The what are you listening to thread?

[Gurn Blanston]

Haydn Symphony in Eb major #99 - St Louis Symphony/Leonard Slatkin - I have nearly made it to London now!
Regards, Gurn

[Suzie]

now playing ...

Don Henley's Greatest Hits

[Chaszz]

On Sunday night I heard a great work on the radio but did not catch its name or composer. I contacted the station via email and they were kind enough to tell me:

Octet for Strings and Winds in F, Op. 166 D
Franz Schubert
The Gaudier Ensemble
Hyperion 67339

This was extraordinary! The word 'Winds' cannot give an idea of the range of tonalities there, especially for the clarinet and the horn both alone and in combination. The sophistication and mastery of the writing and voicing made Schubert seem much older than his young years.

[spaceray]

Handel's Athalia.
Thanks Rod !

[Andrea]

The Turkish March in C major by Michael Haydn. This is one of my favorites on this CD I had to order through Barnes and Noble in the USA and have delivered to my friend in Los Angeles. She then mailed it to me here in Vienna. I tried all over Vienna to find this CD but no one had it and it wasn't even listed in the computer as being available in all of Europe! So when I finally found that Barnes and Noble had it but that it would cost me an extra € 10 just for the international post, it was cheaper to have it sent to my friend and then she included it in a package she was going to send me anyway.

This CD is the "Netherlands Wind Ensemble's Greatest Hits". I had a LP of their marches and dances back in the 1970s and I've been looking for a CD of this for over 20 years. I love marches and this has also marches by Beethoven and Johann Michael Haydn's big brother, Franz Joseph. I'm a very happy puppy now.

[Gurn Blanston]

Mozart - String Quintet in g minor K 516. Inexpressible!
Regards, Gurn

[Chaszz]

Count Basie Orchestra, Complete Decca Recordings 1936 -39. Lovely.

[This message has been edited by Chaszz (edited May 21, 2003).]

[Joy]

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Op 15
COND Bernard Haitink ORCH Staatskapelle Dresden SOLO Andras Schiff, piano
Teldec 13159

Excellent recording composed in 1795 and dedicated to Princess Odescalchi. All five of the piano concertos were composed before 1808. Suposedly there was a piano concerto written in Bonn (in E flat Major) composed about 1784 consisting of three movements of which only the piano part is preserved. Does anyone else know about this long ago forgotten concerto and could maybe shed some more light on the subject?

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Peter]

Originally posted by Joy:
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Op 15
COND Bernard Haitink ORCH Staatskapelle Dresden SOLO Andras Schiff, piano
Teldec 13159

Excellent recording composed in 1795 and dedicated to Princess Odescalchi. All five of the piano concertos were composed before 1808. Suposedly there was a piano concerto written in Bonn (in E flat Major) composed about 1784 consisting of three movements of which only the piano part is preserved. Does anyone else know about this long ago forgotten concerto and could maybe shed some more light on the subject?

Yes Joy, we featured this a while back on the rare page. Here are the notes on it from the concerto pages of this site:

"The music for this piece survives in the form of a hand-written (though unsigned) 32pp manuscript, with corrections by the author. The solo piano part is totally complete and also includes a piano transcription of the orchestral parts. The orchestral score itself, for flutes, horns and strings, is lost. This was a time before Beethoven had heard the likes of Mozart or Haydn, but instead had been exposed to J S Bach, the Mannheim school and no doubt the many local 'masters' residing around Bonn at this time. The music was found in 1890 in the archives of the Artaria Fund and was from there taken to the Berlin State library. It was published in the same year by Breitkopf und Hartel. Later, the famous Beethoven scholar Willy Hess took to the task of restoring the orchestral parts based on the piano score material. The result is an intelligent and disciplined assessment that manages to sound sufficiently 'Beethovenish' as a whole to be taken seriously. This version was first performed (last movement only) in 1934 in Oslo. The first performance of the complete concerto was in 1968 at the London Queen Elizabeth Hall. There are numerous recordings of the piece to be found on CD today.

Musical outline:

Despite its early origins the music bristles with originality and contains many touching moments. The first movement is a substantial Allegro Moderato, and opens with a march like theme on the flutes and horns that is then taken up by the remainder of the orchestra. The piano then takes up the theme, which is then followed by a varied selection of more melodic material. Beethoven's capacity for grand and serious is evident in the development. The piano part itself is of considerable virtuosity and the original cadenza survives. Then follows a Larghetto of considerable beauty that contains some haunting passages. The central episode where the first theme is taken to dark and unforeseen vistas. The movement is quite unlike the slow movements of the 1st and 2nd Piano Concertos, indeed in many respects one could say the present movement is more original than those of these more mature works. The final Rondo is light hearted and entertaining but which also contains a contrasting intermezzo in the minor key 'all ungherese'."



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'Man know thyself'

[Joy]

Originally posted by Peter:
Yes Joy, we featured this a while back on the rare page. Here are the notes on it from the concerto pages of this site:

"The music for this piece survives in the form of a hand-written (though unsigned) 32pp manuscript, with corrections by the author. The solo piano part is totally complete and also includes a piano transcription of the orchestral parts. The orchestral score itself, for flutes, horns and strings, is lost. This was a time before Beethoven had heard the likes of Mozart or Haydn, but instead had been exposed to J S Bach, the Mannheim school and no doubt the many local 'masters' residing around Bonn at this time. The music was found in 1890 in the archives of the Artaria Fund and was from there taken to the Berlin State library. It was published in the same year by Breitkopf und Hartel. Later, the famous Beethoven scholar Willy Hess took to the task of restoring the orchestral parts based on the piano score material. The result is an intelligent and disciplined assessment that manages to sound sufficiently 'Beethovenish' as a whole to be taken seriously. This version was first performed (last movement only) in 1934 in Oslo. The first performance of the complete concerto was in 1968 at the London Queen Elizabeth Hall. There are numerous recordings of the piece to be found on CD today.

Musical outline:

Despite its early origins the music bristles with originality and contains many touching moments. The first movement is a substantial Allegro Moderato, and opens with a march like theme on the flutes and horns that is then taken up by the remainder of the orchestra. The piano then takes up the theme, which is then followed by a varied selection of more melodic material. Beethoven's capacity for grand and serious is evident in the development. The piano part itself is of considerable virtuosity and the original cadenza survives. Then follows a Larghetto of considerable beauty that contains some haunting passages. The central episode where the first theme is taken to dark and unforeseen vistas. The movement is quite unlike the slow movements of the 1st and 2nd Piano Concertos, indeed in many respects one could say the present movement is more original than those of these more mature works. The final Rondo is light hearted and entertaining but which also contains a contrasting intermezzo in the minor key 'all ungherese'."

Thanks, Peter, for all the information! That certainly answers my questions on this piece! Very interesting!

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[spaceray]

Mozart K379

I wonder if someone shouldn't go over to the Tori Amos site to tell Happymelody that at least one of her ideas for a thread were a hit.

[Gurn Blanston]

Mozart - Quintet in A major for Clarinet & Strings K 581 - ¡Muy Bueno!

Sorry, space, good idea, but I wouldn't be caught dead on the "Tori Amos Site", let's ask Rod to do it ;-))
Gurn

[Chaszz]

Last night I saw a wonderful production of Gluck's 'Orpheus and Eurydice' conducted by John Elliot Gardiner and staged by direcor Robert Wilson. Music, singing, staging, sets and choreography were all beautiful. Those with access to PBS, keep an eye out for this program. Though it is part of a series called 'Opera New York', which I'm not sure whether or not is available outside the New York area.

Chaszz

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"People become civilised, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt."

[This message has been edited by Chaszz (edited May 22, 2003).]

[Gurn Blanston]

Mozart Quartet in C major for Strings #19 K 465 - Juilliard String Quartet - Ahhhh, Dissonance, the spice of life!

[Joy]

Originally posted by Chaszz:
Last night I saw a wonderful production of Gluck's 'Orpheus and Eurydice' conducted by John Elliot Gardiner and staged by direcor Robert Wilson. Music, singing, staging, sets and choreography were all beautiful. Those with access to PBS, keep an eye out for this program. Though it is part of a series called 'Opera New York', which I'm not sure whether or not is available outside the New York area.

Chaszz

I have not seen that as yet in the PBS listings here in the Southwest, Chaszz, but I will keep an eye out for it. Thanks!



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'Truth and beauty joined'