What are you listening to now ?

[v russo]

Originally posted by Haffner:
J.S. Bach's Concerto in the Italian Style in F Major, BWV 971, performed by the greatest Bach interpreter to live since Bach himself, Glenn Gould.

Bernstein: 'Age of Anxiety' Symphony
Boulez: Second Sonata> (Pollini)


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v russo

[Amalie]

Superb listening this afternoon:

Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Piano concerto no. 2 0p.85
Piano concerto no. 3 0p.89
performed by,Hae-won Chang & the Budapest Chamber Orchestra

Johann Michael Haydn - Requiem,
Choeur de Chambre Suisse
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne

Beethoven String quartet 0p. 135.
Lindsay String Quartet.



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~ Unsterbliche Geliebte

[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited 09-18-2004).]

[Joy]

This morning I heard a great rendition of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23, an historical performance with the great Artur Rubinstein, piano. Also later on Beethoven's Variations on a Theme by Handel with Stanley Hoogland fortepiano. Also some Brandenburg Concertos.

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[JA Gardiner]

Well now where was I ..... Just back from Venice and still speechless with wonder. Got to a wonderful concert whilst I was there - the Interpreti Veneziani playing Vivaldi concertos ( natch) including La Cetra, Op7 n5 and the flute concerto RV 443 but NOT the Four Seasons, also a Chopin virtuoso piece for piccolo ( the name escapes me but its a riff on a theme by Rossini)and Saint-Saens Introduction and Allegro plus several well-deserved encores which featured Double-Bass as soloist. Wasn't actually in Vivaldi's Church but in the Chiesa San Vidale. Walked out into a clear moonlit night in St Stefano's square, where a superb soprano busker sang an Ave Maria and One Fine Day from Madame Butterfly to an enraptured audience, and then strolled back over the canals and via San Marco to our Palazzo by San Zaccaria - magical way to celebrate a Silver Wedding Anniversary......
Just now its the Boss - Emperor Concerto - Perahia/Haitink.
Now where has Gurn got to? A whole page without him seems somehow incomplete though its good to salute you all again.

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Beethoven the Man!



[This message has been edited by JA Gardiner (edited 09-18-2004).]

[Gurn Blanston]

Oh, I have just been so busy! Glad I dropped in though, looks like ya'll have had busy days so far.

Amalie,
Aren't those Hummel concertos great?!? I really like that b minor #3! What do you think of the Lindsays doing Beethoven? I know they are tremendously well-liked over there, but relative to some others, hmmmm?

Joy,
Rubinstein was great, wasn't he? I have heard a few of his sonatas, I really would like to get some. Are those HIP Brandenburgs? That's the way to go now that it is possible.

JA,
Sounds like a great vacation, I trust all went as planned! How nice it must have been to actually hear some Vivaldi performed in the place of its origin. The whole things sounds just too romantic! Sigh...

For me, I am watching the Ryder Cup, woring at my computer (taking a break right now), and listening to the Complete Symphonies of Camille St Saens, right now it is the #2 in a minor. These are so nice, it is hard to understand why only the Organ Symphony is in the standard repertoire!?! Oh well. I am getting psyched, after the golf, it will be my first ever complete opera, Mozart's "...Figaro", I have been preparing for weeks, have a libretto, a nice version, and a bottle of good wine!


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

Originally posted by JA Gardiner:
Well now where was I ..... Just back from Venice and still speechless with wonder. Got to a wonderful concert whilst I was there - the Interpreti Veneziani playing Vivaldi concertos ( natch) including La Cetra but NOT the Four Seasons, also a Schubert virtuoso piece for piccolo ( the name escapes me but its a riff on a theme by Rossini)and a Saint-Saens ensemble piece (again forgive me - I've mislaid my programme but I can still hear the music!) plus several well-deserved encores. Wasn't actually in Vivaldis Church but in the Chiesa San Vidale. Walked out into a clear moonlit night in St Stefano's square where a superb soprano busker sang an Ave Maria and One Fine Day from Madame Butterfly to an enraptured audience and then strolled back over the canals and via San Marco - magical...... Just now its the Boss - Emperor Concerto - Perahia/Haitink.
Now where has Gurn got to? A whole page without him seems somehow incomplete though its good to salute you all again.

