What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[smittims]

Thanks to Sir Velo for reproducing that curious sleeve of the Barbirolli Appalachia (and yes, I still have my copy of ASD 2635).

My interpretation of the picture is that Delius is revisiting , in imagination , his abandoned house in Florida. It's well-known that his 'American ' works were written in Germany and France, but , as Christopher Palmer memorably explained, they are 'emotion recollected in tranquillity'.

Barbirolli was fascinating in rehearsal, maybe from having been a rank-and-file orchestral player himself . I love that old film of a fragment from Bruckner 7 where he takes infinite pains to get the strings just right at the start of the third movement (it's on YouTube). .

Lps can still be fun when cleaned. I've just played

Haydn: Symphonies 93 and 94. LPO/Jochum, and

Stockhausen : Gruppen (DG 137 002). Among the most silent surfaces I've ever heard, and after 50 years , too!

.

[Roger Webb]

............. I still have my copy of ASD 2635.....

My interpretation of the picture is that Delius is revisiting , in imagination , his abandoned house in Florida.......

..............Lps can still be fun when cleaned.................. Among the most silent surfaces I've ever heard, and after 50 years , too!

.

I've the 'Greensleeve' reissue of ASD 2635, which I'm just playing...and is as good as the day it was bought. How do you clean your LPs? I 'Permastat' mine (some were done nearly 50 years ago) and it keeps them static free - which is the secret to their not picking up dust etc.

If Delius is looking into the window of his house which was at Solano Grove on the St John's River, Florida, he would have to visit Jacksonville University (Delius did stay in Jacksonville after leaving Solano Grove) where the house was restored and is open to the public by appointment.

https://jaxpsychogeo.com/east/delius-house-at-jacksonville-university-part-one-grove-mythos/

[Stanfordian]

Giuseppe Verdi – 'Simon Boccanegra' (1857 version)
Opera in prologue and 3 acts
Boccanegra – Germán Enrique Alcántara (baritone); Amelia – Eri Nakamura (soprano); Gabriele – Iván Ayón-Rivas (tenor);
Fiesco – William Thomas (bass); Paolo – Sergio Vitale (baritone); Pietro – David Shipley (bass); Amelia’s maid – Beth Moxon (mezzo)
Chorus of Opera North, RNCM Opera Chorus
Hallé / Sir Mark Elder
Recorded 2024, studio Hallé St Peter’s, Ancoats, Manchester
Opera Rara, 2 CD box

[gradus]

Marian Anderson singing Erbarme Dich magnificently and Kathleen Ferrier singing equally memorably, the Agnus Dei from the B minor Mass. I don't know any modern voices of their type; fashions change.

[Petrushka]

Earlier tonight:

Gubaidulina: Offertorium
Gideon Kremer (violin)
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Charles Dutoit


Shostakovich: Symphony No 10
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Krill Kondrashin

[smittims]

Thanks, Roger, for the info. about Jacksonville. It reminded me that one of the advantages of Lps over CDs is the beautiful cover art: in the case of ASD 2477 a lovely Bonnard landscape.

I clean Lps with a 1:5 solution of surgical spirit, sprayed from a little atomiser, wipe them wet,the wipe them dry then a wipe with an anti-static cloth. I'm told this is 'wrong' but it works very well. In the case of some very dirty discs bought from charity shops I've resorted to a kitchen-strength 'wet-wipe' with surprisingly good results (though when I first tried this it was a case of 'to boldly go...'). .

I read about 'Permastat' years ago in the Gramophone but never used it. Is that the one where you play the disc wet? I was warned that if you do that you have to keep doing it every time, though of coourse I don't know how true that is. .

[Roger Webb]

Thanks, Roger, for the info. about Jacksonville. It reminded me that one of the advantages of Lps over CDs is the beautiful cover art: in the case of ASD 2477 a lovely Bonnard landscape.

I clean Lps with a 1:5 solution of surgical spirit, sprayed from a little atomiser, wipe them wet,the wipe them dry then a wipe with an anti-static cloth. I'm told this is 'wrong' but it works very well. In the case of some very dirty discs bought from charity shops I've resorted to a kitchen-strength 'wet-wipe' with surprisingly good results (though when I first tried this it was a case of 'to boldly go...'). .

I read about 'Permastat' years ago in the Gramophone but never used it. Is that the one where you play the disc wet? I was warned that if you do that you have to keep doing it every time, though of course I don't know how true that is. .

No, Permastat is a spray the composition of which has remained a mystery, but contains isopropyl alcohol, an anti-static agent, an evaporant, and a surfactant. One gives each side about six squirts and then quickly lay it on a mat and rub clockwise with the velvet pad provided until dry. I've read that this process damages the surface...or that over time it rots the vinyl. This is nonsense - I've used it for near-on fifty years, my LPs are as pristine as the day they were treated. I often demonstrate the effect to visitors, and they are amazed at its effectiveness. It is very easy to use it incorrectly, and it requires a strict process to be effective....for example you need to get used to the idea that the stylus cleans the groove after treatment, and it's surprising how much stuff is stuck to the stylus after each side is played...and a deposit of 'crumb' on the just-played side - but this only for the first few plays (this is the rubbish that is in the groove, that the stylus usually goes over!)...BTW, if you don't play the LP enough after treatment, next time you take it out it will be noisy. Just play it a couple of times and it will become silent (as much as it ever was!). All my albums treated once are completely inert statically....it's quite uncanny how effective it is!

