What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[pastoralguy]

Another charity shop find!

Dream of the Orient.

Concerto Köln + Sarband. DG

A kind of East meets West mash up. Not a disc I'll play often but interesting to hear once.

[Bryn]

Another charity shop find!

Dream of the Orient.

Concerto Köln + Sarband. DG

A kind of East meets West mash up. Not a disc I'll play often but interesting to hear once.

That's a super CD. There is a companion disc:

[pastoralguy]

That's a super CD. There is a companion disc:

Thank you!

[Stanfordian]

Elgar
Serenade for Strings
Symphony No. 1
Hallé Orchestra / Sir John Barbirolli
Recorded 1970 St Nicholas’ Chapel, Kings Lynn, Norfolk
BBC Legends Series

Bliss
String Quartet No. 2
Clarinet Quintet
David Campbell (clarinet)
Maggini Quartet
Recorded 2003 Potton Hall, Suffolk
Naxos

[Bryn]

Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles… [Inon Barnatan (piano). Philip Myers (horn), Daniel Druckman (xylorimba), Jeffrey Milarsky (glockenspiel), Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Ensemble, Alan Gilbert.]

This is a 'live' recording from summer 2016. Both the playing and the recording quality are very fine indeed. Well worth a listen. It is available to stream from QOBUZ if you have a subscription. Philip Myers, by the way, is Principal Horn with the NYPO.

[BBMmk2]

The British Line
Sir Edward Elgar
Falstaff, Op.68; Romance, Op.62
Grania & Diarmid, Op.42 Froisart Overture, Op.19
Symphony No.1 in Ab, Op.55
Pomp & Circumstance Marche,Op39, Nos.1, 3 & 4
BBC SO, Sir Andrew Davis.

[Bryn]

Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat (excerpts) - Members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (recorded March 1, 1948), followed by the Octet - RCA Victor Chamber Orchestra (also recorded 1948), both conducted by Leonard Bernstein. I find the transfers to be quite amazingly good.

[Pulcinella]

Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat (excerpts) - Members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (recorded March 1, 1948), followed by the Octet - RCA Victor Chamber Orchestra (also recorded 1948), both conducted by Leonard Bernstein. I find the transfers to be quite amazingly good.

RCA 09026 68101 2?
Leonard Bernstein
The Early Years IV

The liner notes suggest BSO members for the Octet.
Victor Chamber Orchestra for the Milhaud that follows.

Agree about the transfer.


PS!
Oops.
Checked recording dates, so perhaps not the same recording(s).
Both recorded 11 August 1947 at Tanglewood.

[Bryn]

RCA 09026 68101 2?
Leonard Bernstein
The Early Years IV

The liner notes suggest BSO members for the Octet.
Victor Chamber Orchestra for the Milhaud that follows.

Agree about the transfer.


PS!
Oops.
Checked recording dates, so perhaps not the same recording(s).
Both recorded 11 August 1947 at Tanglewood.

It would not be at all surprising for the Sony compilers (curators? ) of either edition to get their provenance claims wrong.

[Richard Barrett]

Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles… [Inon Barnatan (piano). Philip Myers (horn), Daniel Druckman (xylorimba), Jeffrey Milarsky (glockenspiel), Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Ensemble, Alan Gilbert.]

This is a 'live' recording from summer 2016. Both the playing and the recording quality are very fine indeed. Well worth a listen. It is available to stream from QOBUZ if you have a subscription. Philip Myers, by the way, is Principal Horn with the NYPO.

You're right, this is an excellent recording, and, as befits the name of the ensemble, with a more chamber music-like quality than others, I mean so that each individual instrumental event is precisely audible instead of being blended into a composite texture. I was thinking when listening to the Cambreling recording that it would be nice to have one where all the instances of unorthodox instrumental techniques (plenty of them in "Cedar Breaks" for example) come across clearly, and for the most part this one delivers.

edit: ... having said that, there are a few moments where I think those features are misinterpreted, as at figure 10 of "Cedar Breaks" where the indeterminate high sounds of the E flat clarinet (marked "with the teeth on the reed") are played legato, rather than as separately articulated as in all the other performances I can remember (including those where the composer was present). As Bryn has implied, Messiaen could have been somewhat more precise with his notations at points like this.

[Stanfordian]

Holst
The Planets
Le Choeur des Femmes de L'Orchestre de Montréal
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal / Charles Dutoit
Recorded 1986 St. Eustache, Montreal
Decca

Bridge
‘Songs and Chamber Music’
Phantasie Piano Quartet, H94
Phantasie Piano Trio, H79
Scherzo for cello & piano
Souvenir for violin & piano
8 songs with piano
3 Songs with viola
Ivan Ludlow (baritone); Tom Dunn (viola)
London Bridge Ensemble
Recorded 2007, Wathen Hall, St. Paul’s School, London
Dutton Epoch - A favourite CD

[HighlandDougie]

Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles… [Inon Barnatan (piano). Philip Myers (horn), Daniel Druckman (xylorimba), Jeffrey Milarsky (glockenspiel), Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Ensemble, Alan Gilbert.]

This is a 'live' recording from summer 2016. Both the playing and the recording quality are very fine indeed. Well worth a listen. It is available to stream from QOBUZ if you have a subscription. Philip Myers, by the way, is Principal Horn with the NYPO.

A pedant writes: the performance took place on Sunday 23 August 2015. The recording was released about a year later in 2016. Anyway, thanks, Bryn, for the steer - I had no idea that the recording existed. For we non-streamers, available as a 24/96 download from 7 Digital for half the price at Qobuz.

[Bryn]

A pedant writes: the performance took place on Sunday 23 August 2015. The recording was released about a year later in 2016. Anyway, thanks, Bryn, for the steer - I had no idea that the recording existed. For we non-streamers, available as a 24/96 download from 7 Digital for half the price at Qobuz.

61% at Stirling prices, actually, but I take your point. Good call. Neither offer booklet notes. [However, there is this.]

[Jonathan]

Currently spinning Moscheles piano concertos 4 and 5 etc on Hyperion. Lovely stuff, packed with good tunes!

[BBMmk2]

Currently spinning Moscheles piano concertos 4 and 5 etc on Hyperion. Lovely stuff, packed with good tunes!

Very much so!

Ernst Mielck
Symphony in F minor, Op.4
Finnish RSO, Sakari Oramo