What are you listening to now?

[Peter]

Last night on BBC4 at the proms - Strauss Don Juan / Elgar Cello concerto and Berlioz Symphonie fantastique - the Berlioz has to be the most original piece ever written. Yes Beethoven's Eroica is revolutionary but it is a logical outcome of the tradition it came from, but the Berlioz comes from another world - there was simply nothing like it before and to think it was written in 1830 - imagine the impact on those who first heard it!

[Sorrano]

Berlioz's symphonic works were heavily influenced by Opera, the orchestration, effects, etc. The other night I watched a performance by the Chicago Symphony (Youtube) that was quite well done.

This morning:

Mozart: Symphony (Serenade) in D, K 185

[Decrepit Poster]

Last night on BBC4 at the proms - Strauss Don Juan / Elgar Cello concerto and Berlioz Symphonie fantastique - the Berlioz has to be the most original piece ever written. Yes Beethoven's Eroica is revolutionary but it is a logical outcome of the tradition it came from, but the Berlioz comes from another world - there was simply nothing like it before and to think it was written in 1830 - imagine the impact on those who first heard it!

The fantastique holds a special place in my heart. It is the piece that, lo those many years ago, cemented my love for classical music. It affected me quite strongly, so much so I resolved to learn as much as I could about its creator. I bought and devoured David Cairn's translation of "Memoirs..." (This was before I learned to enjoy reading for pleasure!) and later other writings by and about Berlioz. I no longer regard Berlioz or his music as highly as I once did. Or rather I later began to appreciate other composers more than he. But I still greatly enjoy his fantastique and select other compositions.

I also owe Berlioz a great deal of gratitude for being an early champion of Beethoven. In those days I had no great exposer to or appreciation of Beethoven's music. What I'd heard did little for me. But if Berlioz saw something in it I must be missing something. I decided to keep listening until I too came to grips with it. This I did. And of course Beethoven went on to become my musical god. I would surely have come to Beethoven on my own given time, but Berlioz led the way.

As for recent listening, alas, I've little to report. I heard yet another performance of the Pathetique (YouTube) before heading to work yesterday. Can't for the life of me recall who played it. So far this morning I listened to (for the umpteenth time) the Theme and Variations from Schubert's "Trout" quintet. The famous (?) version with then-young Barenboim, Perlman, Zukerman, Mehta and Jacqueline du Pre. I quite like it, especially from the point where Ms du Pre assumes the lead (roughly 5:14) until the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-2N17Su-UI

ADDENDUM: Now mid afternoon, I just finished listening to / watching the Barcelona rendition of Mahler's fifth symphony at YouTube. The fifth might well be the work I own the most hard copy performances of - 2 LP, 8 CD, 1 Laserdisc (my old player still works!), 4 DVD. Additionally, I've heard it at least three times live in concert. I quite like the Barcelona performance. It seems to have picked up heavy dynamic range suppression along the way. That's normally a major negative for me, but I find myself somewhat more forgiving of it at YouTube than on commercially released disks.

[Sorrano]

This morning:
Trad, Russian: Folksong, "Ah, What Was the Use?"
Debussy: Sonata (#2) for Flute, Viola and Harp

[Sorrano]

This morning:
Czerny: Andante e Polacca
Copland: "Quiet City"

[Decrepit Poster]

Not much from me:

• The Mendelssohn Octet, with double bass rather than the second cello.
• Several interviews with Julia Fischer.
• Leonard Kogan playing Paganini's "Nel cor più non mi sento" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WamJfADBKQU (This performance never ceases to amaze me.)
• A video of M. Note of the Paris Opera singing La Marseillaise in 1908! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Ub1_En-b4 I knew experiments marrying video and music/sound were conducted this far back, but didn't realize any of this quality survived. (It's not bad, all things considered.)

All these were heard/watched at YouTube.

[Harvey]

In the car: Beethoven's Third, Wand
On the MP3: Rossini's La Cenerentola, Abbado
On the computer: Bellini's La Sonambula, Oren

[AeolianHarp]

The Pastorale Symphony! Going for a walk in the park with it on my mp3 soon...

[Rocco]

Rossini's La Cenerentola by Abbado... such an amazing work!

[Decrepit Poster]

Having finished reading Jan Swafford's discussion of the Pastorale ("Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph"), I plunged into another marathon listening session. Heard were several sixths in their entireties, along with "spot checks" of others.

To honor Frans Bruggen's recent passing I heard his (audio only) Patorale for the first time in many a year. I quite like his interpretation, especially its final movement. Mr Bruggen allows the trombones a prominence I feel they deserve but too rarely receive. The result is, to my ear, wonderfully magical: http://youtu.be/he45mqrLP60?t=31m36s (I primed the link to began far into the storm (which also sports prominent trombones) so as not to miss the transition.)

I heard David Zinman's 2014 Proms rendition with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. Zinman asks his woodwinds to indulge in a bit of "doodling" during certain solo passages. I haven't yet decided how I feel about that. Audio and video quality, along with camera work, are top-notch throughout. It's a very "clean" sound with most instruments receiving their due, though trombones don't compare to Bruggen. (Possibly because Bruggen's excellent finale was fresh in my mind, Zinman's didn't speak to me.

I listened to the old Gunter Wand performance (audio only) and enjoyed it. It's a weighty, old school interpretation in the best sense.

I heard Barenboim / West-Eastern Divan (Proms 2012) and liked it, but not so well as Bruggen or Wand.

I listened to Chailly but formed no opinion.

(The rest were limited spot checks.)

I listened to the Franz Bruggen interview linked in another thread.

As to matters non Beethovian, I heard Saint-Saen's "Marche Militaire Francaise" in what has become my favorite performance of that work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN8Km465enU

ADDENDUM: After supper, before mowing the lawn, I watched/heard a 2014 Proms performance of the Dvorak Violin Concerto by Julia Fischer and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under David Zinman. I'd not heard the work since the seventies and recalled nothing of it, expect that I back then I didn't rate it as one of the great masterpieces. (His Cello Concerto, on the other hand, fully qualifies.) Tonight's hearing didn't alter my opinion. For me, it remains a piece worth hearing on occasion, but not something to go into raptures over.

[Harvey]

My 35th Ninth Symphony, just added to my collection:
Conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas with the English Chamber Orchestra and Tallis Chamber Choir.
It was recorded in the early 1980s. Now I am wondering how big the English Chamber Orchestra would be compared to a full symphony orchestra?

[Megan]

I love listening to the PianoGuys.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0tBS_IAX-M&feature=share[/YOUTUBE]

[Megan]

Earlier today In the Kitchen as usual, I was listening to Beethoven's Concerto no. 4 in G major Op.58 for piano and orchestra

Orchestra: Swedish R S O. Performer: Maria João Pires. Conductor: Daniel Harding.

A good performance , though I've heard better, but nevertheless enjoyable.

I have to listen at full volume, back door wide open too so the neighbours got the full benefit too.

[Decrepit Poster]

Hardly anything from me today. I just finished hearing (and enjoying) the "Serioso" quartet as adapted for string orchestra by Gustav Mahler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbO-MhEIVyY

[AeolianHarp]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15

I. Allegro Con Brio - (0:00)
II. Largo - (14:28)
III. Rondo (Allegro Scherzando) - (24:32)

Steven Lubin (Fortepiano)
Performed by the Academy of Ancient Music
Directed by Christopher Hogwood
Historically Informed Performance
on Period Instruments


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olo79ukqorg