Johann Christian Bach • Ingrid Haebler • Capella Academica Wien • Eduard Melkus – 4 Clavierkonzerte
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Current Listening Vol IX [2023]
Here we go again. In the past, this popular thread had to be re-started a number of times because the files got to big for the software used. The latest restart was with volume VIII, which accidentally practically coincided with the start of the new year 2022. Many members thought this was actually a good idea to pick a new year for a new thread, so with 2023 upon us (already or soon, depending on where you live), we are starting a new thread.
Links to previous Current Listening threads:
Current Listening Vol I
Current Listening Vol II
Current Listening Vol III
Current Listening Vol IV
Current Listening Vol V
Current Listening Vol VI
Current Listening Vol VII
Current Listening Vol VIII
A few suggestions (as if anyone bothers reading this):
Many members appreciate if you would not just post a CD cover or an embedded YouTube link. It would be helpful if you would post at least a short description (like composer, work, performers). This holds especially for videos, because not all YouTube videos can be seen in every country, and they tend to disappear over time.
It would be even better if you can post a little bit about your own take on what you are listening to. No need for extensive reviews, but a few lines would make the thread clearly more valuable to other members.
These are suggestions, not rules. They are not subject to intervention by the moderating team.
Have fun, Happy New Year, and enjoy listening to classical music as always!
18441 - 18460 of 19152 Posts
Today's listening
Beethoven - Piano Sonatas Opp 14, 22 and 26
Backhaus, piano
Continuing the traversal of my piano sonata cycles. This is Backhaus' second
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Strauss - Elektra
Bohm/Staatskapelle Dresden; Borkh, Schech, Madeira, DFD
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Schoenberg - The Piano Music
Pollini, piano
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Pettersson - Concertos for String Orchestra 1 and 2
Goritzki/German Chamber Academy Neuss
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Brahms - String Quartets Op 51
Cuarteto Quiroga
If you like Brahms and haven't heard this you really should. Exceptional stuff
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Beethoven - Piano Sonatas Opp 14, 22 and 26
Backhaus, piano
Continuing the traversal of my piano sonata cycles. This is Backhaus' second
Strauss - Elektra
Bohm/Staatskapelle Dresden; Borkh, Schech, Madeira, DFD
Schoenberg - The Piano Music
Pollini, piano
Pettersson - Concertos for String Orchestra 1 and 2
Goritzki/German Chamber Academy Neuss
Brahms - String Quartets Op 51
Cuarteto Quiroga
If you like Brahms and haven't heard this you really should. Exceptional stuff
Various composers: Venetian Vespers (Gabrieli Consort, Choir and Players, Paul McCreesh, Brilliant Classics, 5 CD's)
A stunning thrift store bargain of several weeks ago: this 5 CD box for 50 cents. Playing the third CD now, works by Merulo, A. and G. Gabrieli, Bendinelli, and Lassus. For details, see the link:
Gabrieli Consort, Choir & Players, Paul McCreesh - Venetian Vespers
View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the CD release of "Venetian Vespers" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com
René Leibowitz, Solistes De La Société Des Concerts Du Conservatoire De Paris - A Portrait Of France
View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1991 CD release of "A Portrait Of France" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com
4
Hanns Eisler - various works part six of six for this morning.
Covering the composer's final years in East Berlin.
Booted out of the USA in 1948 because of his communist affiliations, Eisler moved briefly back to his original homeland of Austria before settling in what was then Soviet-occupied Berlin, where, despite an occasionally prickly relationship with the authorities, he remained until his death in 1962. Eisler, along with Paul Dessau, was instrumental in kickstarting the classical music scene in the fledgling German Democratic Republic - he even composed the music for the national anthem.
His close friend and arch-collaborator Bertolt Brecht had died in 1956 and Eisler never really got over the loss. The majority of the Deutsche Sinfonie - considered by many to be Eisler's finest achievement - was composed by the late 1930s, but Eisler didn't get around to completing it until 20 years after it was begun. As the final movement was written the year after Bertolt Brecht's death it's possible that the finished article was at least in part dedicated to him. The Ersnste Gesänge cycle was Eisler's last work, so there is something of the valediction about it even if Eisler wasn't intending it to be that way.
