What classical music did you listen to today?

[White Knight]

Jean Sibelius--Symphony No.1 in E Minor, Op.39 and Symphony No.4 in A Minor, Op.63,
both passionately traversed by the Paavo Berglund led Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Bohuslav Martinu--Symphonies Nos.1 and 2,
both featuring Neeme Jarvi and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.
Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.1, Op.7 and Symphony No.2, Op.16 {"Four Temperaments"}, ​both performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Ole Scmidt.

 

[cjvinthechair]

Devoid of inspiration as usual, so F for Friday it is:

Joop Franssens - 'Grace'
Sebastian Fagerlund - violin concerto
Richard Flury - Waldsymphonie
Jacqueline Fontyn - 'Halo' for harp & 16 instruments
Peter Racine Fricker - Symphony no. 5
Wilhelm Furtwangler - Te Deum

 

[JHC]

Devoid of inspiration as usual, so F for Friday it is:

Sebastian Fagerlund - violin concerto

This is a new one for me! thanks.I have posted a version from Youtube 1st mov

Sebastian Fagerlund (b. 1972): Violin Concerto "Darkness in Light" (2012)
Pekka Kuusisto (b. 1976), violin
Santtu-Matias Rouvali (b. 1985), conductor
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Helsinki Music Centre, 5 December 2012

I will look for a CD down load

[video=youtube;Xzg22FA3g8Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Xzg22FA3g8Y  [/video]

 

[White Knight]

Antonin Dvorak--Symphony No.7 in D Minor, Op.70 and Symphony No.8 in G Major, Op.88,
both traversed by the Witold Rowicki led London Symphony Orchestra in rousing good fashion!
Josef Haydn-- Symphony No.100 in G M ajor {"Military Symphony"}; Symphony No.102 in B-Flat Major ; Symphony No.101 in D Major {"The Clock"} and Symphony No.105 in B-Flat Major {"Sinfonia Concertante"}.
All four works feature Dennis Russell Davies and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. I'm taking Haydn in smaller doses these days, in an attempt to better distinguish and identify which of his numerous and varied symphonies I most enjoy listening to on a regular
basis.
Ludwig Van Beethoven--Symphony No.3 in E-Flat Major, Op.55 {"Eroica"} and Symphony No.8 in F Major, Op.93, ​both performed by the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell.

 

[White Knight]

Jean Sibelius--Symphony No.5 in E-Flat Major, Op.83; Symphony No.6 in D Minor, Op.104; Karelia Suite: Intermezzo and Alla Marca, Op.11 and Valse Triste, Op.44. All four works feature Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.5, Op.50 and Symphony No.6 {"Sinfonia Semplice"}, both performed by the Theodore Kuchar led Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bohuslav Martinu--Symphonies Nos.3 and 4, both rendered by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Neeme Jarvi.

 

[JHC]

Joseph Haydn--Symphony No.52 in C Minor; Symphony No.42 in D Major; Symphony No.96 in D Major {"The Miracle"}; Symphony No.95 in C Minor and Symphony No.93 in D Major. ​All five works are performed by the Dennis Russell Davies led Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Truthfully, I'm still trying to figure out if I really like or "get" this composer, as he wrote so many symphonies {104, to be exact!} and many of them sound to me very similar in their expositions and developments. .

Only just read this Steve but you are quite right Haydn in particular as well as Mozart C P Bach and a host of other composers of the baroque period used "Sonata form" extensively just listen to Haydn's Piano Trios and even the Quartets and you will find the same thing but perhaps a bit more adventurous The Beaux arts trio recorded the complete cycle of trios here is an exampleby the Emerald Trio from Youtube #39 Gypsy

 

[White Knight]

On Spotify:

Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.1 in G Minor, Op.7; Symphony No.6 {"Sinfonia Semplice"}; Symphony No.4, Op.29 {"Inextinguishable"} and Symphony No.5, Op.50. All four works are passionately performed by the Michael Schonwandt led Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
Amy Beach--Symphony in E -Minor, Op.32 {"Gaelic Symphony"}, featuring the Nashville Symphony Orchestra led by Kennetheth Schrmerhorn.
Ludwig Van Beethoven--Symphony No.1 in C Minor, Op.21 and Symphony No.2 in D Major, Op.36, bothworks feature the London Symphony Orchestra under Yondani Butt.

