What are YOU listening to today?

[Wallingford]

On the Chicago Symphony's radio site, I've just heard this nifty South American concert led by Miguel Harth-Bedoya:

Alomía Robles' El cóndor pasa
Martínez y Compañón's Colección de música virreinal
Luzuriaga's Responsorio
Frank's Illapa
Golijov's Mariel for Cello and Orchestra (w/Kenneth Olsen, cello)
Soro's Tres Aires Chilenos
López' Fiesta!

Great program, with commentary from Harth-Bedoya; it's playing on CSO's website through June 6.

[Fergus]

I've never quite warmed to Abbado's Brahms, despite the accolades his interpretations have received. I'm more partial to the Walter/Sawallisch/Dohnanyi approaches, which are a touch more straightforward and less dramatic than Abbado. Still, I understand Abbado's Requiem from 1990-ish is a recording to be reckoned with, and I should have a hear sometime.

I came late to Brahms and I started with a Sanderling set which I did not particularly like. That put me off even more. I subsequently got cycles by von Karajan, Abbado, Kempe, Mackerras and I am collecting the Gardiner set. These differing interpretations have completely brought me around to the music of Brahms. I must check ot the Walter.

[Fergus]

Cantatas BWV17 & BWV25

[johnQpublic]

Carvalho - Overture to "Perseo" (Rolla/Hungaroton)
Mozart - Piano Quartet in E-flat (Lewis & Leoplod String trio/hyperion)
Bohner - Grand Symphony in d (Breuer/Es-Dur)

[Chalkperson]

I've never quite warmed to Abbado's Brahms, despite the accolades his interpretations have received. I'm more partial to the Walter/Sawallisch/Dohnanyi approaches, which are a touch more straightforward and less dramatic than Abbado. Still, I understand Abbado's Requiem from 1990-ish is a recording to be reckoned with, and I should have a hear sometime.

I came late to Brahms and I started with a Sanderling set which I did not particularly like. That put me off even more. I subsequently got cycles by von Karajan, Abbado, Kempe, Mackerras and I am collecting the Gardiner set. These differing interpretations have completely brought me around to the music of Brahms. I must check ot the Walter.

Me too, I also came late to Brahms, I still am indifferent about his Piano Works, i'm just, finally, getting to like some of the Chamber Music, the Clarinet pieces and also the Serenades are easy to enjoy but the quartets are less so...

[bombasticDarren]

This weekend:-

Sibelius 5th Symphony (Karajan) & 6th Symphony (Vanska)
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Milstein/Abbado)
Brahms 2nd Symphony (Szell)
Janacek 'Sinfonietta' (Mackerras/CPO)
Beethoven 2nd Symphony (Norrington)
Prokofiev 1st Piano Concerto (Argerich/Dutoit)
Mozart 41st Symphony (Bernstein)

plus, live at RFH
Dvorak 'Carnival' Overture
Brahms Violin Concerto
Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony
Mullova/P. Jarvi

[Ken]

Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Radu Lupu
André Preview/London Symphony Orchestra
Decca

Lupu's take on the work seems more measured and pensive than the likes of Andsnes and Richter. This works marvelously in the slow movement, where Lupu and the orchestra seem to respond to the slightest shifts in each others' sentiment. Though I typically look for a bit more vigour in the Finale, Lupu's recording is one I enjoy for its sensitivity and intelligence.

[Wallingford]

...a live Cleveland Orch. broadcast, Welser-Most conducting:

Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder (w/Brueggergosman)
Shostakovich's Seventh

[Lance]

Pianist EARL WILD IN CONCERT (1973-1987) [Ivory Classics 77001, ADD, 74:00]

All live recordings on three differnt pianos: Baldwin, Steinway and Bösendorfer. This recital, totally, remastered, gives us the electricity and ambience of what you would expect at a live concert. In a word: energy! Spontaneous energy. Wild is truly one of the great pianists of all time and is celebrating his 94th birthday this year (born 1915). Last I knew, he was working on his biography. This is a book I would truly love reading. This disc gives us von Weber, Chopin, D'Albert, Ravel, Mendelssohn, Fauré, Moszkowski and, of course, Liszt. Stunning playing - and memorable. A real pianistic treat.

