What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Pulcinella]

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?!

A lot.

[Master Jacques]

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.

I rather cherish that Petr Weigl film on DVD, which seems to me to capture not only a measure of the opera's particular beauty, but also - for obvious reasons, considering that they were miming to the pre-existent recording - something of its dreamlike, distanced quality. Hampson is indeed splendid, and the two young principals look the right age, which makes a huge difference. I made the mistake of sourcing the same director's film of Rusalka from Prague, only to find it was unspeakably terrible! Perhaps Weigl was a one-hit wonder.

The DVD also has a very valuable extra - a documentary called "discovering Delius", in which Charles Mackerras amongst others give fascinating insight into why and how Delius's music works.

[Mandryka]

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?!

Elektra. And the elephant in the room -- the highly divisive Die Frau Ohne Schatten.

For what it's worth I used to like Ariadne much more than Arabella (despite my internet name!) All these things are better seen rather than just heard IMO.


Listening to this excellent new release



He communicates his involvement and love for the music, he makes wonderful sounds come out of the piano - great colours, well recorded. I’ve not compared with other recordings, I’ve not played the music so I don’t know it more than casually, but going from memory there are some original ideas here too. It’s beautiful, he cares about beautiful piano tone, but it’s not at all cloying or tawdry, and we’re not in the hotel lobby - I mean he finds enough “poetry” in the music to make it interesting to hear attentively rather than have for room ambience. No flashy virtuosity. And it doesn’t all sound the same, or I don’t think it does (decide for yourself) Basically, it’s sweet.

[smittims]

Hi, Pastoralguy, I think Strauss' operas are a bit like Scott's novels. You need to give them time , and relax into them on their own terms. This is especially true of the later ones. Just sit back and let it all flow over you . I love them all (well, apart from Ariadne and Feuersnot).

[Stanfordian]

Bruckner
Symphony No. 3
(1873 first version. Edited by Leopold Nowak)
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / François-Xavier Roth
Recorded Live concerts September 2022 Philharmonie, Cologne
Myrios Classics, CD new release

[Stanfordian]

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

Hiya silvestrione,

Regarding the two works you have mentioned items tracks 4 & 5, the Deux Legendes, S.354.

The booklet notes state "Amongst the better-known pieces are the Deux Legendes composed in 1862-63, which in addition to a piano version (S.175), Liszt arranged for orchestra (S.354).

[HighlandDougie]

Elektra. And the elephant in the room -- the highly divisive Die Frau Ohne Schatten.

For what it's worth I used to like Ariadne much more than Arabella (despite my internet name!) All these things are better seen rather than just heard IMO.


Listening to this excellent new release



He communicates his involvement and love for the music, he makes wonderful sounds come out of the piano - great colours, well recorded. I’ve not compared with other recordings, I’ve not played the music so I don’t know it more than casually, but going from memory there are some original ideas here too. It’s beautiful, he cares about beautiful piano tone, but it’s not at all cloying or tawdry, and we’re not in the hotel lobby - I mean he finds enough “poetry” in the music to make it interesting to hear attentively rather than have for room ambience. No flashy virtuosity. And it doesn’t all sound the same, or I don’t think it does (decide for yourself) Basically, it’s sweet.

Thanks for the heads-up - I would never otherwise have come across this rather wonderful CD. Well-chosen and well-ordered selection of pieces. Just the thing for a miserably wet afternoon.

[Pianorak]

https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/li...=bachtrack.com &utm_campaign=listinglink

Saint-Saëns, Camille (1835-1921)	Piano Concerto no. 5 in F major, "Egyptian," Op.103
Mompou, Federico (1893-1987)	Cancion y dansa no. 6
Liszt, Franz (1811-1886)	Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année, Italie: Sonetto del Petrarca no. 104, S 161 no. 5

Alexandre Kantorow - piano. Outstanding performance.

[Jonathan]

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

They are orchestrated versions of the two piano pieces - iirc, the orchestral version predates the piano version by a couple of days! They actually work well in this version and Haselbock's period instrument group do a super job (like they have with most of the orchestral works)

[smittims]

Beethoven: Symphony no.5. The Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Carl Schuricht.

This late 78 recording might have fallen into early oblivion had it not been selected by Decca as their first bargain LP (ACL 1) . For no particular reason,I hadn't heard it before. It's very good. One doesn't often hear a French orchestra in Beethoven, though Habeneck conducted all the symphonies on Paris nearly 200 years ago, the young Hector Berlioz in the audience. .

[Pianoman]

Beethoven: Symphony no.5. One doesn't often hear a French orchestra in Beethoven, though Habeneck conducted all the symphonies on Paris nearly 200 years ago, th.

It's one reason I particularly like Markevitch/ Lamoureux Orchestra in the Beethoven symphonies, especially the 5th, though they are all exceptional; it's as much for the orchestral timbre as for Markevitch's way with the music - beautifully layered, dynamic, propulsive, as good as any I can think of.

[pastoralguy]

Beethoven: Symphony no.5. The Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Carl Schuricht.

This late 78 recording might have fallen into early oblivion had it not been selected by Decca as their first bargain LP (ACL 1) . For no particular reason,I hadn't heard it before. It's very good. One doesn't often hear a French orchestra in Beethoven, though Habeneck conducted all the symphonies on Paris nearly 200 years ago, the young Hector Berlioz in the audience. .

Iirc, wasn’t it Habeneck who ‘corrected’ Beethoven’s symphonies? H couldn’t believe that Beethoven could have been so dissonant!

[smittims]

I don't know about Habeneck altering Beethoven. Various other conductors have done so, one of the most notorious and persistent instances being the added horns in the second subject recap in the first movement of the Fifth. Otto Klemperer's 1951 Vox recording was I think the first to restore Beethoven's version here, where Karajan reverted to the corrupt text as late as the 1980s, having omitted the horns in his 1970s set.

Habaeneck is said to have held 100 rehearsals for the Ninth, though I suspect many of them were for different sections of the orchestra and choir. Charles Rosen's conclusion was that 'the performance must at least have been competent'!

Thanks, pianoman, for the info about the Markevitch set.

[Stanfordian]

John Ireland – ‘The Chamber works’
Phantasie Piano Trio (In one Movement)
Piano Trio No. 2 (In one Movement)
Piano Trio No. 3
Yfrah Neaman (violin); Julian Lloyd Webber (cello); Eric Parkin (piano)
Sextet for Clarinet, Horn and String Quartet
Sonata for Cello and Piano
Fantasy-Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (in one Movement)
Emanuel Hurwitz, Ivor MacMahon (violins); Cecil Aronowitz, (viola); Terence Weil (cello); Gervase de Peyer (clarinet); Neill Sanders (horn) André Navarra (cello); Eric Parkin (piano)
Violin Sonata No. 1
Violin Sonata No. 2
Yfrah Neaman (violin); Eric Parkin (piano)
Recorded 1971 & 76 St. John’s Smith Square, London
Lyrita, 3CD set

[smittims]

I have the original Lps of those Ireland works, with their delightful sleeve pictures . Ireland's music is quite unlike any other. It is like a friend taking you by the arm and confiding in you. I'ev found it consoling in times of trouble.