What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Joseph K]

Bartok - string quartet no. 3 - Belcea Quartet

[pastoralguy]

Tchaikovsky. String Serenade. Op.48

Herbert Von Karajan conducting Die Berliner Philharmoniker. (1980’s recording).

[smittims]

Handel-Beecham 'Piano Concerto'.

Tommy wrote this in America for his second wife Betty Humby to play, and they recorded it on their return to England in 1945, though I don't think the recording was issued until this century, on a SOMM CD.

It's not for purists, as some of it is more Beecham than Handel; I enjoyed it very much.

[Stanfordian]

Leoncavallo
‘Pagliacci’
José Cura (tenor) Canio/Pagliaccio; Barbara Frittoli (soprano) Nedda/Colombina;
Carlos Alvarez (bass) Tonio/Taddeo; Charles Castronovo (tenor) Beppe/Arlecchino;
Simon Keenleyside (baritone) Silvio;
Netherlands Radio Choir,
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Riccardo Chailly
Recorded 1999 Grotezaal, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Decca, 2 CD set

[pastoralguy]

Franck. Symphony in d minor.

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel. DG. 1961.

Still a terrific recording after all these years. It’s a shame it’s not played nearly as much these days. The first ‘proper’ symphony I ever played.

[Joseph K]

Bartok - string quartet no. 3 - Alban Berg Quartett

[Bryn]

Bartok - string quartet no. 3 - Alban Berg Quartett

Inspired by JosephK, Bartok String Quatet no 1 (Ragazze Quartet)

[Mandryka]

Inspired by JosephK, Bartok String Quatet no 1 (Ragazze Quartet)

Very good quartet (I mean Ragazze -- I don't know their Bartok 1)

Listening to FiDi sing Wolf's Moerike Lieder on Audite -- performances from 1949 - 1955.

[Bryn]

Very good quartet (I mean Ragazze -- I don't know their Bartok 1)

Listening to FiDi sing Wolf's Moerike Lieder on Audite -- performances from 1949 - 1955.

Much impressed by the Rgazze Quartet's performance. I will be going on to listen to all six quartets. However, right now I am listening to last night's New Music Show. I was initially taken aback to see a work whose South Bank premiere I attended around 54 years ago highlighted in the programme's listing. However, it turned out that this was a far more recent PMD-approved adaptation for female voice. All in all, a very interesting edition of the "Show": https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001n8rd

[Serial_Apologist]

Much impressed by the Rgazze Quartet's performance. I will be going on to listen to all six quartets. However, right now I am listening to last night's New Music Show. I was initially taken aback to see a work whose South Bank premiere attended around 54 years ago highlighted in the programme's listing. However, it turned out that this was a far more recent PMD-approved adaptation for female voice. All in all, a very interesting edition of the "Show": https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001n8rd

Yes, the Eight Songs for a Mad King worked well with a "female king" - I hadn't expected it to.

[Stanfordian]

Mendelssohn
Piano Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op.25
Variations sérieuses for solo piano, Op. 54
10 Songs without Words for solo piano
Martin Stadtfeld (piano)
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Sir Neville Marriner
Recorded Live 2012 Rheingau Musik Festival, Kurhaus Wiesbaden (Concerto)
& 2012 SWR Studio, Kaiserslautern (solo piano)
Sony Classical, CD

Michael Volle – 'A Portrait'
Baritone arias from Handel, Mozart, Schubert, Wagner, Verdi, Millöcker & Lehár
Michael Volle (baritone)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Ralf Weikert
Recorded 2012 Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich
BR Klassik, CD

[Master Jacques]

Yes, the Eight Songs for a Mad King worked well with a "female king" - I hadn't expected it to.

I wouldn't either: especially the vocal chord harmonic and falsetto sections where the male singer is asked to sing in the soprano range. Hmm. What next: Miss Donnithorne's Maggot adapted for a bass? I should have thought sopranos ought to be satisfied with that one.

[pastoralguy]

Richard Strauss. Oboe Concerto.

John Anderson, oboe.

The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Simon Wright.

A gorgeous piece I don’t often listen to. Despite the Gramophone’s rather lukewarm review I think it’s a terrific performance.

[Joseph K]

Bartok - string quartet no. 4 - Fine Arts Quartet

[smittims]

A Prom from 16 September 1954, courtesy of BBC Legends CDs:

Haydn 99
Delius: orchestral arrangement of act 2 Irmelin
Sibelius 7th
Overture and Venusberg music (Tannhauser)
Excertpts from L'Arlesienne (Bizet)
The Last sleep of the Virgin (Massenet)

RPO/Beecham , with unusually, Leon Goossens, oboe, standing in for an indisposed Terence MacDonagh .

Perhaps surprisingly, in his fifty-year prominence in British musical life, Beecham conducted only three Proms. This is the only one to survive complete.