Permastat is hard to find now, but recently I bought two complete kits from Holland....at a price!

[MickyD]

Two CDs from Il Fondamento directed by Paul Dombrecht in music by the tragically short-lived Spanish composer Arriaga. Both are well performed - however the orchestral disc contains much better music than that with vocal works, which is frankly very dull in my opinion.

[Pulcinella]

Having missed the start of Wednesday's Choral Evensong, I'm doing my own catching up by listening to

Byrd
Cantiones Sacrae 1575
The Cardinall's Musick
Andrew Carwood

(ASV Gaudeamus; The Byrd Edition 4)

[Stanfordian]

Sandrine Piau – ‘Si j'ai aimé…’
Mélodies from Saint-Saëns, Bordes, Berlioz, Martini, Vierne, Guilmant & Duparc
Orchestral works from Pierné, Duparc, Massenet, & Godard
Sandrine Piau (soprano)
Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin (violin / direction)
Recorded 2018 Arsenal-Cité Musicale de Metz, France
Alpha Classics, CD

Anton Arensky
Piano Quintet in D major, Op. 51
String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 35
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32
Spectrum Concerts Berlin
Recorded live 2014 Kammermusiksaal, Philharmonie, Berlin
Naxos, CD

[smittims]

Dear old Arensky: I love his second symphony, and his Tchaikovsky Variations, especially the Barbirolli recording.

My last listening was

Haydn: Symphonies nos. 97 amd 98. The London Philharmonic orchestra, Eugen Jochum. DG LPs from 1973.

Perhaps the least well-known of the twelve 'London ' Symphonies possibly becasue they haven't acquired nicknames, but they are just as good as the others. The slow movement of no.98 contains a touching quotation of God Save the King, maybe a reference to George III's temporary recovery .

I've often wondered why Deutsche Grammophon chose a London orchestra for these recordings. Maybe they felt it was appropriate or they coincided with concerts. At any rate I think these are my favourite recordings of the twelve works, after Beecham's famous 1950s HMV set.

[Petrushka]

Dear old Arensky: I love his second symphony, and his Tchaikovsky Variations, especially the Barbirolli recording.

My last listening was

Haydn: Symphonies nos. 97 amd 98. The London Philharmonic orchestra, Eugen Jochum. DG LPs from 1973.

Perhaps the least well-known of the twelve 'London ' Symphonies possibly becasue they haven't acquired nicknames, but they are just as good as the others. The slow movement of no.98 contains a touching quotation of God Save the King, maybe a reference to George III's temporary recovery .

I've often wondered why Deutsche Grammophon chose a London orchestra for these recordings. Maybe they felt it was appropriate or they coincided with concerts. At any rate I think these are my favourite recordings of the twelve works, after Beecham's famous 1950s HMV set.

I've not heard of a reference to God Save the King in the slow movement of the Haydn 98. Most appear to believe that there is a quotation from Mozart's Jupiter Symphony while others detect a reference to Mozart's Coronation Mass, both as a tribute to Mozart who had died the year before.

[Jonathan]

The Arensky first piano trio has the most wonderful slow movement. Must give it a spin again soon.

[oliver sudden]

I've not heard of a reference to God Save the King in the slow movement of the Haydn 98. Most appear to believe that there is a quotation from Mozart's Jupiter Symphony while others detect a reference to Mozart's Coronation Mass, both as a tribute to Mozart who had died the year before.

I heard 98 quite recently as part of the ‘A Haydn A Day’ project over on bluesky. The resemblance to the Agnus Dei from the Coronation Mass is fairly clear, God Save the Quing similar but very much in passing, the Jupiter I found less so. To be honest though I didn’t think any of them necessarily had to be anything more than accidental—even the Agnus Dei had enough in the way of little differences to make me think ‘if you’re really quoting it wouldn’t you get it right?’…

There’s also the tiny problem that he might well have written 98 before he actually heard the sad news. And also that it’s really rather a cheery piece, all in all.

[Petrushka]

I heard 98 quite recently as part of the ‘A Haydn A Day’ project over on bluesky. The resemblance to the Agnus Dei from the Coronation Mass is fairly clear, God Save the Quing similar but very much in passing, the Jupiter I found less so. To be honest though I didn’t think any of them necessarily had to be anything more than accidental—even the Agnus Dei had enough in the way of little differences to make me think ‘if you’re really quoting it wouldn’t you get it right?’…

There’s also the tiny problem that he might well have written 98 before he actually heard the sad news. And also that it’s really rather a cheery piece, all in all.

I agree with this, though the Jupiter reference does get trotted out when it's broadcast or in sleeve notes. I do notice it but confess I'd never spotted the other two 'quotes'. I played the Colin Davis/Concertgebouw recording only the other day.