What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Joseph K]

Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries - Various Orchestras under Adrian Boult

A CD of preludes, overtures and other excerpts from Wagner's music dramas.

[Stanfordian]

Nathalie Manfrino – Massenet – ‘Méditations’
Arias from Thaïs, Sapho, Manon, Hérodiade, Le Cid, La Vierge, Marie-Magdeleine,
Grisélidis, Elégie, Esclarmonde, Le roi de Lahore, Cléopâtre, Ariane
Nathalie Manfrino (soprano)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo / Michel Plasson
Recorded 2011, Auditorium Rainier III, Monte-Carlo
Decca CD

French Works for Cello and Piano Vol. 1 - Widor & Vierne
Widor
Suite for Cello and Piano in E Minor, op.21
Cello Sonata in A major Op. 80
Vierne
Cello Sonata, Op. 27
Peter Bruns (cello) & Annegret Kutter (piano)
Recorded 1999
Hänssler Classic

[Opinionated Knowall]

Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries - Various Orchestras under Adrian Boult

A CD of preludes, overtures and other excerpts from Wagner's music dramas.

Fantastic! What a shame Boult never recorded any complete Wagner operas. Those bleeding chunks would indicate they would have been absolutely outstanding. I don't know offhand whether he ever conducted Wagner in the opera house? I guess his career would have precluded much opera at all.

[gurnemanz]

This morning I've been dipping into the 4CD set of songs and arias from Armenian mezzo, Zara Dolukhanova. Tends to be overlooked. Pure pleasure.

[Petrushka]

Fantastic! What a shame Boult never recorded any complete Wagner operas. Those bleeding chunks would indicate they would have been absolutely outstanding. I don't know offhand whether he ever conducted Wagner in the opera house? I guess his career would have precluded much opera at all.

You should get hold of Michael Kennedy's fascinating biography of Boult. He did indeed conduct opera, especially in his time in Birmingham with the City of Birmingham (Symphony) Orchestra. He conducted Parsifal as early as July 1926 (at the Royal College of Music) and took it on tour in several English cities. He conducted Die Walküre, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Verdi's Otello with the British National Opera Company in 1925/6. Boult also famously conducted the first British performance of Berg's Wozzeck in March 1934 with the BBCSO.

I think his time with the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1932 precluded much opera as far as I can make out but it's a great pity that his Wagner, in particular, is not documented on record apart from 'bleeding chunks'.

[Quarky]

Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries - Various Orchestras under Adrian Boult

A CD of preludes, overtures and other excerpts from Wagner's music dramas.

By coincidence, I was chatting last night to Christoph (DJ1CT) in morse code. Christoph lives in Niederkassel, and his home overlooks the Rhine. Unfortunately/ fortunately, he bears no resemblance to Siegfried......

[groovydavidii]

Mussorgsky, 'Pictures at an Exhibition' original version, Sviatoslav Richter, 1958, live, a few coughs, but an excellent recital. 10-cd box set, "Russian Masters."

[Alison]

Schubert Works for Solo Piano
Barry Douglas
Volumes 1-5

I’ve enjoyed listening to these Chandos renditions, a rare beefy kind of Schubert playing.
Unlike most reviewers I’m rather partial to a resonant acoustic for solo piano recordings, certainly part of the attraction here.

I particularly like the sequence of Sonatas D575, D537 and D664 (Volume 4)

[Pulcinella]

Radio Times
Great Summer of Music

Dvorak: Overture, Carnival
Mozart: Horn concerto 4
Sibelius: Symphony 1

Barry Tuckwell (horn)
BBCCO/Owain Arwel Hughes
Recorded at a concert given in St David's Hall, Cardiff, on 23 July 1991

A promotional CD, but a satisfying concert, and it's been a nice sunny day, so why not dig this out from my CD shelves!

[teamsaint]

Schubert Works for Solo Piano
Barry Douglas
Volumes 1-5

I’ve enjoyed listening to these Chandos renditions, a rare beefy kind of Schubert playing.
Unlike most reviewers I’m rather partial to a resonant acoustic for solo piano recordings, certainly part of the attraction here.

I particularly like the sequence of Sonatas D575, D537 and D664 (Volume 4)

That sounds enticing Alison, i have lined it up for later. I heard Bazza playing Rach 1 at the Anvil six years ago. He certainly gave that plenty of oomph, in a good way.

[jayne lee wilson]

Bruckner Symphony No.7.
Sinfonieorchester Basel/Venzago. CPO CD.

Uniquely beautiful sonorities, individually shaped performance, yet so essentially Brucknerian and a longterm favourite now. (And the first orchestral record I've listened to for some time....tempora mutantur...)

[Alison]

Radio Times
Great Summer of Music

Dvorak: Overture, Carnival
Mozart: Horn concerto 4
Sibelius: Symphony 1

Barry Tuckwell (horn)
BBCCO/Owain Arwel Hughes
Recorded at a concert given in St David's Hall, Cardiff, on 23 July 1991

A promotional CD, but a satisfying concert, and it's been a nice sunny day, so why not dig this out from my CD shelves!

Something of a rave review for Owains new Sibelius 1 in the latest Gramophone.

[cloughie]

Radio Times
Great Summer of Music

Dvorak: Overture, Carnival
Mozart: Horn concerto 4
Sibelius: Symphony 1

Barry Tuckwell (horn)
BBCCO/Owain Arwel Hughes
Recorded at a concert given in St David's Hall, Cardiff, on 23 July 1991

A promotional CD, but a satisfying concert, and it's been a nice sunny day, so why not dig this out from my CD shelves!

I’ve got that CD - it’s a good Sib 1!

[jayne lee wilson]

Seductive fortepiano sonorities, warm and clear and mellow with the hum and the buzz of the baryton, on three different pianos: originals of Müller, Schanz and Graf from 1810 -1827.
But much more than that, a stunning sequence of the most dramatic, poetic sonatas in direct and impassioned readings - straight from the hip and utterly compelling.....Beethoven comme il faut from a pianist I had not previously encountered.

The finale of the Waldstein has an eruptive, irresisitible splendour - the sound of joy, the joy of sound!




Beethoven - Fortepiano Sonatas
Cyril Huvé
Released on 13/11/2020 by Calliope

• QOBUZ LOSSLESS

[Bryn]

Seductive fortepiano sonorities, warm and clear and mellow with the hum and the buzz of the baryton, on three different pianos: originals of Müller, Schanz and Graf from 1810 -1827.
But much more than that, a stunning sequence of the most dramatic, poetic sonatas in direct and impassioned readings - straight from the hip and utterly compelling.....Beethoven comme il faut from a pianist I had not previously encountered.

The finale of the Waldstein has an eruptive, irresisitible splendour - the sound of joy, the joy of sound!
. . .

Beethoven - Fortepiano Sonatas
Cyril Huvé
Released on 13/11/2020 by Calliope

• QOBUZ LOSSLESS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Huv%C3%A9

An interesting double album, though I was a little surprised that he used instruments built between 8 and 20 years after the sonatas he played on them. So far, I have only listened in far from ideal conditions and was not that taken with the performances, finding them somewhat prosaic. I will, however, try again in better listening circumstances.