What are you listening to?

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:23 pm

Ken wrote:Piston, what are your thoughts on [Lutosławski's] Concerto for Orchestra?

(I'm not piston, but . . .) Terrific piece, and a blast to hear live!

Earlier today:

Stravinsky
Le sacre du printemps
LSO
Craft

Stravinsky
Le sacre du printemps
Phila
Muti

Now:

Honegger
Mouvement symphonique № 1, Pacific 231
Bavarian Radio Symphony
Dutoit

Not a bad piece, but I don't think so highly of it as I do the Prokofiev Second.

Cheers,
~Karl

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:35 pm

Honegger
Symphony № 3, Symphonie liturgique
Bavarian Radio Symphony
Dutoit

I enjoy all the symphonies rather better than the 'tone-poems' Pacific 231 and Rugby.

Cheers,
~Karl

piston · Post by **piston** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:38 am

Ken wrote:Piston, what are your thoughts on that composer's Concert for Orchestra? Do you have any preferred recordings?

It's my own favourite work by the composer; I like the Järvi/Cincinnati version I have, but I'd like to hear another. I understand Dohnányi's recorded it...

Sorry, Ken, I just saw this.
Fully agree with you. It's the one work by this composer I readily give four stars. I do not own several recordings, however, having mainly relied on the composer's interpretation of his own works:

Listened to the second CD this morning:
Concerto for Orchestra****
Jeux vénétiens**
Livre pour orchestre***("modern" idiom with imaginative orchestration)
Mi-parti**

piston · Post by **piston** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:44 pm

Piano quintets by Shostakovich(****), Schnittke(***) and Weinberg(****).

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:22 am

Saint-Saëns
Piano Concerto № 5 in F (Egyptian), Opus 103
Jean-Philippe Collard
Royal Phil
Previn

Cheers,
~Karl

hassid · Post by **hassid** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:29 am

Reinhold Gliere, two string quartets, Pulzus quartet. Gliere's chamber are nearly unknown.

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 12:13 am

Jean Francaix's L'Horloge de flore for oboe and orchestra

Chalkperson · Post by **Chalkperson** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 1:44 am

hassid wrote:Reinhold Gliere, two string quartets, Pulzus quartet. Gliere's chamber are nearly unknown.

I have a disc on MDG of his Octet and Sextet...never seen/heard the String Quartets though...

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:31 am

Adolphus Hailstork

stenka razin · Post by **stenka razin** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:55 am

Max Reger's knuckle busting Brahmsian Piano Concerto, newly recorded and played by Michael Korstick and conducted by Ulf Schirmer for CPO.

1/2

P.S. Do any of my fellow CMGers know what happened to the brilliant Rudolf Serkin/Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Columbia rendition of this massive Concerto? Now that is the best recording ever of this behemoth.

johnQpublic · Post by **johnQpublic** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:36 am

Lortzing - Overture to "Der Wildschutz" (Nissen/Marco Polo)
Beethoven - Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 70, #2 (Trio Parnassus/MDG)
Parry - From Death to Life (Boughton/Nimbus)

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:10 am

Corlyss_D wrote:Adolphus Hailstork

We sang a piece of his this Sunday morning past.

Cheers,
~Karl

Jared · Post by **Jared** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:43 am

yesterday, cleaned the Youth Hostel to:

Schubert: Symph 5,6,8 & 9
Harnoncourt/ Concertgebouw
Warner

over the past couple of days, I have been playing:

Sibelius: Tone Poems/ Jussi Jalas & Hungarian State Symphony/ Decca
Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos 1&2, Fantasias/ Jochum, Gilels, Berliner/ DG
Charpentier: Te Deum & Messe de Minuit/ Minkowski & Les Musiciens du Louvre/ Archiv
Strauss: Waltzes, Polkas & Marches/ Willi Boskovsky & Weiner Johann Strauss/ EMI

stenka razin · Post by **stenka razin** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:07 am

Harold Tucker wrote:Ralph,
Please don't let Mel find out that Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops played their Rozsa in Cincinnati while the Mormon Abertwacle Choir was singing in Salt Lake City. You know how much that sort of thing upsets him.

Huh........???

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 2:00 am

karlhenning wrote:
Corlyss_D wrote:Adolphus Hailstork
We sang a piece of his this Sunday morning past.

