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Current Listening Vol II

2M views 29K replies 332 participants last post by  Krummhorn 
#1 ·
A new thread for the same subject matter.

The previous thread, Current Listening Vol I, was hogging lots of resources on our servers trying to load well over 4000 pages of postings (over 1,000,000 posts) for each user with each access.

We've created this new volume to continue posting.

Thanks for your kind understanding.
 
#122 ·
My first Current Listening post in volume II (still having finals, so I'm not even listening on a daily basis anymore, since it is simply not possible to set my mind to enjoying and understanding music, luckily it is over this friday...)

A break, I needed some Beethoven:

Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet in Cm, opus 18, no. 4 & Quartet in B-flat opus 130 & Grosse Fugue in B-flat opus 133
By the Alban Berg Quartet, on EMI (studio cycle '85)
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#124 · (Edited)
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Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker-Complete London Symphony Orchestra/Antal Dorati
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings Philharmonia Hungarica/Antal Dorati

Lovely Tchaikovsky from Dorati and his respective orchestras. He was a master in this repertoire, the first performance I ever heard of the Pathetique Symphony was in the Royal Festival Hall in 1983 with Dorati and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (in the first half, Nathan Milstein had played the Violin Concerto!) and it was as good an introduction as one could wish for.
 
#126 ·
I'm going to repost my response to Millionrainbows in the first thread here then, so he (or Cosmos, since he's potentially involved with this discussion) has a chance to reply.

"I'm giving it a try. It seems a little too sweet for me on first impression. I can tell it's nicely crafted, though. I have to be in a receptive mood for some things..." -Millionrainbows in reference to the Korngold Piano Quartet that Cosmos posted

I gave his piano quintet posted by Cosmos a listen and it's pretty different from what I'm used to hearing from Korngold, more Romantic. The string quartets I suggested, for example, are written more in a German Expressionist vein mixed with some neo-classicsm (but not atonal from what I understand).

Try this one:

Also, keep in mind he was a big movie music composer so some of that aesthetic may have slipped into his serious works. But I don't think it's too bad in that regard.
Wow, great quartet! I'm going to listen to the rest of it
 
#128 · (Edited)
Anton Webern

5 Sätze op. 5 (Orchestral version)
6 Stücke für Orchester op. 6 (1909 version)
5 Orchesterstücke (1913)
3 Orchesterlieder
Symphonie op. 21


R̶i̶c̶h̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶S̶t̶r̶a̶u̶s̶s̶ Anton Webern

Im Sommerwind (Idyll für großes Orchester)


Pierre Boulez, BPO, Christiane Oelze (Soprano) [DG, 2000]



'Im Sommerwind' is an early (1904) work, late romantic - 'Straussian' - in style. The other works are more distinctive. All are very interesting, though.
 
#131 · (Edited)
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Liszt: Transcendental Studies Nos.1,2,8, and 9
Strauss II-Cziffra: The Blue Danube/Tritsch-Tratsch Polka/Die Fledermaus- Paraphrase/"The Gipsy Baron"- Paraphrase Gyorgy Cziffra
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue Gyorgy Cziffra/Hungarian State Orchestra/Zoltan Rozsnyai

A fascinating CD of Gyorgy Cziffra, not the least for this idiomatic rendering of "Rhapsody in Blue", both he and the orchestra clearly enjoying themselves to the hilt in this performance. It doesn't displace my two favourites on the classical side, Oscar Levant and Earl Wild, but sits nicely alongside them as another way of playing this piece (and I must mention the excellent Carroll Gibbons with Bert Firman's Orchestra in 1928, as a fine and contemporary recording to the composer's own). Cziffra's Liszt is always worth hearing, and his arrangements/transcriptions of pieces by the younger Johann Strauss are wonderful.
 
#132 · (Edited)
I'm currently listening to this blessed set of cd's...Giulini conducting Domingo/Caballe/Verrett/Milnes

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& it's like soothing balm on a wound...after having watched my latest operatic blu-ray'd purchase...the recently-released Salzburg production of Don Carlo. Well all I can say is that thank goodness this was my favourite opera before I started watching because it would never be after! As I'm likely to be in a minority of one, I'd best keep my opinion to myself, methinks but I was bored & unconvinced....I hate it when tempi are drawn-out so that you're hanging-around waiting for the next note to appear. I've just read the couple of 5 star reviews on Amazon where someone felt the tempo's were just right?! Just goes to show how different people's opinions can be!

