What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[teamsaint]

Oh do start a Birtwistle composer thread Ferney, you know you want to.

I've been listening to a fair bit recently, having got a bit of the HB bug, and I'm sure there are lots of us could do with a bit of guidance......

[Pulcinella]

The Barber so far ( end of first movement) is absolutely knockout.

As is the Stravinsky (Violin concerto) in the Salonen box.
Have revised my opinion of the Symphonies of wind a bit (upwards) too: it's the 1947 version so perhaps I need to check better against the score.
Not so taken with complete Pulcinella: voices rather too prominent I found, though some lovely touches.

So that's five of the seven CDs got through, and the sky is now blue not orange/Firebird coloured!
Wind getting up though, and house creaking!

[jayne lee wilson]

Thrilled to see this appear, I so, so wanted to like it, but....

In symphonies 1 & 2, whilst admiring the detail, the coloristic subtleties, the fresh, open and dynamic recording in the Konzerthaus, I was often frustrated at the lack of grip and focus - rhythmic grip and bite, and focus of contrapuntal lines, the defining of the complex, many-layered musical argument. I'm afraid I kept feeling that the conductor and orchestra, despite an attractive volatility and vividly drawn contrasts of mood, texture, dynamics and pace, weren't really inside the music - didn't know it quite well enough to be free and sure with their interpretational direction or attack on each movement. The slow movements come off better; the ORF Wien responding to their simpler, singing lines very beautifully (especially in No.2, perhaps Martinu's loveliest of all); I was grateful to have heard these at least.
(But, just to compound my discontent, there seems to be an editing fault, or late entry, shortly after the start of Symphony No.2, just before a main string theme comes in (the descent at around 00:30, track 5). Careless either in performance or production).
In No.3 though, things improved, and this gets a truly powerful, cogent performance here, perhaps because it has a more direct and dramatic musical shape and character.

But in the 1st movement of No.4.... the familiar shortcomings were evident once again...compared with Arthur Fagen/Ukraine NSO/Naxos, it didn't swing enough in the first theme, or soar enough in the second; the woodwind lines and details lacked confident projection - weren't really owned by soloists or orchestra; the climax wasn't sharply enough defined....
...And that's where I got to this weekend, listening on Qobuz HiFi. Yes, the CDs would probably give a cleaner sound, a clearer acoustic presence. But comparison with other available performances on the equivalent lossless stream and CD (Neumann, Thomson, Valek), weren't kind to the newcomer. I'll soldier on to 5 and 6....but I won't be rushing to buy it... what a shame!

[EdgeleyRob]

Russia - Part 5

We go backwards here:

Composers born between 1846 and 1874. I am not including Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Glazunov and Liadov as I know a fair amount about those or the Latvian Vitols and Ukrainians Nowakowsky and Maliszewski. Nor is there the scope for Ilyinsky, Sokolov, Friedheim, Koussevitsky, Winkler, Rebikov, Maykapar, Soloviev, Zolotarev, Koroschenko or Arstybushev.

Sergei Vasilenko - Trumpet Concerto, Op. 113 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqtnaiU2z40
Julius Conus - Violin Concerto in E Minor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W7_4Rcs_YY
Alexander Gretchaninov - Verouyu Op 79 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H2BvUe5LkM
Sergei Taneyev - Piano Concerto, E flat Major - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xEsI_mOysI

Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov - Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op 37 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rCtRFOYS8Y
Alexander Taneyev - Suite No 2 in F Major Op. 14 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1X3IQ395jI
Sergei Lyapunov - Rhapsody on Ukrainian Themes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzR-c4ELTOs
Victor Ewald - Brass Quintet No. 1, B-Flat Minor Op. 5/2. Adagio - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldjdndS9js

Alexander Kopylov - Concert Overture Op. 31 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFysT38sI30
Anton Arensky - Violin Concerto in A Minor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNsOcm1O41Q
Alexander Arkhangelsky - Panikhida - Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOpThGUkgzI
Vasily Kalinnikov - Symphony No 2, in A Major - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qslHwFCu2sc

Some good names there Lat,yer Arenskys,Lyapunovs,Kalinnikovs and Gretchaninovs,and some I don't know so thanks for the pointers.
The stand out one for me is Taneyev,I adore his music,especially the Symphonies and String Quartets.

You might recognise this tune but maybe not from this source

[Lat-Literal]

Some good names there Lat,yer Arenskys,Lyapunovs,Kalinnikovs and Gretchaninovs,and some I don't know so thanks for the pointers.
The stand out one for me is Taneyev,I adore his music,especially the Symphonies and String Quartets.