Cheers,
~Karl

I love what I've heard. What did you sing? Is it on Naxos too?

Mel wrote:Huh........???

Harold might be referring to a former member here, also a Mel.

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:58 am

Corlyss_D wrote:
karlhenning wrote:
Corlyss_D wrote:Adolphus Hailstork
We sang a piece of his this Sunday morning past.
I love what I've heard. What did you sing? Is it on Naxos too?

I don't know if it's on Naxos . . . a quick look at the Naxos site only showed a recording of his Second and Third Symphonies. I remember stretches of the text that we sang, more clearly than I do the title, which must have been a phrase from the text . . . "Because You Live," perhaps.

The text begins with the phrase, To laugh often and much . . . which (I noted with mild amusement) the composer set basically outlining an ascending D minor triad (denoted by one character in This Is Spinal Tap as "the saddest of all possible keys") : )

Cheers,
~Karl

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 8:46 am

Stravinsky
Monumentam pro Gesualdo di Venosa ad CD Annum
The composer conducting

Cheers,
~Karl

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:18 am

JSB (arr. Stravinsky)
Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her
The arranger conducting

Stravinsky
Mass for Mixed Chorus and Double Wind Quintet
The composer conducting

Cheers,
~Karl

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:33 am

Stravinsky
Cantata
The composer conducting

Cheers,
~Karl

Chalkperson · Post by **Chalkperson** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:34 am

stenka razin wrote:Max Reger's knuckle busting Brahmsian Piano Concerto, newly recorded and played by Michael Korstick and conducted by Ulf Schirmer for CPO. 1/2

Have you heard any of Michael Korstick's Beethoven Sonata discs...

maestrob · Post by **maestrob** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:38 am

Bruckner VIII: Haitink/Concertgebouw

....from a radio b'cast recording.....

maestrob · Post by **maestrob** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:41 am

Outstanding and energetic performances!

stenka razin · Post by **stenka razin** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:40 am

Chalkperson wrote:
stenka razin wrote:Max Reger's knuckle busting Brahmsian Piano Concerto, newly recorded and played by Michael Korstick and conducted by Ulf Schirmer for CPO. 1/2
Have you heard any of Michael Korstick's Beethoven Sonata discs...

Chalkie, No, I have not. What do you think of Korstick in Beethoven, mate?

Chalkperson · Post by **Chalkperson** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:12 am

stenka razin wrote:
Chalkperson wrote:
stenka razin wrote:Max Reger's knuckle busting Brahmsian Piano Concerto, newly recorded and played by Michael Korstick and conducted by Ulf Schirmer for CPO. 1/2
Have you heard any of Michael Korstick's Beethoven Sonata discs...
Chalkie, No, I have not. What do you think of Korstick in Beethoven, mate?

I'm not sure, I enjoyed his Diabelli disc and i'm always partial to Sonatas 1+2+3, his other recording of 4+9+10+12 i'm not too impressed by...

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:19 pm

Britten
Canticle III, Still Falls the Rain, Opus 55
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor
Michael Thompson, horn
Roger Vignoles, piano

Canticle IV, The Journey of the Magi, Opus 86
Michael Chance, countertenor
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor
Roger Vignoles, piano

(Texts by Dame Edith Sitwell and T.S. Eliot, respectively.)

Cheers,
~Karl

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:47 pm

Britten
Canticle V, The Death of St Narcissus, Opus 89
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor
Sioned Williams, harp

(Text by T.S. Eliot.)

A good deal of Britten's oeuvre, I need to be in the right frame of mind to listen to; but, when that's the frame of mind I'm in, no music is better. No great stretch of time separated the fourth of fifth Canticles, yet in the case of The Death of St Narcissus, the choice to accompany Pears's voice with harp (while sonically inspired) was driven by the composer's gradually failing health: following a stroke, the use of his right hand was much compromised, and he would not be able again to accompany his partner from the piano.

Cheers,
~Karl

Chalkperson · Post by **Chalkperson** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:08 pm

stenka razin wrote:Max Reger's knuckle busting Brahmsian Piano Concerto, newly recorded and played by Michael Korstick and conducted by Ulf Schirmer for CPO. 1/2

Well, I just played that for the first and last time...

