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What are you currently listening to?

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Author Topic: What are you currently listening to?  (Read 97295 times)
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cilgwyn
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« Reply #3255 on: November 30, 2021, 11:22:29 pm »



Still listening to Benedict's The Lily of Killarney!

I've had this recording on a cd-r for a while now. Only now,I'm,really,listening. This studio recording might be,'mildly' abridged,but it's very well sung. The narration is a little quaint by today's standards;but rather adds to the charm & nostalgia quality of this old,late 60's,recording. I wonder if the Lp set included the narration? Or did it leave it out,to fit on the Lp's?! RRE were a rather intriguing label. Does anyone here know anything more about this label? I've got to admit,I do like this! And,I'd rather listen to this than Puccini or Verdi (individual arias,aside!) any day! That shows my level of intellect,I suppose?! ::) ;D (NB I quite like Puccini's shot at the operetta genre,La Rondine!)

Various soloists

BBC NORTHERN SINGERS
Chorus-Master, Stephen Wilkinson
BBC NORTHERN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Leader, Reginald Stead
Conducted By: Stanford Robinson

Produced By: Ernest Warburton
Broadcast on July 18. 1968
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cilgwyn
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« Reply #3256 on: December 02, 2021, 05:22:06 pm »



Wow! The Cpo neglected treasure chest of unrecorded music that just keeps on giving! Other less imaginative recording label's,take note! (Yeah,Warner are going to record Holbrooke's The Bells! ::)) Taking a break from German opera,singspiel,operetta,light opera! Whatever you want to call it,with this! I'm afraid I wasn't as blown away by Wetz' symphonies,as some have been (apparently);but this is an impressive sounding piece. And timely,too,after The Christmas Elf!! ;D (see earlier post!) Not the Cpo set,with the nice painting (see above) and booklet,unfortunately,but a download burned onto two,plain old,cd'r's! If you're looking for an off the beaten track,choral blockbuster by a neglected composer,you may enjoy this? The soloist's are good;but imagine this with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (not Disco! ;D) Fritz Wunderlich,Helen Donath or Lucia Popp? (Select your own particular favourites!). Nit-picking (and wishful thinking!) aside,there's some,seriously,lovely and impressive sounding music here (replete with stirring and majestic climaxes) and well performed. Great sound as usual with Cpo! :)
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« Reply #3257 on: December 02, 2021, 07:59:06 pm »



Great Mass in F-sharp minor, Op. 60

Well,there's allot of noise going on here and I've heard worse. I'm just not sure there's anything I haven't heard before?! Who the heck's singing,I don't know?! I'm not even sure I,really,care? I downloaded it from somewhere! As the old saying goes. Win some,lose some! I quite like some of Draeseke's music,for some reason (I like the sound of his orchestration!). If only he'd had Brahm's sense of structure and some half decent tunes! This get's 10/10 for decibel level's,though! On to the next cd! ;D
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« Reply #3258 on: December 02, 2021, 08:41:57 pm »

Daniel Jones: St Peter Oratorio (1962)

Miriam Bowen, sop/ Kenneth Bowen, ten/ Stephen Roberts, bass/ BBC Welsh Choral Society/ BBC Welsh SO/ Bryden Thomson (br. 3/5/1979)

Now,this is much more interesting! Thanks to members here & Albion,I get to hear this! This is well sung. A fine piece! (Come on,Lyrita! ;D) And a nice,clear sounding recording. Someone,obviously,had a very good tape recorder. Not like the cheap cr*p I owned! ::) I can hear people clearing the old air passages in between movements.Their cough recorded for posterity! If they got a tape copy through the post,would they recognise their cough? Would they feel guilty about it? Or,would they run the tape back and listen again? Maybe,even play it to their friends?! But,the important point is they waited until the interval! Which is the least you can do,in the circumstances! Even if that tickle in the back of the throat must have been hell at the time! Showing,a bit of the old Dunkirk spirit,which is what makes us what we are! The Bulldog breed! After all,we didn't win the war,by worrying about a silly old tickle at the back of the throat,did we?!!