Stürm-Suite for orchestra, arr. from the incidental music for the
Vladimir Bill-Belozerkowski play Stürm (1957):
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Ideal und Wirklichkeit [Ideals and Reality] - song for voice and piano
[Text: Kurt Tucholsky] (1957):
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Deutsche Sinfonie - 'Anti-Fascist cantata' for soprano, alto, baritone, bass, two speakers,
mixed choir and orchestra op.50 [Texts: Bertolt Brecht/Ignazio Silone] (1935-57):
with Hendrikje Wangemann (sop.), Annette Market (alt.), Matthias Görne (bar.),
Peter Lika (bass), Gert Gütschow (nar.), Volker Schwarz (nar.), the Ernst Senff
Chor Berlin and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
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Die Teppichweber von Kujan-Bulak [The Carpet Weavers from Kujan-Bulak]
- cantata for soprano and orchestra [Text: Bertolt Brecht] (1957): a)
Bilder aus der Kriegsfibel [Pictures from 'The Guide to War'] for soprano,
tenor, baritone, male choir and orchestra [Text: Bertolt Brecht] (1957): b)
Ersnste Gesänge [Serious Songs] - seven songs with prologue for baritone
and string orchestra [Texts: Friedrich Hölderlin/Berthold Viertel/Giacomo
Leopardi/Helmut Richter/Stephan Hermlin] (1961-62): c)
a) with Roswitha Trexler (sop.) and the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Leipzig/Adolf Fritz Guhl
b) with Carola Nossek (sop.), Joachim Vogt (ten.), Günther Bayer, the Männerchor der Berlin
Singakademie and members of the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin/Dietrich Knothe
c) with Günther Lieb (bar.) and the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin/Günther Herbig
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Covering the composer's final years in East Berlin.
Booted out of the USA in 1948 because of his communist affiliations, Eisler moved briefly back to his original homeland of Austria before settling in what was then Soviet-occupied Berlin, where, despite an occasionally prickly relationship with the authorities, he remained until his death in 1962. Eisler, along with Paul Dessau, was instrumental in kickstarting the classical music scene in the fledgling German Democratic Republic - he even composed the music for the national anthem.
His close friend and arch-collaborator Bertolt Brecht had died in 1956 and Eisler never really got over the loss. The majority of the Deutsche Sinfonie - considered by many to be Eisler's finest achievement - was composed by the late 1930s, but Eisler didn't get around to completing it until 20 years after it was begun. As the final movement was written the year after Bertolt Brecht's death it's possible that the finished article was at least in part dedicated to him. The Ersnste Gesänge cycle was Eisler's last work, so there is something of the valediction about it even if Eisler wasn't intending it to be that way.
Stürm-Suite for orchestra, arr. from the incidental music for the
Vladimir Bill-Belozerkowski play Stürm (1957):
Ideal und Wirklichkeit [Ideals and Reality] - song for voice and piano
[Text: Kurt Tucholsky] (1957):
Deutsche Sinfonie - 'Anti-Fascist cantata' for soprano, alto, baritone, bass, two speakers,
mixed choir and orchestra op.50 [Texts: Bertolt Brecht/Ignazio Silone] (1935-57):
with Hendrikje Wangemann (sop.), Annette Market (alt.), Matthias Görne (bar.),
Peter Lika (bass), Gert Gütschow (nar.), Volker Schwarz (nar.), the Ernst Senff
Chor Berlin and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Die Teppichweber von Kujan-Bulak [The Carpet Weavers from Kujan-Bulak]
- cantata for soprano and orchestra [Text: Bertolt Brecht] (1957): a)
Bilder aus der Kriegsfibel [Pictures from 'The Guide to War'] for soprano,
tenor, baritone, male choir and orchestra [Text: Bertolt Brecht] (1957): b)
Ersnste Gesänge [Serious Songs] - seven songs with prologue for baritone
and string orchestra [Texts: Friedrich Hölderlin/Berthold Viertel/Giacomo
Leopardi/Helmut Richter/Stephan Hermlin] (1961-62): c)
a) with Roswitha Trexler (sop.) and the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Leipzig/Adolf Fritz Guhl
b) with Carola Nossek (sop.), Joachim Vogt (ten.), Günther Bayer, the Männerchor der Berlin
Singakademie and members of the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin/Dietrich Knothe
c) with Günther Lieb (bar.) and the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin/Günther Herbig
Back to listening after a busy few days
I picked this one up on the cheap rack
Britten (1913-1976)
CD Title: Works for String Orchestra
1. Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge op. 10
2. Simple Symphony op. 4
3. Lachrymae, Reflections on a song of Dowland (Orchestra arr.)
4. Prelude and Fuge, for 18-part String Orchestra op. 29
English String Orchestra
Roger Best, viola
William Boughton, conductor
Recorded at the Great Hall University of Birmingham
March 30-31st, 1985
I picked this one up on the cheap rack
Britten (1913-1976)
CD Title: Works for String Orchestra
1. Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge op. 10
2. Simple Symphony op. 4
3. Lachrymae, Reflections on a song of Dowland (Orchestra arr.)
4. Prelude and Fuge, for 18-part String Orchestra op. 29
English String Orchestra
Roger Best, viola
William Boughton, conductor
Recorded at the Great Hall University of Birmingham
March 30-31st, 1985
18441 - 18460 of 19152 Posts
