What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[richardfinegold]

I think…I enjoy listening to what I think I like and among many composers including Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Respighi. We all have thoughts! One of mine is that most minimalist music is monotonous, miserable and meaningless (I also like alliteration!), and it is probably the product of lazy composing.

I’m currently downsizing my CD collection and I’m frequently surprised by some of the things I find I like on a re-listen but also those which I thought good in the past now on the Charity Shop pile!

If I wish to listen for mind numbing repetition, any pop song can fit the bill

[Stanfordian]

Bruckner
Symphony No. 9
Original Version 1894 (edited by Leopold Nowak)
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln/François-Xavier Roth
Recorded Live, June 2022 Philharmonie, Kölner, Germany
Myrios Classics, new CD

[Pianorak]

John Field: Nocturnes - Florent Albrecht (pianoforte de Meglio). Excellent performances on a superb instrument.

[smittims]

Back to old favourites for a while:

Delius: On the Heights (Paa Vidderne)
Bax: The Garden of Fand
Bantock: Fifine at the Fair.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham.

It;s funny how the very sound of these old recordings takes me back to the time I first heard them, reminding me of what I was doing at the time, whom I was seeing,etc.

[LMcD]

If I wish to listen for mind numbing repetition, any pop song can fit the bill

The problem with the best pop lyrics is that you can check out any time you like but you can never leave.

[Stanfordian]

Brahms
Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op. 11
Serenade No. 2 in A major, Op. 16
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig / Riccardo Chailly
Recorded 2014 Gewandhaus, Leipzig, Germany
Decca, CD

Bryan Hymel – 'Héroïque' – French Opera Arias
Arias from Rossini, Berlioz, Verdi, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Massenet, Reyer, Bruneau & Rabaud
Bryan Hymel (tenor)
Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno,
PKF-Prague Philharmonia / Emmanuel Villaume
Recorded 2014, Smetana Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
Warner Classics, CD

[richardfinegold]

RVW, Sixth Symphony , Flos Campi , Abravanel/Utah, on a DVD Audio.
I am wondering if Abravanel recorded more Vaughn Williams

[Pulcinella]

RVW, Sixth Symphony , Flos Campi , Abravanel/Utah, on a DVD Audio.
I am wondering if Abravanel recorded more Vaughn Williams

Discogs suggests two Vanguard LPs:

Dona nobis pacem c/w Symphony 6
Tallis fantasia/Dives and Lazarus/Flos campi/Fantasia on Greensleeves

I'm pretty sure I had his Dona nobis, but I think coupled with Flos campi!

[smittims]

Yes, the Dona nobis pacem was the work's first recording and the Flos Campi its first stereo recording, and a very fine performance too from violist Sally Peck Lentz, one of many fine artists who seem famous for only one recording. I'd like to have heard her in the Hindemith concerto.

I've just revisited Alexander Goehr's early Piano Sonata . I don't suppose it gets played much these days. It hs a fine sympathetic performance by John Ogdon who recorded a number of little-known solo piano works by Max Davies, Richard Hall and Harry Birtwistle, all of whom he knew personaly.

[pastoralguy]

Elizabeth Maconchy. Piano concerto.

Martin Jones, piano. The BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by John Andrews.

A friend gave me a copy of this cd and insisted that I listen to it.

[richardfinegold]

Discogs suggests two Vanguard LPs:

Dona nobis pacem c/w Symphony 6
Tallis fantasia/Dives and Lazarus/Flos campi/Fantasia on Greensleeves

I'm pretty sure I had his Dona nobis, but I think coupled with Flos campi!

I omitted the Dona and Divers and Lazarus from what seems to be a generously filled DVD. Yours and Smittems comments that some of these Abravanel recordings were at least stereo premieres is interesting, as I would have surely thought that a UK ensemble would have had that honor. Pity there isn’t more from Abravanel

[Petrushka]

Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Philip Langridge (tenor), Catherine Wyn Rogers (contralto)
Alastair Miles (bass)
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis

Recorded live in St Paul's Cathedral, London on November 26 1997.

I was present at this performance, way down the nave, but could hear very little of it. The acoustics are so bad that the soloists were mostly inaudible and the Chorus just one big mush.

The DVD, though, is excellent and I'm still glad I went. I've not seen it for years and it was so perfect to do so now.

[smittims]

El Amor Brujo (abridged 1945 recording): the National Symphony Orchestra, Enrique Jorda. Quite an outing for the 22-year old Dennis Brain as principal horn, with some lovely solos.

It occurred to me for the first time today that this work was quite possibly an influence on Constant Lambert's early masterpiece The Rio Grande.

[Stanfordian]

Bruckner
Mass No. 3 in F minor for soloists, four-part mixed choir, organ & orchestra (1867/68),
WAB 28 (Nowak edition)
Sally Matthews (soprano), Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), Ilker Arcayürek (tenor) & Stanislav Trofimov (bass)
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Howard Arman, chorus master)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Mariss Jansons
Recorded Live 2019, Herkulesaal, Munich
BR Klassik, CD, new release

[Stanfordian]

Verdi – 'Don Carlo'
(five act Italian version of 1867)
Plácido Domingo (Don Carlo), Montserrat Caballé (Elizabetta), Shirley Verrett (Princess Eboli),
Sherrill Milnes (Rodrigo), Ruggero Raimondi (Philip II), Giovanni Foiani (Grand Inquisitor),
Simon Estes (Monk)
Ambrosian Opera Chorus,
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Carlo Maria Giulini
Studio recording 1970, Walthamstow Town Hall, London
EMI (HMV), remastered on Warner Classics, 3 CD set

My plan is to play this tonight.