What I listened to today

[Seán]

Last December Paavo Järvi brought the German pianist, Fabian Müller, and the magnificent Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen to Dublin for a concert of music by Beethoven and Joseph Haydn. They performed the First Piano Concerto, and Haydn's 97th and 102nd symphonies. It was a marvellous concert, the performance of the Haydn 102 was really special. This is a great German chamber orchestra. I would dearly love to see them and Järvi again.

I have more than 20 Beethoven symphony cycles in my collection and at present this is the pick of the bunch.


Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 3
Symphony No. 4
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Paavo Järvi

[Seán]

Oh gawd I do love Dvořák’s symphonies and this recent acquisition is very good indeed.



Antonin Dvořak
Symphony No. 7
Symphony No. 8
Symphony No. 9
Staatskapelle Berlin
Othmar Suitner conducting.

I love it.

[jserraglio]

George Szell - Salzburg Festival Concerts 1958-1968 Orfeo 2007

[Rach3]

A wonderful concert, my first hearing of the kaleidoscopic “Aphorisms” , recalls a bit Prokofieff’s “ Visions fugitives”, and then the Opa.57 and 110 two of my fav Classical works period . Also a first hearing for me of the artists.

Enregistré le 10/07/2023 au Patio de los Arrayanes, La Alhambra, Granada

Dmitri Chostakovitch
Aphorisms, pour piano, op. 13
Quatuor à cordes No. 8 en do mineur, op. 110
Quintette à clavier en sol mineur, op.57

Mandelring Quartet and Judith Jáuregui, piano


https://auvio.rtbf.be/media/concert-con ... 3h-3162660

[maestrob]

David Oistrakh - Bach · Brahms · Tchaikovsky - Violin Concertos · Beethoven - Violin Romances 2017 (DGG)

Magnificent recordings all!

[jserraglio]

A rarity these days outside the Britten the Performer 27-disc mega box. Had to borrow it from the library.

Shostakovich: Symphony 14; Britten: Nocturne. Britten, cond. English Chamber Orchestra 1970: BBC 8013-2.

The UK premiere.

[Lance]

I originally mentally misread your post thinking 8013 was another large mega-edition. [It must be because of the hour, 2:45am - brain fog.] Of BBC numbers 8001 through 8015, all 2-CD sets, the one missing from all those I have is 8013. Odd, because I would have wanted that one, too. Is 8013 another of those 2-CD sets?

[jserraglio]

BBC 8013 is one disc only.

Correction: these perfs are not included in “Britten the Performer”. the 27-disc Decca mega box.

[jserraglio]

Americana for Solo Winds and String Orchestra
Howard Hanson/ERSO
Mercury 1953 mono LP MG 40003



https://archive.org/details/americana-f ... trings.mp3

[Febnyc]

Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982) was a Ukranian composer who barely escaped the Nazi onslaught in 1938 (he was living in Austria) and emigrated to Palestine. His music abundantly echoes the sound of his adopted land (Israel), his collection of Jewish folklore and it features his own instrument, the cello.

This Toccata disc beautifully recognizes Stutschewsky's chamber music - with a number of cello/piano pieces and two longer ensemble works which add a clarinet and a violin each. It's the grist and the tunes of a lost culture and a scattered people. Very engaging and interesting.

[Febnyc]

Americana for Solo Winds and String Orchestra
Howard Hanson/ERSO
Mercury 1953 mono LP MG 40003



https://archive.org/details/americana-f ... trings.mp3

Another reason to wish I still owned a turntable!

[jserraglio]

Americana for Solo Winds and String Orchestra
Howard Hanson/ERSO
Mercury 1953 mono LP MG 40003



https://archive.org/details/americana-f ... trings.mp3

Another reason to wish I still owned a turntable!

But you can stream it in fine sound from the link I provided.

[Febnyc]

Americana for Solo Winds and String Orchestra
Howard Hanson/ERSO
Mercury 1953 mono LP MG 40003



https://archive.org/details/americana-f ... trings.mp3

Another reason to wish I still owned a turntable!

But you can stream it in fine sound from the link I provided.

Yes, and thanks. But I'd like to have it on my shelves.

[Seán]

David Oistrakh - Bach · Brahms · Tchaikovsky - Violin Concertos · Beethoven - Violin Romances 2017 (DGG)

Magnificent recordings all!

Of course it is, it is the magnificent David Oistrakh after all.

