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What Classical Music Are You Listening To?


StarThrower

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Bach: Easter Oratorio & Actus tragicus

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No 4 of the  Cooke, a recent issue taken from recordings of BBC broadcasts. Rough but very listenable recordings. Very much in the more astringent side of the Walton/Bliss world, the RVW of 4 + 6. Tonal and easy to follow but avoiding blooming melodies (OK, RVW 6 has one uber-blooming melody).

Viola Concerto of the Walton.  

Bridge: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1

'Enter Spring' is my top nomination for piece of music that could be a concert favourite but hardly gets noticed. All it will take is a period film or BBC production to latch on 'the big tune'. What makes it fascinating is that Bridge is looking in two directions at once - the opening and central sections (which always seem to evoke blustery March to me) that demonstrate the influence of wider European developments in music in the 20s; offset by the glorious, sun-sparkled processional that come right out of the world of Elgar and the pastoralists (for want of a better word). 

The rest of the disc is earlier Bridge, more Edwardian in feel though with the influence of French impressionism setting in in the two poems.  

Edited by A Lark Ascending
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2 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

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Just bought it on vinyl (for the second time, oops -- but for $1, then for 50 cents). I like the look and feel of RCA opera sets of that vintage, and they do crop up around here from time to time, at library re-sale shops especially. Zinka Milanov, Warren, Jan Peerce, Cellini -- ah, yes.

Added thought that has no connection to the above:

Malcolm Arnold's Sixth is the one where, in the first movement, he said he was inspired by Charlie Parker. I hear it, kind of, though if he hadn't mentioned it, maybe not. I've got all the Arnold symphonies I don't already have coming my way -- that would be 1,2,3 &4. That may or may not turn out to be a foolish move.

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I'm just old enough to remember this music coming out of the wireless in the days of The Light Programme (became Radio 2 in 1967, now the home of Elton John, golden pop/rock oldies and middle of the road folk/jazz etc programmes...I think a few programmes of light orchestral music survive there. 'Sailing Home', of course, can be heard every night on Radio 4 at 12.45 at night, just before the shipping news.). Always throws me back to a world where the world was being made safe by Kenneth More (conveniently ignoring the nuclear silos). 

Weir: Piano Concerto, Distance and Enchantment & Other Works

Disc 2: Distance and Enchantment; The Bagpiper's String Trio; The Art of Touching the Keyboard; I Broke off a Golden Branch; Ardnamurchan Point; El rey del Francia; The King of France

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No 8 of the RVW. One of his least heard symphonies - doesn't have the big tunes of 2, 3, 5 or the menace and mystery of 4, 6, 7 but is distinctive in its own right. The outer movements with extensive use of tuned percussion are especially attractive.

The Violin Concerto of the Walton - highly Romantic yet still very much of the 20thC. 

Edited by A Lark Ascending
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Disc 1. Roussel's orchestral music has rarely caught fire with me; whereas this set is pure unadulterated pleasure from start to finish (and perfect for sunny spring mornings). Unusual in that I normally react the other way....easily captivated by the varied tonal and textural delights of orchestral music, needing much more exposure to come to enjoy chamber music.  

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