What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Petrushka]

Hiya Stan! I heard an extract on Record Review yesterday. Sounds very tempting!

Debussy
Nocturnes
Ravel
Daphnis et Chloe suite no.2; Pavane pour infant defunte;
Scriabin
Poeme de l'Extase.
Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado.

That's not the one with the Boston Symphony Orchestra is it?

Coincidentally, this morning:

Schubert: Symphony No 8
Mozart: Symphony No 41

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Eugen Jochum

What a fine orchestra this was at this period though unfortunately having the uninspiring Ozawa at the helm.

[HighlandDougie]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln/François-Xavier Roth
Harmonia Mundi

Same here. Despite the slight studio-bound quality of the recording acoustic (WDR Cologne), which I've probably only noticed as I've been o'ding on Dausgaard/Nielsen in the Seattle concert hall acoustic, fine recording - deep bass, wide dynamic range - which shows to good advantage in its 24/44 download form.

F-X Roth can do little wrong in my eyes, whether with Les Siècles or in late romantic repertoire - his Mahler 1st with the SWR Orchestra is my go-to version of that symphony - so I was predisposed to like this 5th. Which I do - to use a favourite neologism, "bigly". No messing about in the final movement à la Lenny - just letting the music speak for itself.

[BBMmk2]

Hiya Stan! I heard an extract on Record Review yesterday. Sounds very tempting!

Debussy
Nocturnes
Ravel
Daphnis et Chloe suite no.2; Pavane pour infant defunte;
Scriabin
Poeme de l'Extase.
Boston SO, Claudio Abbado.

Orchestra corrected. Thank you Pet!

Shostakovich
Symphony No.7 in C major, op.60, "Leningrad"
Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hiya Stan! I heard an extract on Record Review yesterday. Sounds very tempting!

[Stanfordian]

That's not the one with the Boston Symphony Orchestra is it?

Coincidentally, this morning:

Schubert: Symphony No 8
Mozart: Symphony No 41

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Eugen Jochum

What a fine orchestra this was at this period though unfortunately having the uninspiring Ozawa at the helm.

Hiya Petrushka,

My mistake of course I mean Abbado with the Boston Symphony Orchestra not Berliner Philharmoniker.

[DublinJimbo]

I've been o'ding on Dausgaard/Nielsen in the Seattle concert hall acoustic, fine recording - deep bass, wide dynamic range - which shows to good advantage in its 24/44 download form.

Oh yes, that Dausgaard/Nielsen release is top drawer.

F-X Roth can do little wrong in my eyes, whether with Les Siècles or in late romantic repertoire - his Mahler 1st with the SWR Orchestra is my go-to version of that symphony - so I was predisposed to like this 5th. Which I do - to use a favourite neologism, "bigly". No messing about in the final movement à la Lenny - just letting the music speak for itself.

I too am a fan of F-X Roth, though I must admit to some disappointment with his Daphnis et Chloé. This I put down to its being a studio recording, lacking the visceral excitement of his Les Siècles Live series.

EDIT: Ah, but no — I see now from the recording credits that Daphnis was in fact recorded live. (Strangely, though, no less than six venues are mentioned, so the recorded 'performance' isn't really a performance at all.)

[HighlandDougie]

EDIT: Ah, but no — I see now from the recording credits that Daphnis was in fact recorded live. (Strangely, though, no less than six venues are mentioned, so the recorded 'performance' isn't really a performance at all.)

From the acoustics, I would surmise that the base recording was made in the Philharmonie de Paris, with patches from the other locations. The Philharmonie has quite challenging acoustics. TS, I know, was disappointed whereas I thought that Daniel Harding and the Orchestre de Paris sounded pretty good in Mahler's 5th, but with the proviso that DH (or someone else in the orchestra) had gone to great trouble to place the different sections in the hall. It looked very odd at the time but worked very well. The recent Y N-S Mendelssohn cycle is another P de P recording which is - mostly - pretty successful.

Glad that you share my enthusiasm for the Dausgaard Nielsen - I suspect that Primephonic might be wondering at the surge in interest from the UK and Ireland.

