Hvad hører du nu ?

[SES.]

Jeg forsøger mig udi Bruckner's 2. symfoni med Günther Wand i spidsen for Kölner Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester.

I øvrigt et flot cover efter min mening.

Indholdet matcher

[macwerk]

Bela Bartok Dance Suite & Divertimento for String Orchestra, Fricsay/RIAS SO. på tulipan.

[zaka]

...billede pist borte...

Jeg forsøger mig udi Bruckner's 2. symfoni med Günther Wand i spidsen for Kölner Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester.

I øvrigt et flot cover efter min mening.

Indholdet matcher

Er netop blevet færdig med den flotte 2. sats og ja jeg er meget fornøjet - jeg er ikke så fortabt endnu, som i Shostkovich, men jeg har på fornemmelsen at der gemmer sig mere end jeg umiddelbart kan kapere nu.

Han (Bruckner - eller Wand?) er god til at håndtere de kraftige passager. De helt kraftige passager med fuld skrue, kommer på de helt rigtige tidspunkter så musikken ikke virker anmasende/anstrengende.

Lidt ligesom en god sanger/sangerinde der forstår at udnytte sin stemme uden nødvendigvis at skulle give den hele armen hele tiden (dvs. _ikke_ Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celline Dion,...).

Jeg kan godt lide at musikken er tilbageholdt på en måde så man hele tiden kan fornemme at der er et uforløst potentiale (det sætter fantasien igang).

Puhh! det er svært at sætte ord på sådan noget - håber det er forståeligt

[vilmann]

Hmm...  alt den dejlige klassiske musik..  ikke med min slags unger i huset  
Jeg må se at få lavet musikmaskinen i arbejdsværelset færdigt.

SES. : din avatar?


Hvad er det?

/vilmann

[zaka]

Hmm...  alt den dejlige klassiske musik..  ikke med min slags unger i huset  
Jeg må se at få lavet musikmaskinen i arbejdsværelset færdigt.

SES. : din avatar?


Hvad er det?

/vilmann

Hvad er der med dine børn vilmann - for meget Black Sabbath

Kender heller ikke SES' avatar, men det er et kanon cover:

[zaka]

Hehh  

[micjac]

Jeg lytter til Schumanns klaverkoncert.

Under arbejdet i 1841 med "Forår" (sin første symfoni), skrev Schumann, "Jeg fristes til at smadre mit klaver; det er blevet alt for begrænsende for mine ideer". "Jeg bliver nødt til at komme op med noget andet". Et par uger senere var han i gang med en klaver-fantasi, der senere skulle blive til dette mesterværk. Godt klaveret holdt.

Honning for ørene.


Ps. Ja, hvad er det for en skive SES.

mvh

[vilmann]

Hvad er der med dine børn vilmann - for meget Black Sabbath

De er vist bare børn. Når man er fem år foregår al gang i spring og løb
Ikke vanvittig kompatibelt med ønsket om seriøs lytning til ukendte værker

Det gÃ¥r nok over. Om et øjebllik kommer han vel kørende pÃ¥ sin nye Harley og meddeler at han skal jorden rundt....  
Jeg lever fint i den lettere afdeling indtil da.

Kender heller ikke SES' avatar, men det er et kanon cover:

  

Det skal jeg love for.

/vilmann

[zaka]

Hvad er der med dine børn vilmann - for meget Black Sabbath

De er vist bare børn. Når man er fem år foregår al gang i spring og løb
Ikke vanvittig kompatibelt med ønsket om seriøs lytning til ukendte værker

...

SÃ¥dan en har jeg ogsÃ¥, sÃ¥ jeg kan godt genkende det - og mine underboer kan desværre ogsÃ¥ Der er dog knap sÃ¥ megen forstÃ¥else for den alders energi-udladninger  

Min kommer i seng kl. 20-nul-dut - sÃ¥ er der dømt voksentid   Af samme grund foregÃ¥r lytning hos mig altid ved begrænset volumen, men det kan man vende sig til.

[micjac]

A Tuneful Miniaturist With a Ton of Soul

Mere Schumann.

