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[guest822]

No words of mine can do justice ...

[guest822]

Brilliant! Are we possibly the best nation for producing so much quality "light music"? Vide Hyperion's marvelous series of discs...

 ???

Now having managed to listen to all four CDs in this collection, I have to thank Albion again for his nudge in that direction. It concludes with the complete Petite Suite de Concert of the beloved Coleridge-Taylor, and I have to say it's quite the most sensitive performance of it I have encountered. I have recordings conducted by Adrian Leaper, Paul Freeman, Sir Dan Godfrey, Sir Malcolm Sargent and George Weldon, and none of them pays as much attention to the detail of SC-T's exquisite scoring as Ronald Corp does here. He also gets the tempi spot on - the fast movements very spirited and the slower ones appropriately reflective. While I'd happily have shelled out for this compilation for the Petite Suite de Concert alone, there are dozens of other delights here too!

[Albion]

Brilliant! Are we possibly the best nation for producing so much quality "light music"? Vide Hyperion's marvelous series of discs...

 ???

Now having managed to listen to all four CDs in this collection, I have to thank Albion again for his nudge in that direction. It concludes with the complete Petite Suite de Concert of the beloved Coleridge-Taylor, and I have to say it's quite the most sensitive performance of it I have encountered. I have recordings conducted by Adrian Leaper, Paul Freeman, Sir Dan Godfrey, Sir Malcolm Sargent and George Weldon, and none of them pays as much attention to the detail of SC-T's exquisite scoring as Ronald Corp does here. He also gets the tempi spot on - the fast movements very spirited and the slower ones appropriately reflective. While I'd happily have shelled out for this compilation for the Petite Suite de Concert alone, there are dozens of other delights here too!

A great investment indeed - some very familiar pieces and some long-forgotten gems, all performed with real care and attention to detail.

 :)

[guest822]

A great investment indeed - some very familiar pieces and some long-forgotten gems, all performed with real care and attention to detail.
 :)

Quite so. And after SC-T, his favourite composer, Dvořák's Symphonies 6, 7, 8 and 9, in this new recording:



Not so polished and shiny as, say, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Jirí Belohlávek or the London Symphony Orchestra under István Kertész, fine as those recordings are, but this rather rustic, or even agricultural, approach seems to me refreshing and very much what the composer intended. They sound so 'right' played like this. For example, sample the horns whooping away in the coda of the 7th!

[guest822]

Ippolitov-Ivanov: Songs from Ossian (Three musical tableaux from Ossian) Slovak Radio SO/ Donald Johanos

This is very nice. Atmospheric tone painting. A bit like a cross between Balakirev and Lyadov,perhaps? I'm enjoying this. The sound quality is good,with a nice rich bass.

Turkish Fragments,now,op 62,now! A jaunty march,colourfully scored,as an opener. Then some colourfully scored music,with an exotic,eastern flavour. I'm really enjoying this.

The Slovak Orchestra sound like they're doing a decent job! Again,I find myself wondering why such colourful,tuneful music has been ignored for so long? I didn't expect to like the music,this much! (This is only my,second listen,to these pieces). My right foot is tapping to the rhythm here! Always,a good sign! :)

It looks like I might have been wrong (again!) in that, on the basis of your observations, I really ought to get to know more Ippolitov-Ivanov. From what you say, cilgwyn, these pieces sound as if they are in a similar style to the Caucasian Sketches and if that's so, I don't doubt that I should enjoy them as well. My right foot may start tapping! And, who knows, maybe my left foot too!   ;D

Well, following on from cilgwyn's observations, I did get this as a download



and I found it every bit as enjoyable as he did. and my feet are, indeed, tapping!

[guest377]

Its been a Saint Saens weekend !!  The series on Naxos are wonderful... with the Malmo SO

[guest822]

Its been a Saint Saens weekend !!  The series on Naxos are wonderful... with the Malmo SO

What a splendid way to spend a weekend! I think that, even now, the genius of Saint-Saëns is underrated. He wrote a great deal of very beautiful music, some of which I just can't hear without the tears flowing. Is not Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix from Samson et Dalila quite the loveliest aria written by a French composer in the nineteenth century?

[cilgwyn]

Ippolitov-Ivanov: Songs from Ossian (Three musical tableaux from Ossian) Slovak Radio SO/ Donald Johanos

This is very nice. Atmospheric tone painting. A bit like a cross between Balakirev and Lyadov,perhaps? I'm enjoying this. The sound quality is good,with a nice rich bass.

Turkish Fragments,now,op 62,now! A jaunty march,colourfully scored,as an opener. Then some colourfully scored music,with an exotic,eastern flavour. I'm really enjoying this.

The Slovak Orchestra sound like they're doing a decent job! Again,I find myself wondering why such colourful,tuneful music has been ignored for so long? I didn't expect to like the music,this much! (This is only my,second listen,to these pieces). My right foot is tapping to the rhythm here! Always,a good sign! :)

It looks like I might have been wrong (again!) in that, on the basis of your observations, I really ought to get to know more Ippolitov-Ivanov. From what you say, cilgwyn, these pieces sound as if they are in a similar style to the Caucasian Sketches and if that's so, I don't doubt that I should enjoy them as well. My right foot may start tapping! And, who knows, maybe my left foot too!   ;D

Well, following on from cilgwyn's observations, I did get this as a download



and I found it every bit as enjoyable as he did. and my feet are, indeed, tapping!

Good! I'm glad you enjoyed that! :) I was really surprised at how good his 'other' music was!

