karelm 2,915 Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 This isn't the best audio but the greatest performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 6 with the most devastating last movement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loert 2,516 Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 Possibly my favourite tonal (post-tonal?) piece by this guy: karelm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,915 Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 45 minutes ago, Loert said: Possibly my favourite tonal (post-tonal?) piece by this guy: I have this double CD! A favorite of mine! Loert 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 Listening to this great Bright Sheng album in solidarity with the guy (if you know not what I'm referring to, just google him for recent news, can't discuss politics here). He's one of our finest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,290 Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 15 hours ago, Loert said: Possibly my favourite tonal (post-tonal?) piece by this guy: What is this? 17 minutes ago, Disco Stu said: Listening to this great Bright Sheng album in solidarity with the guy (if you know not what I'm referring to, just google him for recent news, can't discuss politics here). He's one of our finest! Or this? Video unavailable but I’d like to participate in the discussion… thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 31 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said: Or this? Video unavailable but I’d like to participate in the discussion… thanks! Darn, that album is great but I can't find non "official" videos for it. Oh well, this chamber piece is also very nice. His fusion of Chinese and Western is beautiful Oh and in case you can find an official streaming version in your country of the orchestral album I recommended this is what the album is: https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570610 Tom Guernsey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loert 2,516 Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 33 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said: What is this? It's the last movement from Lutoslawski's "Concerto for Orchestra", Lutoslawski conducting. The album is this one: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7925308--lutos-awski-symphonic-variations-etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,290 Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 19 minutes ago, Disco Stu said: Darn, that album is great but I can't find non "official" videos for it. Oh well, this chamber piece is also very nice. His fusion of Chinese and Western is beautiful Oh and in case you can find an official streaming version in your country of the orchestral album I recommended this is what the album is: https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570610 Thanks! I actually have the Naxos album of Bright Sheng's music including The Song of Dance and Tears, Colours of Crimson and The Blazing Mirage but appear not to have listened to it but I will have to do so! 13 minutes ago, Loert said: It's the last movement from Lutoslawski's "Concerto for Orchestra", Lutoslawski conducting. The album is this one: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7925308--lutos-awski-symphonic-variations-etc Thanks for the link. I have a couple of albums of Lutoslawski's music but don't seem to have the Concerto for Orchestra but I'll have to check this album out, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Disco Stu 15,495 Posted October 18, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 18, 2021 Today marks a very important anniversary. It is the 75th anniversary of the premiere of Aaron Copland's Third Symphony; first performed on October 18th, 1946, by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony. If you know me at all, then you know that no music ever written is as personally important to me as Copland's 3rd. It is the most joyful, spirit-lifting, transcendent, humanistic music I have ever heard and I feel lucky to live in a world where I can listen to it. I'm also lucky that over this last decade the original version as premiered in 1946, before Leonard Bernstein made an ill-advised cut of 12 measures, has become the default version to perform and record for most orchestras. Because I'm nothing if not a giant nerd, I'm one of the maintainers of the Wiki page for the symphony, mostly managing the discography section . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._3_(Copland) I really can't see any recording every dethroning Leonard Slatkin leading the Detroit Symphony for me. I don't think any recording has ever captured the giant beating heart of this piece as well. I'm very grateful that I got to see Slatkin perform the symphony in concert with the National Symphony just a couple of months before the Covid hammer came down. It was a very weird program for the premiere weekend back in 1946 And here are the program notes from the original 1946 program (the Boston Symphony archives is just the coolest website) Spoiler Tom Guernsey, blondheim and SteveMc 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,218 Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 RIP Edita Gruberova Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bollemanneke 3,357 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Could anyone recommend a good and modern recording of Delibes ballet suites? I just discovered Coppelia, but find Karajan's sounds like a Giacchino recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Bonynge (Decca) is a reference in this repertoire. This small box of his three ballets is essential. bollemanneke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Ned Rorem turns 98 today! A very happy birthday to one of my 5 favorite American composers. He composed amazing, beautiful music across 8 decades but retired from writing 10 or so years ago. Boosey & Hawkes for his birthday uploaded a score video of "Lions" one of his coolest orchestral pieces. It's a fascinating combination of orchestra with a traditional jazz quartet functioning sort of like a continuo, except the orchestra and the jazz combo often seem to be more in conversation or even competition with each other. Well worth your time. karelm and Jurassic Shark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,915 Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 4 hours ago, Disco Stu said: Ned Rorem turns 98 today! A very happy birthday to one of my 5 favorite American composers. He composed amazing, beautiful music across 8 decades but retired from writing 10 or so years ago. Boosey & Hawkes for his birthday uploaded a score video of "Lions" one of his coolest orchestral pieces. It's a fascinating combination of orchestra with a traditional jazz quartet functioning sort of like a continuo, except the orchestra and the jazz combo often seem to be more in conversation or even competition with each other. Well worth your time. That was really cool! I adored the string writing and colors! Very fine music. It reminds me a bit of Ives and also film music of that time. Here is more