Me:

Martinu: Symphony No 4 H.305

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Wolfgang Sawallisch (recorded 16 October 1975)

Ah, the joys of fine Czech recordings from the Dvorák Hall of the Rudolfinum in Prague - and wonderful playing from the Czech PO. Sawallisch a fine Martinu interpreter. I think that this is another box where thanks are due to Bryn for highlighting its existence.

[teamsaint]

Mozart Piano Quartets K 478 and K 493.
Van Oort/Roelofs/Verhagen/Ter Linden.

Probably the first time I have heard these performed with a fortepiano,and for my money this is a fine disc, with performances that really allow so much to pour out of the score.

[Richard Barrett]

As I've mentioned a few times, I've just spent two weeks in the USA, which means of course spending a lot more time driving a car than I generally do. I decided to sample the classical radio stations while sitting in traffic jams on the so-called freeways. Public classical radio stations are, as I'd expected, closer in concept to Classic FM (but without the ads!) than R3, presented as de-stressing therapy and therefore involving nothing whatsoever to frighten the horses, although I did make one rather surprising discovery, the final two movements of a late 19th century symphony I didn't recognise although there was a Slavic flavour to it, and superlatively played (especially the horns), which (after listening to the last few minutes in a parking lot) I found to be Dvořák's 7th Symphony, which I guess I'd never heard before, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Sawallisch. What a superb performance.

[Petrushka]

Sibelius: Symphonies No 3 & 4

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Paavo Berglund

[Stanfordian]

Hindemith
Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carlo Maria von Weber
Concert Music for string orchestra and brass instruments
Violin Concerto
Midori (violin)
NDR Symphony Orchestra/Christoph Eschenbach
Recorded live 2011 (Concert Music) & 2012 (Violin Concerto, Symphonic Metamorphosis), Laeiszhalle, Hamburg
Ondine

Beethoven
String Quartet in A major, Op. 18/5 ‘Lobkowitz’
String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 18/6 ‘Lobkowitz’
Quatuor Mosaïques
Recorded 1994 Grafenegg Schloss ‘Alte Reitschule’, Austria
Naïve

[BBMmk2]

As I've mentioned a few times, I've just spent two weeks in the USA, which means of course spending a lot more time driving a car than I generally do. I decided to sample the classical radio stations while sitting in traffic jams on the so-called freeways. Public classical radio stations are, as I'd expected, closer in concept to Classic FM (but without the ads!) than R3, presented as de-stressing therapy and therefore involving nothing whatsoever to frighten the horses, although I did make one rather surprising discovery, the final two movements of a late 19th century symphony I didn't recognise although there was a Slavic flavour to it, and superlatively played (especially the horns), which (after listening to the last few minutes in a parking lot) I found to be Dvořák's 7th Symphony, which I guess I'd never heard before, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Sawallisch. What a superb performance.

Rafael Kubelik was a great Dvorak interpreter as was Istvan Kertesz, Jiri Behlolavek and latterly Mariss Jansons.

[mahlerei]

Ottorino RESPIGHI
Trittico Botticelliano (Botticelli Triptych)
Il tramonto (The Sunset)
Vetrate di chiesa (Church Windows)
Anna Caterina Antonacci (soprano)
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège/John Neschling
BIS

[BBMmk2]

Shostakovich
The Execution of Stepan Razin;
The Sun Shines over our Motherland, Op.90;
Cantata, The song of the Forests, Op.81.
Estonian concert Choir, Estonian NSO, Paavo jarvi.

Prokoviev
Cantata on the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Op.74/
Ernst Senf Chor, Berlin, Staatskapelle Weimar,
Luftwaffermisikkorps Erhut,
Kiril Karabits.

Sibelius
Symphonty No.4 in A minor, Op.63;
Phjola's Daughter, Op.49
LSO, Sir Colin Davis.

[Bryn]

Having listened to/watched A Flower; 51'15.657"; Music for Two (By One); The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs and Connecting Egypt to Madison through Columbus Ohio, Cage and the History of the American Labor[sic] Movement, I am now watching the 'bonus' video interview on: