What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[Stanfordian]

Leoncavallo – ‘Zingari’
Drama lirico, in two episodes (reconstructed original 1912 version)
Krassimira Stoyanova (Fleana), Arsen Soghomonyan (Radu),
Stephen Gaertner (Tamar), Lukasz Golinski (elderly gypsy leader),
Opera Rara Chorus,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Carlo Rizzi
Recorded Nov/Dec 2021 Fairfield Concert Hall, London
Opera Rara, 1 CD

[silvestrione]

November 2024 BBC MM cover CD

A tribute to Sir Andrew Davis

Holst: The Hymn of Jesus (Barbican 2008; BBCSO and Chorus, Trinity Laban Chamber Choir)
Debussy arr Altinoglu: Pelléas et Mélisande suite (Barbican 2019; BBCSO)
Tippett: Symphony 4 (Proms 2022; BBCPO)

As has been mentioned the Tippett here is particularly treasurable: the recording has pin point clarity for the little touches of percussion, and the performance is whole-hearted and very well held together by Sir Andrew.

[vinteuil]

JS Bach : BWV 831 Ouvertüre nach Französischer Art from the Clavier-Übung II
arranged for two oboes, bassoon, strings and basso continuo, Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano

https://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Bach-Please-Rinaldo-Alessandrini/dp/B0DB2NW8B9

delicious






.

[pastoralguy]

Barber. Violin Concerto.

Johan Dalene, violin with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Blendulf. BIS SACD

[gradus]

The delightful Bethlehem Down by mistake when trying to select something else.

[oliver sudden]

Brahms 'Haydn' variations. Van Beinum's 1949 LPO version, from the big Decca box. Sound is what it is (i.e. not much chop), but the performance is splendid.

[smittims]

Grazyna Bacewcz. Symphony no.3. I was prompted to listen to this by hearing a short piece of hers played at about 8.45 this morning on 'Breakfast'. The symphony strikes me as one of the strongest pieces I've yet heard by female composer, almost as good as Grace Williams' two symphonies.

I followed it with Handel's Piano Concerto. Yes, well, that's what it was called when first played by Betty Humby and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. It is of course an arrangement by him for piano and orchestra of some Handel pieces, John Lucas, his biographer, calls it probably the most outrageous of his Handel arrangements; I enjoyed it.

Sadly it was one of a very few recordings made by this pianist, the best-known of which is the Delius concerto they recorded together in 1946.

[vinteuil]

I followed it with Handel's Piano Concerto...

... there are also these -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/H%C3%A4ndel-Complete-Concertos-Kirschnereit-Kammerakademie/dp/B08LJ166K2

(tho' whether Matthias Kirschnereit can rival the eloquence of Lady Betty Humby Beecham is a matter perhaps best left to admirers of Sir Thos: Beecham bt CH... )

.

[smittims]

Be fair! He wasn't CH until 1957, ironically the year he became a tax exile in the south of France. But thanks for the link. I suppose they are the organ concertos, though one of those is often played on a harp,and George Malcolm played another on the Harpsichord.

I shall always remember the first time I saw a complete set of the Chysander edition, one volume of which was entitled 'piano-forte works'.

[Serial_Apologist]

The delightful Bethlehem Down by mistake when trying to select something else.

I thought for one silly moment you were referring to Westhall Hill - Imogen Holst's very English-in-the-best-sense tone poem, which I caught on B****fast this morning while brushing my teeth.

[Dave2002]

Grazyna Bacewcz. Symphony no.3. I was prompted to listen to this by hearing a short piece of hers played at about 8.45 this morning on 'Breakfast'. The symphony strikes me as one of the strongest pieces I've yet heard by female composer, almost as good as Grace Williams' two symphonies

Careful ... !!!!

[smittims]

Liszt: The Night Procession (no. 1 of 'two episodes from Lenau's Faust'): The Suisse Romande Orchestra, Ernest Ansermet.

I think this may have been the first recording (c.1967) of this hauntingly melancholy work. I well remember hearing it when it came out and realising that Liszt was a much more subtle and interesting composer than I had previously thought.

[Stanfordian]

Halévy – 'La Juive'
French grand opera in five acts
José Carreras (Eléazar), June Anderson (Rachel), Dalmacio Gonzales (Prince Léopold),
Julia Varady (Princess Eudoxie), Ferrucio Furlanetto (Brogni),
Ambrosian Opera Chorus,
Philharmonia Orchestra / Antonio de Almeida
Recorded 1986 Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London
Philips, 3 CD set

[HighlandDougie]

Vaughan Williams: Job, a Masque for Dancing

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew Manze

A favourite work. If this performance doesn't have quite the live atmosphere of the off-air recording I have of Sakari Oramo and the BBC SO from the Proms a few years ago, it is really rather special. Great recording (Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool: Andrew Keener at the controls); very good orchestral playing; an excellent example of how imaginative Manze is in V-W. Good couplings, too - 'Old King Cole' and 'The Running Set'. Highly recommended, especially to anyone who might doubt Job's place high in the V-W canon.

[cloughie]

Vaughan Williams: Job, a Masque for Dancing

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew Manze

A favourite work. If this performance doesn't have quite the live atmosphere of the off-air recording I have of Sakari Oramo and the BBC SO from the Proms a few years ago, it is really rather special. Great recording (Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool: Andrew Keener at the controls); very good orchestral playing; an excellent example of how imaginative Manze is in V-W. Good couplings, too - 'Old King Cole' and 'The Running Set'. Highly recommended, especially to anyone who might doubt Job's place high in the V-W canon.

HD, I have long had an affection for Job, alongside his Syms 2 3 & 5 as my leading RVW works - the basis of this was the 1950s’ LPO Boult recordings.
Manze’s recordings are good and I think his No4 is outstanding.