What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Mario]

Jayne, really sorry to hear this.

(Selfish thought...) If you vanish, even for a few days, who's going to guide me in my voyage of Mozart's music?

The VERY best to you,

Mario

[Quarky]

Mozart
String Quintets K406; K503.
Kuijken Quartet/Ryo Terakado.
Denon Japan Aliare CDs.

Given the terrible day I'm having, by far the worst of a traumatic year, even Mozart may stop working soon.....
I'll try to stick around, I really need to, but if I'm missing for a few days....I'll be back....

Get Well Soon, Jayne, you will be missed.

If Mozart doesn't work, you might try Eliane Radigue - sitting or lying in a meditation position - but that might not be your thing.......

[Mario]

Now comparing that performance with this one by Arthur Grumiaux (violin) / Arrigo Pellicia (viola) / LSO / Sir Colin Davis

Mario

PS Found it! Here it is on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0NGhf_yRxA

Interesting comment further down under the YouTube video:

“So many of Mozart's great works are in E flat -- the Masonic key.”

Is this true?

Mario

And now finally, picking up on Joseph K's link, it's Wolfram Brandl (violin) / Yulia Devneka (viola) / Staatskapelle Berlin O / Daniel Barenboim

I've joined you - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0hTDZ0whpU

Enjoy!

Mario

[Stanfordian]

Francoise Pollet - ‘Recital’
Opera arias by Gounod, Halévy, Rossini, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Reyer, Massenet, Verdi
Francoise Pollet (soprano)
Orchestre Philharmonique De Montpellier / Cyril Diederich
Recorded 1989, Opéra national de Montpellier
Erato/Warner Classics CD

Ravel
Introduction and Allegro, for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet
Debussy
Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Roussel
Sérénade, for flute, string trio and harp
Ropartz
Prélude, Marine et Chansons, for flute, harp, violin, viola & cello
Osian Ellis (harp), Marie-Claire Jamet (harp)
Melos Ensemble
Recorded 1961, Walthamstow Assembly hall, London
Decca CD - This 'classic' recording still sounds fresh!

[Pulcinella]

Britten: Sinfonia da requiem, Op 20

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
Recorded: 2019-10-09
Recording Venue: Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg

[cloughie]

Francoise Pollet - ‘Recital’
Opera arias by Gounod, Halévy, Rossini, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Reyer, Massenet, Verdi
Francoise Pollet (soprano)
Orchestre Philharmonique De Montpellier / Cyril Diederich
Recorded 1989, Opéra national de Montpellier
Erato/Warner Classics CD

Ravel
Introduction and Allegro, for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet
Debussy
Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Roussel
Sérénade, for flute, string trio and harp
Ropartz
Prélude, Marine et Chansons, for flute, harp, violin, viola & cello
Osian Ellis (harp), Marie-Claire Jamet (harp)
Melos Ensemble
Recorded 1961, Walthamstow Assembly hall, London
Decca CD - This 'classic' recording still sounds fresh!

Yes - one of 60s Decca’s best!

[jayne lee wilson]

Get Well Soon, Jayne, you will be missed.

If Mozart doesn't work, you might try Eliane Radigue - sitting or lying in a meditation position - but that might not be your thing.......

I've had Occam Ocean 2 playing here recently after Richard's recommend; I was variously - engaged, entranced, a little aurally pressured sometimes.... but could not yet find an intelligent comment about it...

Forgive me if this seems out of place, but it isn't illness..... a case of threats and malicious damage, but I have the support of the law and others now. Just a case of finding strength and courage for a while longer....

Thankyou to everyone for the support here.

[silvestrione]

I've had Occam Ocean 2 playing here recently after Richard's recommend; I was variously - engaged, entranced, a little aurally pressured sometimes.... but could not yet find an intelligent comment about it...

Forgive me if this seems out of place, but it isn't illness..... a case of threats and malicious damage, but I have the support of the law and others now. Just a case of finding strength and courage for a while longer....

'A little aurally pressured'...I'd say. Not just a little, I'm afraid. I found myself asking, do people actually sit and listen to all 52 minutes, perhaps even more than once? Or is it something you have on while you clean the bathroom? Or listen to in bits. The drone sounds are not aurally pleasing, and the changes, when they come, provide the relief like the kind I remember someone ascribing to the quiet ending of a Boulez sonata, the relief you get when you stop battering your head on a wall....

Sorry, I should just say, not for me, and I only (only!) did 25 minutes, anyway.

P.S. I like Boulez

[Quarky]

....Well, we're in to the East v. West mind sets.... is 4'33" really music, and all that?

I have Occam Ocean II on via YouTube at the moment. I'm not actually making a conscious effort to listen to it - it's a background drone, rather like a Buddhist monk intoning a chant. When I have finished typing, I will just be observing my breaths, maybe counting them.