Her er lidt tips fra NY Times' klassiske afdeling citeret fra Usenet.


"January 16, 2004

A Tuneful Miniaturist With a Ton of Soul

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

THE music of Robert Schumann (1810-56) is something of a litmus test for
performers. Quite simply, it tends to attract the finest, the most musical.

There are no easy effects in his music. Although many of his works offer
technical challenges, they are not of the sort likely to wow audiences in
and of themselves. Even in his concertos, there is little room for empty
virtuosity. But lyricism is everywhere, and it works like catnip on
musicians with real soul.

Still, the deep-seated affection of some is not always matched by a profound
respect from all. It is easy to condescend to Schumann, to discount his
stunning originality by attributing it in part to the meanderings of a mind
addled by syphilis. A master of the miniature, he had relatively little
success in large-scale ventures. His theatrical works and big choral pieces
are little known. Even his symphonies have long been faulted for a perceived
murkiness in orchestration and texture.

Yet those symphonies seem to be everywhere at the moment. Kurt Masur leads
the New York Philharmonic in the Third this weekend in Purchase, N.Y., and
at Avery Fisher Hall. Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin perform
all four at Carnegie Hall next week in concerts that also include the
concertos and other works. Teldec, meanwhile, has released recordings of the
symphonies by Mr. Barenboim and the Staatskapelle.

All this comes just a season after Wolfgang Sawallisch presented the four
symphonies with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie. And that orchestra
has since released its own recordings of the symphonies.

With this impetus, the classical music critics of The New York Times are
encouraging a closer listen to Schumann generally, with recommendations of
favorite CD's.

-- James R. Oestreich

Here are some favorite Schumann recordings of the classical-music critics of
The New York Times . Availability is hard to determine in the current state
of the market. Most of the recordings here can be found on Amazon.com or in
major record stores. CD's range in price from $12.99 for one CD to $21.99
for a two-CD set and $40.99 for four CD's.

Anthony Tommasini

"HUMORESKE," "FANTASIESTÃœCKE," "NOVELLETTEN." Sviatoslav Richter, pianist
(Melodiya 74321 29464 2).

FANTASY IN C, "FASCHINGS-SCHWANK AUS WIEN," "PAPILLONS." Sviatoslav Richter,
pianist (EMI Classics 5 75233 2).

PIANO SONATA NO. 1, "KREISLERIANA." Murray Perahia, pianist ( Sony Classical
SK 62786).

PIANO CONCERTO. Leif Ove Andsnes, pianist; Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by
Mariss Jansons (with Grieg's Piano Concerto; EMI Classics 5 57562 2).

ROBERT SCHUMANN never quite had a grip on reality. In his later life, his
condition turned tragic. But even as a moody youth, he apparently spent
whole days in some fantastical realm of his own invention.

Though it's dangerous to romanticize mental illness, one can't help thinking
that Schumann's unhinged imagination, counterbalanced by a probing musical
intellect, led to some of the Romantic era's most original music. The
instrument that best served his needs in that exploratory early period was
the piano. So though I adore Schumann's lieder and chamber works, I'll leave
those genres to others and stick to the piano for some recommendations.

To experience how wonderfully strange Schumann's imagination could be,
listen to the "Humoreske." Some find it a rambling collection of
indistinctly defined sections. I find it audaciously inventive, full of
startling fits and turns. The opening section, a wistful tune with a softly
rippling accompaniment, jumps right into a hypercharged dance that seems at
once bumptious and terrifying.

Sviatoslav Richter's colossal performance, recorded in Moscow in 1956, is a
landmark in the Schumann discography. Richter produces piano effects that
might seem impossible. In a section marked "Hastig" ("Hurried"), for
example, a restless right-hand pattern that faintly outlines a melody is
supported by a chordal left-hand accompaniment. Schumann also adds a middle
staff to the score for an "Innere Stimme" ( "Inner Voice"), though in a
footnote he explains that this voice is not to be played but simply "read
between the lines, as it were." Well, somehow, Richter plays it. By
highlighting notes that are merely grazed by the right- and left-hand parts,
he makes a hazy and unperturbed inner melody magically emerge from the
texture.

