What are you listening to now?

[Hofrat]

Musica Sveciae (MSCD 412)
Music from the Age of Liberty:

9 symphonies by Agrell, von Hopken, Johnsen, Zellbell, Wesstrom, and Brant (well, the Brant is not by Brant, but what the hell. 8 minute symphonies! Great music!).

[Peter]

Standing apart from the pack as always, it is not a question of what I´m listening to at the moment (I should hope not : Beethoven would not tolerate people listening to his music as background to reading, talking or eating sandwiches), rather in anticipation of what I shall be listening to shortly if the French postal system works correctly :
Bruckner 4th Symphony (original 1874 version), Schuman string quartets, and the 2008 recording of the DBs (Diabelli Variations) by Stephen Bishop (I forget his full current name).

Pedantic as ever! Alright, in 19 minutes and 33 seconds I shall be listening to Susato 'Danseyre'. I think you were looking for Kovacevich.

[Zevy]

Have to agree, despite the appalling intonation.

I wonder how he got away with that.....

[Quijote]

Pedantic as ever! Alright, in 19 minutes and 33 seconds I shall be listening to Susato 'Danseyre'. I think you were looking for Kovacevich.

Pedantic? No, precise. But you have missed a more important point : should we listen to Beethoven with our full attention, or listen to it as background to other activities (reading, eating sandwiches, gardening...), in effect reducing it to muzak?
Thank you for supplying the missing part of Stephen Bishop's name; you saved me the effort of leaving my sofa to look it up as I enjoyed a prawn and mayonnaise sandwich whilst listening to Opus 127 and watching football on the TV at the same time.

[Peter]

Pedantic? No, precise. But you have missed a more important point : should we listen to Beethoven with our full attention, or listen to it as background to other activities (reading, eating sandwiches, gardening...), in effect reducing it to muzak?
Thank you for supplying the missing part of Stephen Bishop's name; you saved me the effort of leaving my sofa to look it up as I enjoyed a prawn and mayonnaise sandwich whilst listening to Opus 127 and watching football on the TV at the same time.

No I didn't miss the point and personally I can't stand muzak. I wonder why you are assuming or suggesting everyone here listens to music in just that way?

[Quijote]

No I didn't miss the point and personally I can't stand muzak. I wonder why you are assuming or suggesting everyone here listens to music in just that way?

Muzak : That's the problem with ears, isn't it? We can close our eyes to the décor in the lift, but we can't shut off our ear's to the lift's muzak. I can't stand muzak either, but doing other activities whilst listening to Beethoven (as just one example) does in effect reduce it to just that. I am not assuming or suggesting everyone on this forum listens to music in that way, though I believe some do. And they are perfectly free to do so. I wonder what LvB would have said about people not giving full attention to his music.

[Michael]

Just listened to Rudolf Serkin playing the Hammerklavier sonata. Definitely not background music.

[Quijote]

I'm still waiting for delivery of Stephen Bishop K's latest recording of the Diabelli Variations (recorded 2008), and I'm very much looking forward to that. Also definitely not background music, unless one treats it that way!
By the way, I read that Bishop's recent recital of the DBs (last December, Wigmore Hall?) got slated, the reviewer saying he just hammered through the work as if sight-reading. Ouch.

[Chris]

Listening to the Lieder from the DG Complete Beethoven Edition. I have never heard most of these pieces before, and the price of an Archiv reprint of this volume was very reasonable (and it seems to be just like the original except no slip cover). Anyway, this is some nice music, a different side of Beethoven that I am hearing here tonight.

[Michael]

Listening to the Lieder from the DG Complete Beethoven Edition. I have never heard most of these pieces before, and the price of an Archiv reprint of this volume was very reasonable (and it seems to be just like the original except no slip cover). Anyway, this is some nice music, a different side of Beethoven that I am hearing here tonight.

Yes, it's a great set. Did you get a booklet with English translations?

[Preston]

Listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony, 2nd movement, at a slower speed.

Also, have been listening to Dvorak's Humoresque and the 2nd movement of his Cello Concerto.

[Michael]

Listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony, 2nd movement, at a slower speed.

.

Do you mean your turntable is running slow, Preston?
Or are you listening to Karl Bohm's version?

[Chris]

Yes, it's a great set. Did you get a booklet with English translations?

Yes, all the packaging and booklets seem to be the same, just no slip cover (which is kind of annoying, because the booklet was supposed to go in the slip cover with the discs - now it is just loose).

[Sorrano]

Picked up this morning on Telemann's Watermusic. I found it quite interesting and enjoyable.

[Michael]

Yes, all the packaging and booklets seem to be the same, just no slip cover (which is kind of annoying, because the booklet was supposed to go in the slip cover with the discs - now it is just loose).

Well, at least you have the translations. I had the Herman Prey set for years and got to know all the tunes without having a clue what each song was about. I got some surprises when I finally got the DGG set.