What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Beef Oven!]

Both of these recordings are in the huge 106 CD Szell box. To be honest, I wasn't even aware that Szell had recorded any Bruckner and this 8th is very fine indeed. Naturally, the 1969 recording isn't as good as we' expect today (I longed for more timpani presence) it's still pretty good. Superb playing throughout.

Do you have any other recordings of Bruckner 8 by other orchestras and conductors?

[Beef Oven!]

People might also be interested in this film of Szell conducting the VPO in Bruckner #3 (plus the Walton "Hindemiths", (has the VPO ever recorded any other Walton?) and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vienna-Phil.../dp/B00GMM11PS

[Beef Oven!]

Earlier this evening .......

Gabriel Fauré - String Quartet Op.121
Quatuor Ysaÿe. 16 bit download

Henri Dutilleux - String Quartet "Ainsi La Nuit"
Belcea Quartet. CD

Albéric Magnard - String Quartet Op. 16
Quatuor Ysaÿe. 16 bit download

Claude Debussy - String Quartet Op. 10
Quartetto Italiano. 16 bit download

[Petrushka]

Do you have any other recordings of Bruckner 8 by other orchestras and conductors?

Very, very many!! From Furtwängler in 1944 to Jansons in 2018 by way of all of Haitink, Karajan, Böhm, Solti etc., etc. Probably around 40 recordings at a guess.

[Bryn]

Very, very many!! From Furtwängler in 1944 to Jansons in 2018 by way of all of Haitink, Karajan, Böhm, Solti etc., etc. Probably around 40 recordings at a guess.

It's a start, I suppose.

[Beef Oven!]

Very, very many!! From Furtwängler in 1944 to Jansons in 2018 by way of all of Haitink, Karajan, Böhm, Solti etc., etc. Probably around 40 recordings at a guess.

[jayne lee wilson]

For some reason my mind is blank on this, in the sense that I don't even recall considering Szell's Bruckner. 3&8 is a great coupling to start from.

....The familiar one I mentioned in #6227.... "always around" in the racks back in the day on LP, then the fine-sounding Sony SBKs etc...
an odd point about them is that the 3rd gets the tighter, better-focussed recording. The 8th is given a little too much airy resonance, doubtless the engineers trying to cope with its grander scale and sound....

Both are very well-played, taut and clearly structured. The 3rd is in the most heavily-cut Schalk-Rattig 1890 edition (probably unauthorised, rather than Oeser or Nowak), and the earlier SBK-CD releases were infamous for lacking part of the Scherzo repeat.
The 8th, a fairly crisp account of Nowak 1890.

There have been recent remasterings, separate from the big box too. Prices...well, you know...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-Symphonies-3-George-Szell/dp/B07987C2SR/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1547261221&sr=1-2&keywords=szell+bruckner

[jayne lee wilson]

Nielsen Symphonies No.3; No.4. BBCPO/Storgårds. Chandos 24/96 . 2015 release..

Whilst still thoughtfully done, I felt the 3rd showed the drawbacks of Storgårds’ approach; always interesting, beautifully played, but too often I had the feeling of a slightly laid-back performance redeemed by some splendid climaxes. Those in the latter stages of the finale are of a splendour to almost-compensate, but… rather too much of the studio about this one.

The 4th goes far better - subtlety, poetry and power in excellent sound, with rugged wide-ranging climaxes; tempi perfectly judged. Terrific timpani!
And yet, and yet….did Storgårds (evidently with an eye on reserving power for the finale) push through the adagio climax a little too swiftly?
It left me a little short-changed… and the end, whilst sonically fine, didn’t quite lift me out of the chair…

(I've gathered these Nielsen series' comments on the Nielsen Composers thread now...)

[Joseph K]

Stravinsky - Symphony in three movements

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB-NzpYwC3Y

[Stanfordian]

‘French Arias’ - Magdalena Kozena
Opera arias from Auber, Boiëldieu, Gounod, Berlioz, Verdi, Ravel, Offenbach, Thomas, Massenet, Bizet
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)
Choeur des Musiciens du Louvre
Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Marc Minkowski
Recorded 2002 Eglise Notre-Dame du Liban, Paris
Deutsche Grammophon - An excellent selection of French arias, outstandingly sung.

