What are you listening to now - I ?

[Roehre]

Roehre
Initially sounds like a cross between Mahler and Bruckner without the irony and angst. The later movements are in a slightly different style, so not obviously derivative. Seems to belong to a late 19th Century/early 20th Century idiom. No evidence of neo classicism or 12 tone influence. Not nationalistic either, as far as I can see/hear. Fairly straightforward. Last movement almost rushes along, though doesn't really go anywhere - no big moments, but not unpleasant. Considerably shorter than Mahler or Bruckner symphonies, or even Rott. The recording and performance are good.

More conventional than the Fitkin pieces which I recently listened to.

Perhaps worth getting the CD for the piano trio which accompanies the symphony.

Thanks Dave, much appreciated

[Roehre]

Today:

d'Indy:
Poème des Rivages op.77

JSBach:
Sinfonias from Cantatas

[Bryn]

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No 2
Ashkenazy/LSO/Previn

Stravinsky: Firebird
BBCSSO/Volkov

( ... Good performance though you'll need to crank the volume up slightly ... )

Not to be recommended if you value your speakers. The right channel hits 0dB at the end of the Infernal Dance. Wide dynamic range? Yes. Recorded at low level? No.

[Petrushka]

Not to be recommended if you value your speakers. The right channel hits 0dB at the end of the Infernal Dance. Wide dynamic range? Yes. Recorded at low level? No.

Yes, I had to pump up the volume to catch the opening. My speakers still standing after the Infernal Dance.

[JoeG]

Vaughan Williams 5th Symphony - Vernon Handley...

Still trying!

Mario

Stick with it Mario! Its wonderful!

[Suffolkcoastal]

Continuing my score following last night.

Brahms: Tragic Overture, Variations on the St Antony Chorale, Piano Conecrto No 2.

I've long retained a special affection for Brahms's Variations and the 1st Symphony even through a relatively long period of indifference to the composer. The 2nd Piano Concerto however is a problem work for me. I find it a very unsettling work and I find there is just something about the work that doesn't quite come off for me.

[BBMmk2]

Suffoolkcoastal. i am glad that i am not the only one thinking this, re Brahms PC2! You hit the nail on the head, SC!! Brahms's PC1 is fine. i can get on with that

[Roehre]

SC and BBM, it doesn't happen that many times, but here we have differing opinions.

PC2 is a for Brahms uncharacteristically sunny, italianate work, and as such hasn't got much in common with by far the best part of his other works (Sym 2, especially the finale, being one of the exceptions confirming this "rule").

PC2 is also a bit of a hybryd and one even could sense a kind of stylistic rupture between the movements. It's in some ways Brahms' answer to Beethoven's "Emperor". But one has also to keep in mind that at least the scherzo, and possibly the slow movement, were originally part of the Violin concerto before Brahms decided to dump the symphonic design of the VC and compose a completely new slow movement for the latter.

Nevertheless, despite all this, I like the 2nd piano concerto very much, and I honestly wouldn't be able to make a choice between PC1 and 2 even with a gun put to my head.

[Bryn]

... I honestly wouldn't be able to make a choice between PC1 and 2 even with a gun put to my head.

Oh I could, and the 2nd concerto would win out every time, and not only for the cello solo. Gilels with Reiner won me over to the work, and the later recording with Jochum I find no less invigorating. I got put off the 1st somewhat by a pretty dire performance by Brendel at the Proms many moons ago. Must have been a rare bad night for him I suppose, but it left a lasting negative impression with me regarding the work itself.

[Petrushka]

Recreation of a concert I heard Bernard Haitink and the Concertgebouw give in Birmingham 30 years ago this very night. I don't have the Mozart from them but the rest I do. One of those concerts I've never forgotten.

Mozart: Symphony No 39
BPO/Bohm

Debussy (orch. Escher): 6 Epigraphes Antiques
Concertgebouw/Haitink

Shostakovich: Symphony No 5
Cincertgebouw/Haitink

[Roehre]

At this moment Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw are performing Mahler 9.
======

Today:

Haapalainen:
Lemminkainen Overture (1925) (R3: TtN)

Stravinsky:
The Firebird (ballet, 1910) (this month’s BBC MM CD)

Balakirev :
Tamara (1882) (ditto)

[Suffolkcoastal]

Very strange roehre I don't find Brahms PC2 sunny at all, more very restless & disturbed, and I was listening to the Gilels/Jochum recording. Isn't it odd that two people can year the same work in such a very different way. I never liked the 1st at all when I first heard it, then the Canadian pianist John Kimura Parker performed it to win the Leeds Piano Competition some 20 or so years ago and his performance 'sold' the work to me. What happened to John Kimura Parker btw?

[Roehre]

Very strange roehre I don't find Brahms PC2 sunny at all, more very restless & disturbed, and I was listening to the Gilels/Jochum recording. Isn't it odd that two people can year the same work in such a very different way?

Weird indeed, suffolkcoastal.
My first Brahms PCs were Arrau/Haitink/Concertgebouw, recordings which I still cherish.
I like the Gilels/Jochum/BPO very much, and -it IS weird- I think PC2 in their performance is a sunny piece as well....

[Petrushka]

At this moment Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw are performing Mahler 9.

Roehre, I'd spotted this and wondered if any of the three performances are being broadcast. I find the Netherlands Radio 4 and Avro sites difficult to navigate.

[Roehre]

Petrushska,

Sunday May 15th Dutch Radio 4 13.25/01.25pm BST (Live)
thursday June 30th Dutch TV Nederland 2 19.55/07.55pm BST