Sounds like you had a real musical extravaganza!
The busker singing sounds fantastic too!

***

Joy, Really lovely pieces you heard earlier!
Yes, I had quite a girlie evening out!
Some of the party went on to a Jazz Club and stayed late, but I thought that I would pass that one over.


Listening this pm. via Radio, I caught Beethoven's Sonata in D for Piano, 4 hands, 0p.6


Just wonderful...

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~ Unsterbliche Geliebte

[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited 09-18-2004).]

[JA Gardiner]

Oops - so carried away I couldn't tell my Schubert from my Chopin! I've now found my programme and it is actually called "Variations On A Theme By Rossini" boringly enough! - see my edited message

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Beethoven the Man!

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Tegan:
I have been listening to Beethoven's violin concerto; the soloist is Yehudi Menuhin. I am going to a concert tomorrow night where they are playing this piece (the soloist will be Midori), as well as a violin concerto by J.S. Bach (I believe Pinchas Zuckerman is playing, but I'm not positive)and Beethoven's 7th symphony! I am very excited, particularly about the symphony, because I love Beethoven's symphonies in general, and this one in particular.

Hope you enjoy the concert! Sounds like a great one!

Today, Beethoven's 6th Symphony, 2nd Movement. Not much, but not much time, either.

[Gurn Blanston]

Originally posted by Tegan:
I have been listening to Beethoven's violin concerto; the soloist is Yehudi Menuhin. I am going to a concert tomorrow night where they are playing this piece (the soloist will be Midori), as well as a violin concerto by J.S. Bach (I believe Pinchas Zuckerman is playing, but I'm not positive)and Beethoven's 7th symphony! I am very excited, particularly about the symphony, because I love Beethoven's symphonies in general, and this one in particular.

Tegan,
Missed your post altogether. How is school going? Good to have you back, if only for a day or so. I haven't heard Menuhin play B, but a lot of other things that I liked. I am SOOOoo jealous that you are getting to see a live performance! Great Talk to you soon.

For me, it is still the St Saens. There are 5 of them after all. Now, it is the famous one, #3 in c minor, the Organ Symphony. So French, so Romantique!




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Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
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[King Stephen]

Originally posted by Pastorali:
Hi folks
I got today a new Naxos disk:
L.v. Beethoven - The Creatures of Prometheus op.43 Nobody will be surprised, if I start listening to it right now...

Gurn
"the clarinet sounds better there than even B's own piano version." Yes it's the same disk we're talking about. KV.622 is also a favorite Concerto of mine and this version is only dreamable. On op.61b I can't agree with you, because it's out of B's hands, this version of it is 'only' a interpretation, I like it very much though.
cheers!

[This message has been edited by Pastorali (edited 09-17-2004).]

I got both you and Gurn beat. I just received two other versions of the LvB violin concert. One is for Flute and Orch. and the other is for Guitar and Orch. All these versions or transcriptions, call them what you want, are interesting but in reality the violin version is by far the one and only concerto. Next in line, a version for kazoo and steel drums. What a deadful thought.

[King Stephen]

A nice evening with Franz Schubert, his Rosamude, Princess of Cyprus (Complete incidental music)and then his Symphony No.9 in C Major. I think that the title "Melody Master" fits Schubert. This man had an ever flowing gift for melody. It is with sadness that we could not have had Schubert on this earth for at least another 25 years. I ponder at the thought of what he may have given us. Thirty one is much, much to young for a genius to pass on. In his short life he did leave us with a tremendous amount of music in all genre except concerto form. He can be excused for that because of what he did leave. I thank the powers to be for Franz Schubert......A true romantic.

[This message has been edited by King Stephen (edited 09-19-2004).]

[spaceray]

Originally posted by King Stephen:
A nice evening with Franz Schubert, his Rosamude, Princess of Cyprus (Complete incidental music)and then his Symphony No.9 in C Major. I think that the title "Melody Master" fits Schubert. This man had an ever flowing gift for melody. It is with sadness that we could not have had Schubert on this earth for at least another 25 years. I ponder at the thought of what he may have given us. Thirty one is much, much to young for a genius to pass on. In his short life he did leave us with a tremendous amount of music in all genre except concerto form. He can be excused for that because of what he did leave. I thank the powers to be for Franz Schubert......A true romantic.

