What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[Pulcinella]

No, I already had most of the recordings in that box, and this one has higher definition audio and the surround option.

Ah!
I guess that if I laid the CDs in a circle on the floor I could surround myself too.

[Petrushka]

Karajan's First Beethoven Cycle 1951-1955

Beethoven: Overture - Egmont*
Beethoven Symphony No 2**

[interval]

Beethoven: Symphony No 6 (Pastoral)***

Philharmonia Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan

Recorded in June & July 1953*, November 1953** and July 1953***

[jayne lee wilson]

So I went and bought the CD.... extreme, extravagant and out there....
But entirely wonderful... the sound is a marvel of clarity and immediacy; they're a very colourful ensemble, the gut strings setting off a gorgeous-looking McNulty copy of Brahms' Viennese-action Streicher which is certainly a Grand Piano, very big and powerful sounding, but with fortepiano-like articulacy; very wide-ranging variety of tempi and expression in the readings. The excellent note (which goes into forensic detail about the instruments) makes the point that many of the features Brahms liked to hear in performances of his music would not necessarily be written down. So much, once again, for 20th Century reverence-for-the-score....

Stunning album then. (But - portamento legato largamente! If you don't like slides, best keep away!)



...makes me feel like....

https://imgur.com/gallery/0pbnPEw

[Lat-Literal]

So I went and bought the CD.... extreme, extravagant and out there....
But entirely wonderful... the sound is a marvel of clarity and immediacy; they're a very colourful ensemble, the gut strings setting off a gorgeous-looking McNulty copy of Brahms' Viennese-action Streicher which is certainly a Grand Piano, very big and powerful sounding, but with fortepiano-like articulacy; very wide-ranging variety of tempi and expression in the readings. The excellent note (which goes into forensic detail about the instruments) makes the point that many of the features Brahms liked to hear in performances of his music would not necessarily be written down. So much, once again, for 20th Century reverence-for-the-score....

Stunning album then. (But - portamento legato largamente! If you don't like slides, best keep away!)



...makes me feel like....
https://imgur.com/gallery/0pbnPEw

I like the album cover.

A happy 145th birthday to Ralph.

Who needs the land when one can have The Solent!

Ralph Vaughan Williams - The Solent - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2l0cNZSH8

[LMcD]

At the moment I'm listening to what I understand to be the whole of part of the completion of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. ('Essential Classics', need I add...)

[Stanfordian]

Meyerbeer – Grand Opera – Diana Damrau
Arias from Le prophète, Robert le diable, Alimelek, oder die beiden Kalifen, L'étoile du nord, L'Africaine,
Il crociato in Egitto, Le pardon de Ploërmel (Dinorah), Ein Feldlager in Schlesien, Emma di Resburgo, Les Huguenots
Diana Damrau (soprano)
Orchestre et Choeur de l’Opéra National de Lyon/Emmanuel Villaume
Recorded 2015 Opéra National de Lyon
Erato
I'm in my element with Meyerbeer's Grand Opera especially when sung by a singer as fine as Diana Damrau.

Saint-Saëns
Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op. 41
Piano Quartet in E major, Op. posth
Barcarolle for Piano Quartet, Op. 108
(arranged in 1909 from Barcarolle for piano, violin, cello & harmonium)
Mozart Piano Quartet
Recorded 2007/08 Ehemaliges Ackerhaus der Abtei, Marienmünster
MDG
Such lovely, uplifting music by the French master.

[jayne lee wilson]

I like the album cover.

A happy 145th birthday to Ralph.

Who needs the land when one can have The Solent!

Ralph Vaughan Williams - The Solent - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2l0cNZSH8

Yes, it's Max Liebermann, Bathers on the Seashore....

[Beef Oven!]

I like the album cover.

Exactly what I thought!

[EdgeleyRob]

A happy 145th birthday to Ralph.

I paid homage with

[BBMmk2]

I paid homage with

Oh, ER! What's the recording like? Will I have to get it?

[Stanfordian]

Oh, Boy! - Marianne Crebassa
Arias by Mozart, Chabrier, Gounod, Hahn, Massenet, Gluck/Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Thomas, Offenbach
Marianne Crebassa (mezzo-soprano)
Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg/Marc Minkowski
Recorded 2016 Große Saal, Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg
Erato

Franck
String Quartet, FWV9
Chausson
Chanson perpétuelle, for mezzo-soprano, piano and string quartet, Op. 37
Quatuor Zaïde
Karine Deshayes (mezzo-soprano)
Jonas Vitaud (piano)
Recorded 2016/17 Salle de concert Arsenal, Metz
NoMadMusic
A rather splendid new release!

[BBMmk2]

I paid homage with

Just played the above and what a recording on Spotify. Have ordered the recording via Amazon.

Sibelius Symphony No.4 in A minor, Op.63.
CBSO, Oramo.

[Petrushka]

Karajan's First Beethoven Cycle 1951-1955

Beethoven: Overture - Leonore No 3*
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5 (Emperor)**

[interval]

Beethoven: Symphony No 7***

Walter Gieseking (piano)**
Philharmonia Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan

Recorded in July 1953*, June 1951** and November 1951***

[EdgeleyRob]

Just played the above and what a recording on Spotify. Have ordered the recording via Amazon.

[Stanfordian]

Sondheim
‘A Little Night Music’
Cast: Barbara Lang, Benjamin Rayson, Beth Fowler, D. Jamin-Bartlett, Gene Varrone, George Lee
Andrews, Glynis Johns, Hermione Gingold, Judy Kahan, Laurence Guittard, Len Cariou, Mark Lambert,
Patricia Elliott, Teri Ralston, Victoria Mallory, Bonus track: Elaine Tomkinson
Orchestra conducted by Paul Gemignani
Original Broadway Cast Recording 1973
Recorded Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City
Masterworks Broadway - Sony