What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[BBMmk2]

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 5
Halle Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

Recorded on February 17 1944 and presumably receiving its first recording?

Wonderful!!!

[LMcD]

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 5
Halle Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

Recorded on February 17 1944 and presumably receiving its first recording?

Might this be the Dutton Laboratories recording CDAX 8011 'Vaughan Williams Gramophone Premieres' that also features RVW conducting his 4th? Extract from the liner notes: 'The recording was made under British Council auspices and was only the second recording by the Barbirolli Halle'. I was lucky enough to purchase this recently in a charity shop for the princely sum of 25 p per symphony!

[Bryn]

Might this be the Dutton Laboratories recording CDAX 8011 'Vaughan Williams Gramophone Premieres' that also features RVW conducting his 4th? Extract from the liner notes: 'The recording was made under British Council auspices and was only the second recording by the Barbirolli Halle'. I was lucky enough to purchase this recently in a charity shop for the princely sum of 25 p per symphony!

More likely the 'Warner' CD from the Barbirolli big box.

[Petrushka]

More likely the 'Warner' CD from the Barbirolli big box.

Indeed it was. Sadly, the amount of surface noise is hard to take in the re-masterings of the 78s in this set. My experience of Dutton CDs is a lot more positive and I'd have preferred it if they'd been done their way.

There is a similar situation with the Warner re-masterings in the Karl Böhm Icon box where the bacon frying noise makes for intolerable listening. Other issues on Dutton and Profil of the same recordings are much better.

[Stanfordian]

Michael Spyres - ‘Espoir’
French & Italian Opera Arias from Rossini, Donizetti, Halévy, Verdi, Auber, Berlioz
Michael Spyres (tenor)
Hallé / Carlo Rizzi
with guest Joyce El-Khoury (soprano)
Recorded 2017, The Stoller Hall, Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester
Opera Rara

Poulenc - 'Chamber Music'
Sextet for piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn
Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon
Sonata for flute and piano
Sonata for bassoon and piano
Pascal Roge (piano), Patrick Gallois (flute), Maurice Bourgue (oboe),
Michel Portal (clarinet), Amaury Wallez (bassoon) & Andre Cazalet (horn)
Recorded 1988 Salle Wagram, Paris
Decca

[cloughie]

Indeed it was. Sadly, the amount of surface noise is hard to take in the re-masterings of the 78s in this set. My experience of Dutton CDs is a lot more positive and I'd have preferred it if they'd been done their way.

There is a similar situation with the Warner re-masterings in the Karl Böhm Icon box where the bacon frying noise makes for intolerable listening. Other issues on Dutton and Profil of the same recordings are much better.

I have the recording in a Barbirolli budget box on Documents 224043. Not listened to it lately but I'll do so later and report back on surface noise!

[Dave2002]

Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition

Arranged by Ravel and also C.Howard for string orchestra - and played by a virtual orchestra.

https://musescore.com/howard-c/pictu...-an-exhibition.

Quite interesting to see what is possible, and this seems rather detailed.

[cloughie]

I have the recording in a Barbirolli budget box on Documents 224043. Not listened to it lately but I'll do so later and report back on surface noise!

The recording quality is remarkably good for its age and not over scratchy - no idea about who did the transfers, but Documents is a Membran product and all 10 discs are ex 78s.

[Alison]

Have been doing some ‘lucky dips’ into my Chicago Solti box.

Strauss: Also Sprach, Till, Don Juan

Bruckner: Symphonies 9 and 6 (a tendentious reading said RO)

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

All good listening without challenging established favourites.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Score following - Days 134-137

Glazunov:
Suite for String Quartet op35
String Quintet in A major op39
Violin Concerto in A minor op82
Concerto for Alto Saxophone & Strings in E flat Major op109
The Seasons op67
Symphony No 3 in D major op33
Symphony No 4 in E flat major op48
Symphony No 5 in B flat major op55
Symphony No 6 in C minor op58
Symphony No 7 in F major op77
Symphony No 8 in E flat major op83

[Jonathan]

How do the Thalberg performances compare with Mark Viner's?

Hi Bryn, both are magnificent recordings.

[cloughie]

Have been doing some ‘lucky dips’ into my Chicago Solti box.

Strauss: Also Sprach, Till, Don Juan

Bruckner: Symphonies 9 and 6 (a tendentious reading said RO)

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

All good listening without challenging established favourites.

Have you tried his Tchaik 4 5 & 6 yet?

[Joseph K]

James Dillon - String Quartet no. 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_QMKgY5lTU

[Richard Barrett]

James Dillon - String Quartet no. 6

I thought, six??? he has been busy with these quartets; and then I remembered there are actually three more. What is it that keeps him coming back to that medium, I wonder. I had a listen to this one, and it seemed to me like some kind of stream of consciousness where each idea is examined briefly then put aside in favour of another one, and there isn't much in the way of perceptible longer-range structural thinking. Which reminded me of Kagel's 3rd quartet (and indeed a great deal of Kagel's work), but then I think that in Kagel's case the changes of direction are often like strange surreal confrontations, whereas in the JD piece they seem somehow arbitrary. On the other hand I don't have a strong attraction to the string quartet as such. It's not so often that a newly heard string quartet really appeals to me. Anyway thanks for the reminder, it was an interesting listen.

[Joseph K]

I thought, six??? he has been busy with these quartets; and then I remembered there are actually three more. What is it that keeps him coming back to that medium, I wonder. I had a listen to this one, and it seemed to me like some kind of stream of consciousness where each idea is examined briefly then put aside in favour of another one, and there isn't much in the way of perceptible longer-range structural thinking. Which reminded me of Kagel's 3rd quartet (and indeed a great deal of Kagel's work), but then I think that in Kagel's case the changes of direction are often like strange surreal confrontations, whereas in the JD piece they seem somehow arbitrary. On the other hand I don't have a strong attraction to the string quartet as such. It's not so often that a newly heard string quartet really appeals to me. Anyway thanks for the reminder, it was an interesting listen.

I think this one appealed to me more than a more recent one of his I heard a few years ago. Some of the ideas I find more attractive than others, but like you, I found it overall a bit arbitrary.