What Classical Music Are You Listening To?

[soulpope]

[Peter Friedman]

Franck - Violin Sonata

Mozart Piano Concerto - No.25, K.503

[A Lark Ascending]

No 3 and 4. Enjoyed these much more than 1 + 2 the other day. Especially 3 which has something of 'Das Lied von der Erde' and the Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony about it. Will have to revisit 1 + 2 again soon.

And the CD with the latest BBC Music Magazine - a mix of French piano things including Satie, Hahn, Poulenc, Honegger and Mompou (OK, nearly French). Particularly enjoyed the only orchestral piece there, Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos which I've not played in quite a while. 

And I watched this afternoon one of those hotch-potch documentaries the BBC put together from their archives, this one on:

Remember him (Andre Previn) as something of a TV star in the 70s. I didn't see many of his programmes (I was too cool for TV at the time) apart from the famous M&W Christmas Show. But I loved his unstuffy way with 'classical' music. He was an influential figure around the time I started to listen to 'classical' music and demonstrated how you could enjoy and respect the music without buying into all the arty-farty trappings.

Some nice clips - though what was gained by relaxing the dress code was more than compensated for with the peacocky 70s fashions...he did a fine line of bright scarves. Astonishing to see the LSO without a woman in sight apart from soloists.  

Edited February 22, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[Balladeer]

GIorgio Gaslini - Piano Solo Incanti: Faure, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Bartok, Monteverdi, Porter, Elgar  (CamJazz)

[Peter Friedman]

Haydn - Piano Trios Hob. XV:7 and Hob. XV:9

Schubert - Piano Sonata D.850

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by Peter Friedman

[HutchFan]

Nasty, rainy weather this evening snarled the traffic in ATL and made my commute home even longer than normal. This music helped me through it:

Debussy: "La Mer" from Eugene Ormandy Conducts 20th Century Classics (Sony)
Absolutely tremendous. Made my hair stand on end. With the Philadelphia Orchestra (of course). 

 

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 from Eugen Jochum - Icon: The Complete EMI Recordings
An intense, Beethovenian reading of Brahms' First. With the London Philharmonic.

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by HutchFan

[soulpope]

[soulpope]

thereof Symphony 3 ....

[A Lark Ascending]

No 17. Exercise music - Mozart piano concertos were almost perfectly designed for it. 

Heard a fragment of this on the Previn programme yesterday and dug it out (not hard on an iPod). Especially taken by the middle movement with its melancholy A theme and wrist-slashing episodes; and then the tune that seeds the variation movement which sounds like it could have been a Papageno song from The Magic Flute. Love the gallop at the end too! Had me pedalling like the blazes. 

It took me a long time to enjoy Mozart - on the surface he sounds like wig-doffing court music for people who like to say 'sublime' a lot (better than 'awesome', I suppose!). Perseverance paid off.    

Edited February 23, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[soulpope]

[soulpope]

[soulpope]

[soulpope]

[HutchFan]

Last night & this morning:

Disc 5: Scènes Historiques; Rakavasta; Romance in C; Symphony No. 6
Sir John Barbirolli / Hallé Orchestra

An unfortunate mustache -- even if our inevitable association is an anachronism. He sorta wrecked that look for everyone.  

Edited February 23, 2016 by HutchFan

[A Lark Ascending]

Lovely disc of feathery music. Don't know Hahn apart from a disc of songs but this fits nicely with some of those inter-war French (and some Francophile Brit) composers. Hahn was Venezuelan originally though grew up in France; the partner of Proust for a time (I always expect a chorus of Monty Python whenever I see the name Proust). 

  

No 4. One off this disc and again off the online breakdown. Particularly taken by the middle movement with its central 'night music', the twitterings of which reappear in the coda; the dazzling fourth movement that is all pizzicato and unorthodox snapping; and the demonic opening to the fifth movement. 

Well into David Cooper's new biography of Bartok - highly recommended to Bartokettes. I've tried several books on Bartok over the years and got lost (sometimes because of translation issues). Cooper tells the life story well but also analyses the music in some depth, as it appears chronologically in the book. A bit too technical for me, but he's paragraphed it in such a way so you can skim it and come back when your brain is feeling up to the challenge. Never knew Bartok and Delius were mates. Apparently Bartok used to collect beetles - connection there with the 'night music'.    

 

Bought the latter a few years back for the rarities though it's always great to hear Flos Campi. 

Edited February 23, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[alankin]

Ludwig van Beethoven 
– Quartet for Strings No.13 in B flat major Op.130
– Grosse Fuge for String Quartet in B flat major Op.133
— Sandy Wilson (cello), Paul Yarbrough (viola), Frederick Lifsitz (violin), Ge-Fang Yang (violin) – Alexander String Quartet (Arte Nova—Sony Music GmbH)

 
 

Edited February 23, 2016 by alankin

[Peter Friedman]

Spohr _ Symphony No.1

Schumann - Violin Concerto after the Cello Concerto Op.129

                    Phantasie for Violin & Orchestra Op.131

 

[alankin]

Max Bruch – Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra Op.46
— David Oistrakh (violin) – London Symphony Orchestra – Jascha Horenstein
Paul Hindemith – Concerto for Violin
— David Oistrakh (violin) – London Symphony Orchestra – Paul Hindemith (Decca Records)

   
 

Edited February 24, 2016 by alankin

[Chuck Nessa]

20 minutes ago, alankin said:

Max Bruch – Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra Op.46
— David Oistrakh (violin) – London Symphony Orchestra – Jascha Horenstein
Paul Hindemith – Concerto for Violin
— David Oistrakh (violin) – London Symphony Orchestra – Paul Hindemith (Decca Records)

   
 

My introduction to both works. I still have the London lp. Still my favorites of these pieces.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Chuck Nessa

[alankin]

19 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

My introduction to both works. I still have the London lp. Still my favorites of these works.

I liked them.

[soulpope]

[A Lark Ascending]

Disc 1

[soulpope]

[Peter Friedman]

Mozart - Serenade K.250 "Haffner"

[alankin]

Béla Bartók – Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion Sz 110  (Philips / Deutsche Grammophon)
— Martha Argerich (piano), Stephen Kovacevich (piano), Willy Goudswaard (percussion), Michel de Roo (percussion)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Andante and Five Variations for Piano 4 hands in G major K 501 — Martha Argerich (piano), Stephen Kovacevich (piano)
Claude Debussy – En blanc et noir — Martha Argerich (piano), Stephen Kovacevich (piano)

Béla Bartók – Out of Doors Sz 81, Sonatina for Piano Sz 55 — Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich (piano)

  

This is CD 11 from the Argerich DG box.  The cover of this CD really confused me — it doesn't match any of the contents of the CD!  It has the cover for the concerto version of the Bartok piano-four hands & percussion piece which is the bonus piece for CD 10.  And the bonus Bartok solo piano pieces don't even include Martha!  Here are the original LP covers:

   

Edited February 24, 2016 by alankin