What are you listening to now?

[Chris]

Bach - The Six Trio Sonatas for organ, BWV 525-530 - Christopher Herrick

[Roehre]

Thanks Bernard, much appreciated.

[Sorrano]

This morning:

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 5
Schumann: 1st Movement of the Symphony No. 3.

[Chris]

Bach - The "Great" Fantasias, Preludes and Fugues for organ, BWV 532, 534, 536, 537, 541-548, 552, 562, 572 - Christopher Herrick

[Preston]

Speaking of Gould, the first thing to understand is - he was different, and therefore his playing of the music is different than "standard"... much like Maria Yudina. She was/is constantly criticized, much like Gould. The reason for this is because she played what she felt from the music and it doesn't sound like the "standard" - she played mostly slow, with good depth and feeling. Gould, too, played as he felt and heard the music, imo, and that is why, I think, it is often criticized.

Imo, it comes down to the listener and what they prefer. I enjoy Gould - I regard him as one of the greatest pianists, as I do Yudina.

Once I read on Alfred Brendel's site something similar to, "the musician should not play how they want to play the music but how the composer wants it played". To my mind, that is an extremely pompous and really out-right ludicrous quote. The reason why, as discussed on this forum - no one, usually, feels exactly the same thing when listening to any piece of music, and therefore interpretation must be involved. The problem with the quote is, Brendel talks as though he has the supreme knowledge of the composers intent? That and I like interpretation, especially ones which are completely radical or parallel (and everything in between) than the standard, give or take.

[Preston]

Listening to Mozart's Overture to The Magic Flute, conducted by Otto Klemperer.

[Roehre]

Today:

Berlioz (arr Liszt):
Symphonie fantastique op.14 S.470

Sweelinck:
Livre quastrieme et conclusionnal des Pseaumes de David (p.1621): pars primo

Maxwell Davies:
Naxos-string-quartet no.8 (2006)

[Roehre]

Today:

Lipatti
6 sonatas after Domenico Scarlatti arranged for wind quintet: nos. 1, 2 and 3 (1939)
Sonatina for the left hand op.10 (1941)
Concertante Symphony for 2 pianos and string orchestra op. 5 (1939) (All R3: TtN)

Liszt (+Thalberg/Pixis/Herz/Czerny/Chopin):
Hexaméron S.392 (1837)

Liszt:
Un Portrait en Musique de la Marquise de Blocqueville S.190 (1869)

Sweelinck:
Livre quastrieme et conclusionnal des Pseaumes de David (p.1621): pars 2do

Maxwell Davies:
Naxos-string-quartet no.9 (2007)

[Peter]

Brahms: String sextets in Bb and G.

[Roehre]

Brahms: String sextets in Bb and G.

Lovely music.

Peter, do you know Brahms' own arrangement for piano of the theme and variations of the 1st Sextet (op.18)?

Btw, this theme plays a main role (in a slightly different shape) in Richard Strauss' OTT Festliches Präludium opus 61 (1913) as well.

[Sorrano]

This morning:

Paganini's 2nd Violin Concerto.

[Peter]

Lovely music.

Peter, do you know Brahms' own arrangement for piano of the theme and variations of the 1st Sextet (op.18)?

Btw, this theme plays a main role (in a slightly different shape) in Richard Strauss' OTT Festliches Präludium opus 61 (1913) as well.

Yes I think Brahms' chamber music is really glorious and these 2 sextets are extremely interesting coming as they do at different points in his career. I always think it hard to talk about different creative periods with Brahms though because he seems so mature even in his earliest works - however I think the 2nd sextet shows an advance technically in the handling of strings.

Thanks for the extra info about Strauss and Brahms' arrangement which I don't know.

[Preston]

At the start of making my way through Dvorak's 9 symphonies. I am only familiar with the 9th, I like the melodies used throughout the 9th symphony. I pick up on Dvorak's music better than a lot of composers, not that I pick up on that much though.

I downloaded all of them for around $18 - pretty good deal, .

[Roehre]

At the start of making my way through Dvorak's 9 symphonies. I am only familiar with the 9th, I like the melodies used throughout the 9th symphony. I pick up on Dvorak's music better than a lot of composers, not that I pick up on that much though.

I downloaded all of them for around $18 - pretty good deal, .

Some observations, hopefully a bit of a help:

Nearly all the scherzos are slavonic dances in one way or another (1,2,5,7-9), or similar to the legends op.59 (4)

1: Zlonice's bells: the only symphony AD never heard himself, and as he lost the score quite shortly after completing it, never revised it. The title refers to the opening movement.

2: The slow mvt IMO depicts riding out of knights.

3: the most wagnerian of AD's symphonies, the only one in 3 mvts.

4: the trio of the scherzo is actually a march, and depending on the interpretation a rather slow one (Kertesz) to a quick march (Kubelik)

5: a very pastoral symphony. Lovely, and with an experiment in form: 2nd and 3rd mvts are connected, the scherzo is a variation following the theme and variations of the 2nd mvt and follows attacca, i.e. without any pause.

6: One of the two dramatic symphonies (the other is 7). Listen especially to the coda of the 1st mvt, as it is IMO one of the great codas of the symphonic literature.

7: IMO the absolute masterpiece of AD's nine symphonies, brooding, dark, brahmsian, with a very logic symphonic discourse from begin to end.
Listen to how AD treats the winds in the slow mvt, especially how horn and wood merge.

8: The most lyrical symphony. Lacks a bit of contrast IMO, has in atmosphere much in common with 5. The finale is a set of variations on a fanfare.

9: that's the one you know already

[Roehre]

Today:

Menotti:
Violin concerto in a (1952) (R3: CotW)
The first two movements are on par with Barber’s concerto, but I do have severe doubts about the finale. The poulencian 1st theme (to be heard i.a. in Poulenc’s 1947 Symphonietta) is treated in a way which Poulenc himself would have done much better, and the castagnette-accompanied 2nd theme is just a banal let-down, IMO not adding anything substantial to the concerto at all I’m afraid.
A shame, as in this way this finale drags down the whole of the concerto IMO.

Sweelinck:
Livre quastrieme et conclusionnal des Pseaumes de David (p.1621): pars tertio

Maxwell Davies:
Naxos-string-quartet no.10 (2008)

Glinka:
String quartet in F (1830)

Schubert:
String quartet in B-flat op.168 D.112 (1814)