The classical what are you listening to now ? thread.

[Alex S]

Given I’m checking out Lintu, I thought the Adès, Sibelius with Hadelich is excellent.

 

[davidjt]

The practically ancient RCA recording of Il Trovatore with Price, Milnes, Domingo etc. All nonsense, of course, but the singing just sweeps you away.
Yet another piece resurrected as a result of reading the book referred to elsewhere. There may be better versions recorded since the '70s but this one is fine by me.

 

[Todd A]

I was stoked to get this recording. Alas, it's kind of a letdown. Performance standards are very high; musical satisfaction, not so much. The ensemble seems to have imbibed deeply of academic HIPsterism, and they sing some of the music too quickly. Those who emphasize clarity over beauty may like this more than I do. For me, the relative shortcoming is obvious immediately in the Missa Mille regretz, where my reference comes from Chanticleer. De Profundis cannot match the San Franciscans in beauty, in fluidity, in the ability to stretch a line out and deliver it with a mighty musical wallop. Prior to UMG gobbling up Hyperion, this was set to be the first release of a complete Morales edition. I still welcome it, if it happens, but I have no hopes of this crew delivering the equivalent of Michael Noone's awesome Victoria set.

 

[tones]

Came across this by accident:

It appears to be a visual presentation of the final movement of my favourite version of Beethoven's 9th, the Karajan 1962 version. Certainly that's Walter Berry on the end and I'm pretty sure that's Gundula Janowitz singing soprano. The other two on that famous recording were Waldemar Kmentt and Hilde Rössel-Majdan, and it could be them. Herbie's company was the one that had the rights to produce videos of the BPO, so we get lots of Herbie.

 

[poco a poco]

I have enjoyed this live 3 times, first time in Edinburgh at the festival in 1988. I still don’t have CD copy so streaming on Amazon HD.

 

[Barrymagrec]

Fabulous opera and splendid recording.

 

[Svein]

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271 - Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.

 

[davidavdavid]

after reading about Sean Hayes as Oscar Levant on Broadway I settled in for a nice afternoon.

a rhapsody in blue: the extraordinary life of oscar levant

FYI: these recordings have been remastered to 24-bit 96-kHz

 

[Todd A]

FFG's Chopin. Finally. It's sort of a mixed bag, though mixed at a very high level. FFG plays very well, of course, but his Chopin does not rise to the same stratospheric qualitative highs as his Brahms and Beethoven, or even to his Debussy and Murail. The selected Nocturnes are knockouts, the Ballades high caliber, the Fantaisie as well. Really, the lesser works for me are the selected Etudes, the Op 58 Sonata, and the two Waltzes, kinda, sorta. FFG just doesn't deliver Chopin playing that sounds enough like what I typically prefer. It's like he wanted to out-Cortot Cortot in making some of the music sound quintessentially French. The Etudes are sometimes just blurred blobs of music. The Waltzes have some of that, but it doesn't sound unpleasant. So, from a playing standpoint, it's a bit mixed.

Sonically, it is nearly miraculous. FFG uses a 1905 Pleyel, and to my ears, grands from the first quarter or so of the 20th Century sound best of all, more or less irrespective of maker. The middle and high registers sound colorful and decay nicely, resulting in a bright but not obnoxious sound. (Would that FFG had used this or a similar instrument for his Debussy!) Whatever slight misgivings I have about interpretations fade to oblivion as the gorgeous sounds flood my ears. The instrument forced a change in technique, so that may account for the interpretive approach, but taken as a well-recorded whole, the sonic plusses combined with the still formidable interpretive plusses, reduced by the interpretive minuses still yields an exceptional listening experience. I will return to this set.

 

[davidavdavid]

It's been a rough day with clients, I just needed to hear music that would wind me up even more, so I found two recordings of George Antheil's Ballet Mecanique and decided to play them one after the other on a continuous loop. Just that kind of a ...

The concert caused a right panic at Carnegie Hall in New York, much akin to Stravinsky's debut of the Rite of Spring at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.

I can only imagine what it would have been like in both instances, had the attendees at both concerts respectively had online forums to which they could go home at night and vent.

 

[pianoman]

Pre-dating the Rite of spring by 4 years would make the Antheil 1909, yet Wiki says it was composed around 1923....?

 

[davidavdavid]

Corrected, misread website data.

 

[Dogberry]

 

[Todd A]

Having grown bored with listening to so many good and great recordings of core rep, I decided to listen to some Arthur Schoonderwoerd in the form of this HIP take on the Eroica. Knowing that the maestro opted for stripped down, scratchy sounding forces, I decided to listen via Amazon Music, my now ancient Motorola phone, and some JBL wireless earbuds in an attempt to make the playing sound comparatively beefy. Hoping the performance would have zest, I listened while taking my constitutional, looking for some musical inspiration. I was not inspired.