[Seán]

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Schubert’s death the Columbia Gramophone Company invited composers in 1928 to write a work which the Unfinished Symphony would inspire them to compose. The 10,000-dollar first prize went to Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg for his 6th Symphony, which has borne the sobriquet “The Dollar Symphony” ever since. Many factors contributed to its success, including its transparent orchestration, euphony, engaging melodies, rousing dance-like music in the outer movements, the poetic mood of the central Adagio (with its rewarding clarinet solo), and a hint of Swedish folk music.

I love Atterberg's symphonies and the Sixth is wonderful, this is a superb recording:


Kurt Atterberg
Symphony No. 6
NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Ari Rasilainen conducting

[Seán]

quote=Seán post_id=95412 time=1709153482 user_id=76]

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Schubert’s death the Columbia Gramophone Company invited composers in 1928 to write a work which the Unfinished Symphony would inspire them to compose. The 10,000-dollar first prize went to Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg for his 6th Symphony, which has borne the sobriquet “The Dollar Symphony” ever since. Many factors contributed to its success, including its transparent orchestration, euphony, engaging melodies, rousing dance-like music in the outer movements, the poetic mood of the central Adagio (with its rewarding clarinet solo), and a hint of Swedish folk music.

And the runner up was Franz Schmidt with his Third Symphony, and yes, I too, do prefer Atterberg's Sixth Symphony to Schmidt's Third.

That said this is a great recording, I'm loving Järvi's work:


Franz Schmidt
Symphony No. 3
Symphony No. 4
Frankfurt Radio Symphony
Paavo Järvi conducting

[jserraglio]

Americana for Solo Winds and String Orchestra
Howard Hanson/ERSO
Mercury 1953 mono LP MG 40003



https://archive.org/details/americana-f ... trings.mp3

Another reason to wish I still owned a turntable!

But you can stream it in fine sound from the link I provided.

Yes, and thanks. But I'd like to have it on my shelves.

I own that LP and a TT, but gotta admit, Bob Varney’s downloadable digital rip in 320 kbps sounds much better.

[Rach3]

Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982) was a Ukranian composer who barely escaped the Nazi onslaught in 1938 (he was living in Austria) and emigrated to Palestine. His music abundantly echoes the sound of his adopted land (Israel), his collection of Jewish folklore and it features his own instrument, the cello.

Many thanks again for your “ archaeology”. YT has little, but these brief works definitely worth hearing :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWmFSaLI7fI Four Jewish Dance Pieces for Piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv2aF6T8Efk Hasidic Fantasy Trio (Clarinet,cello,piano )

Composer Paul Ben-Haim, whose works I enjoy and have recordings of, seems to get recorded and heard World-wide, but a mystery why not Stutschewsky based on this YT sampling.

L’chaim !

[Rach3]

I love Atterberg's symphonies and the Sixth is wonderful, this is a superb recording:

I'll have to hear the 6th, thanks for the tip.

As a pianophile, I also enjoy his Piano Concerto,especially the slow movement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMpw0zMCAgw

[Febnyc]

Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982) was a Ukranian composer who barely escaped the Nazi onslaught in 1938 (he was living in Austria) and emigrated to Palestine. His music abundantly echoes the sound of his adopted land (Israel), his collection of Jewish folklore and it features his own instrument, the cello.

Many thanks again for your “ archaeology”. YT has little, but these brief works definitely worth hearing :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWmFSaLI7fI Four Jewish Dance Pieces for Piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv2aF6T8Efk Hasidic Fantasy Trio (Clarinet,cello,piano )

Composer Paul Ben-Haim, whose works I enjoy and have recordings of, seems to get recorded and heard World-wide, but a mystery why not Stutschewsky based on this YT sampling.

L’chaim !

Ben-Haim, I think, although recorded more that Stutschewsky, writes in a more "modern" style. Maybe the latter's conservatism put him in the rumble seat? Who knows why these things happen?

[Febnyc]

I love Atterberg's symphonies and the Sixth is wonderful, this is a superb recording:

Have you heard his tone poem Älven - The River? So evocative, in the manner of Smetana's Die Moldau. A perfect companion to the wonderful Atterberg symphonies.

[Seán]

I love Atterberg's symphonies and the Sixth is wonderful, this is a superb recording:

Have you heard his tone poem Älven - The River? So evocative, in the manner of Smetana's Die Moldau. A perfect companion to the wonderful Atterberg symphonies.

No I haven’t, thanks for the heads up. I must get a copy. Is there any particular recording that you can recommend?