American music, Howard Hanson's Lament for Beowulf: Disco Stu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holko 9,539 Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 I now decided this thread is for asking for recommendations too; if there's a better thread for that, this post can be moved there. So in my deep dive into the Karajan DG discography, I particularly latched onto the period between the romantic and modern, and I'd like to ask if there are any particular good core "best of/essential" starter sets people would recommend for Sibelius, Debussy and Saint-Saëns, good recordings ideally also with good liner notes giving context so I wouldn't have to go wikisurfing separately for each piece. These look alright for the first two based on a quick amazon search: However, the best S-S one seems to be this, and I certainly wouldn't call a set without Carnival of the Animals a definitive starter set: Also, what are the thoughts on the Previn Tchaikovsky ballet recordings? I'd like to discover further than the Nutcracker Suite and the one well known Swan Lake piece and this seems like a nice set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 All of Berglund's three Sibelius cycles are worth getting. Regarding Saint-Saëns' symphonies, the 3rd is a masterpiece, but the others are quite disappointing. Previn's Tchaikovsky ballets are very good. My favourite is the suites recorded by Karajan/VPO on Decca. Holko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,218 Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 1 hour ago, Holko said: I've got this one: I love it, because it also includes a lot of the tone poems (even though the Karelia Suite is still missing the middle movement, like on your set). Adding Karajan's incomplete set for a highly different perspective can't hurt either: Although I wouldn't give up Rosbaud's gorgeous mono recordings for the world (but they're only a single disc of various tone poems): 1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said: Previn's Tchaikovsky ballets are very good. That's almost all the Tchaikovsky I have, and I'm very happy with them. Holko and Jurassic Shark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 2 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said: That's almost all the Tchaikovsky I have, and I'm very happy with them. What do you think of the Karajan/VPO suites? Regarding the Karelia suite, I'm still looking for the perfect recording, but I like Oramo's a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,218 Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 44 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: What do you think of the Karajan/VPO suites? As I said, the Previn ballets are almost everything I have. I even mostly don't know the symphonies, for some reason I never wanted to bother with them. 47 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: Regarding the Karelia suite, I'm still looking for the perfect recording, but I like Oramo's a lot. If I had to pick one, it'd probably still be Rosbaud's: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted December 4, 2021 Share Posted December 4, 2021 1 minute ago, Marian Schedenig said: As I said, the Previn ballets are almost everything I have. I even mostly don't know the symphonies, for some reason I never wanted to bother with them. Then I recommend these recordings: Marian Schedenig 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 5 hours ago, Holko said: However, the best S-S one seems to be this, and I certainly wouldn't call a set without Carnival of the Animals a definitive starter set: IMO Saint-Saens’ symphonic poems are more essential to his legacy than his symphonies. It’s not a big box set but I love this album Holko and Jurassic Shark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,487 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 I would love to hear how you pronounce Camille Saint-Saëns! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce marshall 1,318 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 Why do the French bother to use consonants when they are NEVER pronounced? Right Mr. Dayplah? 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 9 hours ago, Bespin said: I would love to hear how you pronounce Camille Saint-Saëns! Correctly! ….because I googled how to many years ago Bespin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,487 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 7 hours ago, bruce marshall said: Why do the French bother to use consonants when they are NEVER pronounced? Right Mr. Dayplah? 😎 In this case, it's Dess-PLAH, because of the special origin of the patronym. bruce marshall 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 People love to complain that English has more exceptions to rules than it has words that follow rules, but I find this to be true of pretty much every language. It's human nature! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,487 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 French is one of the most illogical language I know! Naïve Old Fart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerateWohl 4,400 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 It helps to make yourself aware that language is nothing somebody invented based on a ruleset like grammar. Grammar is an auxiliary construct that people created to describe language as it is and if grammar construct is good it has a 70% match on the actual language. Same for spelling rules etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,218 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 9 hours ago, bruce marshall said: Why do the French bother to use consonants when they are NEVER pronounced? Right Mr. Dayplah? 😎 You put an unpronounced consonant there in your English transliteration… and an unpronounced vowel as well. bruce marshall 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holko 9,539 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 Naïve Old Fart and Bespin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,290 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 English = you (silent o, could just be written as “u”) know (silent k, redundant “w”, could be written as “no”) nothing (“o” = “u”) John (silent “h”) snow (redundant “w”). English is fucking mental. On the flip side, no genders for regular nouns. I mean, why should a boat or a chair or chips or pylons or carbon or a hovercraft be masculine or feminine (or if you’re German, it could be neuter, so may as well just be that and do away with Der and Die). On topic: listening to Minea by Kalevi Aho. Excellent as ever from Aho. 