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I remember when I saw the opera for the very first time...on Channel 4...the New York Met production conducted by James Levine with Placido and Mirella Freni....the last scene at the monastery of San Juste. Mirella just stood in the dimly-lit place but sang her heart out with such touching emotion and sincerity...& the believably tender parting scene twixt her Elisabetta & Placido's Carlos, brought a tear to my eye.

... commencing at I hour 38 mins in
 
#133 · (Edited)
Well, the new chapter of current listening has gotten off to great start! Bless our hosts for graciously allowing us to continue.

Albert Roussel: Sonata for violin & piano No. 1 in D minor, Op. 11
Olga Galperin, piano /Eric Alberti, violin

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My first impression was, "Sir, are you playing a violin or a theremin?" There is so much vibrato. But after a short time it became obvious the vibrato works well with this piece. And then I realized he is just about rearranging our DNA here, in a good way. A very passionate performance. The piano work and writing is no slouch either.
 
#135 · (Edited)


Album: Bridge on the River Kwai and music from other films of David Lean
Malcolm Arnold Bridge on the River Kwai - original motion picture soundtrack
- Studio Orch. under the composer
Maurice Jarre Suites from Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, Passage to India
- Royal PO under the composer (live recording)

Malcolm Arnold's score for Bridge on the River Kwai won the Oscar in 1958, but its funny that the famous tune Colonel Bogey March isn't his composition. That's included here, and the score has many themes, including the march, also one more Romantic and conveying a sense of hope, another with these stabbing rhythms that is more violent and also music reminiscent of gamelan. Its all bought together very effectively towards the end of the score.

Maurice Jarre also did some great scores for David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia being a combination of Orientalism with epic vibes. You've also got the famous Lara's Theme from Doctor Zhivago that sounds quite a bit like the Beer Barrell Polka (I only just noticed this). Passage to India has hints of a similar theme, and it also includes theremin and celesta giving spooky vibes.



Handel Italian Cantatas: Clori, mia bella Clori & Amarilli vezzosa
- Patrizia Kwella and Gillian Fisher, sopranos; Catherine Denley, contralto; London Handel Orch. under Denys Darlow

Onto two of the three Italian cantatas on this disc, works that where composed when Handel was in Italy. They've got his usual warmth in terms of the string writing, which is one of my favourite aspects of his music.

Balakirev Russia - Symphonic Poem
- Leningrad PO under Victor Fedotov (Russian Legacy)

Continuing with the Balakirev disc with Russia, which was surprisingly quite lyrical for the most part. Looking forward to hearing his second symphony that rounds off the disc.

& in relation to a bit of my last post here:

Corelli was no just a tunesmith though, his importance can't be overestimated in terms of his innovations in string writing. In his own time he was a revered composer, teacher and violinist. His students included Vivaldi and he played in orchestras conducted by the young Handel when he came to Italy.
I went back to check and looks like my memory was not entirely correct there. Vivaldi was taught at the academy Corelli set up, but not taught by him personally. Germiniani and Locatelli where also taught there.
 
#136 ·
I've just put that Kissin cd on my Spotify album list, Winterreissender...to listen-to tomorrow.
At the moment, I'm listening through headphones to Edwin Fischer...Annie's brother?!!...playing Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata...to be followed by Opus 110 no 31. Because its very late here (1-51am) I'm going to tiptoe out of TC now, after wishing you all an enjoyable evening of 'Current Listening' to come.

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#139 · (Edited)
This spectacular SACD recording from Linn arrived today. I don't think I've ever heard a better performance, and certainly not one as well recorded. It also includes Theme et variations, Piece pour piano et quatuor a cordes, Fantaisie, and Le Merle noir

 
#140 ·
Kurt Atterberg: Symphony No. 6 in C major, Op. 31 "Dollar Symphony"
Neeme Järvi / Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

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Wow! Just wow! This is the best Rimsky-Korsakov Dvorak Sibelius Ravel Tchaikovsky John Williams Jerry Goldsmith work I've ever heard. It has everything you need in a single piece of post-romantic orchestral music. I might have nicknamed it the "Smorgasbord Symphony."

Kidding aside it does have some wonderful if a bit familiar sounding themes, and the orchestration is superb. So is this recording. A real headphone head trip.
 
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