[Febnyc]

I love Atterberg's symphonies and the Sixth is wonderful, this is a superb recording:

Have you heard his tone poem Älven - The River? So evocative, in the manner of Smetana's Die Moldau. A perfect companion to the wonderful Atterberg symphonies.

No I haven’t, thanks for the heads up. I must get a copy. Is there any particular recording that you can recommend?

As far as I can tell, only CPO has done it. However, it's coupled with Symphony No. 9 - which you have already as part of the complete symphony set. I'm surprised CPO didn't include Älven as an "extra."

PS - from MusicWeb International: (Continuing after a review of the Ninth, a dark and forbidding work) - All the more apt I suppose that it should be partnered by Älven – The River – a bright, colourful, wonderfully warm symphonic poem. This is the Atterberg that most will recognise – bright primaries, perky, chattering winds, insistent percussion, wonderful drama and drive and orchestral confidence. Listen to the lazy shimmer of the Great Lake or the impulsive horns that announce the Waterfalls as they conjoin with high winds in a long, big-boned sense of animation and surge. Atterberg seems effortlessly to summon up expanse and vista and glittering light seen from afar – and spices things up in the modernistic harbour scene; all raucous tone painting, horn whoops and Nauticalia. And when Atterberg leads us Out to The Sea there is real nobility and grandeur. The ship’s engines are hinted at through the drums as we drive forward, strings lapping their way around the glorious melody.

[Rach3]

I love Atterberg's symphonies and the Sixth is wonderful, this is a superb recording:

I'll have to hear the 6th, thanks for the tip.

As a pianophile, I also enjoy his Piano Concerto,especially the slow movement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMpw0zMCAgw

Here are all the Atterberg symphonies on CPO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT8iaPf ... K&index=28

I heard Nos. 6 and 7.

[Seán]

As far as I can tell, only CPO has done it. However, it's coupled with Symphony No. 9 - which you have already as part of the complete symphony set. I'm surprised CPO didn't include Älven as an "extra."

PS - from MusicWeb International: (Continuing after a review of the Ninth, a dark and forbidding work) - All the more apt I suppose that it should be partnered by Älven – The River – a bright, colourful, wonderfully warm symphonic poem. This is the Atterberg that most will recognise – bright primaries, perky, chattering winds, insistent percussion, wonderful drama and drive and orchestral confidence. Listen to the lazy shimmer of the Great Lake or the impulsive horns that announce the Waterfalls as they conjoin with high winds in a long, big-boned sense of animation and surge. Atterberg seems effortlessly to summon up expanse and vista and glittering light seen from afar – and spices things up in the modernistic harbour scene; all raucous tone painting, horn whoops and Nauticalia. And when Atterberg leads us Out to The Sea there is real nobility and grandeur. The ship’s engines are hinted at through the drums as we drive forward, strings lapping their way around the glorious melody.

I do have it. I have just listened to it and it is fabulous

[Seán]

Vagn Holmboe
Chamber Concerto no. 1
Chamber Concerto no. 2
Chamber Concerto no. 3
Danish National Chamber Orchestra
Staffan Borseman (violin), Mikkel Futtrup (violin), Eva Østergaard (flute), Niels Thomsen (clarinet)
Danish Radio Concert Orchestra
Hannu Koivula - conducting and piano

This is a great set, the music is fabulous.

[Seán]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 8
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Paavo Järvi

I listened to this performance a few times over the weekend. The opening of the first movement demands instant attention, the tempo is brisk without being hurried, the entire symphony is a joy from start to finish it’s beautifully played and the recording engineers do it justice. I just love it.
Recommended.

[Belle]

That's good to know. I'll put time aside tonight and listen to it.

[Belle]

Alexis Weissenberg, Scarlatti Sonatas. Joy. I've got this playing now as I make tonight's dinner for my over-worked son and daughter-in-law (especially with 5 month old baby):



Yeah? Nuh!! Bruce Liu is better.

[Lance]

Weissenberg, another of the great ones. Love his Scarlatti, too. Only now am I exposing my ears to Bruce Liu - and his DGG "Waves" CD, which I talk about on another thread. I got it because of ALKAN - but I must say, I was super-impressed with his Rameau. If I make it to Australia - and I really want to! - would you make dinner for me, too? [I'm not usually this aggressive but you sound like someone I'd like to know.] My own daughter is 47 now so that lets her out ... but the Mrs. won't fly so it would only be me. And I'll bet Grandma adores that 5-month old! Be sure to expose the little one to lots of great music!