If you have trouble finding this disc (it has also been released by BMG as
part of a 10-CD set of Richter performances), you can certainly find
Richter's enthralling 1962 recording of three other Schumann works, drawn
from concert performances in Italy and reissued in 2002. The album begins
with a sweepingly grand account of the Fantasy in C; despite its title, this
is Schumann's most ingeniously structured score. There is also an ebullient
version of "Faschingsschwank aus Wien" and, best of all, a mercurial
"Papillons," played with infectious innocence and sudden bursts of power in
the stern march sections but not a trace of sentimentality.

Murray Perahia's 1997 recording of "Kreisleriana," a sprawling suite of
eight movements aptly subtitled "Fantasies for Piano," beautifully balances
the music's impetuosity and its refinement. But the marvel of this disc is
Mr. Perahia's bracing account of the formidable First Sonata; his playing
untangles the webs of counterpoint in a sprawling work that can easily sound
dense and convoluted.

Finally, Leif Ove Andsnes's scintillating, lucid and lyrical recording of
the Piano Concerto, with Mariss Jansons and the Berlin Philharmonic,
released last year, makes this repertory staple sound newly vibrant and
important. It proves that Schumann could compose deftly structured
compositions when he put his mind to it. Of course, his mind eventually had
an agenda of its own.

Allan Kozinn

"CARNAVAL," "FANTASIESTÃœCKE" (OP. 12), PIANO WORKS. Arthur Rubinstein,
pianist (RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-63020-2).

"DICHTERLIEBE," "LIEDERKREIS" (OP. 24), SONGS. Ian Bostridge, tenor; Julius
Drake, pianist (EMI Classics 5 56575 2).

PIANO CONCERTO, PIANO QUINTET. Rudolf Serkin, pianist; Philadelphia
Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy; Budapest String Quartet (Sony
Classical MYK 37256).

STRING QUARTETS NOS. 1 AND 3. St. Lawrence String Quartet (EMI Classics 5
56797 2).

SYMPHONIES (4); "MANFRED" OVERTURE. Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by George
Szell (Sony Classical MH2K 62349; two CD's).

WHETHER or not it was syphilis that drove Schumann mad, as musicologists
have long argued, he was always a bit odd. He destroyed his career as a
pianist by affixing weights to his fingers in hopes of strengthening them.
He created fictional antagonists (Florestan and Eusebius) who carry on
arguments in both his music and his essays. And his love life was a matter
of intense fixations that led more than one father to put his daughter out
of Schumann's way.

It is in his piano music that Schumann's peculiarities show up most vividly,
and the work that offers the best view of his overheated imagination is
"Carnaval." Schumann was 24 when he began the work, and his infatuation with
both Clara Wieck, his teacher's 13-year-old daughter (and eventually his
wife), and Ernestine von Fricken, a 17-year-old fellow student, are
documented in two of the work's movements. So are the poetic Eusebius and
the fiery Florestan (who are fleshed out further in the "Fantasiestücke").
Well-drawn tributes to Chopin and Paganini are included among the 21
vignettes, and the closing "March of the Davidsbündler Against the
Philistines" is Schumann's argument for free-spirited originality in new
music.

Rubinstein's monaural recordings from the late 1940's and early 50's have
greater drive and directness than the stereo versions of the same works
recorded in the 60's (available in Volume 51 of RCA's Rubinstein Edition),
but you can't go far wrong with either. Rubinstein caught the almost
cinematic drama of these pieces as well as the sheer beauty of their
surfaces.

After the solo piano works, Schumann's songs offer the most direct window
into his psyche, and the best are the "Liederkreis" and "Dichterliebe"
cycles, settings of Heine poetry steeped in romantic yearning, outright
rejection and other evocations of unrequited love. Sumptuous readings are
plentiful, but Ian Bostridge's supple phrasing and careful coloration give
the bitterness in these songs an almost visceral quality. Between the
cycles, Mr. Bostridge offers seven more Heine songs as an attractive bonus.