[johnQpublic]

Suppe - Overture to "Pique Dame" (Mehta/CBS)
Korngold - Violin Concerto (Tsu/Naxos)
Tubin - Symphony #4 (Jarvi/BIS)

[moldyoldie]

Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8; Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87
Isaac Stern, violin; Leonard Rose, cello; Eugene Istomin, piano
SONY (CD #1 of 3)
The youthful and melodic Op. 8 (actually amended by Brahms in later years) juxtaposed with the mature and expressive Op. 87 made for a very nice top o' the morning prelude to this surprisingly frosty mid-May morning in southeast Michigan. This is merely another example of why I feel Brahms is best experienced in his chamber works. The intimate mid-'60s recording is clear and vivid; however, instead of the blended sound exemplified today, Stern's violin is hard left, Rose's cello is hard right, and Isomin's piano is recessed and firmly in the middle. Still, the ensemble playing is beautifully complementary with the violin perhaps a tad prominent.

[Fergus]

Mahler 2 performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus / Klemperer

[piston]

Gara Garayev's ballet "The Seven Beauties" (Yeddi Golez), studio performance filmed in Azerbaijan in 1982. Unidentified performers.

It's a very good ballet that features, among other characters, exotic East Indian, Khorezmian, Slavonic, Maghrebian and Chinese dancers.

[Ken]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 1
Daniel Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin
Warner

Beethoven, Schumann: Piano Quartets
Emanuel Ax, Jamie Laredo, Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern
Sony

[bombasticDarren]

Schoenberg 'Five Orchestral Pieces' (Rattle)
Haydn 6th, 7th & 8th Symphonies (Fischer)
Mendelssohn 3rd Symphony (Norrington)

[johnQpublic]

Elsner - Overture to "The Echo in the Wood" (Dawidow/Dux)
Chopin - Barcarolle, Op.60 (Rubinstein/RCA)
Sibelius - Cantique & Devotion, Op.77 (Holmes/Koch)
Debussy - La Soiree dans Grenada from "Estampes" (composer/Intercord)
Stravinsky - Dumbarton Oaks Concerto (Dutoit/London)

[AntonioA]

Mahler 1, LSO Horenstein

[piston]

Samuil Feinberg
Piano Concerto no. 3 in C-minor (1947/1951)
Vladimir Bunin, piano
Ostankino Large Orchestra, Gennady Cherkassov
Consonance 91-0002

[piston]

Samuil Feinberg
Piano Concerto no. 2, op. 36 (1944)
S. Feinberg, piano
USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Nicolai Anasov
Melodiya MELCD 1001005
1946 recording

[Fergus]

Haydn 6th, 7th & 8th Symphonies (Fischer)

How do you find the Fischer versions?

[Chalkperson]

Interesting, Piston...I have two CD's of Feinberg's Solo Piano Works, I have never come across the Concertos...

[Fergus]

Mahler 1, LSO Horenstein

I love this version

[Fergus]

Mahler Symphony No. 2 - NY Phil. / Bruno Walter.

[piston]

Interesting, Piston...I have two CD's of Feinberg's Solo Piano Works, I have never come across the Concertos...

And the first concerto for piano is also available, with Christophe Sirodeau at the piano, and Leif Segerstam at the head of the Helsinki Phil. Orch. = CD-Altarus AIR-CD 9034. If you ask me, concerto number one, composed in 1931, was more daring aesthetically than its two younger brothers, composed in 1944 and 1947-51. But Samuil Feinberg was a Russian Jew and, for that very reason, had to be even more careful than Shostakovich....

[bombasticDarren]

Fergus,
I only have Fischer conducting 6,7 and 8 but am hoping to get the Goodman disc soon. These versions sound good to me, but I have misgivings about Fischer in the later symphonies (for which I prefer the likes of Harnoncourt, C. Davis and Bruggen).

Tonight:-

Mahler 6th Symphony (Tennstedt)...a revelation
Prokofiev 'Romeo and Juliet' (Previn)
Dvorak 'Carnival' Overture (Kubelik)
Beethoven 7th Symphony (Norrington)

[Seán]

Mahler 6th Symphony (Tennstedt)...a revelation

Interesting that you should say that I have his M5 and I don't like it.

Prokofiev 'Romeo and Juliet' (Previn)

I love it.

[Chalkperson]

Interesting, Piston...I have two CD's of Feinberg's Solo Piano Works, I have never come across the Concertos...

And the first concerto for piano is also available, with Christophe Sirodeau at the piano, and Leif Segerstam at the head of the Helsinki Phil. Orch. = CD-Altarus AIR-CD 9034. If you ask me, concerto number one, composed in 1931, was more daring aesthetically than its two younger brothers, composed in 1944 and 1947-51. But Samuil Feinberg was a Russian Jew and, for that very reason, had to be even more careful than Shostakovich....