Alexis Weissenberg, Scarlatti Sonatas. Joy. I've got this playing now as I make tonight's dinner for my over-worked son and daughter-in-law (especially with 5 month old baby):



Yeah? Nuh!! Bruce Liu is better.

[Lance]

That's really saying something! Now you have piqued my interest, but I said I would never buy another complete Nine - maybe just a symphony or two depending on the conductor. The Jãrvi family is highly gifted.

I have more than 20 Beethoven symphony cycles in my collection and at present this is the pick of the bunch.



Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 3
Symphony No. 4
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Paavo Järvi

[Belle]

I love the Järvi family of musicians and often watch YouTube performances of Paavo with the Frankfurt orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW6Ybc_VENU

Would be glad to make you dinner if you come to Australia; we live north 160k of Sydney. However, it would probably be easier for us to drive to Sydney and we can meet you somewhere. It's a shame your wife won't travel, but it's a feat of endurance coming from New York and I don't blame her. (We met a young fellow at Auckland airport after Christmas who'd flown Air New Zealand from New York to Auckland and was waiting for a connection back to Brisbane. He was sitting next to us at breakfast and told about living in NYC for a decade. Ah youth; he was able to endure that flight - one of the longest in the world - on a 787 "Dreamliner" - and survive to tell about it!! We've travelled a few times from Europe to Sydney in Business Class and after a few hours on board I'm ready to be sedated.)

[Rach3]

Nicholas McCarthy, born without a right hand, and the only one-handed pianist to graduate form London’s RAM , plays his own extraordinary left-hand alone arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s famous G minor Prelude Op.23,#5, and then gives an exotic reading of the Ravel LH Concerto,live in Belfast,Oct.2023, with Ulster Orchestra under Carlos Kalmar:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001wqvh. (Available until about April 2 )

More from Maestro McCarthy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltEuItSS8yQ Scriabin Op.8,# 12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoLE31Y83LM Chopin Op.25,# 12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN8AG7_FND8 Schubert “Erlkonig”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-8EPnhwcms Chopin Ballade No.1,Op.23

[Febnyc]

I listened today and heartily commend this recording to anyone who likes to adventure in the backwoods of contemporary classical music.

Charles Roland Berry (b.1957) studied with Paul Creston. He wrote a few, small works and then got a job with Tower Records. In 1990 or so, when the retail stores began to disappear, he was unemployed, broke. He undertook some different means of employment, during which years his brother committed suicide. Consequently, Berry's extensive notes for this CD are almost as appealing as his music - detailing the works on the disc and offering his views on commercialism of rap, classics, etc. He states as one of his reasons for composing is to help provide a living for orchestral performers.

At any rate, if you like Copland, Moross, Roy Harris - that open "American" sound - you might want to listen here. You'll also be able to enjoy a unique, very personal treatise from the composer. The Overture is grandiose and the two symphonies very well done.

[jserraglio]

Then & Now: Mozart K 364 & Symphony 41, Rouse Odna Zhizn (A Life) New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert (2010).

In a word, brilliant.

[jserraglio]

[nosreme]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 8
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Paavo Järvi

I listened to this performance a few times over the weekend. The opening of the first movement demands instant attention, the tempo is brisk without being hurried, the entire symphony is a joy from start to finish it’s beautifully played and the recording engineers do it justice. I just love it.
Recommended.

I got the RCA/Japan SACD version. I like it in general but at some point end up deciding I need a break from the smallish chamber-orchestra approach, especially to the third and up.

[Rach3]

Charles Roland Berry (b.1957) studied with Paul Creston...
At any rate, if you like Copland, Moross, Roy Harris - that open "American" sound - you might want to listen here. You'll also be able to enjoy a unique, very personal treatise from the composer. The Overture is grandiose and the two symphonies very well done.

Thanks for this ! I enjoyed both symphonies, a breath of fresh air, "American" sound as you note, especially liked No.5. My first hearings,again a mystery no American orchestra advocates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AS0qcV ... FQ&index=1 (#4)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX_U1i7 ... kA&index=2 (#5)

[Febnyc]

Charles Roland Berry (b.1957) studied with Paul Creston...
At any rate, if you like Copland, Moross, Roy Harris - that open "American" sound - you might want to listen here. You'll also be able to enjoy a unique, very personal treatise from the composer. The Overture is grandiose and the two symphonies very well done.

