What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Stanfordian]

Verdi
'Les vêpres siciliennes' - grand opéra in five acts
Hélène - Lianna Haroutounian
Henri - Bryan Hymel
Procida - Erwin Schrott
Guy de Montfort - Michael Volle
Ninetta - Michelle Daly
Thibault - Neal Cooper
Daniéli - Nicholas Darmanin
Mainfroid - Jung Soo Yun
Robert - Jihoon Kim
Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Antonio Pappano
Recorded live October 2013 Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
Stage Director - Stefan Herheim
Set design - Philipp Fürhofer
Costume design - Gesine Völlm
Lighting design - Anders Poll
Bonus content: The Making of Les vêpres siciliennes: The ballet in Les vêpres siciliennes
Warner Blu-ray


There is an interesting article in today's Daily Telegraph by Simon Heffer about Andrew Manze's impressive ongoing cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies with the Liverpool Phil.

[Pulcinella]

Stravinsky: Persephone
The later of the two recordings in the complete Sony box.

Trying to like/appreciate it more, following RichardB's comments on another thread, but I can't get out of my mind the Hoffnung parody......Je suis la plume de ma tante.

[Pulcinella]

Well that performance of the second string quartet by the Amedeus Quartet was utterly lacklustre. A real disappointment. I’ve had the CD for years, I bought it for the Tippett (the Seiber is a single filler), and haven’t played it in quite a while.

This is not an excuse to buy a new recording, it is a genuinely boring performance. I think I’m going to get a download of 1-3.

Just listened to the Seiber SQ3 and Tippett SQ2 on this EMI recording: like chez Beefy it's been a long time since the CD got its last outing; and it will be a long time till the next.
Hard to think that this is the same Amadeus Quartet that make/made Britten's SQ3 so special.
Then again, the Tippett and Seiber were recorded in May 1954, and the Britten (on Decca) was much later (March 1978).

[Beef Oven!]

Just listened to the Seiber SQ3 and Tippett SQ2 on this EMI recording: like chez Beefy it's been a long time since the CD got its last outing; and it will be a long time till the next.
Hard to think that this is the same Amadeus Quartet that make/made Britten's SQ3 so special.
Then again, the Tippett and Seiber were recorded in May 1954, and the Britten (on Decca) was much later (March 1978).

I’m relieved it’s not just me, being me!

They really had an off-day, didn’t they?

Good observation on the Britten performances - you wouldn’t think they were the same group!

Mátyás Seiber’s three string quartets are wonderful and I downloaded the Edinburgh Quartet’s excellent performance of them. I’m listening to #1 as I type.

[BBMmk2]

J S Bach
French Suites. Murray Perahia(piano).

[visualnickmos]

Shostakovich
Symphonies nos. 6 & 12
USSR Ministry of Culture SO, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky

Perfect for a relaxing Saturday afternoon! But seriously, if you please - very moving performances of both works. Something definitely oppressive, here - with DSCH's usual undisguised dashes of parodial grandeur that fooled the philistine party bosses.

[pastoralguy]

Alban Berg. Violin concerto.

Gideon Kremer, violin.

Sir Colin Davis conducting the Symphony-Orchestra des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Followed by Richard Strauss Horn Concertos

Hermann Bauman, horn.

Kurt Masur conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

2 eBay CDs that popped through my door today.

[Beef Oven!]

Alban Berg. Violin concerto.

Gideon Kremer, violin.

Sir Colin Davis conducting the Symphony-Orchestra des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Followed by Richard Strauss Horn Concertos

Hermann Bauman, horn.

Kurt Masur conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

2 eBay CDs that popped through my door today.

Those horn concertos were written pretty far apart (1882 & 1942). Very different music from the Berg (written 7 years before horn concerto #2).

I don’t use eBay much, I should have a look.

Bargains, were they?

[pastoralguy]

Those horn concertos were written pretty far apart (1882 & 1942). Very different music from the Berg (written 7 years before horn concerto #2).

I don’t use eBay much, I should have a look.

Bargains, were they?

The Berg was a cd I lusted after so it was £6.00 but the Strauss was only a couple of squids.

[DublinJimbo]

It is comparing like with like. They are both companies that sell downloads of music. In eClassical’s case, they stick to classical music. Qobuz also do Rock, Pop, Jazz etc. So it’s even worse that they don’t have as much choice in classical music as Qobuz.

When eClassical began they were exclusively limited to BIS recordings. Other labels have gradually been added to the mix as time has passed, until their list of labels has reached today's admirably extensive state.

The fundamental difference between eClassical and Qobuz is the charging model. eClassical is the only download service which charges per second of playing time. On top of this, they regularly offer new high-res releases (BIS and others) at a generous discount for a limited time.

[DublinJimbo]

Messiaen: Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte-Trinité
Gilian Weir (organ)

Marking the 25th anniversary of the death of the composer. It was his organ music which was my introduction to Messiaen's music, thanks to a remarkable programme of BBC Radio 3 (or The Third Programme as it would have been then). This was way back in the early '60s, at which time not only had I not heard of Messiaen but I didn't even know how to spell his name, which made it difficult to track down recordings (I think it was a review in Gramophone which sorted that out). The radio programme was remarkable. It was at least am hour and a half long, and included wonderful (informative without being stuffy) introductions to each piece. I was by no means 'into' organ music at the time, but I was astonished by what I heard, and went on to investigate as much of Messiaen's music as I could get my hands on.

[Beef Oven!]

When eClassical began they were exclusively limited to BIS recordings. Other labels have gradually been added to the mix as time has passed, until their list of labels has reached today's admirably extensive state.

The fundamental difference between eClassical and Qobuz is the charging model. eClassical is the only download service which charges per second of playing time. On top of this, they regularly offer new high-res releases (BIS and others) at a generous discount for a limited time.

I use both providers regularly. The fundamental difference is the level of choice. Qobuz has substantially more choice.

When I embark on a purchase, I check Presto, eClassical and then Qobuz. I then compare prices and buy the cheapest one. I always take this systematic approach and end up buying most of my music from Qobuz.

eClassical’s per second pricing hasn’t really helped me with anything that I wanted, but it is excellent if you only want one track from an album because it will work out cheaper.

When I finish this post I’m going onto Presto’s site to buy a Petrassi album. eClassical and Qobuz don’t have it.

[BBMmk2]

J S Bach
Organ Works Vol.III. Robert Quinnay(organ).

This is one cycle of Bach's organ music I am really enjoying at the moment. On Coro.

[Dave2002]

Franck
Les Béatitudes, Rilling, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart

A strange work this - with some lovely sonorities. Parts of it very much suggest (IMO) Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, but this was written many years before. It's tempting to dismiss this one as a rather lengthy "failure", but since I started listening to it a week or two back I keep coming back to it - as so much of it is beautiful.

[cloughie]

Brigg Fair on the JS hosted Sunday. It was from the Halle/Elder recording. Anybody else here remember the Barbirolli HMV late sixties LP - a filler to Appalachia - the recording deteriorated towards the end of side 2 - I think it was tidied up when transferred to CD.