Because the Piano Concerto is one of the great war horses, it can be
difficult to hear fresh. But among the charms of Rudolf Serkin's account is
the deftness with which he captures the music's grandeur and prevents it
from sounding bombastic. Better still is the charged reading of the Piano
Quintet, a collaboration with the Budapest String Quartet, recorded at the
Marlboro Festival in Vermont in 1963.

Schumann's symphonies and string quartets are an acquired taste: in both
cases, structural eccentricities suggest a lack of control rather than (as
Beethoven's structural eccentricities do) willful iconoclasm. Yet in the
right hands, they can sound like masterpieces. By finding the right balance
between explosive tension and introspective warmth, the St. Lawrence players
make the First and Third Quartets seem rational, even persuasive. George
Szell does similarly for the symphonies, bringing to these bigger canvases
the same quality of fully controlled, precise power that animates Serkin's
reading of the concerto.

Anne Midgette

PIANO WORKS. Yves Nat, pianist (EMI Classics 7 67141 2; four CD's).

PIANO CONCERTO, INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO, PIANO WORKS. Sviatoslav Richter,
pianist; Warsaw Philharmonic, conducted by Witold Rowicki and Stanislaw
Wislocki (Deutsche Grammophon 447 440-2).

SYMPHONIES (4), OVERTURE, SCHERZO AND FINALE. Staatskapelle Dresden,
conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch (EMI Classics 5 67771 2; two CD's).

"DICHTERLIEBE," "LIEDERKREIS" (OP. 24), SONGS (WITH WOLF SONGS). Gérard
Souzay, baritone; Jacqueline Bonneau and Dalton Baldwin, pianists (Testament
SBT 1314).

VOCAL DUETS, SONGS. Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano; Leslie Guinn, baritone;
Gilbert Kalish, pianist (Nonesuch 971364-2).

FLORESTAN and Eusebius were two of his alter egos: the passionate artist and
the ruminative intellectual. For Robert Schumann, trying on different masks
was an artistic hallmark. As a young man, he debated whether to be a writer
or a musician. When he opted for music, he composed in every style: songs
and piano music, symphonies and requiems. A master of small musical
thoughts — the piano vignette, the intense lied — he inflated them onto a
grand scale, linking them in a cycle ("Kinderszenen," "Dichterliebe") or
working a patchwork of motifs into a large edifice (the symphonies).

He sought originality. A defender of the old (Bach), he championed the new
(from Chopin to Brahms) and explored the possibilities of each musical form
in turn, redefining them in the process. Voice and piano meet as equals in
his songs. New themes spring up at will in his symphonies, contravening
classical convention. He is still hard to pin down.

The trick to putting Schumann's music across in performance is to capture
its contradictions and mood swings without overemoting. So much is going on
that excess can make the music simply turgid. The best performances seem to
have in common a superb matter-of-factness, an absence of flashiness.

Take the French pianist Yves Nat, whose Schumann, even heard through the
fuzz of 1939 monaural recordings, is simply and excellently present,
explicated rather than expounded on. Nothing is overdone, yet nothing is
omitted. And Schumann, who could be somewhat callow in his earnest
experiments, suddenly appears pure sophistication.

Sviatoslav Richter is not exactly understated, but his Schumann playing has
the same self-evident conviction, brilliance communicated with
conversational ease. There is no better recording of the virtuosic,
addictive Piano Concerto than his from 1958 for Deutsche Grammophon.

Perhaps appropriately, if Schumann needs restraint, one of the best Schumann
conductors of our time is also one of the most underrated. Wolfgang
Sawallisch recorded the symphonies last season before retiring as music
director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. But his earlier set with the Dresden
Staatskapelle has to my ear a touch more of the spark and Florestanian
freshness to which this difficult music responds. "Difficult" because it is
hard to guide the ear (or the player) through these symphonies, with their
wealth of motifs and unaccustomed structures. Mr. Sawallisch has always had
a special, intangible, audible understanding of them.

You could name five great recordings of Schumann's songs alone and not be
done. But "Dichterliebe," the cycle on poems by Heine, certainly belongs on
the list, and from the aching quiet of the word "Verlangen" ("yearning") in
the first song, Gérard Souzay delivers a delicately pitched, restrained and
strikingly beautiful account, with a flowing line in place of too-specific
diction.