Thanks for this ! I enjoyed both symphonies, a breath of fresh air, "American" sound as you note, especially liked No.5. My first hearings,again a mystery no American orchestra advocates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AS0qcV ... FQ&index=1 (#4)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX_U1i7 ... kA&index=2 (#5)

Agree. The No.5 is the more appealing work. Although I was impressed with the Overture, as well. Thanks.

[Rach3]

Agree. The No.5 is the more appealing work. Although I was impressed with the Overture, as well. Thanks.

Did finally get to the Overture. Interesting, but I'll stick with Sym. # 5. Did I hear brief influences of Roy Harrison's gamelan music in both ?

Here is the Sym.# 5 of Paul Creston, one of Berry's mentors, much more severe than Berry; I'll take the "student's" 5th:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=undSGLxjQus

[Febnyc]

Definitely echoes of Roy Harris - even more than Copland I think.

Creston lies on the edge of my comfort range. I cotton to the earlier symphonies (1 to 3) but he did get more astringent later on. Maybe I simply have not heard enough of his music.

[Rach3]

Definitely echoes of Roy Harris - even more than Copland I think.

Creston lies on the edge of my comfort range. I cotton to the earlier symphonies (1 to 3) but he did get more astringent later on. Maybe I simply have not heard enough of his music.

Sorry, I meant Lou Harrison, not Roy Harris.
Fww, per my notes,I need to re-hear Creston's Violin Concerto # 2 and Two-Piano Concerto.

[Febnyc]

Definitely echoes of Roy Harris - even more than Copland I think.

Creston lies on the edge of my comfort range. I cotton to the earlier symphonies (1 to 3) but he did get more astringent later on. Maybe I simply have not heard enough of his music.

Sorry, I meant Lou Harrison, not Roy Harris.
Fww, per my notes,I need to re-hear Creston's Violin Concerto # 2 and Two-Piano Concerto.

My apologiies. I too quickly read your post and missed the "gamelan" reference. That would have put me on the right track.

So - I'm not very familiar with Lou Harrison's work and cannot very intelligently reply to your question about his influences on Berry. I have only one recording of Harrison - the Elegiac Symphony. I must listen again.

[Rach3]

So - I'm not very familiar with Lou Harrison's work and cannot very intelligently reply to your question about his influences on Berry. I have only one recording of Harrison - the Elegiac Symphony. I must listen again.

My only Lou Harrison cd , again fine music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmiBFcL ... VQ&index=1

[Rach3]

Here is the Sym.# 5 of Paul Creston, one of Berry's mentors, much more severe than Berry;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=undSGLxjQus

Creston's concertos, bit lighter fare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABxFrOcCxHw (Violin Concerto # 2 )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqz3vzPHGxw ( Concerto for Two Pianos )

[Febnyc]

Here is the Sym.# 5 of Paul Creston, one of Berry's mentors, much more severe than Berry;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=undSGLxjQus

Creston's concertos, bit lighter fare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABxFrOcCxHw (Violin Concerto # 2 )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqz3vzPHGxw ( Concerto for Two Pianos )

Thanks, will listen to Harrison and Creston today - - timely suggestions for a dismal, to-be-expected rainy Saturday.

[Rach3]

I have only one recording of Harrison - the Elegiac Symphony. I must listen again.

Listened to the Elegiac Symphony today as well, my first hearing, thanks.Fine music, bit of a sprawling work.At this point I find Berry's Sym.No.5 my preferred over the Harrison and Creston # 5.All worth hearing to be sure.

[Rach3]

Allan Pettersson's Violin Concerto # 2, Swedish Radio Orchestra,Herbert Blomstedt,Ida Haendel, violin,studio recording from ca.1988. Not for the faint of heart.A huge test of conductor, orchestra,violinist in a one-movement work of 55 minutes, an intial 35 or so of very dark,anguished,intense music resolving then into some light, peace and hope, perhaps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv19nLH9cqQ

Whew !

Now to recover with some Bach WTC played by Edwin Fischer and a tipple of Chilean carmenere. (https://www.winebow.com/our-brands/root ... enere/2022 )

[jserraglio]

Gilbert-NYP - Handel Messiah, hlts 2004 NYP 2009

[jserraglio]

Schubert 8th, Koussevitzky, Boston Symphony. Recorded in Boston on May 6, 1936. Stream it here: https://archive.org/details/symphony-no ... unfinished

Two words: Love it!