What are you listening to now?

[jamesofedinburgh]

Ligeti - Hamburg Concerto

Debussy - Etudes (Mitsuko Uchida)

Birtwistle - Punch & Judy (which probably works best on stage)

Beethoven - Opus 93 (an eternal favourite)

[Sorrano]

This morning:

Saint-Saens: 2nd Piano Concerto

[Roehre]

Today:

Busoni:
2 Hebrew songs by Byron op.15 (K202)
Altdeutsches Tanzlied op.18/1 (K207/1)
2 Songs op.31 (K236)
2 Songs op.24 (K216)
5 Goethe Songs op.55 (K295a)
Ave Maria opus 1
sonatina no.4 “In Diem Navitatis Christi MCMXVII “ (K274)
sonatina no.5 “Sonatina brevis in signo Jannis Sebastiani magni “(K280)
sonatina no.6 “sonatina super Carmen – Kammerphantasie über Bizets Carmen” (K284)

Ligeti;
Cello concerto (1966)

Penderecki:
Cello concerto [no.1] (1964)

Zimmermann:
Tratto (1966)

Fortner:
Bluthochzeit (after Garcia Lorca) – 3 Entractes (1963)

[Peter]

Ligeti - Hamburg Concerto

Debussy - Etudes (Mitsuko Uchida)

Birtwistle - Punch & Judy (which probably works best on stage)

Beethoven - Opus 93 (an eternal favourite)

Yes Beethoven's 8th is also my favourite of the symphonies, the one that I listen to most and it never tires whereas I have to have long gaps between hearings of the others.

[jamesofedinburgh]

I certainly can understand why you feel that way, it is a superb piece of 'absolute music' though I've always felt that the metronome parody is actually a satire. 'Man as machine, man as mechanical dullard' - perhaps Beethoven had this sort of extra-musical idea in mind.

Love of particular pieces - the Ninth remains my favourite. However, this has varied over time - when I was 17, I saw Clockwork Orange and was electrified mostly by the soundtrack. I knew the music, having grown up listening to it, but had experienced a hiatus of about 3 - 4 years when I did not do so. So it felt rather like a rediscovery, and I proceeded to listen to the Ninth, night after night, at least once and at least 3 times, for about a year. (I didn't like school!) It was a Klemperer recording and I still have the vinyl.

As a result, I eventually 'went off' the Ninth. Years later I began to listen again and I was overwhelmed, and now I continue to love it and find new things there (indeed, in all of Beethoven). It is especially interesting to listen to the Missa Solemnis (perhaps his greatest work?) alongside the Ninth.

I heard #8 in Bristol at the Colston Hall in 1988, Roy Goodman was conducting in a decidedly period manner with a non-period orchestra. Consequently the rhythms were snappier. He used a brief ritardando at the beginning of the development section of the first movement - where the quiet music, over the octave figure, is heard twice sandwiched between tutti's that lead to the development proper. He just made a gesture like throwing something in the air that you expect to fall slowly to earth, and the orchestra responded. The sound of these 10 seconds of music - it was so beautiful that I thought the world had stopped - Debussy's sensuous beauty of sound has nothing on such ravishing moments (and I love Debussy).

With #5, around about the same time, I heard a recording of Hogwood's period performance, and the savagery of the trumpets at the recapitulation (playing G A-flat G A-flat with savage accents ) was electrifying. Until that time, the Fifth was 'sleeping' due to over familiarity. But now, it is fresh again.

[Roehre]

Today:

Vaughan Williams:
On Christmas Night (after Dickens’ Christmas Carol) (1926)

Genzmer:
Symphonisches Konzert für Orgel (1974)
Concerto for organ and percussion (1976)
Tripartita for organ (1950)

Martinu:
L’Echec du Roi (ballet H.186, 1930) (R3: Ao3)

Blohdahl:
Symphony no.3 “Facets” (1950)

Stravinsky:
Chorale-variations “Vom himmel hoch”

Ligeti:
String quartet no.2 (1968)

[Michael]

Yesterday, I listened to all of Beethoven's Ninth (courtesy of Bernstein and the NY Phil) through headphones on my exercise bike. Is this a record?

(Actually, it was a CD ................)

[Sorrano]

This morning I awakened to the incidental music to Egmont. I missed the overture, so I had the fun of trying to figure who had composed this work. It's obvious I need to listen to this some more!

[Roehre]

Today:

Beethoven:
Gratulations Menuet WoO3

Vaughan Williams:
The First Nowell (1958)

Ferguson:
Violin sonata no.2 op.10 (1946) (R3)

Respighi:
Lauda per la Nativita del Signore (1929)

Britten:
A Ceremony of Carols op.28

[Sorrano]

Nice choice on the Beethoven, Roehre!

[Chris]

King Stephan overture on the radio today, in celebration of Beethoven's birthday.

[jamesofedinburgh]

Bach Well-tempered Clavier bk 1
4 - C# minor
5 - D major

Ives A Set of Pieces
In The Cage
In The Inn
In The Night

Wagner Parsifal
Act 1 opening

Beethoven Sonata in G Opus 31/1

[Roehre]

Today:

Arnold:
Song of Simeon op.69

Poulenc:
2 Motets pour les fetes sollennelles (1942)
4 Motets pour le Temps de la Nativité (1951/’52)
Un Soir de Neige (1944)

French Early Polyphony (11th C):
Messe de la Nativité

[Michael]

King Stephan overture on the radio today, in celebration of Beethoven's birthday.

Chris, I know you may have bought the complete King Stephen music some time ago. I think that the "Women's Chorus", which forms a large section of the overture, is one of the most beautiful tunes that B ever wrote. What do you think?

[Roehre]

Chris, I know you may have bought the complete King Stephen music some time ago. I think that the "Women's Chorus", which forms a large section of the overture, is one of the most beautiful tunes that B ever wrote. What do you think?

It certainly is a lovely creation of B's.
But though this overture (and the whole of this incidental music for that matter) is much maligned, there is another little fragment that deserves our attention: no.8 the "Geistliche marsch". IMO is this four part piece for strings (plus one horn playing just one note, a pp B-flat, underpinning the harmony, at the very last bars of the piece) a kind of premonition for the late quartets.