Update! I'm enjoying this now. I said,a fine piece;but a part of me was thinking? How often will I listen to it,though? Daniel Jones' idiom is a little gnarly on first hearing,but approachable. There's more colour to his orchestration than composer's like Cooke,Fricker or Rubbra,for instance. This seems a little austere at first (although,not overly) but after a while the ear adjusts and I find it a rewarding and absobing listen. There's a lyrical vein here,to be sure and some lighter moments for the chorus. Some of the portions for the choir,alone,are,particularly,affecting.
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« Reply #3259 on: December 02, 2021, 10:42:07 pm »

Grace Williams: Missa Cambrensis (1971)

Fflur Wyn (soprano)
Catherine Wyn Rogers (alto)
Andrew Rees (tenor)
Jason Howard (bass)

Dr Rowan Williams (Narrator)
Ysgol Gerdd Credeigion
BBC National Chorus of Wales,BBCNOW/ Tecwyn Evans

Censored! But not for members,here! And it's on Youtube! This is the one a certain soloist didn't want us to hear! But I'm hearing it loud and clear,thanks to the recording uploaded here. It's in a more austere idiom than Daniel Jones' St Peter,which seemed to get more & more lyrical as it proceeded. His voice does crack,spectacularly,at one point. He'd hate to think I was listening to it!! (Yuk!Yuk!) ;D There was quite a minor flurry of interest in the piece at the time of this performance and memories of the disastrous premiere of the work were evoked. And of course it helped that an Archbishop was involved! There's some lovely singing from the children's choir and the sonorous narration from Rowan Williams,works allot better than it does in some other choral works,I've heard. A shatteringly,powerful work. I'm very impressed! Come on Chandos! Ay-up!  ;D

     
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« Reply #3260 on: December 03, 2021, 01:14:53 am »

Arthur Sullivan: The Golden Legend
 
Imagine Hyperion cd set with lovely painting on front here! ;D

Janice Watson,Jean Rigby,Mark Wilde,Jeffrey Black
New London Chorus
New London Orchestra / Ronald Corp
Hyperion 2 cd's


Magnificent! :) :) :) :) :)




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« Reply #3261 on: December 03, 2021, 10:39:29 am »

Grace Williams: Missa Cambrensis (1971)

Yes, I have no problems with this broadcast recording - the choral and orchestral contributions are magnificent, the vast bulk of the solo work is much more than competent and the whole work is enormously impressive.

Arthur Sullivan: The Golden Legend

Magnificent! :) :) :) :) :)

It's a magnificent work, certainly, but I have doubts about Ronald Corp's conducting on this Hyperion recording (which occasionally verges on the somnolent) and the engineering balance: the bells in the Prologue are barely audible and there's a startling leap in volume when the organ enters at Nocte surgentes. It's really an opera for the concert-hall and Charles Mackerras in 1986 (BIMA) gave it much more heft and vigour. 
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"A piece is worth your attention, and is itself for you praiseworthy, if it makes you feel you have not wasted your time over it." (Sydney Grew, 1922)
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« Reply #3262 on: December 04, 2021, 12:18:18 pm »

Granville Bantock's lovely Pagan Symphony (1928), largely culled from his uncompleted Part II of The Great God Pan. Some wonderful Straussian touches in this. My go-to recording is the one in the archive conducted by Douglas Bostock. We sorely need a recording of Part I (1915) of this choral-ballet, published by Novello and performed at Sheffield in 1919. Whilst we're at it, could we please have The Pilgrim's Progress (1928)?

 :)
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"A piece is worth your attention, and is itself for you praiseworthy, if it makes you feel you have not wasted your time over it." (Sydney Grew, 1922)
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« Reply #3263 on: December 04, 2021, 11:52:49 pm »

Aaron Copland collected works on Sony.