You might recognise this tune but maybe not from this source

Thank you Rob.

There is a lot of Tchaikovsky and Brahms in S Taneyev.

Having a mixture of composers that are well-known to the initiated and some that are not so well known was my aim.

I was pleasantly surprised by the choral work of Arkhangelsky.

The Gretchaninov clip is perhaps not the norm in terms of classical performance but it is extraordinarily atmospheric!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Schumann: Kinderszenen Op 15; Drei Romanzen Op 28; Jorg DEMUS.

Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in d minor, Op 49; SUK Trio

Granberg: How Deep is the Ocean; How High is the Sky?

http://www.anothertimbre.com/granberghowdeep.html

Barrett: life-form; Arne DEFORCE ('cello), the Composer (electronics)

Musorgsky: Boris Godunov; Talvella, Gedda etc, Polish Radio Chorus of Krakow/Krakow Philharmonic Chorus/Polish National Radio Symphony - Jerzy SEMKOW

(This is a terrific performance and recording of one of the greatest works that the human imagination has ever created.)

[Bryn]

... Musorgsky: Boris Godunov; Talvella, Gedda etc, Polish Radio Chorus of Krakow/Krakow Philharmonic Chorus/Polish National Radio Symphony - Jerzy SEMKOW

(This is a terrific performance and recording of one of the greatest works that the human imagination has ever created.)

So, if one was to have but one recording of the real thing, should it be Semkow's, Gergiev's ... ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

So, if one was to have but one recording of the real thing, should it be Semkow's, Gergiev's ... ?

Well, Gergiev is (IIRC) the only recording of "the real thing(s)" - Semkow's is the 1872 version, but includes the scene from 1869 where the Simpleton talks to Boris (removed in '72) and so Semkow has to cut the twenty-nine bars from the final scene (between figs 21 - 25 in the OUP vocal score) which are an exact repetition of the scene where the Urchins nick his coin. I suppose this makes dramatic sense (although, having the coin stolen twice in exactly the same way would bring out the "simple" in "Simpleton"!) but Musically means that a diminished seventh chord instead of falling from F to E (and introducing the Simpleton's ostinato F - E "whinging" accompaniment) now sticks on F, and moves to F minor (instead of A minor).

That digression from the 1872 text aside, I love the way this performance presents the Music of Boris in all its different characterisations: Talvella actually sings the notes Musorgsky wrote for the part - there's none of that hammy, histrionic over-acting of certain earlier "interpretations". And that is true of the performance as a whole - there is a terrific realization of the different moods in this great opera; comedy, gentleness, cynicism, lyricism, as well as psychological terror and cruelty. I nearly didn't buy the set because some online reviews described it as "under-powered": I think they mean that they'd prefer a one-dimensional "exciting" performance - but that would lose so much subtlety that Semkow hears in the score.

For genuine Musorgsky, Gergiev is the only recording that gives us exactly what the composer wrote (in both versions) - and they're pretty damn fine performances, too, with authentic Russian forces. But Semkow is terrific, too.

[Stanfordian]

The Handel Album – Philippe Jaroussky
Arias from Rodelinda, Rinaldo, Partenope, Orlando, Tamerlano, Amadigi di Gaula;
Flavio; Giustino; Imeneo; Radamisto, Riccardo primo; Siroe & Tolomeo
Ensemble Artaserse/Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor & direction)
Recorded 2017 Eglise Notre-Dame du Liban, Paris
Erato

Beethoven
3 String Trios
Trio Zimmermann
Recorded 2010 Nybrokajen (former Royal Academy of Music) Stockholm, Sweden
(Nos. 1 and 2) & Meistersaal, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany (No. 3)
BIS SACD

[Joseph K]

Berg - Seven Early Songs (version with piano).

[Pulcinella]

Birtwistle
Antiphonies for piano and orchestra
Nomos
An imaginary landscape

Joanna MacGregor
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest
Michael Gielen

BBCSO
Paul Daniel

[BBMmk2]

Palestrina
Vol.7.
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers.

Another top recording from these artists!

[MrGongGong]

This

[pastoralguy]

Tchaikovsky. 'Manfred' Symphony

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Semyon Bychkov.

[Richard Barrett]

Birtwistle
Antiphonies for piano and orchestra
Nomos
An imaginary landscape

Joanna MacGregor
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest
Michael Gielen

BBCSO
Paul Daniel

Antiphonies is possibly my second favourite Birtwistle piece (after The Mask of Orpheus). But I must give that CD a listen again one of these days because I have very little recollection of the other pieces on it.