What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[mallard fizz]

Recordings of the 'complete' surviving/rescued music of Edgar(d) Varèse as performed at or in relation with the May 2017 Radio 3 Barbican Varèse Total Immersion day.

I went along to that, it was an excellent event. I know some have expressed strong disapproval of immersion/saturation events/programmes, but I enjoy them.

How are those recordings available? I would love to hear them.

[Bryn]

I went along to that, it was an excellent event. I know some have expressed strong disapproval of immersion/saturation events/programmes, but I enjoy them.

How are those recordings available? I would love to hear them.

They were broadcast in a few programmes on Radio 3. Yesterday, I stumbled across a bunch of folders with FLAC and WAV files derived from those programmes. I'm sure I must have the m4a or aac files somewhere. The FLACs and WAVs are not all that 'clean'. a fair few brief instances of what sounds like DAB 'bubbling mud'.

[DublinJimbo]

Messiaen: Quatuor pour le fin du temps
Michel Beroff (piano), Erich Gruenberg (violin), William Pleeth (cello), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet)

What with school and university closures, closed doors at museums, theatres and other public buildings, and advice not to stage indoor gatherings over 100 and outdoor ones over 500, Messiaen's master work naturally sprang to mind. This is the classic 1969 recording, in the wonderfully remastered version from 2008. Still unsurpassed.

[jayne lee wilson]

...a trio of neos...or, a dash of bitters....

Zemlinsky Sinfonietta (1934). Czech PO/Beaumont. Nimbus CD.
Roussel Sinfonietta (1934). OdlSdCdC/Cluytens. Erato CD.
Skalkottas Concertino for 2 Pianos & Orchestra (1935). Sols./Thessaloniki SSO/Christopoulos. BIS CD.

[BBMmk2]

...a trio of neos...or, a dash of bitters....

Zemlinsky Sinfonietta (1934). Czech PO/Beaumont. Nimbus CD.
Roussel Sinfonietta (1934). OdlSdCdC/Cluytens. Erato CD.
Skalkottas Concertino for 2 Pianos & Orchestra (1935). Sols./Thessaloniki SSO/Christopoulos. BIS CD.

Looks like a good collection there?

Szymanowski
Violin Concerto No.1, Op.35*
Symphony No.3, Op.27, “Song of the Night**
Christian Tezlaff(violin)
Wiener Singerverein**
Johannes Prinz(violin)**
Pierre Boulez
Wiener Philharmoniker

Pierre Boulez & The Cleveland
Debussy
Three Nocturnes
(Ladies of The Cleveland Ladies Chorus)
Jeux
La Mer
Prélude á l’apres midi-d’un faune
Printemps
Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

[jayne lee wilson]

Szymanowski...! A very good idea....more mid-20thC classics..... (with no football I've got to try a bit harder now....!)....

First up.... that 4th Symphony, the Symphonie Concertante.... very fond....

[visualnickmos]

Szymanowski...! A very good idea....more mid-20thC classics..... (with no football I've got to try a bit harder now....!)....

First up.... that 4th Symphony, the Symphonie Concertante.... very fond....

I can't decide if I 'like' Karol S. or not..... sometimes I find his oeuvres seem to meander along, directionless. If I wore a watch, I'd be looking at it.

[jayne lee wilson]

I can't decide if I 'like' Karol S. or not..... sometimes I find his oeuvres seem to meander along, directionless. If I wore a watch, I'd be looking at it.

But surely not during the 4th Symphony, which allies a terrific syncopated rhythmic drive to an elegiac lyricism?

Or the once-heard-always-haunted Stabat Mater, a devastating tragic masterpiece which seems a prayer of lament for all of Polish and Jewish history before and after the War; reaches out to us all in the universal; is simply one of the greatest choral works of the 20th Century.

It holds a similar place in my heart to Suk's Asrael; impossible to imagine life - or having lived - without it, but almost impossible to face it again...
I tried just now, but soon had to give up...


Truly, though our element is time,
We are not suited to the long perspectives
Open at each instant of our lives.
They link us to our losses: worse,
They show us what we have as it once was,
Blindingly undiminished, just as though
By acting differently we could have kept it so.

(Larkin)

[jayne lee wilson]

Szymanowski Symphony No.4 "Symphonie Concertante" Op.60 (1932).
Jan Krzystzov Broja/Warsaw PO/Wit. Naxos CD.

Utterly irresistible piece, cross-rhythmic and sweepingly melodic, with two wonderful cadenzas and a real cant-getcha-outta-my-head finale theme whose sway and swing draws you helplessly into its wild embrace. Easily on a par with the Bartok or Ravel Concerti, but with greater symphonic integration of its dazzling array of ideas and motifs.

Kurt Weill Symphony No.2 (1933-4).
Bournemouth SO/Alsop. Naxos CD.

More hooks and swings from the 30s - and a superb recording adapting to all the shades and moods and ominousness, with a beefy visceral impact.
Wonderful piece wonderfully played! (What a remarkable movement the largo is...)

[BBMmk2]

Szymanowski...! A very good idea....more mid-20thC classics..... (with no football I've got to try a bit harder now....!)....

First up.... that 4th Symphony, the Symphonie Concertante.... very fond....

A very good work too.

[Joseph K]

Panic - Birtwistle

[visualnickmos]

But surely not during the 4th Symphony, which allies a terrific syncopated rhythmic drive to an elegiac lyricism?

Or the once-heard-always-haunted Stabat Mater, a devastating tragic masterpiece which seems a prayer of lament for all of Polish and Jewish history before and after the War; reaches out to us all in the universal; is simply one of the greatest choral works of the 20th Century.

It holds a similar place in my heart to Suk's Asrael; impossible to imagine life - or having lived - without it, but almost impossible to face it again...
I tried just now, but soon had to give up...


Truly, though our element is time,
We are not suited to the long perspectives
Open at each instant of our lives.
They link us to our losses: worse,
They show us what we have as it once was,
Blindingly undiminished, just as though
By acting differently we could have kept it so.

(Larkin)

Jayne, You are irresistibly persuasive ! You've sort of put in perspective what I was thinking; I need to 'educate' myself more on KS's oeuvres. I think the 4th symphony maybe a good place to start - with 'new ears'

[Pulcinella]

Jayne, You are irresistibly persuasive ! You've sort of put in perspective what I was thinking; I need to 'educate' myself more on KS's oeuvres. I think the 4th symphony maybe a good place to start - with 'new ears'

Mentioned before/elsewhere: you can't go wrong with the string quartets:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7952038--szymanowski-string-quartets

[BBMmk2]

Pierre Boulez & The Cleveland Orchestra
Debussy
Nocturnes
Premier Rapsodie*
Jeux
Prélude a lapres midi d’un faun
Images
La Mer
Images
Printemps
Mahler
Symphony No.4 in G major **
Symphony No.7 in E minor
Olivier Messiaen
Chronochromei, for large orchestra
* Franklin Cohen (clarinet)
** Julianne Banse(soprano)
Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

[Pulcinella]

Music for wind quintet (BBC MM, Vol 12, No 11)

Nielsen: Wind quintet
Ligeti: Six bagatelles
Barber: Summer music
Françaix: Wind quintet no 1

Galliard Ensemble

Prompted by hearing the Ligeti on ABC Classic yesterday.