Yes, the later works and piano music were carefully written in order to gain credibility with the Authorities for the reasons you mention, still responsible for one of the best Well Tempered Clavier's ever recorded...

[Lance]

Music of the American Revolution: The Birth of Liberty
Seth McCoy, tenor; Sherrill Milnes, baritone
James Richman and Jon Spong, harpsichord
Amerifan Fife Ensemble
Continental Harmony Singers
Neely Bruce, conductor
The Liberty Tree Wind Players
New World 80276

I'm not particularly crazy about early American music, but baritone Sherrill Milnes participated in this release, originally on LP records by New World. Overall, nonetheless, interesting to hear on occasion. Mostly traditional pieces like General Scott's March, Junto Song, British Grenadiers, a piece by Billings, another by Abraham Wood, etc., etc.

[Donaldopato]

Martucci again.. great stuff!

Symphony # 2, Theme and Variations for Piano and Orchestra, Gavotta and Tarantella
Rome SO Francesco La Vecchia

Naxos 8.570930

[Brendan]

Haydn Syms 45, 47 & 50
Trevor Pinnock
The English Concert

[johnQpublic]

Fisher - Overture to "The Syrens" (Terey-Smith/Dorian)
Marsh - Conversation Symphony (Lea-Cox/ASV)
Mozart - Piano Trio in E, K.542 (Abegg/Intercord)
Myslivecek - Violin Concerto #4 (Wallfisch/Helios)

[bombasticDarren]

Sean,
I do have the Tennstedt Mahler 5 and I like it quite a bit; notably it was my first ever Mahler experience (Although my favourite recording must be Bernstein's with the VPO)



Tennstedt's Mahler 6 I loved...an all or nothing performance.

Today,
Liszt 'A Faust Symphony' (Bernstein)
Debussy 'La Mer' (Boulez)
Ravel 'Piano Concerto in G-major' (Argerich/Abbado)

[maestrob]

Some very fine music for strings:

[Seán]

Sean,
I do have the Tennstedt Mahler 5 and I like it quite a bit; notably it was my first ever Mahler experience (Although my favourite recording must be Bernstein's with the VPO)

That's interesting Darren. My very first Mahler recording was Tennstedt's Mahler Five and I was underwhelmed by it. But then I bought von Karajan's Fifth and Abbado's Sixth and WOW I've never looked back. I like Bernstein's M5 but rarely listen to it.

Tennstedt's Mahler 6 I loved...an all or nothing performance.

I might explore that one so, thanks.

[piston]

Britten
Concerto for piano and orchestra, op. 13, Osborne.
Montsalvatge
Concerto Breve for piano and orchestra (1953), De Larrocha.
M. Weinberg
Sonata no. 6 for piano, McLachlan.

[johnQpublic]

Ah, the Montsalvatge. Is that the one with the way cool mallet percussion laden finale? Terrific piece.

[piston]

Ah, the Montsalvatge. Is that the one with the way cool mallet percussion laden finale? Terrific piece.

It is. Complete change of tempo less than half way in the third movement, with an orchestra that seems to say "Ok! Time to be modern right here!" The mallet does not mind all the attention.

[johnQpublic]

Verdi - Overture to "Alzira" (Muti/Sony)
Hahn - Violin Sonata (Sewart/Hyperion)
Medtner - Piano Concerto #3 (Tozer/Chandos)

[lmpower]

I have just listened to Mozart's C minor mass with Neville Marriner. I am amazed at how beautiful and undervalued this work is. I suppose it is overshadowed by the Requiem. The companion piece on the disc is the Ave Verum Corpus of Mozart. This has to be one of the most tender and soothing religious works of the past four centuries. I am quite enamored of it.

[Chalkperson]

I have just listened to Mozart's C minor mass with Neville Marriner. I am amazed at how beautiful and undervalued this work is. I suppose it is overshadowed by the Requiem. The companion piece on the disc is the Ave Verum Corpus of Mozart. This has to be one of the most tender and soothing religious works of the past four centuries. I am quite enamored of it.

I remember getting my first Mozart Requiem, Conducted by Peter Schreier and thinking exactly the same thing...