I thought that I was not a Max Reger Fan, that disc confirmed it...talk about dreadful, just loud and brash, Korstick's playing proves that he is not that great a pianist, no poetry, just all the notes in the right order, that's why I tired of his Beethoven Sonata discs, don't feel bad, Mel, as i'm glad I heard the Reger (I often listen to discs I know I won't like, seriously)...the Busoni was passable, but, i'm no Busoni Fan either...

stenka razin · Post by **stenka razin** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:23 pm

Chalkperson wrote:
stenka razin wrote:Max Reger's knuckle busting Brahmsian Piano Concerto, newly recorded and played by Michael Korstick and conducted by Ulf Schirmer for CPO. 1/2
Well, I just played that for the first and last time... I thought that I was not a Max Reger Fan, that disc confirmed it...talk about dreadful, just loud and brash, Korstick's playing proves that he is not that great a pianist, no poetry, just all the notes in the right order, that's why I tired of his Beethoven Sonata discs, don't feel bad, Mel, as i'm glad I heard the Reger (I often listen to discs I know I won't like, seriously)...the Busoni was passable, but, i'm no Busoni Fan either...

Chalkie, I understand your reaction to the Reger. My wife has the same reaction, you do. But, as far as the Piano Concerto is concerned, it is Korstick who is the problem. The final movement is marked Allegretto con spirito and I am afraid that is not how Korstick plays it. If you listen to Rudolf Serkin, it is played so lightly and lovingly. I am remembering my old Columbia LPs. I do not have the German Sony out of print Serkin CD and I would love to see it reissued. Whatever, Reger can be thorny and as far as the Busoni Piano Concerto is concerned, that work is easy listening compared to the cerebral Reger Piano Concerto, mate.

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:48 pm

Chalkperson wrote:
stenka razin wrote:Max Reger's knuckle busting Brahmsian Piano Concerto, newly recorded and played by Michael Korstick and conducted by Ulf Schirmer for CPO. :D :D :D 1/2
Well, I just played that for the first and last time... :lol: I thought that I was not a Max Reger Fan, that disc confirmed it...talk about dreadful, just loud and brash . . . .

Send the coaster my way, chalkie? ; )

Cheers,
~Karl

stenka razin · Post by **stenka razin** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:04 pm

karlhenning wrote:
Chalkperson wrote:
stenka razin wrote:Max Reger's knuckle busting Brahmsian Piano Concerto, newly recorded and played by Michael Korstick and conducted by Ulf Schirmer for CPO. 1/2
Well, I just played that for the first and last time... I thought that I was not a Max Reger Fan, that disc confirmed it...talk about dreadful, just loud and brash . . . .
Send the coaster my way, chalkie? ; )

Cheers,
~Karl

Karl, I am happy to see that you are also a Reger fan.

Chalkperson · Post by **Chalkperson** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:44 pm

stenka razin wrote:. But, as far as the Knuckle Busting Piano Concerto is concerned, it is Korstick who is the problem. The final movement is marked Allegretto con spirito and I am afraid that is not how Korstick plays it. If you listen to Rudolf Serkin, it is played so lightly and lovingly.

Korstick sounds like he's playing it with his Fists rather than his Fingers...

nut-job · Post by **nut-job** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:49 pm

Chalkperson wrote:
stenka razin wrote:. But, as far as the Knuckle Busting Piano Concerto is concerned, it is Korstick who is the problem. The final movement is marked Allegretto con spirito and I am afraid that is not how Korstick plays it. If you listen to Rudolf Serkin, it is played so lightly and lovingly.
Korstick sounds like he's playing it with his Fists rather than his Fingers...

I suspect Reger is at fault. I have heard one piece by him, a Clarinet Quintet. Made it sound like Sabine Meyer was playing with fists instead of her fingers.

Chalkperson · Post by **Chalkperson** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 10:49 pm

nut-job wrote:I suspect Reger is at fault. I have heard one piece by him, a Clarinet Quintet. Made it sound like Sabine Meyer was playing with fists instead of her fingers.

I know that piece, it calls for Truncated Fingers...

