so the viola d'amore reconstructions are nothing new to my ears. By and large, I prefer the Diotimas' approach but the surround imaging of the Mandelring recording is very effective. Though an SACD it was mastered in PCM at 44.1kHz and 24-bit dynamics. later being converted to DSD for the SACD. As to the role of the viola d'amore, I find it more interesting than essential. I don't think the newish Urtext edition was much influenced by the idea that Janacek abandoned. I'm glad these attempts at restoration are there to be heard, though. I note that both recordings have risen considerably in price since I got them. The Madering has approximately doubled in price and the Diotima trebled from what I paid. If you are interested in investigating them, I would recommend streaming, unless you have a surround setup.

I have 2 surround systems, although one is mainly for video. I haven’t listened to the Mandelrings in surround, but played the DSD layer of the SACD in my two channel system, and the sound stage is spectacular, with the instruments sounding from well beyond the speaker boundary. The viola d’amore is an interesting alternative but I don’t feel that it much changes things in Intimate Pages

[RichardB]

The viola d’amore is an interesting alternative but I don’t feel that it much changes things in Intimate Pages

I agree - not only that, but it doesn't really integrate properly with the rest of the quartet.