[karlhenning]

I have just listened to Mozart's C minor mass with Neville Marriner. I am amazed at how beautiful and undervalued this work is. I suppose it is overshadowed by the Requiem. The companion piece on the disc is the Ave Verum Corpus of Mozart. This has to be one of the most tender and soothing religious works of the past four centuries. I am quite enamored of it.

I remember getting my first Mozart Requiem, Conducted by Peter Schreier and thinking exactly the same thing... :D

. . . that the C Minor Mass is beautiful and undervalued? ; )

Cheers,
~Karl

[karlhenning]

From Disc 21 of The Big Box o' Stravinsky:

Igor Fyodorovich
Canticum sacrum ad honorem Sancti Marci nominis
Threni

Cheers,
~Karl

[Chalkperson]

I have just listened to Mozart's C minor mass with Neville Marriner. I am amazed at how beautiful and undervalued this work is. I suppose it is overshadowed by the Requiem. The companion piece on the disc is the Ave Verum Corpus of Mozart. This has to be one of the most tender and soothing religious works of the past four centuries. I am quite enamored of it.

I remember getting my first Mozart Requiem, Conducted by Peter Schreier and thinking exactly the same thing...

. . . that the C Minor Mass is beautiful and undervalued? ; )

This is my favourite version...

MOZART Mass in c, K 427 (reconst. Eder).1 Requiem2 • Gary Bertini, cond; Arleen Auger (sop);1 Doris Soffel (mez);1,2 Thomas Moser (ten);1 Stephen Roberts (bs);1 Krisztina Laki (sop);2 Robert Swensen (ten);2 Thomas Quasthoff (bs);2 Wolfram Gehring (org);1 West German RSO & Ch • PHOENIX 116 (2 CDs: 106:16) Live: Cologne 5/31/1986;1 5/18/19912

If the patina of age is one of the criteria by which recordings claim historical status, these performances are probably just shy of old enough to qualify. Both, as noted above, were captured at live events.

Mozart’s Requiem, left undone at his death—the extent of its incompletion still a subject of debate—remains one of the most enduring staples of the choral-orchestral repertoire. As such, readers will undoubtedly be familiar with the piece from more than one recording of it, and quite possibly in more than one reconstituted version of its missing parts. The most widely accepted and most often performed version, which includes the one given in the performance here, is the one credited to Mozart’s student Franz Xaver Süssmayr. But even this accreditation must be qualified. We know that Süssmayr’s contribution to the score came later and last, after at least two other of Mozart’s pupils, Franz Jakob Freystädtler and Joseph Leopold von Eybler had been recruited by Mozart’s widow, Constanze, to complete the unfinished torso; and Maximilian Stadler had a hand in it as well. It has even come to light that Johann Georg Albrechtsberger may have been Constanze’s first choice, preferring that an established, well-connected composer with a recognized name work on her late husband’s score rather than one of his students; but Albrechtsberger apparently turned her down. Poor Süssmayr seems to have been a distant fifth on Constanze’s list; yet it was he who persevered to the end, and made the largest and most crucial contribution.

Yet even Süssmayr’s has not been the final word, as we have learned from more recent interventions by Robert Levin (recorded by Martin Pearlman), Duncan Druce, (recorded by Roger Norrington), and Richard Maunder (recorded by Christopher Hogwood). Comers to this 17-year old Cologne Requiem may find it necessary to make some mental adjustments; for what we have here is a beautifully preserved performance that is decidedly traditional, but far from dated. A spate of recent recordings, however, on period instruments and/or in alternative completions have tended to peel away the Romantic accretions and made an attempt to present the score in starker relief and bolder readings than what we have here. I am thinking in particular of Colin Davis’s new LSO Live performance; and for those not averse to Levin’s fine-tuning adjustments to Süssmayr’s scoring, but still on modern instruments, the superb 2002 Linn recording with Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

But these are requiems for a new century, one at less than a decade old that has already seen its share of both natural and manmade disasters, tragedy, and suffering. For the big, cinematic approach that wrings every last ounce of wrath and supplication from its pages, Bertini’s stands among the best I’ve heard. His lineup of soloists is near to ideal. Only soprano Krisztina Laki gets a bit carried away early on in her “Te decet hymnus” solo with a couple of swooning portamentos, but she redeems herself beautifully in the “Tuba mirum” quartet, which evidences some very finely tuned ensemble singing. Tempos tend to be just a hair sluggish in the slower movements—for example, the opening Requiem and the Hostias—and they don’t crackle with electricity in the faster movements—the Dies irae and the Confutatis, for instance. But on balance, Bertini is not slow. In fact, at 50:37, he comes in only two seconds behind Davis. The difference between Bertini and Davis, however, is as nothingness compared to Mackerras who manages to dispatch the piece in an incredible 46:43, even though, amazingly, in a couple of movements—the Sanctus and the Benedictus, he’s actually a few seconds slower than Davis and Bertini. What all of this goes to prove is what I’ve long maintained, which is that our perceptions of forward momentum in music are not purely a function of tempo. The size and volume of Bertini’s orchestra and chorus are such as to make his performance seem a bit slower than it actually is.