Wallingford · Post by **Wallingford** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 11:04 pm

Well, sweeties, I've whiled away my evening listening (on KBYU) to Keith Lockhart conducting Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique....with the Utah Symphony, which he's helmed lo these past ten years. And believe me, it wasn't just "to see if he could do it": I've been willing to give him benefit of the doubt on the big, beefy orchestral repertory items, and he did do a fairly nice Schubert Ninth a week ago.

But I must say: he has a most uneven level of discipline. His Utah forces were by turns ragged in ensemble and much off in intonation. There's not much making sense of his eccentric way of phrasing; or his desire to emphasize this or that minor woodwind filigree over the violins' main line, and thumpy-crashy percussion totally overshadowing even the brass. Lockhart did make a rather nice statement out of the third movement, by far the most successfully executed section here. He took both the first and fourth movement repeats. I trust the out-of-tuneness of this performance isn't necessarily typical, as the playing in the Schubert Ninth & Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasia performances was up to scratch.

As for the present concert: I'll listen to ANY performance of the Fantastique, & I'm glad my morbid curiosity was satiated once again.

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:19 am

stenka razin wrote:Karl, I am happy to see that you are also a Reger fan. :D :D :D :D

I haven't heard enough to be designated a fan, Mel; but I heard most of one organ work, which has piqued my curiosity. I should be interested to hear a piano concerto of his.

And, Thread Duty:

Wuorinen
String Quartet № 1 (1971)
Fine Arts Quartet

Cheers,
~Karl

stenka razin · Post by **stenka razin** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:23 am

karlhenning wrote:
stenka razin wrote:Karl, I am happy to see that you are also a Reger fan.
I haven't heard enough to be designated a fan, Mel; but I heard most of one organ work, which has piqued my curiosity. I should be interested to hear a piano concerto of his.

And, Thread Duty:

Wuorinen
String Quartet № 1 (1971)
Fine Arts Quartet

Cheers,
~Karl

Karl, as far as Max Reger is concerned, my advice is do not start with the Piano Concerto. Please listen to the beautiful Variations and Fugue On A Theme of JA Hiller or the Four Tones After Arnold Bocklin or The Variations and Fugue On A Theme of Mozart. These three compositions are Reger's most famous and his most accessible. Far easier to break into Reger's densely orchestrated masterpieces with any of these wonderful compositions, mate.

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:25 am

I'm no lightweight; the density won't scare me off, Mel ; )

Cheers,
~Karl

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:36 am

Elliott Carter
Piano Concerto
Ursula Oppens, pf
Southwest German Radio Symphony
Michael Gielen

Cheers,
~Karl

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:51 am

Wuorinen
String Sextet (1989)
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Cheers,
~Karl

karlhenning · Post by **karlhenning** » Fri May 01, 2009 10:05 am

Britten
Lachrymae, reflections on a song of Dowland, for viola & string orchestra, Opus 48a
Roger Best, va
English String Orchestra
William Boughton

Cheers,
~Karl

Post by **Corlyss_D** » Sun May 03, 2009 5:08 am

Wallingford wrote:Well, sweeties, I've whiled away my evening listening (on KBYU)

You listen to KBYU?

Wallingford · Post by **Wallingford** » Sun May 03, 2009 12:46 pm

Corlyss_D wrote:
Wallingford wrote:Well, sweeties, I've whiled away my evening listening (on KBYU)
You listen to KBYU?

Oh yes--now that I've got high-speed interent, I've been doing some major surfing, radiowise. I'm sorry to say, though, that the signal quality I get from KBYU is only slightly better than a celphone. (In mono, too--that's why I did a thread on this very issue which nobody responded to.)

I can get most other FM stations in stereo, though.....but some, like Cleveland's WCLV, still have that slight "ooze" to their sound, and the left channel always distorts at loud passages.

Wallingford · Post by **Wallingford** » Sun May 03, 2009 1:03 pm

...and speaking of WCLV, last night I heard Uchida playing & conducting the Cleveland Orch., in Mozart's Piano Concertos #6, #9, & #22.

In a couple of hours it'll be music director Welser-Most doing Debussy's Nocturnes & Strauss' Alpine Symphony.

Wallingford · Post by **Wallingford** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:05 pm

Shostakovich's Fifth......live broadcast by Ling & the Rochester Phil. .....& also by van Zweden & the Concertgebouw

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