[This message has been edited by King Stephen (edited 09-19-2004).]

My dear King,
I am so mad at Franz Peterl I could just spit!Why oh why did he seem to throw away so much music.What is it that made him set aside the 'Unfinished Symphony'.Do you know he had written over three hundred songs before ever getting a single one published!
His friends tried to help him out on many occasions but time after time he would blow the money on wine ,dames and tobacco.
Do you know that he gave away the autograph of the"Unfinished Symphony" to an aquaintance.Mendelsshon owned(and treasured) it once as well.
I can recomend a terrific book titled "Schubert and his Vienna" ,by Charles Osbourn ,Knopf, 1985.
spacerl

[Gurn Blanston]

King & Spacerl,
Well, if Beethoven had died at the sane age Schubert did, this would have been the result:
1/9 symphonies
3/5 piano concertos
0/1 violin concerto
6/16 string quartets
3/6 piano trios
5/10 violin sonatas
2/5 cello sonatas
15/32 piano sonatas
0/1 opera

Sobering thought, eh? As for the Violin Concerto, King, it is such a good piece of music that it really doesn't matter what it is played on, apparently, but a good fiddler will always win, hands down! Also, the incidental music to Rosamunde is lovely, it is so nice that the singing doesn't even put me off! Oh, and later on, when he uses the theme from Rosamunde for the 2nd movement of the a minor quartet (#13), that instantly launches it to the top of my favorite quartets of his. But Spacerl, WAYLTN??

For me it is the beautiful Sonata in Eb for Fortepiano & Viola - Op 5 #3 - J.N. Hummel. Also beautiful music, and the fortepiano used in this version is the best I've heard. It is an 1846 Erard, and the sound is outstanding. Life is good!


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

[Peter]

Originally posted by spaceray:
I am so mad at Franz Peterl I could just spit!Why oh why did he seem to throw away so much music.What is it that made him set aside the 'Unfinished Symphony'.

A nasty dose of syphilis was to blame for this I'm afraid - poor old FPS had a dreadful time of it.

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'Man know thyself'

[Amalie]

Originally posted by Peter:
A nasty dose of syphilis was to blame for this I'm afraid - poor old FPS had a dreadful time of it.

The subject of Schubert has set me off again!

The promise of untapped treasures that was extinguished on Schubert's death is beyond belief. What might he have written had he lived another 20 years or so.
He may have been co-equal with his hero Beethoven.

Schubert wrote a beautiful and powerful prayer that never fails to choke me with emotion, you can feel his pain and despair. I especially love the last two verses:

~ My Prayer ~

With a holy zeal I yearn
Life in fairer worlds to learn;
Would this gloomy earth might seem
Filled with love's almighty dream.

Sorrow's child, almighty Lord,
Grant Thy bounty for reward.
For redemption from above,
Send a ray of enless love.

See, abased in dust and mire
Scorched by agonizing fire,
I in torture go my way
Nearing doom's destructive day.

Take my life, my flesh and blood,
Plunge it all in Lethe's flood,
To a purer, stronger state
Deign me, Great One, to translate.


Schubert's brother Ferdinand describes the last hours in a letter written to his father two days after Schubert's death:

For on the evening before his death, though only half conscious, he still said to me:
' I implore you to transfer me to my room, not to leave me here, in this corner under the earth; do I then deserve no place above the earth?'
I answered him: 'Dear Franz, rest assured, believe your brother Ferdinand, whom you have always trusted, and who loves you so much. You are in he room in which you have always been so far, and lie in your bed'! - and Franz said: ' No, it is not true: Beethoven does not lie here.' -
Could this be anything but an indication of his inmost wish to repose by the side of Beethoven, whom he so greatly revered....
A vew hours later the doctors appeared, who persuaded him in similar words. But Schubert looked fixedly in the doctor's eyes, grasped at the wall with a feeble hand and said slowly and seriously: 'Here is my end!'


Now listening to:
Schuberts Mass in C D452
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
under Bruno Weil

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~ Unsterbliche Geliebte ~

[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited 09-19-2004).]