What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[Antonmb]

A double dose of the ever-popular Mahler Symphony No 1 this evening: First an old standby for me, Sir George Solti and the Chicago Symphony from the 1983 London cd. The recording is pretty good, all things considered: clear, good imaging and soundstage, good dynamics, but just a bit of harshness. While it's a digital recording, it was originally issued on vinyl so it's hard to know if it's just the mastering to cd that caused the harshness. The performance is wonderful, very precise with great pacing and plenty of emotion - very involving.

Next up is Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra on Channel Classics, via 24/96 download. This one has been well covered in this thread, but it's worth mentioning again how wonderful this recording is, especially in comparison to the Solti. It's much fuller, warmer, with fabulous imaging and dynamics. It's captivating to listen to the slow build of the instruments at the opening of the 3rd movement, or the thunder of the opening of the 4th. The performance is excellent as well, although the pacing is quite a bit slower: the first movement is almost a full minute longer than Solti's. While I very much like this performance, I do find it doesn't hold my attention as well. Overall I prefer the brisker Solti, which for me is more engaging. If only the Solti were as well recorded as the Fischer.

[AudioNut]

Tony . . .

Thank you for the thoughtful comparison of two world-class presentations of a great symphony. And, thanks too for spending your evening with Mahler. You stayed up late doing so!

[AudioNut]

Listening to . . . Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Suite

New Symphony Orchestra of London - Sir Adrian Boult, Conductor

AND

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5 in E minor

New Philharmonic Orchestra - Jascha Horenstein, Conductor

A Chesky CD (CD94)

Excellent performances, OK sound. Although Chesky is known for superior sound, I find nothing here to recommend this CD over others, although, since I do own it, I think it worth playing.

[AudioNut]

If you got em, play em, I always say . . . although doing so often brings on surprise and delight (or disgust) or the thought of "why in the heck did I ever spend my good money on this thing?

Well this morning I'm playing something that I have absolutely no idea why or when I bought it, don't remember ever having played it . . . and I am PLEASANTLY surprised that I actually like it.

The title and album cover sounds and looks like Superman - whom the symphony does pay homage, and is dedicated to. . or something comical . . . but comical the music is not. It is mature and delightful to hear.

Listening to . . . . Michael Daugherty - Metropolis Symphony

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - David Zinman, Conductor

Michael Daugherty was born in 1954 and Wikipedia says:

Michael Kevin Daugherty is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. He is influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, and is one of the most widely performed American concert music composers of his generation

And the Times of London said about his Metropolis Symphony - which did win a grammy award:

"Metropolis Symphony is aSymphonie Fantastique for our times"

----The Times (London)

.



From the Superman Homepage:

Review of Michael Daugherty's “Metropolis Symphony”

By John Davoll.

Metropolis Symphony Michael Daugherty (b. 1954)

METROPOLIS SYMPHONY

Lex - 9.56
Krypton - 6.54
Mxyzptlk - 6.59
Oh, Lois! - 5.09
Red Cape Tango - 13.01
Bizarro for symphonic winds & percussion - 9.26

From the liner notes, written by Daugherty:

"I began composing my Metropolis Symphony in 1988, inspired by the celebration, in Cleveland, of the fiftieth anniversary of Superman's first appearance in comics...

"The Metropolis Symphony evokes an American mythology that I discovered as an avid reader of comic books in the fifties and sixties. Each movement of the symphony - which may be performed separately - is a musical response to the myth of Superman. I have used Superman as a compositional metaphor in order to create an independent musical world that appeals to the imagination. The symphony is a rigorously structured, non-programmatic work, expressing the energies, ambiguities, paradoxes, and wit of American popular culture."

Lex (marked Diabolical in the score) features a solo violin playing incredibly fast triplets, pursued by the orchestra, which includes four referee whistles placed quadraphonically on the performance stage.
Krypton is, simply, a seven-minute musical build toward apocalyptic chaos. Throughout the piece are glissandi (sliding notes) from the trombones, strings, and a siren.

Mxyzptlk evokes the Mercury section of Holst's The Planets, featuring the upper register of the orchestra. It features two dueling flute soloists who are positioned in performance on either side of the conductor.

Oh, Lois! (marked Faster than a speeding bullet in the score) uses speed and multiple rhythms to suggest "a cartoon history of mishaps, screams, dialogues, crashes, and disasters, all in rapid motion."

Red Cape Tango is a musical painting of Superman's battle with Doomsday. The main melody is a version of the Medieval Latin chant Dies irae, associated with death. This melody is than layered with a tango, creating a dance of death.

Bizarro for symphonic winds & percussion "inhabits a musical world without strings, and revels in the brash energies of rock and big band jazz, propelled on his zany course by a fast tempo and rhythmic excitement" spurred on, in part, by a large percussion section that includes three rock drummers.

For people whose exposure to orchestral music is limited to movie soundtracks, this music will be challenging. The music is not telling a story, but rather painting a picture. The movements for Lex, Mxyzptlk, and Lois (as well as the Bizarro piece) are extremely effective in bringing forward the personalities of those characters (at least how they were portrayed at one time or another in their publishing history). Krypton and Red Cape Tango could be seen as bookends for a mythology that, being neverending, doesn't need them.

The only recording (that I know of) features the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, led by David Zinman, and distributed by Argo. It's available on CD from Amazon.com.

John Davoll

[bart]

Mahler - Kindertotenlieder - 5 Rückertlieder - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Janet Baker
Sir John Barbirolli



Although the sound of the orchestra doesn't come through very clearly, these are really delicious recordings.
Dame Janet Baker is perfect, I cannot imagine how anybody could get more out of these delightful Lieder.

[eljr]

Another stellar recording released last week in SACD. Soprano Lisa Larsson is charming.

For the true audiophile aficionado no doubt.

[cma29]

I've posted this before, but it's good enough for seconds (and thirds)...

Mozart:
Symphony No. 35 in D major, K385 'Haffner'
Symphony No. 36 in C major, K425 'Linz'
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras



I love this interpretation and recording of these two late Mozart symphonies. They are light on their feet with plenty of vivacity, clear phrasing and articulation. There is a joie de vivre that is so infectious in so much of the playing. To top it off, the SACD Linn recording is outstanding.

[ame]http://youtu.be/jkn9dASarrA[/ame]

[bart]

Originally Posted by eljr

Another stellar recording released last week in SACD. Soprano Lisa Larsson is charming.

For the true audiophile aficionado no doubt.

Thank you for posting!
On my wish list.

[AudioNut]

Listening to . . . Georg Frederic Handel - Organ Concertos
Volume 2 - Concerti Nos. 5, 6, 8, 11 & 13

Daniel Chorzempa - Organ

Concerto Amsterdam - Jaap Schroder, Director

Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous - I love this music and these performances. The complete 4 disc set on SACD by Pentatone, remastered from 1970's Philips Quadro recordings is sheer perfection and is my very favorite of all the many recordings of this music. The performances are perfection and the sound quality is excellent.

Bart and I have spoken of this series many times here on AA and I, personally, can't get enough of them. Play 'em over and over!

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by AudioNut

Tony . . . Thank you for the thoughtful comparison of two world-class presentations of a great symphony. And, thanks too for spending your evening with Mahler. You stayed up late doing so!

thanks Julian, not so late on the west coast.