😜 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce marshall 1,318 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 7 hours ago, Disco Stu said: Correctly! ….because I googled how to many years ago Ka-meal*say- san Or kamee* 4 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said: You put an unpronounced consonant there in your English transliteration… and an unpronounced vowel as well. It's a guide to pronounciation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce marshall 1,318 Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 Fyi The common way to prounounce foreign language names, for Americans at least, is to Anglicize them. San Francisco is not pronounced SAHN - FRAHN- SEESE- KO. Los Angeles is Loss An- jell- is, not Lowz- ahn- galese Mexico is not pronounced Me- he- ko etc. Hugo Wolff is not pronounced. Ooh- GO VULF. Even Italiani- American names like John CoriGliano enunciate the "g". So Alex- ander Des- plot is perfectly fine. Either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,589 Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 18 hours ago, Bespin said: French is one of the most illogical language I know! Try Scottish Gaelic, Bes Bespin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce marshall 1,318 Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 Australian is the worst. It's " pee-pull" not PAY- pull, people! 😝 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 I've got that box! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 This came in the mail today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Is it a fine piece? bruce marshall and Loert 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 It's been too long since I've posted about Walter Piston, who remains one of my 5 personal favorite composers. I love this oboe suite, a very small chamber piece from the early 1930s, very early in his career as a composer. The "Minuetto" movement especially is just achingly wonderful. I love the ever-so-slightly sour turn the opening melody takes in the 2nd half of the phrase blondheim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tom Guernsey 2,290 Posted December 13, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted December 13, 2021 Lutosławski - 20 Polish Christmas Carols (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7940465--lutos-awski-twenty-polish-christmas-carols-etc) - With apologies to whoever recommended this album but it really is wonderful. I can't say I recognise any of the carols, but the arrangements for orchestra, chorus and soloist are expectedly wonderful, quite filmic in places too. The Lacrimosa and 5 Songs that round out the album are slightly more gnarly, closer to typical Lutosławski but still worth the effort. At this time of year I always (OK... often) have to recommend the Naxos album (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7926856--kelly-b-improvisations-on-christmas-carols-etc) containing Carol Symphonies by Victor Hely-Hutchinson and Patric Standford, as well as Improvisations on Christmas Carols by Bryan Kelly and a couple of shorter works. If you listen to the Christmas at Carnegie Hall track from Home Alone 2 and wish there were a whole album of JW style arrangements of Christmas carols, this is probably as close are you're going to get. Terrific. Disco Stu, publicist and Jurassic Shark 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce marshall 1,318 Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 On 10/12/2021 at 2:40 PM, Jurassic Shark said: Is it a fine piece? Im willing to bet a small fortune it's " Feinstein' "Feingold", " Feinman", Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 Ground control to major @Tom Guernsey: Regarding our earlier Sibelius discussion - check out this beautiful box from Ondine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,290 Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 48 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: Ground control to major @Tom Guernsey: Regarding our earlier Sibelius discussion - check out this beautiful box from Ondine. Thanks, I have added it to my Presto wish list! I actually already have a similarly titled 3CD set from Naxos (https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/NX 8143) which I shall have to listen to again, although it's more made up of shorter pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 @Marian Schedenig, do you have a favourite CD box set of Korngold's orchestral works? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,290 Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 19 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: @Marian Schedenig, do you have a favourite CD box set of Korngold's orchestral works? Appreciate this wasn't directed at me but I don't actually think there is a boxed set of his orchestral works? However, I do highly recommend the two recent albums on Chandos with his Symphony and Violin Concerto, conducted by John Wilson. They make an excellent companion to the two film music albums on Chandos conducted by Rumon Gamba. I guess that sort of makes a boxed set! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 If I'm remembering correctly, Shark is a big fan of John Wilson generally, so I bet he knows those albums well. I must confess I have never listened to a single note of Korngold's pre-Hollywood music. Tom Guernsey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,111 Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said: Appreciate this wasn't directed at me but I don't actually think there is a boxed set of his orchestral works? However, I do highly recommend the two recent albums on Chandos with his Symphony and Violin Concerto, conducted by John Wilson. They make an excellent companion to the two film music albums on Chandos conducted by Rumon Gamba. I guess that sort of makes a boxed set! There's one box on CPO and one on Capriccio (both four CDs). Then there's four albums on Chandos conducted by Bamert, but I don't know if these have been released as a box. I've got the Wilson take on the symphony, and will probably get his recording of the violin concerto as well. When it comes to Gamba I find his Korngold recordings to be good but not great, but at least his choir in The Sea Hawk doesn't sound Russian... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,290 Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 20 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: There's one box on CPO and one on Capriccio (both four CDs). Then there's a series of recordings on Chandos conducted by Bamert, but I don't know if these have been released as a box. I've got the Wilson take on the symphony, and will probably get his recording of the violin concerto as well. When it comes to Gamba I find his Korngold recordings to be good but not great, but at least his choir in The Sea Hawk doesn't sound Russian... Ah yes, I have a couple of the CPO albums (Orchestral Works 2 and Symphonic Serenade), are the others worth getting? Don't seem to have any of the Capriccio discs, are they worth getting? I have the Sursum Corda and Fairytale Pictures albums on Chandos under Bamert. I rather enjoyed Gamba's Korngold albums, the plush Chandos sound suits the music well I find and thought the performances were pretty great. I like the Stromberg recordings of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk but, as I said elsewhere, the performances feel a bit more matter of fact and the recording a bit more neutral. Not necessarily bad in any way, but the Chandos discs have a bit more of that Karajan/Richard Straussian glow which works wonders for Korngold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now