 

[cjvinthechair]

Concert from recent purchases :

Otaka - Fantasy for organ & orchestra
Mlyarnski - Violin Concerto
Chinese collaboration - Little Sisters of the Grassland Pipa Concerto
Searle - Symphony no. 3
Saxton - I will awake the Dawn
Hanson - Symphony no. 4 'Requiem'

 

[White Knight]

Anton Bruckner--Symphony No.7 in E Major, featuring Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker. What a gorgeous adagio!
Gustav Mahler--Symphony No.7 in E Minor, featuring the New York Philharmonic led by Leonard Bernstein.
Dmitri Shostakovich--Symphony No.1, Op.10 and Symphony No.7, Op.60 {"Leningrad"}, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Bernstein. I hadn't remembered the third movement of the "Leningrad" being so beautifully evocative.

 

[White Knight]

On Spotify:

Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.2 {"The Four Temperaments"} and Symphony No.5, Op.50, both featuring the Douglas Bostock led Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ralph Vaughan Williams--Symphony No.2 {"A London Symphony"}; Symphony No.3 {"Pastoral Symphony"} and Symphony No.6 in E Minor.

All three works feature Kees Bakels and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in some very rousing readings.
Ralph Vaughan Williams--Symphony No.7 {"Sinfonia Antartica"} and Symphony No.8. Both symphonies are performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Andre Previn. As well, the Seventh features a spoken introduction by Sir Ralph Richardson.
Johan Svendesen--Symphony No.1 in D Major and Symphony No.2 in B-Flat Major, Op.13. Both works are traversed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra led by Bjarte Engeset.

 

[cjvinthechair]

A T for Tuesday concert (actually going to cheat & make it a TU programme !):


Tabakova - Dawn
Ulianich - The Bells of the Soul
Tal - Symphony no. 4 'Jubilee'
Usmanbas - Concert Aria for Harp & Strings
Teml - Organ Concerto
Tosar - Te Deum

 

[cjvinthechair]

Raining - so a WED concert for Wednesday:


Westlake - Bass Clarinet Concerto
Enna - Fairy Tale Symphonic Pictures
Dubra - Missa de Spiritu Sancto
Wolf-Ferrari - English Horn Concertino
Eklund - Symphony no. 5
Dambis - Concerto-Fantasia (in the name of Albrecht Durer) for choir, piano & percussion.

 

[White Knight]

Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.3, Op.27 {"Sinfonia espansiva"}; Symphony No.4, Op.29 {"Inextinguishable"} and Symphony No.5, Op.50. All three works feature the Herbert Blomstedt led Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Jean Sibelius--Symphony No.5 in E-Flat, Op.82 and Symphony No.6 in D Minor, Op.104. Both symphonies are performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Berglund.

Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.3, Op.27 {"Sinfonia espansiva"}; Symphony No.4, Op.29 {"Inextinguishable"} and Symphony No.5, Op.50. All three works feature Theodore Kuchar and the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

[White Knight]

Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.1 in G Minor, Op.7 and Symphony No.2, Op.16 {"The Four Temperaments"}, both featuring the Ole Schmidt led London Symphony Orchestra.
Jean Sibelius--Symphony No.1 in E Minor, Op.39 and SYmphony No.4 in A Minor, Op.63. Both works are performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Paavo Berglund. I note that Meastro Berglund's tempis are taken much slower than some of the other Sibelius conductors to whom I've grown accustomed {Maazel and Abravanel}, which lends a somber majesty and grandeur to these symphonies.
Dmitri Shostakovich--Symphony No.1 in F Minor, Op.10 and Symphony No.7 in C Major, Op.60 {"Leningrad"}, both traversed by Maestro Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.
Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.4, Op.29 {"Inextinguishable"} and Symphony No.5, Op.50, both powerfully rendered by the Michael Schonwandt led Danish National Symphony Orchestra. IMVHO, both of these works rank amongst the very best of the 20th Century symphonic canon.

