What Are You Listening to Now?

[spaceray]

Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:
[B Segovia was untouchable.
[/B]

While my first classical music purchase in 1960 or so,was Elgar's cello concerto ,my second classical recording was Segovia ,it was stolen at a party not long after I got it . I am ashamed to say that I don't have ANY classical guitar in my cd collection but I still have it on vinyl packed away in the basement.I will have to rectify this ASAP.

I'm listening to Beethoven's septet in E flat opus 20.
Did someone ask what might Mozart have written if he had lived to hear some of the brilliant works of Beethoven,I'm curious about that too.

[Gurn Blanston]

Ahmad,
Well, IMHO, the Big 3 are NOT overrated, they are clearly the best. However, they did not exist in a vacuum, and there were a lot of other peopple out there with things to say, many of them quite eloquent. I am just grateful that we lovers of music have the opportunity to even hear these guys, and Steve and I have been making a concerted effort to insure that you all at least know that there are possibilities out there. Here is my philosophy about "new music": Sure, I love new music. I prefer that it was written between 1760 and 1840. It is still new to me!

Amalie,
Haebler was the premier pianist at Philips for 30 years or so. Sort of parallel with Brendel, a little earlier, and in different repertoire. He was Beethoven and the Romantics mainly, she was Mozart and probably a few others too, I have a B Violin Sonatas with her and Szeryng that is terrific. IMHO, she is THE Mozart piano interpreter, at least in solo and chamber stuff. Modern piano though. I have her 10 disk set of his complete piano works, and I have been thnking of Oort's for fortepiano for contrat, if the piano sounds good. I have heard comments that his playing is great, but nothing about the piano.
The party was just Amadé and Constanze's life in Vienna. From 1782 until his death, they pretty much partied a lot! Between friend and performances it was a busy time. And they were surely in the place for it, too.
What do you think of orchestrations of quartets? I have a disk with the Serioso and Death and the Maiden orchestrated by Mahler. The music certainly doesn't suffer for it, but the intimacy of the quartet medium is gone. So, I am ambivalent.

Big D,
I think you will enjoy Spohr a lot. I am no fiddler, but even if I was I would have to take a deep breath before jumping on these! No "Paganini Fireworks", but a very good exploitation of the possibilities of the violin as they were known at that time.

Spacerl,
Ah, the lovely Septet! What a great piece of work that is! Well, speculation can (and has) run rampant on what Wolferl may have done if he had lived longer. He was always an innovator, and undoubtedly the same social and cultural pressures that helped to form Beethoven's direction would have been acting on Mozart too. Not to say they would have gone the same way, but there would have been some convergence for sure. I think that ultimately the competitive thing between the two of them would have acted for the benefit of the music, they would have both been better for it. Hard to imagine Beethoven being better, but what if he had someone that he liked and respected to push him a little harder? And vice-versa. Oh, the possibilities!

For me, it is the Quintet in D major for Strings - #5 - K 593 - Amadé Mozart. Eder Quartet / Fehervari. The master of the medium. Nothing more to say.

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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 11-10-2004).]

[atserriotserri]

Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:
Ahmad,

Amalie,
Haebler was the premier pianist at Philips for 30 years or so. Sort of parallel with Brendel, a little earlier, and in different repertoire. He was Beethoven and the Romantics mainly, she was Mozart and probably a few others too, I have a B Violin Sonatas with her and Szeryng that is terrific. IMHO, she is THE Mozart piano interpreter, at least in solo and chamber stuff. Modern piano though. I have her 10 disk set of his complete piano works, and I have been thnking of Oort's for fortepiano for contrat, if the piano sounds good. I have heard comments that his playing is great, but nothing about the piano.
The party was just Amadé and Constanze's life in Vienna. From 1782 until his death, they pretty much partied a lot! Between friend and performances it was a busy time. And they were surely in the place for it, too.

How would you rate Christopher Eschenbach as Mozart piano interpreter? I'm curious since I have his Mozart's piano sonatas set, I have it in great consideration (hmmm... must refresh my Mozart ) but somehow find some of the few interpretations I have from Horowitz more appealing, more passionate, perhaps.

[Gurn Blanston]

atserri,
Yes, I have the Eschenbach set too. I like the way he plays Mozart. I also like Horowitz, although I only have him in later repertoire than Mozart. I think of him more as a Romantic style player, much in the same way as I greatly admire Itzhak Perlman but only in the repertoire which suits his style best. In Mozart solo piano, the passion needs to be restrained, and the brilliance of the feeling is expressed rather through more subtle expressive methods. This is why Brendel said that he didn't record Mozart sonatas until he was over 60 years old, because the subtlety of the music was nearly beyond him. Eschenbach is very good at this, and Haebler reigns supreme, IMHO.

Right now, it is the Symphony in Eb major - #12 - Carlos Baguer - Wonderful classical symphonist who composed at least 19 symphonies in his 40 years. His works were unknown outside of his immediate circle until recently, then because of non-existent music printing and later because they were essentially forgotten. This does not detract in any way from their value, they are very nice works that should be in every classical era collection.

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

[spaceray]

WAM Piano Concerto no 20 inD minor
Sviatoslav Richter plays.

[Big D]

Originally posted by spaceray:
WAM Piano Concerto no 20 inD minor
Sviatoslav Richter plays.

Have you heard #21 and #23 as played by Alfred Brendel? These are great recordings, too.

[JA Gardiner]

Mahler 6 - Bernstein and the New York Phil. Not heard this one since listening to the classic Szell/Cleveland orchestra recording which is a little less "heftig, aber markig" than this in the 1st movement, and generally feels more polished, though perhaps less committed than Lenny in typical "grab em' by the proverbials and the hearts and minds will follow" mode!

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Beethoven the Man!

[Ahmad]

Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:
Ahmad,
Well, IMHO, the Big 3 are NOT overrated, they are clearly the best. However, they did not exist in a vacuum, and there were a lot of other peopple out there with things to say, many of them quite eloquent. I am just grateful that we lovers of music have the opportunity to even hear these guys, and Steve and I have been making a concerted effort to insure that you all at least know that there are possibilities out there. Here is my philosophy about "new music": Sure, I love new music. I prefer that it was written between 1760 and 1840. It is still new to me!

Profound words Gurn!
As it's philospophy now, here's is my decsion about "Well-known" composers!: Oh yes, well-known composers are those men who have written "beautiful" music...Well, maybe an old discovery

Now, with Mozart, the man who have composed the most beautiful music ever!
His horn concertoes no.1 and 3


[This message has been edited by Ahmad (edited 11-11-2004).]

[Gurn Blanston]

spacerl,
That is the work that turned me on to Mozart. Also, a great recording. Is that the DGOriginal recording? I have that one (Richter is so prolific!) and really like it along with the Beethoven 3!

Big D,
I don't have the Brendel versions of those works (I'm sure it's excellent, I like Brendel) but I do have several. Mainly I would say that the concertos are so good that they go beyond who is playing them and remind you instead of who wrote them!

JA,
Interesting description of Lenny! And so true. I have always appreciated his conducting, from his earlier "get up and go" efforts to his later "no, it's ALL adagio" ones I have him to thank for getting me into classical music, as I am old enough to well remember Sunday afternoons with the "Young People's Concerts" which fascinated me even then.

Ahmad,
Thanks for the kind words. Well, those two things have been tied together over time, only beautiful music survives (whatever your interpretation of beauty) and thus its creators become famous.
And the lovely horn concertos. Mozart wrote them almost jokingly, and yet they have the same care and craftsmanship as his great piano concertos of the time. Excellent!

For me, it is the Adagio appassionato for Violin & Orchestra - Op 57 - Max Bruch. One of several concert pieces that Bruch wrote for various instruments, quite entertaining and requiring good technique on the part of the player to ring off successfully. Bruch is so much more than a violin concerto in g minor!


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

[This message has been edited by Gurn Blanston (edited 11-11-2004).]

[atserriotserri]

Today it's Brahms' symphonies no. 3 (op 90)& 4 (op. 98), by Bavarian Radio Orchestra directed by Rafael Kubelik. Very nice music and performance, very clear and precise.

One of the themes of the first movement of symph. no. 4 reminds me very strongly to the main theme of one of the Miles Davis & Gil Evans records (don't remember well which one since I have the boxset and not the individual records, so the songs are in chronological order and not in the order of edition)... I'll have to refresh my memory
Funny link, isn't it?