The opening movement made me think of a cat chasing a mouse. Well, not so much chasing as lazily ambling after it. Schoonderwoerd’s understanding of Allegro con brio differs from mine. OK, OK, a non-scratchy, puny, feeble, boring opening movement may be too much to ask from this ensemble, but surely the funeral march would fare better. Nope. It’s actually worse. Much worse. Like, so bad. Not only does it fail to generate any punch or scale or drama, it enervates. Walking my well-trodden path became a chore, though about halfway through the movement I decided to alter how I would listen to the rest of the piece. I actively listened for moments of questionable playing, ugly timbre, sloppy ensemble. Wouldn’t you know it, things got better! Images of Jerry’s burial flashed through my mind’s eye. Performance salvaged. And then came the Scherzo. Schoonderwoerd works magic. He takes music with zest and pep and drains it of life and energy and brings the ugly aplenty. Oh yeah. The theme and variations closer offers something unique, too. The slowish playing and clear textures allow one to follow the theme easily and to identify strained playing and timbral ugliness with disarming ease. Remember, I used midfi wireless earbuds.

Schoonderwoerd does something that is very hard to do here. He takes the greatest of all symphonies, a magnificent piece packed with scale and drama befitting its original dedicatee Joaquin Phoenix, and downscales it, uglifies it, and just botches it to the point where it remains listenable only if the listener crafts dynamic listening tactics on the fly. I initially expected a musical trainwreck going in, but that is not what I got. In the spring, I visited the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum, and there I gazed upon a pristine, fully functional 1902 Wright Brothers glider. (The museum keeps all contraptions on site in proper working order.) What I did not see was one of the demolished gliders or other flying contraptions constructed by the brothers’ competitors that crashed immediately upon takeoff. That’s what this recording is like. To be sure, I have heard a worse version of this symphony. I once listened to a MIDI “performance” of part of the work. This is the worst actual instrument version of the symphony I have heard, and that includes uninspired, underplayed solo piano transcriptions. I skipped the overture because I did not want to hear it. I think I shall avoid Schoonderwoerd’s conducting for a while. Maybe – and that’s a big maybe – I try some of his solo recordings later this year or decade.

 

[pianoman]

I think that's why big Dave Hurwitz chose this to blow-torch on his channel....

 

[MikeMA]

Georg Phillip Telemann, Trumpet and Horn Concertos

 

[windhoek]

This Das Klagende with Fassbaender (and others) on vocals with Chailly at the helm.

Last night it was this Das Lied von der Erde with Ferrier (and some bloke who isn't Wunderlich) on vocals with Walter at the helm.

 

[Todd A]

My prior experience with Mr Shimkus' artistry is limited to his excellent entry in the ongoing Naxos Soler edition. I was happy to try something else, so why not go for his recording of Debussy's Preludes, I thought. It opens nicely enough, but once one arrives at Le vent dans la plaine, one is treated to fluid playing and just so accenting that really catches the ear. La cathédrale engloutie, always a critical piece, has scale without overdoing it, with supremely controlled fortissimo playing, and the left hand playing sounds clear and potent but not overpowering. All of Book I is a delight. Book II sounds better yet. That fluid playing and dynamic control marries to legato, sometimes from the sustain and sometimes from digital dexterity and sometimes both, in a manner that makes the music flow effortlessly from under the pianist's fingers. The one-two punch of Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses and Bruyères offer masterful displays of fluid rhythm and exquisite gentility. Mr Shimkus is one of the many contemporary pianists who can do anything, and he does so here with impeccable taste and refined artistry. Clearly, I need to listen to more of his recordings. And this recording is making me think about restarting my Debussy Preludes comparisons, if I can find the time.

 

[Mullardman]

Like wine, I don't know much about classical, but I do know what I like.

A couple of days ago, I dug out a copy of this:

https://img.discogs.com/y0QM_8kzHuX...ogs-images/R-9627808-1483869797-7566.jpeg.jpg

I dug it out to check the price tag, pencilled on the top corner, to illustrate how expensive vinyl was back in 1955. This one, £1.7s and 6d, when many still earned well below £10 per week.
I'd never played it, so cleaned it up on my machine and gave it a spin.. not expecting much.
It's terrific! I'm aware that Ormandy was often 'knocked' by critics etc.. but I'm also aware he was noted for a rich, sonorous sound, especially on strings..which is exactly what I get from this disc.
Recording hasn't moved on much since 1955.

 

[GavinA]

Came across this by accident:

It appears to be a visual presentation of the final movement of my favourite version of Beethoven's 9th, the Karajan 1962 version. Certainly that's Walter Berry on the end and I'm pretty sure that's Gundula Janowitz singing soprano. The other two on that famous recording were Waldemar Kmentt and Hilde Rössel-Majdan, and it could be them. Herbie's company was the one that had the rights to produce videos of the BPO, so we get lots of Herbie.

You recently linked to a Karajan 9th and pointed me to a source from which I bought the full set of symphonies. I think this one is the same lineup, Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Jess Thomas and Walter Berry. It may even be the same event (I haven’t done a close comparison yet, but Gundula is wearing the same dress with a silver band below the bust). This set is so much better than the later one I already had (Sony 2007, no date for the performance, but described as ‘Karajan’s final recorded testament of…No 9’). I am grateful for the help in acquiring the much better film of the 1968 performance.