 

[White Knight]

On Spotify:
Jean Sibelius--Symphony No.1 in E Minor, Op.39 and Symphony No.2 in D Major, Op.43. Both are performed by the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra under Sir Alexander Gibson.
Sere Prokofiev--Symphony No.1 in D Major, Op.25 {"Classical"} and Symphony No.5 in B-Flat Major, Op.100, both featuring Theodore Kuchar and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.
Pyotr Chaikovskii--Symphony No.2 in C Minor, Op.17 {"Little Russian"} and Symphony No.3 in D Major, Op.29 {"Polish"}. Both symphonies are performed by the Vienna State Opera Symphony Orchestra, conductor unknown, as he is not listed.

 

[White Knight]

Dmitri Shostakovich--Symphony No.1 in F Minor, Op.10 and Symphony No.7 in C Major, Op.60 {"Leningrad"}, both performed by the Leonard Bernstein led Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Carl Nielsen--Symphony No.4, Op.29 {Inextinguishable"} and Symphony No.5, Op.50, both featuring Michael Schonwandt and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

 

[White Knight]

On Spotify:

Sergei Prokofiev--Symphony No.6 in E-Flat Minor, performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Evgeny Mravinsky. A little different reading than that of Rostropovich with the LSO, more nuanced with a "bigger" presence of the string sections, especially in the last two movements. I enjoyed it very much.

 

[cjvinthechair]

Mr. White Knight - & anyone else out there (!) - pardon my failing spirit, but I do wonder if anyone apart from the two of us ever comes onto this thread, and if so do they take anything away ?
I know of most of the works you enjoy, but don't understand enough to appreciate the differences in interpretations you talk of....and am too busy discovering 'new' composers to feel I want to log into Spotify and try.
The 'concerts' I put up seem to appeal to noone but myself. And that's it - there's nobody else involved; yet go onto Talk Classical, or the Art-Music Forum (which is my favourite because of the download facility !) and most posts get a number of replies (not always complimentary !), or at least 'likes' to show someone's looked at them.

You obviously love this site, but for me, apart from your good self, and Mr. Corno Dolce who's been most patient with me on the choral thread, I wonder if I'm actually writing for anybody else.
Any thoughts - and if anyone else is out there, do feel free to shout me down. Many thanks.

 

[Dorsetmike]

I must admit to being a lurker on this thread most of the time. I mainly listen to baroque, particularly lesser known composers, I'm currently listening to works by William Croft and William Boyce, previous to that Organ and Harpsichord concertos by John Stanley Opus 2.

Many of the later classical works (1800 onwards)n have been done to death and hold little if any interest for me. I used to listen to Classic FM but not often now, about 80% of what they play is part of their "Top 300" voted for each year, or the weekly top 30. I fail to see the continued attraction of hearing the same works over and over again when there is so much rarely played. Bach wrote over a thousand works, we probably only hear less than 10% of them in the course of a year of radio listening.

Record companies for the most part also seem to release the same works over and over again, just how many interpretations of a work do we really need?

A few small companies do explore the lesser known works, but they are unlikely to make it into any "chart" - it's a bit of a catch 22 situation, nobody records it because nobody knows it, nobody knows it because nobody records it.

For those that like baroque music, orchestral, choral, or solo and small group instrumental try the Baroque Music Library, download MP3s for free, or buy CDs,

http://www.baroquemusiclibrary.com/index.html

To view a CD, click on the thumbnail of the cover image, to hear or download a track click on it, when the play window opens, right click and select "save as"

I'd be surprised if you don't find something that is new to you and which you like.

 

[cjvinthechair]

Mr. Mike - nice to hear someone else's thoughts !

I wouldn't go out of my way to put on baroque music, but certainly don't object to it, and wasn't aware of the site you mention...so many thanks for that.

Do rather agree with you about Classic FM, though am loath to knock it, as a whole host of folk who may never have otherwise bothered with classical music can't be wrong when they swear by it.
I've rather 'moved on', though that's unfair too to the many composers for whom I still have a high regard ( like Mr. White Knight's Nielsen, Prokofiev, Shosty etc.) whilst choosing to explore ground less trodden - hence some of my 'weird' concerts.
So, that makes 3 of us...all championing entirely different things; which sadly rather brings me back to my point about whether anyone's listening to, learning from or remotely interested in our posts on here. In a way I quite like the 'cliquy' nature of a small-ish number of followers on the forum, but must confess I'm learning a lot more, and actually feeling rather more appreciated, elsewhere. Oh well, don't suppose it's going to change, so must just decide whether to move out for good (pity, only just arrived !).