What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[Ian Thumwood]

Been olaying "Five tango sensations' but Astor Piazolla with the famous Kronos Quartet.

I have always loved this music but was surprised to learn about Piazolla studying with Alberto Guinestera and Nadia Boulanger. It is strange how this music has crossed over from pop into classical. This is a fabulous record.

South American composition is really unestimated.

[Ian Thumwood]

Funny, I mentioned Ginastera on the Shchedrin thread just this afternoon, in relation to his annoyance at not having his name pronounced correctly (he was actually of Catalan heritage).

I'm particularly interested in the guitar music of South America, as I play a little bit.

You may like a CD called La Danza with Eduardo Fernandez...my current favourite.....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Danza-Guita.../dp/B0000250K3

Thanks for the heads up. Never heard of half of those composers. It is interesting to explore this stuff and was listening to Ginastera piano preludes last night.

The Piazzola is interesting. Never appreciated the Boulanger connection but i have also been listening to Egberto Gismonti alot of late. He is another former pupil as was Quincy Jones.

If you play guitar, i would recommend Gismonti. He id also a very good pianist too.

[richardfinegold]

I actually have listened to the Franck Symphony played by Monteux and the CSO and Paray/DSO and Beecham with the LPO in the past week. Beecham is the wrong hands

[vinteuil]

.

... Nicolas Gombert [1495-1560] - Motets volume 3, a 2 CD set in extraordinary performances by the Austrian ensemble Beauty Farm

I find the unexpected and yet inevitable force of the lines here tremendous - it's a gorgeous performance (to add to the two previous 2 CD sets of Motets and one of the Masses). Gombert is one of my favourite composers, and these are addictive...

.

[smittims]

Stokowski conducts Percy Grainger Favourites. A 1950 session with the Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra (a session band assembled by Richard Mohr) in special orchestrations by Grainger himself, who plays solo piano on Handel in the Strand .


I think these would have been first issued as 45 rpm 7" EPs , in line with RCA's policy at the time, though\ni believe there was a 10" LP. I have the mid 1970s reissue with the Grieg Piano concerto on the other side ,where the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and John Hopkins accompany a piano roll recorded by Grainger.

Listening again I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the original Stokowski recordings, which exhibit signs of multi-miking and a mixing desk . It's clear that both the conducor and copomser took considerable care over these recordings which were, I believe, the introduction to Grainger for several musicians including Oliver Knussen an Simon Rattle. Mosts enjoyable: they may be on YouTube.

[Pulcinella]

Stravinsky
Requiem canticles

In preparation for tomorrow's Prom (which I'll have to catch up on as it's choir night).

Craft (Sony)
Gielen
Järvi
Knussen
Herreweghe
Jurowski
Craft (Naxos)

[pastoralguy]

Schubert. Piano Trio No.2. (With first version of the Finale).

Florestan Trio. Hyperion label.

Exquisite playing, as one would expect.

Having just finished my Brendel 114 cd exploration, I’m surprised that he didn’t record these works.

[teamsaint]

Tippett
A child of our time.

Edward Gardner, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Choir, Sarah Connolly, Roderick Williams, Kenneth Tarver, Nadine Benjamin
London Adventist Chorale

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9798926--tippett-a-child-of-our-time

Released 5 September 2025

Here's a link to the review of the 2022 concert.

https://www.theartsdesk.com/classica...it-still-moves

What do you think about it Pulcers ?

[Petrushka]

What do you think about it Pulcers ?

I bought this CD yesterday and hope to play it tomorrow evening. Thanks to Pulcinella for the concert review. I've only got the classic Colin Davis version and it is great news that Edward Gardner has taken on the role of being a much needed advocate for Tippett.

[Pulcinella]

What do you think about it Pulcers ?

Preferable to the recent Chandos Andrew Davis, that's for sure (dreadful soprano soloist in that), and glad to have listened, but it hasn't displaced my affection for earlier versions.
So not quite up there with Gardner's S2 and Piano concerto, but hoping for more Tippett from him.

[richardfinegold]

Schubert. Piano Trio No.2. (With first version of the Finale).

Florestan Trio. Hyperion label.

Exquisite playing, as one would expect.

Having just finished my Brendel 114 cd exploration, I’m surprised that he didn’t record these works.

Didn’t he record the Beethoven Cello Sonatas with his Cellist son?

[Barbirollians]

Shostakovich 10 RPO/Shipway - fabulous performance.

[smittims]

Yes, Brendel did record the Beethoven Cello works (sonatas and variations) with Adrian Brendel. There's also a Trout Quintet and the Mozart G minor quartet with Thomas Zehetmair, Tabea Zimmermann and others.

I've just heard

Boulez: Cumming ist der Dichter, from a performance at the 1973 Salzburg Festival conducted by Bruno Maderna . This is the first, unpublished I think, version of the work, and it was interesting to compare it with the 1976 published score. I've long thought this one of the most attractive of his later works. It has a relaxed charm about it which one does not always associate with his music .

[Barbirollians]

Brahms 1 -live Cgebouw/Monteux - Tahra

Another terrific performance - he whips up the coda in the finale as excitingly as HVK at the Festival Hall - which is saying something .

[Barbirollians]

This 2CD Tahra set ( deleted ) but copies were available on Amazon relatively cheaply is dynamite .

Not only a Harold in Italy to knock your socks off Paganini might have played it had he heard Monteux conduct it but a 1960 Dvorak CC with Rostropovich - did I really need another Rostropovich live account of this ? Oh yes I did - it’s absolutely magical . Monteux providing the extra magic .