What are you listening to now?

[Sorrano]

This morning:

Martin Raehs: Allegro with Variations

Cleve: Etude in B Flat

Franz Ignaz Beck: Sinfonia Op. 13, No. 1

[Chris]

Finishing up the Mozart symphonies today: K 202, 297 "Paris", 318, 319, 338, 385 "Haffner", 425 "Linz", 409, 444, 504 "Prague", 543, 550, 551 "Jupiter"

Very enjoyable works, these, but overall I still like the total symphonic output of Haydn more. Though K 550 still remains one of my favorite works. Something I appreciated about the AAM set is that they also included an earlier version of it without clarinets. I also gained a greater appreciation for the "Jupiter" last year after seeing it live.

[Quijote]

Finishing up the Mozart symphonies today ...

Sounds like you consider it to have been like one of those 'eat-all-you-can' competitions.

[Quijote]

Do you believe in divine intervention? Or perhaps strange coincidences? I ask this in light of the quip I made on the 'Free Counterpoint' thread about Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (JGA).
I was given today a CD of works by the gentleman in question:
a) Concerto par trombula, viola da gamba e archi;
b) Divertimento a tre con violino piccolo, violine, viole;
c) Sonata per violino, viola e violoncello;
d) Divertimento a tre con viola, violoncello e violone;
e) Sonata per 2 violini, 2 viole, 2 violoncelli;
f) Partita per viola d'amore, flauto e violone;
g) Sonata II a due cori.

This is what I shall be listening to later. See, a dusty old theorist like JGA actually composes.

And the CD features musicians not to be messed with : Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, the Quatuor Mosaïques and Christophe Coin (excellent 'cellist).

[Chris]

Sounds like you consider it to have been like one of those 'eat-all-you-can' competitions.

I am the Kobayashi of Mozart!

Actually, I was indeed looking forward to getting to the later symphonies. As I mentioned, K 550 is one of my favorite works, and K 551 has been working its way up there. And I enjoy the early Mozart symphonies for their youthful energy, charming melodies, and the sense you get when listening to them that Mozart was working through composition problems, learning the ropes, putting the pieces together for what he would later accomplish. They feel fresh to me every time. But the middle works don't have as much of that, nor the brilliance of the later works. It's really the same for me with Mozart's output in general. It's earliest and latest works I enjoy listening to the most.

[Quijote]

Splendid. When we have finished our Bach chorale harmony course and then the elementary Free Counterpoint, we shall turn to harmonization of the String Quartet in the Classical period, with particular emphases on Mozart and Haydn. We shall see then what these mega-listening-fests have imparted to your cortex.

[Chris]

Splendid. When we have finished our Bach chorale harmony course and then the elementary Free Counterpoint, we shall turn to harmonization of the String Quartet in the Classical period, with particular emphases on Mozart and Haydn. We shall see then what these mega-listening-fests have imparted to your cortex.

Perhaps not much, but they are just the thing to get you through days where you have some lengthy but mindless tasks to accomplish.

[Quijote]

If you must. But you know what Beethoven thought about people not really paying attention to his music. I'm not saying I do this systematically, but I do have CDs I put on for mindless tasks : environmental sounds such as running water (great in hot summers, I'm serious!), birdsong and so on.

[Chris]

If you must. But you know what Beethoven thought about people not really paying attention to his music. I'm not saying I do this systematically, but I do have CDs I put on for mindless tasks : environmental sounds such as running water (great in hot summers, I'm serious!), birdsong and so on.

I am paying attention to it. That's why I have it on - because the work requires no thought and I need something to occupy my attention! But Beethoven also never had recordings. If one could listen to a piece as many times as he liked, would Beethoven be opposed to you listening to it with perhaps your less than full attention if you had previously listened to it with your full attention? I am not letting the efforts of any musicians playing live go to waste here, because I can replay the exact same performance as often as I wish. With recordings, music can become something like a painting - the first time you look at, you may study it, take in every detail, but subsequent times you may only glace at it as you walk by, appreciating it on only a higher level, or perhaps being reminded of the depths of the work that you previously experienced.

Also, I find listening to a lot of music at once like this may not be a good way to study an individual piece, but it is a very good way to experience a composer's development through a particular genre. And also a good way to experience a particular ensemble's take on that genre.

[Quijote]

I've now listened to the entire Concerto for Jew's Harp by Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. I thoroughly enjoyed it, not least for some very speculative cadenzas by the soloist (Albin Paulus).
No, but really, to hear long-forgotten music by perhaps Beethoven's best and admired counterpoint teacher (as Haydn was crap at that; teaching, that is) almost brings tears to my eyes.
Next up on this great new CD that has fallen into my hands is the 'Divertimento a tre' that a previous sneak listen has shown me his (JGA's) contrapuntal mastery.
I'll report back later ...

[Quijote]

I have never looked or heard, but I imagine there is stuff by Neefe out there? Sad perhaps that Beethoven never wrote about his old teacher. I hope my students remember me with fondness. Not all will, I accept.

[Roehre]

I have never looked or heard, but I imagine there is stuff by Neefe out there? Sad perhaps that Beethoven never wrote about his old teacher. I hope my students remember me with fondness. Not all will, I accept.

At least two variation sets (!) and a piano concerto in G IIRC

[Roehre]

Today:

Stravinsky:
Le Chant du Rossignol (1917)
Danses concertantes (1942)
Abraham and Isaac (1963)

Schumann:
Davidbündlertänze opus 6 (1837)

[Chris]

Haydn - Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlosers am Kreuze (Oratorio version) - Labitzke/Wunderer/Sans/Fischesser/Nordic Chamber Choir/Kurpfalzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim/Nicol Matt

For some reason I thought this was a recording using period instruments when I bought it, but that's not the case. But there is a great amount of punch and clarity in it, and I like it a lot. It's very well performed, but also very well recorded. It's not Good Friday yet, so I may have jumped the gun with this one, but I'll revisit it!

[Sorrano]

Last night I listened to Beethoven's 4th Symphony, using a Microsoft Zune. However, I constantly have to fiddle with it to ensure that I am getting the movements in the right order, as well as not inserting something else from the playlist (I got the first movement of the 9th Symphony after the 3rd movement of the 4th). I am wishing there was a device that allowed playback in the track order. Too many of these devices seem bent on forcing people to listen to shuffled orders.