What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[smittims]

Delius: A Village Romeo and Juliet. The 1948 BBC Third Programme broadcast, on a SOMM CD (it's also on Spotify) and often said to be a better performance than the HMV studio recording made shortly after.

I've been listening ot this opera on and off for fifty years and have only just understood the final scene fully. There is much sadness in this opera which evokes compassion , but the ending is actually positive and uplifting , at least to someone who sympathises with Herodotus'and Sophocles' view of Death, which Delius seems to have done.

[Pulcinella]

JSB: Cantata 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

Traditional fare as the anthem (with orchestra) at York Minster, but I didn't like the breakneck speed adopted, so have stayed home this year and put a tried and tested recording on instead.

Hymnus Chorknaben Stuttgart
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester
Karl Münchinger

[gradus]

John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London in Valses Nobles et Sentimentales and Bolero - both terrific. His Daphnis recording splits opinion but I'm looking forward to listening to it.

[smittims]

I'm also a fan of that ensemble. I don't know where they get their backing but they've brought a breath of fresh air into the orchestral scene.

A diffrent age, a different century for me today, the 1950 Columbia Zauberflote: Mozart singing (and playing) of an order one could search for in vain elsewhere. I always think of recordings like this when I hear someone raving about some new overpaid 'great' pop singer who has an effective compass of about a fifth and cannot sing a minor third in tune. I shake my head over such ignorance, and thank the shade of Walter Legge for being there and ensuring we can still hear better things.

[Stanfordian]

Renata Scotto – ‘Italian Opera Arias’
Arias from Puccini, Catalani, Cilea, Mascagni, Wolf-Ferrari
Renata Scotto (soprano)
LSO / Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Opera Orchestra of New York / Eve Queler
Philharmonia / James Levine / Sir John Pritchard /Lorin Maazel
with Renato Bruson (baritone), Elena Obraztsova (mezzo-soprano)
Recorded 1974-80 Carnegie Hall, New York City;
All Saints Church, Tooting, London; EMI Studios, London; Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampsted, London
Sony Classical, CD

[Pulcinella]

Shostakovich
Symphony 4
Philadelphia Orchestra/Ormandy

Prompted by it being mentioned on another thread, so hunted down for streaming.

[smittims]

Yes, that's a good one. I remember its being reissued on CBS CLassics in the '70s. Ormandy's 14th and 15th are also excellent.

[Stanfordian]

Franz Liszt – Legends of the Saints, vol.1
Die Glocken des Strassburger Münsters, for baritone, choir & orchestra, S.6:
1) i. Preludio: Excelsior
2) ii. Die Glocken
3) Cantatibus organis, for alto, choir & orchestra, S.7
Two Legends, for orchestra, S.354:
4) No.1, Saint François de Paule marchant sur les flots
5) No.2, Saint François d'Assise, la prédication aux oiseaux
6) San Francesco (Preludio per il Cantico del Sol di San Francesco 1880), for solo organ, S.665
7) Cantico del Sol di San Francesco d'Assisi, baritone, male choir & orchestra, S.4
8) Hosannah, for bass trombone & organ S.677
Stephanie Houtzeel (mezzo-soprano), Tomasz Konieczny (bass-baritone)
Chorus Ad Libitum,
Chorus Viennensis,
Florian Kaier, organ (San Francesco), Florian Kaier, trombone (Hosannah)
Orchester Wiener Akademie / Martin Haselböck (organ)
Recorded 1983 Konzerthaus, Vienna; 2015 Lisztzentrum, Raiding; 2021 Jesuitenkirche, Vienna
Aparté, CD

[Master Jacques]

Takemitsu
Spectral Canticle
To the Edge of Dream
Vers, L'arc en ciel, Palma
Twill by Twilight

Jacob Kellermann (guitar), Viviane Hagner (violin), Juliana Koch (oboe d'amore)
BBC Philharmonic
c. Christian Karlsen

BIS-2655 SACD

Following a subtle hint, I received this from my wife last week as a wedding anniversary present. An alluring one too, with the three better-known works headed by a world premiere recording for Spectral Canticle, a concerto for guitar and violin which was one of his last yet most lyrical works. It's a winner, if not quite at the level of Vers, L'arc on ciel, Parma, a magically deep evocation of the world of Miro's paintings, for guitar and oboe d'amore. The performance of the solo concerto Edge of Dream doesn't quite erase memories of dedicatee Julian Bream with Rattle on EMI, but the BIS recording is marvellously clear and spacious in all four works, and I'll be returning to this beautifully-played disc often.