That's my take anyway. Don't think Boulez is material to the issue.

As always, IMHO.

[teamsaint]

'A little aurally pressured'...I'd say. Not just a little, I'm afraid. I found myself asking, do people actually sit and listen to all 52 minutes, perhaps even more than once? Or is it something you have on while you clean the bathroom? Or listen to in bits. The drone sounds are not aurally pleasing, and the changes, when they come, provide the relief like the kind I remember someone ascribing to the quiet ending of a Boulez sonata, the relief you get when you stop battering your head on a wall....

Sorry, I should just say, not for me, and I only (only!) did 25 minutes, anyway.

P.S. I like Boulez

I listened to this a while back, on Richard’s first recommendation. Funnily enough, 25 minutes was what I “ managed”. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but I felt thst it had, by that point, said what it had to say to me.
Which probably sounds terribly arrogant,and which it isn't meant to be, because I accept that this is my failing rather than the composer’s.

Currently
Brahms Requiem and Alto Rhapsody. LPO / Jurowski. From that lovely box set.

I certainly miss seeing VJ conducting, and the LPO playing live. Crack outfit, IMO.

[Richard Barrett]

I listened to this a while back, on Richard’s first recommendation. Funnily enough, 25 minutes was what I “ managed”. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but I felt thst it had, by that point, said what it had to say to me.

If you had that thought about the first half of say Beethoven 9, though, you'd come away with a somewhat lopsided impression of what the piece "has to say". Not that Radigue's piece has a big chorus at the end, but the second half isn't the same as the first, and (IMO) the whole thing has a shape which really ought to be experienced as a whole. It won't be to everyone's taste, that's for sure, but it certainly doesn't sound like any other orchestral music I've ever heard, and I think it repays the kind of attentive listening where you're enveloped by the sound and register every microscopic change, as if it's a gradually growing and evolving organism. If it's used as background music it's just going to seem like a featureless drone. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, this is "contemporary music" in a sense that for example Birtwistle isn't.

[Joseph K]

Happy birthday Liszt...

Les Préludes, Orpheus - Orchester Wiener Akademie/Haselboeck

[jayne lee wilson]

If you had that thought about the first half of say Beethoven 9, though, you'd come away with a somewhat lopsided impression of what the piece "has to say". Not that Radigue's piece has a big chorus at the end, but the second half isn't the same as the first, and (IMO) the whole thing has a shape which really ought to be experienced as a whole. It won't be to everyone's taste, that's for sure, but it certainly doesn't sound like any other orchestral music I've ever heard, and I think it repays the kind of attentive listening where you're enveloped by the sound and register every microscopic change, as if it's a gradually growing and evolving organism. If it's used as background music it's just going to seem like a featureless drone. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, this is "contemporary music" in a sense that for example Birtwistle isn't.

Your description here says something of my experience. Immediately engaged by the long dark slow drift, I was drawn in more and more as the layers or clouds of sound and texture became more complex, then changed slowly again, a little higher, then lower, and I was immersed.
I heard it once in the room, sometimes walking around standing in different places; but later let it drift around the house, still always aware of its presence. In close attendance, I did feel uncomfortably pressured around halfway through; perhaps part of the question it asks of the listening ear and the human response; or perhaps that speaks to the need for a bigger performing space; moving around helped.

A difficult thing to describe, as you can see.....

I also reflected, how remarkaby electronic it sounds! Which was another part of the fascination: I looked again at the booklet photos of the orchestra...
I will take a chance on the O-O-1 soon.....

[teamsaint]

If you had that thought about the first half of say Beethoven 9, though, you'd come away with a somewhat lopsided impression of what the piece "has to say". Not that Radigue's piece has a big chorus at the end, but the second half isn't the same as the first, and (IMO) the whole thing has a shape which really ought to be experienced as a whole. It won't be to everyone's taste, that's for sure, but it certainly doesn't sound like any other orchestral music I've ever heard, and I think it repays the kind of attentive listening where you're enveloped by the sound and register every microscopic change, as if it's a gradually growing and evolving organism. If it's used as background music it's just going to seem like a featureless drone. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, this is "contemporary music" in a sense that for example Birtwistle isn't.

Thanks Richard. You know , part of the “ problem “ is that we are so spoiled for access to music nowadays, with the issues that this brings, and which we (those of us brought up in the age of musical scarcity) are probably still learning to deal with.
Tell you what, after Panic has finished, I’ll give it another go.......
Incidentally, ( and with reference to Jayne’s comments) the first time I heard it was on some reasonable headphones, which may or may not have helped the experience,

[Joseph K]

Liszt - B minor sonata - Lazaridis

FURT - message