What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Bryn]

Global Hockets (From Scratch - Supreme Particles)

Then . . .

[cloughie]

I've recently found it hard to find, or focus on a composer or theme; after some very busy days and weeks this often happens; the soul is in retreat before the cruel real world, almost no music seems to raise a response; so I drink...and I'm grateful for, and tend to follow, Forum-inspirations.....

But it occurs to me that, well into the heart of Winter, I've heard no Sibelius (who always feels like a Winter Composer to me) nor seen much mention of his music here for a while....

Well, we'll see..... but where to start.....?

Leminkainen Suite - Okko Kamu and keep to his order of movements with the Swan placed third. You could warm up (or chill down depending on how you like your Winter music with Barbirolli’s Pohjola’s Daughter!

[HighlandDougie]

I've recently found it hard to find, or focus on a composer or theme; after some very busy days and weeks this often happens; the soul is in retreat before the cruel real world, almost no music seems to raise a response; so I drink...and I'm grateful for, and tend to follow, Forum-inspirations.....

But it occurs to me that, well into the heart of Winter, I've heard no Sibelius (who always feels like a Winter Composer to me) nor seen much mention of his music here for a while....

Well, we'll see..... but where to start.....?

As an adjunct to the excellent Sibelius suggestions, especially the 6th, the second disc of the 2 CD Stravinsky release by Gustavo Gimeno and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg - Jeu de Cartes, Concerto in D, Agon - which is on Qobuz, so I assume streamable (??), has certainly lifted my spirits, given the general gloom here in France. Lovely sprung rhythms, fine orchestral playing and great Pentatone recording. Guaranteed to refresh the most jaded musical palate.

[Stanfordian]

‘Visions’ - Véronique Gens
Arias: Saint-Saëns, Niedermeyer, Halévy, Godard, Février, David, Franck, Massenet, Bizet, Bruneau
Véronique Gens (soprano)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester/Hervé Niquet
Recorded 2017 Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich
Alpha Classics

Chausson
Concert for violin, piano and string quartet, Op. 21
Itzhak Perlman (violin) & Jorge Bolet (piano)
Juilliard Quartet
Recorded 1983
CBS Masterworks – a simply glorious recording!

[MrGongGong]

I found a copy of La Monte Young's "Black Album" in a shop in Athens this morning (CD version)
it cost €15.00
If it was the LP I could flog it and retire BUT great to find

[Stanfordian]

Schumann
Symphony No. 2
San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
Recorded live 2016 Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
Part of set of complete Schumann symphonies
SFS Media

In my view this is a quite outstanding performance. I heard the third movement played last night on Classic FM and just had to play the recording of the complete symphony this morning.

[BBMmk2]

Meiczyslaw Weinberg
Symphony No.13, Op.116
Serenade, Op.47
Siberia SO, Vladimir Lande.

Not a bad recording at all from Naxos. Never heard of the orchestra before but sound very good.

[Joseph K]

Schumann - Piano Concerto in A minor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QT9SkPiBNo

[Joseph K]

Mahler 9 BPO/Barbirolli.

[BBMmk2]

Vaughan Williams
Symphony No.7,”Sinfonia Antarctica”*
4 Last Songs**; Concerto for two Pianos ***
**Roderick Williams, * Mari Eriksmoen,
Louis Lortie, Héléne Mercier, Pianists***
Bergen PO, Sir Andrew Davis.

[Joseph K]

Ferneyhough, third scene of Shadowtime.

[Bryn]

One of my favourite Debussy works, in a somewhat surprising guise: Chansons de Bilitis for reciter, two flutes, harp and celesta, in a Finnish translation. Perhaps it was the Finnish which threw member Swain to introduce the work as if it was the Trois Chansons de Biiitis, rather than the Musique de scène, during Saturday's TtN. I will have to listen again, as the celesta part did not sound quite as I recall Boulez's reconsturction of it, which it that usually played.

1:17 am
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Pierre Louÿs (author)
Chansons de Bilitis
Jeni Packalén (narrator), Niamh McKenna (flute), Kaisa Kortelainen (flute), Lior Ouziel (harp), Juhani Lagerspetz (celesta)

[jayne lee wilson]

As an adjunct to the excellent Sibelius suggestions, especially the 6th, the second disc of the 2 CD Stravinsky release by Gustavo Gimeno and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg - Jeu de Cartes, Concerto in D, Agon - which is on Qobuz, so I assume streamable (??), has certainly lifted my spirits, given the general gloom here in France. Lovely sprung rhythms, fine orchestral playing and great Pentatone recording. Guaranteed to refresh the most jaded musical palate.

Yes, I heard the Gimeno Agon via Qobuz Studio a while ago (I might have mentioned it well, somewhere - (New Releases? - and there are still so few recordings of Agon), but these boards do sweep on, don't they...?) - it is lovely, perhaps the best since the composer's own.... I do prefer the recent Gergiev in the Card Game though - a warmer, livelier account, very characterful....

Thanks Alison and the Cloughster....possible program:
Sibelius 6
En Saga (Vanska, 1892 original), Pohjola....
Lemminkainen....

The adorable, ethereal 6th, and the early poems often seem the freshest....

[Joseph K]

Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IP4GTRJdPo

[Joseph K]

Claude Debussy - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; Images, Cleveland Orchestra/Boulez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRCRMkWQFRc