What Are You Listening To Now?

[Pastorali]

It's weekend: Eroica!

[Gurn Blanston]

Joy,
Well, you do get the best selection of B performances on your radio! Nice variety there, and then the Amadé to finish it up.

Ruud,
To start with, that lovely Mendelssohn concerto which is so rarely heard is excellent. Good choice. And of course the 7th, nothing more need be said. Now, as to the Ippolitov-Ivanov vs Tsjaikovski, well, the 1812, one of my favorite works too, but it doesn't have a particularly "Russian" sound to it, in the sense of native Russian themes and such, maybe its most distinctive theme is the French "Marsellaise"! But this music actually sounds more Russian to me than Borodin's "In the Steppes of Central Asia" or "The Polovtsian Dances" from "Prince Igor"!! You close your eyes and you are there! It is a Naxos CD, you really should invest this tiny amount and try it.

Pastor Ali,
Yes, weekend coming up here, too! Enjoy your 3rd Symphony, then give great consideration to the lovely 4th, this will put you in the correct frame of mind to enjoy your little brown sausages and beer, as is proper for the weekend!

For me, it is yet again Wolfrl, now the Sonata in c minor - #14 - K 457 - As Ruud said yesterday, "Life can be sweet"


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Regards,
Gurn
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That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
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[This message has been edited by Gurn Blanston (edited 08-20-2004).]

[spaceray]

I'm listening to music from Henry Purcell,"A Scotch Tune" from a play by Thomas Scott(1695)"The Mock Marriage"
"Twas within a furlong of Edinborough Town"
This is a very naughty song in which Jocky
wishing to make love with Jenny ,suggests that it is old fashioned to get married,Jenny wisely sends him packing.

[Vipercat]

I've been doing quite a bit of listening today: first up for me was Beethoven's Piano Concerto no.3 in C minor, as well as the wonderful Piano Concerto no.4 in G major (another one of my favourites!)

Then my share of some lovely Amadé as well: the French Horn concertos. Apparently he wrote these in different shades of ink to play a joke on the horn player he wrote them for?? Haha!

Excellent listening, all of you.

[ruudp]

Originally posted by Vipercat:

Then my share of some lovely Amadé as well: the French Horn concertos. Apparently he wrote these in different shades of ink to play a joke on the horn player he wrote them for?? Haha!

Excellent listening, all of you.

quite right..poor old joseph Leutgeb *for whom the concertos whre mainly written* who was quite the virtuoso on this instrument also had to take quite the insults..On the same score on which he used different COLORS of ink not just shades he also scribbled down things like leutgeb is a big oaf a ass and more stuf like that..
The 3th,4th and 5th are some of my favourites in the pianoconcerto genre aswell..the first movement of the 3th the simplicity of the beginning yet SOOO sophistocally worked out and the 3th movement of the 4th concerto SOOOO wonderfull vibrant and the symphonic texture of the 5th just knocked me off my feet the first time 20 minutes of music was the longest I EVER heard in that time *just discovering classical music back then * but It DIDN"T bore me AT ALL...

Gurn,
The mendelssohn was an unexpected treat, on this site of avroklassiek.nl *which unfortunalelty is dutch* they present LIVE recordings of concerts at which you can listen FREELY as much as you like...tey also have hot the sibelius violinconcerto and the brahms aswell as some pianoconcertos and symphonys by mozart and stuff REALLY great listenings too experiment, It also via this site that I heard the scottish symphony for the first time and you're right about mendelssohn LOVELY piece...
Today it's also been beethovens eroica *first movement only though* and the ball from symphony fantastique a lovely dance and mozart's sonata a 4e mains performed on fortepiano Kv381 in D major and the 2 piano sonata in D major performed on 2 fortepianos SPLENDID

Regards, ruud

[Joy]

Originally posted by ruudp:

tsjaikovski's ouverture 1812..LOVE that piece

Regards,
Ruud

Love that piece too Ruud. Here's a little trivia 'On This Day' Aug. 20th, 1882 was the premiere of his 1812 Overture, in Moscow.



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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Joy]

Later on NPR radio will be Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4. Here's what they had to say about it, "It has existed for 181 years in a version the composer tried to suppress. He totally rewrote the last three movements, but they weren't published until 2001." They will be playing its old, beloved version by conductor Mark Elder and the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra.

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[King Stephen]

Tonight it's J.S. Bach. The complete Orchestral suites performed by the Boston Baroque, on period instruments, conducted by Martin Pearlman. Anyone who enjoys baroque orchestral works will truly enjoy this CD,
Baroque music in all it's splendor. This Orchestra, 26 strong, has been described by Stereo Review as "Perhaps the outstanding period-instrument ensemble in the US".

[Gurn Blanston]

Spacerl,
Purcell, eh? I see that he is a bit of a wit, at least, and a single malt kind of guy, I'll bet, too!

VC,
Well, that is a lineup that would be hard to beat, no? And when you listen to the horn concertos consider this: this was not a french horn, but a horn with no valves, so the player had to make all those different tones/notes with only his lips! Now, that great ass Leutgeb had some kind of talent! And Wolfrl treated him pretty badly, all things considered. Well, it didn't hurt his feelings any, as I understand, he was willing to do anything for Amadé, recognized talent in others, too.

Ruud,
That is a pretty good website to play all that for free. I bet I can understand enough Dutch to figure out "Beethoven" in it though. Those 4 hands and 2 piano works on the fortepiano sound interesting. So, a good day for you too, then.