Brahms
2 Rhapsodies, Op. 79 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117 6 Klavierstücke, Op. 118 4 Klavierstücke, Op. 119
Radu Lupu (piano)
Recorded 1970/76 St. John’s, Smith Square, London
Decca

[jayne lee wilson]

Nielsen Symphony No.6….BBCPO/Storgårds. Chandos 24/96 (download) . 2015 release..

In astoundingly beautiful 24/96 sound, the Storgårds 6th has to be the most astonishing reading I’ve ever heard: so probing and exploratory, seeking out every tiny deal, whether tragic, cartoonish or phantasmagorical. Those ghosts tiptoeing through the nursery in (i) have never been more haunting, yet the music is laid analytically bare as well; when the main climax arrives it is truly shattering - all the more so in such a thoughtful context.
Storgårds even finds subtly poetic expression in the humoreske, drawing it out, inspecting every note of it; the proposta seria crystalline yet grave - with a mesmerising, long-breathed coda on horns and winds (a passage surely among any Nielsonian’s greatest moments….I wish it would never end).
All these irreconcilables meet in the finale’s parliament of angels and demons, and the ear is compelled by their power, character and sheer finesse.

This Nielsen 6th really does stop you in your tracks; if you know the music well and love it as much as I do, you have to find a way of hearing it.
Once upon a time, one would say “worth buying the box for the 6th alone”…. but since the advent of streaming, there’s no need to agonise….

[teamsaint]

Nielsen Symphony No.6….BBCPO/Storgårds. Chandos 24/96 . 2015 release..

In astoundingly beautiful 24/96 sound, the Storgårds 6th has to be the most astonishing reading I’ve ever heard: so probing and exploratory, seeking out every tiny deal, whether tragic, cartoonish or phantasmagorical. Those ghosts tiptoeing through the nursery in (i) have never been more haunting, yet the music is laid analytically bare as well; when the main climax arrives it is truly shattering - all the more so in such a thoughtful context.
Storgårds even finds subtly poetic expression in the humoreske, drawing it out, inspecting every note of it; the proposta seria crystalline yet grave - with a mesmerising, long-breathed coda on horns and winds (a passage surely among any Nielsonian’s greatest moments….I wish it would never end).
All these irreconcilables meet in the finale’s parliament of angels and demons, and the ear is compelled by their power, character and sheer finesse.

This Nielsen 6th really does stop you in your tracks; if you know the music well and love it as much as I do, you have to find a way of hearing it.
Once upon a time, one would say “worth buying the box for the 6th alone”…. but since the advent of streaming, there’s no need to agonise….

It is available on Apple Music. Something tasty to fill in until 10.30 PM, by the sound of it............

[Bryn]

Giving the mp3 of the 24th November 2000 live recording of Feldman's SQ2 (Pellegrini Quartet) another try. Less coughing and other incidental disruptions than the FLUX Tate Tanks performance and they do seem to settle down to some very beautifully controlled quiet playing eventually, though those strong attacks at the start still irk.

[Lat-Literal]

Louis Aubert - Sillages - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IK6RubxZ20

(Marie-Catherine Girod)

Jean Cras - Piano Concerto - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sJulCGWFn8

(Alain Jacquon)

and

Einojuhani Rautavaara - Symphony No. 8 (The Journey)

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

(Nordmann, Helsinki Philharmonic, Segerstam)

[Beef Oven!]

More often than not, I find a non-recommendation more interesting to me than the 'winner'. In the case of Prok vc1, I already own the recording that is tops for me.

Listening from my MacBook with its sound card disabled by an Oppo DAC feeding a pair of AKG 702s. It doesn't get better than that! The orchestral detail that Previn finds is orgasmic! That's to say nothing of the outstanding Miss Kyung-Wha Chung!