The “Great” C-Minor Mass is also a masterpiece left unfinished, but unlike the Requiem, not for the reason that Mozart expired while occupied in the writing of it. It was in fact composed almost a decade earlier, in 1782, presumably as a thanks offering for his marriage to Constanze Weber. The Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, (partially lost and requiring some reconstruction) and Benedictus were completed, but the Credo stops after the “Et incarnatus est,” and there is scant evidence that an Agnus Dei was contemplated, save for a sketch for a “Dona nobis pacem.” It is not known why Mozart abandoned the work—perhaps his honeymoon with Constanze was a short one—but what there is of it is on a scale and of a grandeur far surpassing any of the composer’s early masses. H. C. Robbins Landon, Richard Maunder, and Robert Levin have each contributed their own performing editions of a speculatively completed version. Levin’s can be heard on a 2005 Hänssler Classic CD with Helmuth Rilling. The Bertini recording at hand presents the score as Mozart left it, but with necessary touchups supplied by Helmut Eder.

As with the Requiem, Bertini’s reading is writ large. The perilous soprano part, which requires a vocal range extending from that of a basso profundo to the echolocation sounds emitted by bats, (I exaggerate slightly) is taken in stride by a magnificent Arleen Auger. While the parts for mezzo, tenor, and bass are not as frightful, they are still quite demanding, and are deftly delivered by Soffel, Moser, and Roberts. The sections of the chorus and the orchestral choirs are clearly delineated and exceptionally well balanced.

If you are in the market for a truly outstanding recording of these works on modern instruments and in traditional but not out-of-date or unfashionable performances, this release can be unreservedly recommended.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

[Wallingford]

a couple NYP programs with its music director-designate, ALAN GILBERT:

Mahler's First (w/Blumine performed at start of program)
Lieberson's The World In Flower (world premiere--w/Joyce DiDonato & Russell Braun)
Martinu's Fourth
Saint-Saens' Violin Concerto #3 (w/Bell)
Dvoark's The Golden Spinning Wheel

[Ken]

Schubert: Impromptus
Alfred Brendel
Philips

Schumann: Overture, Scherzo, and Finale
Wolfgang Sawallisch/Staatskapelle Dresden
EMI

Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2
Kyung-Wha Chung
Georg Solti/London Symphony Orchestra
Decca

[karlhenning]

Britten
Concerto for piano and orchestra, op. 13, Osborne.

Mmm . . . there's a piece I need to get to know.

Thread duty:

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
Three Romances on Texts of Pushkin, Opus 73
Andrei Slavny, baritone
Yeri Serov, pf

Five Poems, Opus 23
Andrei Slavny, baritone
Viktoria Yevtodieva, soprano
Konstantin Pluzhnikov, tenor
Yeri Serov, pf

Cheers,
~Karl

[karlhenning]

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
Five Songs Without Words, Opus 35
Viktoria Yevtodieva, soprano
Yeri Serov, pf

Cheers,
~Karl[/quote]

[karlhenning]

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
Sinfonietta in A Major, Opus 48
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra
Alberto Zedda

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky
Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Netherlands Wind Ensemble
Thierry Fischer

Stravinsky
Canticum sacrum ad honorem Sancti Marci nominis
City of London Sinfonia
Westminster Cathedral Choir
James O'Donnell

Cheers,
~Karl

[bombasticDarren]

Bartok 1st Piano Concerto (Pollini/Abbado)
Brahms 1st Symphony (Szell)
Debussy 'Preludes' (Tirimo)

[johnQpublic]

Schurmann - Overture to "Ludovicus Pius" (Akademie for Alte Musik/Harmonia Mundi)
Quantz - Flute Concerti in G minor (Rampal/RCA)
Nebra - Aria: Ay! amor! from "Amor aumenta el valor" (Bayo/Naive)
Handel - Concerto grosso, Op.3, No. 2 (Rolla/Hungaroton)