[guest822]

Holst: The Planets      Boston Symphony Orchestra /William Steinberg           Deutsche Grammophon Galleria

Steinberg & his orchestra take Mars at quite a lick! :o ;D This has got to be one of the most thrilling recordings of The Planets,imo! It's certainly a favourite of mine! Others I like include Sargent's (BBCSO) Boult's various recordings (Particularly 1945 & 1966) Holst's own (both!) and Bernard Herrmann's,eat your heart out Klemperer,slow (but all the more brooding & menacing,for it,imo!)! I'm not into Ligeti. And I don't think I ever will be :o ;D;although he sounded a nice man in interviews. But his Lux aeterna makes a strangely,enjoyable & appropriately cosmic sounding fill-up;and only,7 mins 57 secs long!(And not just because of a certain movie;which incidentally always has me jabbing the channel button! Which just shows my level of intellect! ::) ;D)

I have that Steinberg The Planets in a box devoted to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and I agree that it's a spectacular performance. I don't know that it would ever replace in my affection the versions you mention by Boult, Sargent and, of course, Holst himself. I think Steinberg is somewhat 'forgotten' these days but he was quite rightly highly regarded in his time. I have excellent performances of all the Beethoven Symphonies with the Pittsburgh Orchestra, a great Brahms 4th Symphony (same orchestra) and various other stuff by Dvořák, Hindemith Glazunov, et al, and a very fine Enigma Variations, again from Pittsburgh.

You might not expect me to like Ligeti but actually, I do. Like many folks, I guess, I first encountereed his music in 1968 through that 'certain movie' you refer to . ;D I actually have quite a lot of his stuff on disc and I'm partial to the choral, orchestral and concertante music, although not the Études for piano, which I don't fnd attractive. I even have a recording of Le Grand Macabre! :o

[guest822]

Good! I'm glad you enjoyed that! :) I was really surprised at how good his 'other' music was!

You and me both! Thank you again for the pointer. :)

[cilgwyn]

Holst: The Planets      Boston Symphony Orchestra /William Steinberg           Deutsche Grammophon Galleria

Steinberg & his orchestra take Mars at quite a lick! :o ;D This has got to be one of the most thrilling recordings of The Planets,imo! It's certainly a favourite of mine! Others I like include Sargent's (BBCSO) Boult's various recordings (Particularly 1945 & 1966) Holst's own (both!) and Bernard Herrmann's,eat your heart out Klemperer,slow (but all the more brooding & menacing,for it,imo!)! I'm not into Ligeti. And I don't think I ever will be :o ;D;although he sounded a nice man in interviews. But his Lux aeterna makes a strangely,enjoyable & appropriately cosmic sounding fill-up;and only,7 mins 57 secs long!(And not just because of a certain movie;which incidentally always has me jabbing the channel button! Which just shows my level of intellect! ::) ;D)

I have that Steinberg The Planets in a box devoted to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and I agree that it's a spectacular performance. I don't know that it would ever replace in my affection the versions you mention by Boult, Sargent and, of course, Holst himself. I think Steinberg is somewhat 'forgotten' these days but he was quite rightly highly regarded in his time. I have excellent performances of all the Beethoven Symphonies with the Pittsburgh Orchestra, a great Brahms 4th Symphony (same orchestra) and various other stuff by Dvořák, Hindemith Glazunov, et al, and a very fine Enigma Variations, again from Pittsburgh.

You might not expect me to like Ligeti but actually, I do. Like many folks, I guess, I first encountereed his music in 1968 through that 'certain movie' you refer to . ;D I actually have quite a lot of his stuff on disc and I'm partial to the choral, orchestral and concertante music, although not the Études for piano, which I don't fnd attractive. I even have a recording of Le Grand Macabre! :o

After I posted that I was listening to Lux aeterna and I liked it so much I was thinking I wouldn't mind hearing the Requiem. As you probably know,and as the booklet informed me (more expense! ::) ;D) it was written,in 1966,as an offshoot! And Lux aterna seems to follow on,perfectly,from the wordless chorus at the end of Neptune! An inspired coupling,if ever there was!
And now you mention it,I remember enjoying a Radio 3 broadcast of Le Grande Macabre! Back in the 1980's,I think? I actually taped it,or some of it! Most contemporary operas had me running to switch off!! I have even thought of acquiring a recording,on occasion! From various interviews Ligeti seemed a nice,modest man with a sense of humour which marked him out from some of his contemporaries! And,if you like his choral,orchestral and concertante works,the chances are,so will I!

Thanks for the observations about Steinberg! Those recordings sound interesting! I'm resisting any more Beethoven though,for financial reasons! Or should I say,lack of finances?!! :( ;D A Steinberg Enigma would be nice to have,though!

[cilgwyn]

George Lloyd: Symphony No 2          BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / George Lloyd        Conifer

[guest822]

A Steinberg Enigma would be nice to have,though!

It's available as a download for £8 here:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8059994--edward-elgar-variations-on-an-original-theme-op-36-enigma-ralph-vaughan-williams-fantasia-on-a-theme

coupled with VW's Tallis Fantasia and Five Tudor Portraits. Surprising repertoire for Steinberg, you might think, but very well done, to my ears.

[Chriskh]

Steinberg was passionately devoted to Elgar 2 (but never conducted Elgar 1, I believe), he even conducted a performance of it with the RAI Turin orchestra in 1953. I've no idea if it has been preserved (I'm not optimistic), but a 1969 Boston performance circulates.

[guest822]

Steinberg was passionately devoted to Elgar 2 (but never conducted Elgar 1, I believe), he even conducted a performance of it with the RAI Turin orchestra in 1953. I've no idea if it has been preserved (I'm not optimistic), but a 1969 Boston performance circulates.

Chris, when you say 'circulates' I take it you mean that it's an illicit bootleg, yes? It's something I'd dearly love to hear (even if it was recorded on a cassette player in a woman's handbag in the fifth row).