[Pastorali]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concertos for Harpsichord, 2 Violins & Basso Continuo
KV.107 #1-2-3
(after Johann Christian Brook)

[Vipercat]

Hey everybody!!!!
Well, today I am listening to a Beethoven sonata for cello & piano (didn't catch which one though )! Man, just amazing! And the cellist is Jaqueline du Pré. I love her amazing expression on the instrument.

[This message has been edited by Vipercat (edited 11-11-2004).]

[spaceray]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:
[B]

Mainly I would say that the concertos are so good that they go beyond who is playing them and remind you instead of who wrote them!

Gurn,
No truer works were ever spoken.

Yes that Richter has the Beethoven ,I've listened to this recording a few times now
I love the B Rondo, WoO 6, too.
So you must have a copy of every fine classical recording ever made,do you have that Segovia that sold so many records in the early 60's? I can't remember the tune on it that went to the top of the charts,was it a piece by Rodrigo?

I tried to look up Max Bruch in my Larousse but he merrited only one line.I heard his Opus 88 yesterday a piece for viola,clarinet and I forget what else.I enjoyed it very much and would like to listen again.
What to you know about this composer?
spacerl

[Gurn Blanston]

atserri,
Well, we can hear some things sometimes that we hadn't really expected. Yesterday I was listening for the first time to a Vivaldi violin concerto, and when it got to the inside movement I perked right up and thought "Hey, I know this piece of music" and listening on, I had to agree with myself, I DID know that music. Now for the bad part, unlike you I was simply unable to decide where I had heard it before. Maybe some Bach, but who can say? For sure I never heard that concerto before. Guess it will drive me crazy (short hop, that!)

Pastrl,
Ho, I have those 3 concertos, very rarely recorded they are, mine are on piano, but anyway, I quite like them. They are pasticcios of some JC Bach piano sonatas. Very good!

VC,
Hey, you been hiding lately. I agree, DuPré was a super cellist, so unfortunate her career was cut short that way. Doean't matter which sonata, B's are all great!

spacerl,
No, of course not.... Oh yes, I forgot that Rondo was on there. As I recall B wrote that originally as a movement for the first piano concerto and then changed his mind. Still a nice piece though. Unfortunately I DON't have all the recordings, but a few anyway. One of the huge gaps in my collection is classical guitar. I think that Segovia "hit" was Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo, which I am pretty sure was written for Segovia. Really nice work, too.
Bruch, well I have this little bit:
Max Bruch (b Cologne, 1838; d Friedenau, 1920). German composer and conductor. Studied in Cologne with F. Hiller and Reinecke, returning as teacher 1858-61. Conductor of various concert organizations in Berlin and Bonn and of Liverpool Philharmonic Society 1880-3 (an unhappy period). Dir. Orchesterverein, Breslau, 1883-90, prof. of comp. Berlin Hochschule 1892-1910, among his pupils for a brief period being Vaughan Williams. Cond. Scottish Orch. 1898-1900. His compositions include 3 operas: Scherz, List ind Rache (Cologne 1858), Die Loreley (1862, rev. 1887, f.p. Mannheim 1863), and Hermione (Berlin 1872), based on Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale; 3 symphonies (1870, 1870, 1887); many choral works (by which he was best known in Ger.), incl. Odysseus (1872), Das Lied von der Glocke (1879), Achilleus (1885), and Das Feuerkreuz (after Scott's The Lady of the Lake) (1889); 3 violin concertos (No.1 in G minor, 1868, No.2 in D minor, 1878, No.3 in D minor, 1891); Scottish Fantasy, vn., orch. (1880); Kol Nidrei, cello & orch. (1881); Adagio appassionato, vn., orch. (1891); conc., cl., vn. (1911); Fantasy, 2 pf., orch. (1860); conc., 2 pf. (1912); Septet (1849-50); 2 str. qts. (1859, 1860); str. quintet in A minor (1919); Klavierstücke (1860-1)
Plus, Gurn likes him!

For me now, it is Brandenburg Concerto #3 performed by the Boston Baroque, tres HIP, tres bien!


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

[Amalie]

Beethoven:
Funf Stucke fur eine Spieluhr Wo0 33

Andante Favori, Wo057
Mikhail Pletnev, [piano]
Such a beautiful piece !



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