What are you listening to now ?

[Harvey]

This is quite a wonderful Beethoven symphony cycle. And I really like the Ninth in this cycle.
Future buyers won't have to piecemeal it like I did some years ago, but can get all this and more in one set:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Nine...dp/B013HFUAHC/




Now I am listening to this one, so far first movement very good:


Monteux is my man for Beethoven symphonies, good tempo, not too fast, not too slow.

[gprengel]

Do you want to get to know an awesome piano quartett from Friedrich Kuhlau who was a kind of pupil from Beethoven? Here it is - I think it is fantastic (written in 1829)!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlZu2vm8h6M

[Harvey]

[Harvey]

[alittleviola]

Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op 2 No. 1 - ii). I am in the Beethoven subReddit and pianist Jill Crossland posted her performance of it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCZM...ature=youtu.be

I love that chromatic/"bluesy" little run at :26. It repeats later as well.

[Harvey]

Really enjoying this one, especially the soprano. Video Link.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives, Op. 85 - Christus am Ölberge (FULL ORATORIO)
UC Davis Symphony Orchestra
University Chorus
Christian Baldini, music director & conductor
Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts (California) - March 6, 2020

Jacqueline Piccolino, soprano (Seraph)
Kyle Stegall, tenor (Jesus)
Daniel Yoder, bass (Peter)
University Chorus (Angels, Disciples, Soldiers) - Caleb Lewis, director

[Chris]

I come back to Christus am Ölberge about once every year or two. I tend to forget about it and then am surprised by how much I enjoy it every time I return. I find this is true of so much of Beethoven's music, more than with other composers. It's never the same as hearing it for the first time, of course, but a break from a Beethoven piece often brings with it a renewed surprise at its quality when you return.

[Harvey]

[Decrepit Poster]

Came across a recent live performance of Beethoven's piano sonata No. 18, the so-called Hunt, played by Ronald Brautigam on a fine sounding fortepiano. I've listened to it at least once a day since discovering it. Needless to say I find it most impressive:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwFL01yi4Sg[/YOUTUBE]

[Decrepit Poster]

I couldn't let the year (2020) end without another listen to a work that hold special nostalgic significance. I was first exposed to and fell in love with Classical Music as a teenager in the mid 1960s. The works that initially 'spoke to me' were all roughly early romantic to 'high' romantic. I couldn't yet grasp classical music's 'classical period'. Beethoven, Haydn, et al. did little for me. Then one day, browsing through record (LP) bins in a local music store, I spied a used recording, "Radio Station Copy, NOT FOR RESALE" stamped on the cover. It contained three works that I later realized were classical-period, performed by a conductorless Prague Chamber Orchestra. One of them was Vojtech Jirovec's Symphony in E-flat Major, "Great". I bought the album, and took to the symphony right away, listening to it over and over again. I don't know that it helped cure my incomprehension of classical-period music, but it certainly didn't slow my awakening.

I enjoy Jirovec's "Great" to this day. The conductorless Prague rendition remaining easily my favorite of the several I've encountered. Once past a so-so intro, the first moment is fetching. The two inner movements are enjoyable but not memorable. The finale is a treat, sturm-und-drang, good bubbly fun. That said, it is definitely a work of a first-class musician, of and for its time rather than the ages.

As to the LP, I still own it, despite it having survived a tornado that totaled my parents' house in 1973, where it was stored during my military assignment to the Philippines. Due to exposure to the elements, listening to it now is akin to hearing an orchestra during a battle, so full of ticks and pops is it.

Thankfully, YouTube came to the rescue not two months ago, with a clean, very listenable upload:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J-xleGlyD8[/YOUTUBE]
(Note: I might have linked this symphony in the past. If so, that link led to a poor quality older upload, little if any better than my tornado-ravaged LP.)

[Harvey]

Just arrived today. My last purchase of 2020.
SOUND CLIPS

[Harvey]

Really liking this conductor:

[Megan]

Beethoven's Flohlied, op. 75. nr. 3. (Flea Song.)

I have never heard this before, so I thought I'd post it.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yut0tZftU10[/YOUTUBE]





If you could give me the magic formula for posting the video, It might show up. I have tried everything

[Chris]

Fixed it for you! You can edit the post to see how the link should be for it to show up properly.

[Megan]

Fixed it for you! You can edit the post to see how the link should be for it to show up properly.

I tried editing and knocking out the s, in https. and the . in youtube.
Thank you for posting it Chris.