What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Richard Barrett]

Thanks for the reminder I like his Mass for Double Choir and the organ work, Passacaglia. Is there an orchestral version?

There is indeed (see above) and also a version for string orchestra. Strangely, the liner notes of the Bamert CD don't mention that the orchestral piece is an arrangement of an organ piece. I attended a performance of the Mass a couple of years ago, it's quite an impressive piece.

[Stanfordian]

Shostakovich
Cello Concertos No’s 1 & 2
Alisa Weilerstein (cello)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks/Pablo Heras-Casado
Recorded 2015 (Studio No. 1 & Live No. 2) Herkulessaal, Munich
Decca

Arensky
Piano Quintet, Op. 51
String Quartet No. 2, Op. 35
Piano Trio, Op. 32
Spectrum Concerts Berlin
Recorded live 2014, Kammermusiksaal, Philharmonie, Berlin
Naxos

[BBMmk2]

Arensky’s chamber music I know nothing about, Stan

Listening to last night’s Prom. Seems much better than the other one, with Richard Strauss’s Eine Alpine Sinfonie.

[BBMmk2]

There is indeed (see above) and also a version for string orchestra. Strangely, the liner notes of the Bamert CD don't mention that the orchestral piece is an arrangement of an organ piece. I attended a performance of the Mass a couple of years ago, it's quite an impressive piece.

Thank you Richard Barrett. Yes, I have the one on Hyperion label, re the Mass, with Matthew Best. I’ll see about that recording you mentioned above as well.

[Stanfordian]

Arensky’s chamber music I know nothing about, Stan

This Arensky album from Spectrum Concerts Berlin contain especially fine performances.

[Bryn]

Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2 (Rostropovich, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Svetlanov).

[jayne lee wilson]

Roberto Gerhard
Leo; Gemini; Libra; Concert for 8. Collegium Novum Zurich/Peter Hirsch. NEOS CD 2013.

Stunning Gerhard collection of the late ensemble/instrumental pieces (some of his best music), including all the Zodiac works. Probably not much to choose between these and the Barcelona 216 (Stradivarius), but with the advantage of having them here on a single disc. In truth, and in direct comparison, I did just prefer the NEOS recordings for a touch of extra freedom and drama in their presentation.
Both Libra and Leo end with a variant of the same music - an extraordinary, other-worldly coda with clarinet and flute solos agains a piano ostinato, soft timpani glissandi and hushed percussion adding flickers and colours in the background.
Libra was his own sign, Leo his wife's. Leo was his last completed work.

[BBMmk2]

This Arensky album from Spectrum Concerts Berlin contain especially fine performances.

Thanks Stan. Much appreciated!

[Stanfordian]

Vivaldi - x2 - Double Concertos for horns, oboes, violin & cello, oboe & bassoon
Concerto for 2 horns, strings & continuo, RV 539
Concerto for 2 oboes, strings & continuo, RV 535
Concerto for violin, cello, strings & continuo, RV 546
Concerto for oboe, bassoon, strings & continuo, RV 545
Concerto for 2 horns, strings & continuo, RV 538
Concerto for violin, cello, strings & continuo, RV 547
Concerto for 2 oboes, strings & continuo, RV 536
Concerto per S.A.S.I.S.P.G.M.D.G.S.M.B. for violin, cello, 2 oboes, 2 horns, strings & continuo, RV
La Serenissima (period instruments) / Adrian Chandler (baroque violin)
Recorded 2018 Cedars Hall, Wells, Somerset
Avie - new release

‘Magdalena Kožená – Monteverdi’
Arias from Monteverdi, Uccellini, Merula, Marini
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)
La Cetra Barockorchester Basel / Andrea Marcon (direction & harpsichord)
with David Feldman (countertenor); Jakob Pilgram (bass); Michael Feyfar (tenor); Luca Titoto (bass)
Recorded 2014 Kirche St. German von Auxerre, Seewen, Switzerland
Archiv Produktion

[HighlandDougie]

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19, Sz.73

Anton-Webern-Choir Freiburg/SWR Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra/Michael Gielen

Helped by the crystal-clear acoustics of the Freiburg Concert Hall, I think that this may be the best performance of this piece I've heard since first hearing it (BBC SO/Dorati - a much treasured LP) all those years ago (1967 - eek!). Gielen has a wonderful ear for the texture of the music but doesn't forget that it was written as a stage work, rather than as an ear-battering orchestral showpiece. I can't recommend Volume 5 of the Michael Gielen Edition with its mix of his Bartók and Stravinsky highly enough (I seem to remember Richard B enthusing about it as well).

[Richard Barrett]

I can't recommend Volume 5 of the Michael Gielen Edition with its mix of his Bartók and Stravinsky highly enough (I seem to remember Richard B enthusing about it as well).

Absolutely, HD. Every item in that box has become my first-choice recording. And I haven't even listened to it all yet! The Bartók 1st Violin Concerto and Pulcinella are still awaiting my attention, although the latter isn't a favourite of mine.

Continuing my investigations of Frank Martin, I listened this morning to Bamert's CD of "Ballades" which was the title FM used for small-scale concertante works (mostly orchestrated from pieces for melody instrument and piano). These aren't, I think, on the level of the Concerto for 7 Winds (my current favourite) or the Petite symphonie concertante. They seem a little unfocused and eclectic to me.

[LMcD]

Peter Maxwell Davies: Chat Moss, Cross Lane Fair and Five Klee Pictures
Arnold Bax: Summer Music

[Bryn]

Absolutely, HD. Every item in that box has become my first-choice recording. And I haven't even listened to it all yet! The Bartók 1st Violin Concerto and Pulcinella are still awaiting my attention, although the latter isn't a favourite of mine. . . .

I already had 6 of the Stravinsky recordings from that box in their Hänssler Classics manifestation. However, at the current lowest Amazon Marketplace prices, I am sorely tempted.

As for Pulcinella, it is a karaoke favourite of mine.

[Pulcinella]

Absolutely, HD. Every item in that box has become my first-choice recording. And I haven't even listened to it all yet! The Bartók 1st Violin Concerto and Pulcinella are still awaiting my attention, although the latter isn't a favourite of mine.

I'm pleased that you used italics (not noticeable in the 'quote' environment) here, Richard; I don't wan't to think that I've fallen out with you.


Sounds tempting.

PS: Too tempting to resist, given such endorsements, so duly ordered!

[BBMmk2]

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19, Sz.73

Anton-Webern-Choir Freiburg/SWR Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra/Michael Gielen

Helped by the crystal-clear acoustics of the Freiburg Concert Hall, I think that this may be the best performance of this piece I've heard since first hearing it (BBC SO/Dorati - a much treasured LP) all those years ago (1967 - eek!). Gielen has a wonderful ear for the texture of the music but doesn't forget that it was written as a stage work, rather than as an ear-battering orchestral showpiece. I can't recommend Volume 5 of the Michael Gielen Edition with its mix of his Bartók and Stravinsky highly enough (I seem to remember Richard B enthusing about it as well).

That’s saying something there Stan!. I alway was a fan of Abbado s and Rattle’s.


Walton

Viola Concerto
Sonata for String Orchestra
Partita for Orchestra.
James Ehnes(viola), BBC SO,
Edward Gardner.