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cilgwyn
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« Reply #3264 on: December 05, 2021, 11:33:02 pm »

Grace Williams: Missa Cambrensis (1971)

 Yes, I have no problems with this broadcast recording - the choral and orchestral contributions are magnificent, the vast bulk of the solo work is much more than competent and the whole work is enormously impressive.

Arthur Sullivan: The Golden Legend

Magnificent! :) :) :) :) :)

It's a magnificent work, certainly, but I have doubts about Ronald Corp's conducting on this Hyperion recording (which occasionally verges on the somnolent) and the engineering balance: the bells in the Prologue are barely audible and there's a startling leap in volume when the organ enters at Nocte surgentes. It's really an opera for the concert-hall and Charles Mackerras in 1986 (BIMA) gave it much more heft and vigour. 
Re: The Golden Legend! Yes,I was thinking that the conducting was competent,but a tad pedestrian. I also imagined what it would sound like with a really top-notch orchestra and someone like Boult,Sargent,Groves! Pointless,I know! (Well,they're all dead!) There's allot of wonderful music there;but the performance doesn't seem to catch fire,in the way it should.There's a lack of passion! It just seems to plod along!
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« Reply #3265 on: December 06, 2021, 12:11:09 am »



One of Emmerich Kálmán's less well known operettas. Although,it enjoyed allot of performances in it's day. Not a complete performance,unfortunately. This cd reissue of the1960's Lp recording of highlights is very well sung and performed. A lovely,tuneful score,fuilled with catchy tunes. Kálmán was one of Lehár's main rivals and his music is less sentimental. Although what it lacks in sentimentality it makes up for in passion,fire,humour and first rate tunes. For some reason Kálmán doesn't seem to be as well known over here as Lehár;but his best scores Die Csárdásfürstin (The Gipsy Princess) Gräfin Mariza and Die Bajadere (probably my favourite) are,imho,every bit as good. Particularly,The Gipsy Princess (his masterpiece).
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« Reply #3266 on: December 06, 2021, 01:08:07 am »




Today....







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« Reply #3267 on: December 06, 2021, 03:29:38 pm »

Frank Martin: Golgotha



After listening to Wetz' Christmas Oratorio,I suddenly got an urge to listen to some big,and where possible,austere sounding 20th century choral works.
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« Reply #3268 on: December 07, 2021, 09:08:06 am »

Re: The Golden Legend! Yes,I was thinking that the conducting was competent,but a tad pedestrian. I also imagined what it would sound like with a really top-notch orchestra and someone like Boult,Sargent,Groves! Pointless,I know! (Well,they're all dead!) There's allot of wonderful music there;but the performance doesn't seem to catch fire,in the way it should.There's a lack of passion! It just seems to plod along!

"Plod" is a fair summary of Corp's rendition, there are some lovely moments but as a whole it seems uninvolved (the close of Scene I is a case in point): "the fever of youth"?, more like the rigor mortis of the coffin. Hopefully, John Andrews may get round to it at some point. It definitely is a choral work that needs an operatic approach (along the lines of Elgar's Caractacus and The Dream of Gerontius) which I hope he will also bring to The Martyr of Antioch due to be recorded shortly by Dutton.

 :)
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"A piece is worth your attention, and is itself for you praiseworthy, if it makes you feel you have not wasted your time over it." (Sydney Grew, 1922)
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« Reply #3269 on: December 07, 2021, 11:12:13 pm »



Lucia Popp as Gretel and Brigitte Fassbaender as Hansel! This has got to be my favourite recording of this beautiful,tuneful opera next to Eichorn (on RCA) with Anna Moffo & Helen Donath . Sumptuous Decca sound at it's best! Just what you need for this opera! I recently had a listen to the Karajan recording with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf,which is highly rated by some. I like Schwarzkopf's singing;but I'm afraid she doesn't sound right for the role of Gretel,to my ears and it got turned off! :o
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