What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Edgy 2]

Sofronitsky here too Jayne

Chopin Nocturnes
Beethoven Op 28
Mendelssohn Op 54

also

Kabalevsky Piano Sonatas 1 to 3

Michael Korstick

[Richard Barrett]

Bruckner 9. Berliner Philharmoniker, Eugen Jochum. Nothing wrong with it. The Scherzo is fantastic.

[Stanfordian]

‘Offenbach Colorature’ – Jodie Devos
Coloratura soprano arias from Boule de neige, Vert-Vert, Orphée aux Enfers, Un Mari à la porte, Fantasio, Les Bavards, Mesdames de La Halle, Le Roi Carotte, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Robinson Crusoé, Boule de neige, Le Voyage dans la Lune & Les Bergers overture
Jodie Devos (soprano)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Laurent Campellone
with Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano)
Recorded 2018, Studio 1, Bayerischen Rundfunk, Munich
Alpha Classics - A most enjoyable new album

Franck
String Quartet in D major
Chausson
Chanson perpétuelle, for mezzo-soprano, piano & string quartet
Quatuor Zaïde
Karine Deshayes (mezzo-soprano)
Jonas Vitaud (piano)
Recorded 2017, Salle de concert Arsenal, Metz, France
NoMadMusic

[BBMmk2]

Hi ts

Try this if you can:

http://www.musicweb-international.co...nte_MYR019.htm

Hiya Mahlerei, that looks good! Hope you are well.

Claudio Abbado’s recently published Mahler boxset artived yesterday. So I’ll be delvinginto that this week. Although some have been duplicated, but it’s well worth getting to include the later ones,like the Lucerne No.2.

JLW, did you see my post re the Storgards cycle?

[BBMmk2]

Bruckner 9. Berliner Philharmoniker, Eugen Jochum. Nothing wrong with it. The Scherzo is fantastic.

I have the set. Very good.

[edashtav]

I have the set. Very good.

I endorse that view: sound, traditional fare.

[jayne lee wilson]

Hiya Mahlerei, that looks good! Hope you are well.

Claudio Abbado’s recently published Mahler boxset artived yesterday. So I’ll be delvinginto that this week. Although some have been duplicated, but it’s well worth getting to include the later ones,like the Lucerne No.2.

JLW, did you see my post re the Storgards cycle?

Indeed I did - thanks! I've just played the Storgårds Nielsen 5th - and it is quite stunning, one of the best I've heard and probably the best-sounding of all - more later...

[BBMmk2]

Indeed I did - thanks! I've just played the Storgårds Nielsen 5th - and it is quite stunning, one of the best I've heard and probably the best-sounding of all - more later...

Great! I played all three CDs straight through. Enjoyed them that much! The 6th I think takes a bit of getting used methinks,generally speaking. Needs careful handling!

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.1 in D minor.
Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado.

Symphony No.2 in C minor, “Resurrection”
Eteri Gvazava, (soprano), Anna Larsson, (contralto)
Orfeôn Donostiarra
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado.

[edashtav]

I've visited a BBC Music magazine CD of the 90 y.o. Michael Tippett conducting the BBC SO in his own 2nd and 4th symphonies. ( I understand these historic recordings were later issued on the NMC label) . I must admit that the 2nd is one of my favourite scores: my love is sufficient to get me off my seat and into a train when I see a live performance advertised. So, I'm prejudiced. These recordings are not the best on disc, but they have moments that are revelatory, when I say to myself, "Yes, so right, that's what he wanted." I think it was John Amis who said of MT's beat that it was wild and wild is a characteristic of some of these moments. The Vivaldian pump at the start of the first movement of the 2nd , possibly subtitled "Joy", is intoxicating: Michael adds 'the spirit of the dance' into his mixture. Sometimes the brass are let off the elastic, they are half-way to the Pub.
A spirit of life lived to the full is communicated by these performances. Without such risk and sheer abandon, MT's music can sound intricate and full of pretty patterns. These discs are historic, thank goodness Michael and the BBC laid then down before it was too late. I recommend them too you all as 'raw' Michael Tippett.

[Pianoman]

Liszt. Transcendental Etudes.
Claudio Arrau.

Thoughts on these or other interpretations welcome. I’m enjoying these in any case.

I have half a dozen recordings of these, but my favourite is available as Mp3 download for a whole £4.69 from Amazon...

Very clangy piano sound in places, typical of old(ish) Melodiya, but the playing has never been bettered imo. Worth a punt at that price..?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liszt-dex%C3%A9cution-transcendante-indispensables-Diapason/dp/B00DJPRA0Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547467884&sr=8-1&keywords=berman+liszt

[BBMmk2]

I have half a dozen recordings of these, but my favourite is available as Mp3 download for a whole £4.69 from Amazon...

Very clangy piano sound in places, typical of old(ish) Melodiya, but the playing has never been bettered imo. Worth a punt at that price..?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liszt-dex%C...s=berman+liszt

Member Jonathan Welsh will be able to testify, no doubt.

[Joseph K]

Stravinsky - Pulcinella Suite, Scherzo Fantastique, Symphonies of Wind Instruments - NYPO/Boulez

[jayne lee wilson]

Nielsen Symphony No.5. BBCPO/Storgårds. Chandos 24/96 . 2015 release..

Storgårds doesn’t miss a trick in the 5th - a marvellous, carefully-paced reading whose power and beauty surely makes it one of the very finest on record.
It is that beauty of sound - from the orchestra itself, and the spacious, transparent dynamically wide-ranging recording, that strikes the ear most. Storgårds doesn’t allow the side-drum to become too fierce during part one - until its onslaught upon the orchestra at the peak, whose power at the final surge clear of the battle is stupendous - overwhelming. And how impressively clear it remains through the teeming density of it all!

Characteristically Moderate tempi in Part Two, but with terrific weight and truculence to the rhythmic momentum. Compellingly demonic second fugue, with savage crescendi before the machine runs out of steam….
The tranquillo pure, then radiant; the orchestra sweeping back, an unstoppable wave, to carry us to a final chord of shining splendour.

So an excellent set overall - sometimes you wonder if the steadiness of pace makes too relaxed an impression, without enough tension or drama, but almost every time (with the partial exception of the 3rd), Storgårds wins you over with tonal beauty, definitional clarity, thunderous weight and momentum - and those huge, magnificent climaxes.
An engineering feat as well as a musical one!

[Jonathan]

Member Jonathan Welsh will be able to testify, no doubt.

Indeed I can! Interestingly, I listened to Lazar Berman's recording last week (via you-tube) and I thought it was great! It was flagged as the reference recording. Recently, Dinara Klinton's set is excellent but I wasn't impressed by Trifanov - too polished for my tastes. I caught Boris Giltberg's Chasse Neige on the radio last week and wasn't sure what to make of it. I'll have a proper listen at a later date...

[Pulcinella]

Stravinsky - Pulcinella Suite, Scherzo Fantastique, Symphonies of Wind Instruments - NYPO/Boulez

Surprisingly scrappy Pulcinella Suite, imho.
I would have expected something sharper/more precise from Boulez.