Joy,
Dear, do you have a calendar of this stuff? You run across more interesting little tidbits like that! As for the symphony, 2 years ago I found (on BIS) a CD of his violin concerto in its original edition, the liner notes documented several hundred differences from the version that we all know. I would be interested to run across a recording of the symphony equivalent, especially with the Italian, which of course can't hold a candle to the "Scotch", but now that Purcell has coopted that name for his little seduction gone wrong, perhaps HRH will reconsider his earlier decision and go with the Italian now.

King,
Wilkommen. Ah, Bach! And the Boston Baroque too! You're right, this is a great ensemble. I have their Brandenburgs, and their Royal Fireworks music too. They have a great sound and good tempi which feel just right, often a weakness of period performance, I think. In fact, Stereo Review stole that line from me.

Well, speaking of me, it is the Concerto in C major for Piano, Violin & Cello - Op 56 - "The Trio Concerto" - LvBeethoven. It is Oistrakh, Rostropovich and Richter playing the solisti. Excellent performance of excellent music.


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Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Vipercat]

Originally posted by ruudp:
quite right..poor old joseph Leutgeb *for whom the concertos whre mainly written* who was quite the virtuoso on this instrument also had to take quite the insults..On the same score on which he used different COLORS of ink not just shades he also scribbled down things like leutgeb is a big oaf a ass and more stuf like that..
The 3th,4th and 5th are some of my favourites in the pianoconcerto genre aswell..the first movement of the 3th the simplicity of the beginning yet SOOO sophistocally worked out and the 3th movement of the 4th concerto SOOOO wonderfull vibrant and the symphonic texture of the 5th just knocked me off my feet the first time 20 minutes of music was the longest I EVER heard in that time *just discovering classical music back then * but It DIDN"T bore me AT ALL...

Regards, ruud

Ruud, yeah poor guy, though I'm sure he probably took it as a joke?!

Concerning B's 4th piano concerto, I think the opening G maj chord of the 1st movement is ingenious, it is SOOOO difficult to play it correctly. Pianists sweat blood over that opening! Plus the whole work is so poetic. Just wonderful. When I first heard it, I was surprised at the serenity and sheer beauty; I could hardly believe this was the same Beethoven we came to know in the dramatic 3rd piano concerto, which is so different in style and mood!

[Vipercat]

Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:

VC,
Well, that is a lineup that would be hard to beat, no? And when you listen to the horn concertos consider this: this was not a french horn, but a horn with no valves, so the player had to make all those different tones/notes with only his lips! Now, that great ass Leutgeb had some kind of talent! And Wolfrl treated him pretty badly, all things considered. Well, it didn't hurt his feelings any, as I understand, he was willing to do anything for Amadé, recognized talent in others, too.

Well, speaking of me, it is the Concerto in C major for Piano, Violin & Cello - Op 56 - "The Trio Concerto" - LvBeethoven. It is Oistrakh, Rostropovich and Richter playing the solisti. Excellent performance of excellent music.

Alas, Gurn, I have never heard the Triple Concerto and boy do I REALLY want to get a good recording of it!!!!!!!! With the caliber of those artists I am sure it is wonderful, no?

My lineup: Mozart Piano Concertos nos. 23 and 24!! Yay!!!

[Pastorali]

Max Bruch - String Octet - String Quintet - Piano Quintet - Hey! This is not the Max I know.... but very nice indeed, yes it is!

[King Stephen]

Leave it to Carl Maria von Weber to lift ones spirits on this rainy Saturday morning. His two Clarinet Concertos and a very nice Concertino in e-flat major. The clarinet works by Weber really require a true vituoso, and we have one here in Sabine Meyer.

[Gurn Blanston]

VC,
Oh yes, that was a wonderful rendition, it has been called by many the greatest recording of that work. I may even listen to it again today!
Those concertos are excellent too, I think #24 in c minor is one of the few trhat rivals the other great one, in d minor, #20 K 466. Good choices.

Pastrl,
I am curious what they DO remind you of. I have that CD myself, and when I first heard it I was thinking it had a very modern sound for Bruch, although I didn't know then that he lived well into the 20th century. But to think he wrote those just as gifts for friends so they were not published until well later, that was a pretty good friend to have, no?

King,
I have Weber's Clarinet Quintet, and I know that this requires a pretty good player too. Do you know of any other composer that used the clarinet as a solo instrument so much as Weber did? I don't, for sure, not even Brahms who carried that torch later on. I have heard Sabine play too, you're right, darn fine player!

For me, Sextet in Eb for String Quartet & 2 Horns - Op 81b - L. v. Beethoven - Charles Neidich/Mozzafiato - HIP. An underrated gem, I guess because it falls into that group "well, it is an early work but they tried to sneak it in with a high opus number", so it doesn't get the attention it deserves. And this particular combination of instruments was hugely popular in teh 18th century, so this is probably among the last compositions for it. Too bad, great to listen to.


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Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Joy]

Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:


Joy,
Dear, do you have a calendar of this stuff? You run across more interesting little tidbits like that! As for the symphony, 2 years ago I found (on BIS) a CD of his with the Italian now.

Well, I'd like to say that I get all these little tidbits right off the top of my head, but, alas, I cannot tell a lie, I have to give credit to my wonderful classical radio station. They tell a lot of history before playing certain songs and Great Performances is a great learning program as well.
This morning I heard a wonderful rendition of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff with conductor Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus.
I may listen to Beethoven's Piano
Concerto #3 later as someone was talking about it ealier and gave me a taste for it, however, I know I shall be hearing the Olympic Theme later on as I plan to watch most of it poolside today!


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'Truth and beauty joined'