[Master Jacques]

Delius: A Village Romeo and Juliet. The 1948 BBC Third Programme broadcast, on a SOMM CD (it's also on Spotify) and often said to be a better performance than the HMV studio recording made shortly after.

I've been listening ot this opera on and off for fifty years and have only just understood the final scene fully. There is much sadness in this opera which evokes compassion , but the ending is actually positive and uplifting , at least to someone who sympathises with Herodotus'and Sophocles' view of Death, which Delius seems to have done.

Just seen this, Smittims, and wanted to second your thought on the final scene, which is as you say is surely about triumph rather than tragedy. Delius doesn't allow us to forget that the 'Paradise Garden' is no nirvana for the lovers, but a brothel; and that true transcendence comes for them only in their river love-death. I agree with you that the BBC broadcast is preferable to Beecham's HMV studio recording. Though for me, the Mackerras on Argo (with Helen Field, Arthur Davies and Thomas Hampson) is the one to cherish.

[LMcD]

David Diamond: Symphony No. 4

[silvestrione]

Franz Liszt – Legends of the Saints, vol.1
Die Glocken des Strassburger Münsters, for baritone, choir & orchestra, S.6:
1) i. Preludio: Excelsior
2) ii. Die Glocken
3) Cantatibus organis, for alto, choir & orchestra, S.7
Two Legends, for orchestra, S.354:
4) No.1, Saint François de Paule marchant sur les flots
5) No.2, Saint François d'Assise, la prédication aux oiseaux
6) San Francesco (Preludio per il Cantico del Sol di San Francesco 1880), for solo organ, S.665
7) Cantico del Sol di San Francesco d'Assisi, baritone, male choir & orchestra, S.4
8) Hosannah, for bass trombone & organ S.677
Stephanie Houtzeel (mezzo-soprano), Tomasz Konieczny (bass-baritone)
Chorus Ad Libitum,
Chorus Viennensis,
Florian Kaier, organ (San Francesco), Florian Kaier, trombone (Hosannah)
Orchester Wiener Akademie / Martin Haselböck (organ)
Recorded 1983 Konzerthaus, Vienna; 2015 Lisztzentrum, Raiding; 2021 Jesuitenkirche, Vienna
Aparté, CD

Intriguing! How items 4 and 5 relate to the well-known solo piano works, do you know?

[Mandryka]

La Monte Young's string trio. 3 hours long, I won't listen to all of it but I can say this after about 40 minutes -- lots of food for thought here about melody and silence, and I can imagine in concert It's a really enjoyable night out which resonates in the mind afterwards. I'm getting interested in La Monte Young -- I listened to the last half hour or so of Well Tuned Piano the other day.

[smittims]

Thanks, Master Jaques. I don't know if you've seen the DVD of the Mackerras Village Romeo. It was made quite independently of the recording and in the open air , so it looks incongruous at times, though it shares one singer with the audio version, Thomas Hampson's splendid portrayal of the Dark Fiddler.

Older territory for me today,the 1954 Columbia Ariadne auf Naxos, with Karajan,the Philharmonia, and of course Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.. Something of a 'marmite' opera (some Straussians love it above all others) , it's alwasy been my least favourite; I thinkthe revision was a mistake, and I don't care much for the prologue, but there's some fine singing and playing in this old set, only the second (I think ) complete recording of any Strauss Opera.

[pastoralguy]

Thanks, Master Jaques. I don't know if you've seen the DVD of the Mackerras Village Romeo. It was made quite independently of the recording and in the open air , so it looks incongruous at times, though it shares one singer with the audio version, Thomas Hampson's splendid portrayal of the Dark Fiddler.

Older territory for me today,the 1954 Columbia Ariadne auf Naxos, with Karajan,the Philharmonia, and of course Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.. Something of a 'marmite' opera (some Straussians love it above all others) , it's alwasy been my least favourite; I thinkthe revision was a mistake, and I don't care much for the prologue, but there's some fine singing and playing in this old set, only the second (I think ) complete recording of any Strauss Opera.

I’ve never really taken to the Strauss operas. Well, apart from Rosenkavelier I’ve not really heard any of them apart from Capriccio which I heard the RSNO play in a concert at the Festival many years ago. It seemed to last forever!

I have Jeffrey Tate’s Arabelle in my pile which surfaces now and again although I’ve never taken the plunge. (£1 charity shop find!)

What am I missing?!