Schumann's duets, by contrast, are not a cornerstone of his repertory, but
they show the composer taking a genre and working to claim it. And Jan
DeGaetani's expressive artistry helps reveal pieces like "In der Nacht" as
unclaimed jewels. It's hard, once you've found them, to put them down.

Jeremy Eichler

PIANO QUINTET, CHAMBER WORKS. Martha Argerich, pianist; Nobuko Imai,
violist; Mischa Maisky, cellist; others (EMI Classics 5 57308 2).

PIANO TRIO NO. 1. Alfred Cortot, pianist; Jacques Thibaud, violinist; Pablo
Casals, cellist (with Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1; Naxos 8.110185).

"DICHTERLIEBE," "LIEDERKREIS" (OP. 39). Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone;
Alfred Brendel, pianist (Philips 416 352-2).

FANTASY IN C, "FASCHINGS-SCHWANK AUS WIEN," "PAPILLONS." Sviatoslav Richter,
pianist (EMI Classics 5 75233 2).

PIANO CONCERTO, VIOLIN CONCERTO. Martha Argerich, pianist; Gidon Kremer,
violinist; Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt
(Teldec 4509-90696-2).

SCHUMANN was a capable symphonist, but it was the smaller-scale chamber
works, solo piano music and lieder that best served his unique wedding of
structure and emotion, rigor and rue. To feel his way into these creative
worlds, he often relied on his first musical love, the piano, and we can
thank an injury to a middle finger for the fact that he did not become a
piano virtuoso himself and thus leave his greatest works unwritten. (We can
also thank the primitive state of medicine at the time: Schumann's attempted
therapies included bathing his finger in the entrails of a dead animal.)

At the core of his chamber output is the Piano Quintet, which epitomizes his
gift for toggling between the pleasures of heart and mind. One might not
expect a good recording from an ad hoc assembly of soloists but Martha
Argerich and friends offer an exciting live rendition with driving rhythmic
intensity, lush instrumental textures and an adrenaline-laced expressivity.
More Schumann chamber music rounds out this disc, including the
"Märchenbilder," gracious miniatures for viola and piano, which receive a
lovely reading by Ms. Argerich and Nobuko Imai.

My next pick hails from a distant sonic galaxy, far removed from the sleek
modern sound and high-octane playing of Ms. Argerich and company. Indeed,
the violinist Jacques Thibaud, the cellist Pablo Casals and the pianist
Alfred Cortot made up a legendary ensemble from a much earlier era of
music-making, and their famed performance of Schumann's D minor Piano Trio
has a warm conversational quality, a dreamy legato phrasing and a mellow
sweetness of tone unlike anything one finds today. The recording was made in
the late 1920's, but all three musicians were born less than a quarter
century after Schumann's death, and their playing maintains deep ties to the
very Romantic tradition that the composer helped define. If you can listen
through the inevitable surface noise, you will hear old-world Schumann at
its most tender and beautiful.

Schumann's melancholic songs offer another perspective on his dark-hued
genius, and in particular his keen sensitivity to the poetry and literature
that so often inspired his work. Seldom is this more apparent than with the
famous "Liederkreis" settings of the poetry of Joseph von Eichendorff. There
are more vocally luxurious performances out there, but I still prefer the
baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the pianist Alfred Brendel for their
stylish refinement and unflagging attention to musical and literary details.
Their "Dichterliebe" is rawer and more hard-edged, but equally worthy.

When it comes to the big piano works, Sviatoslav Richter is utterly
convincing in the C major Fantasy, conjuring both Classical nobility and
Romantic ardor in all the right proportions, and with a breathtaking palette
of colors. And Ms. Argerich tears into the A minor Piano Concerto with all
the combustible virtuosity that her fans have come to expect. Both discs
come with added incentives: the violinist Gidon Kremer's eloquent plea for
the obscure Schumann Violin Concerto and Richter's dazzling
"Faschingsschwank aus Wien."

John Rockwell

"KREISLERIANA." Hélène Grimaud, pianist (with Brahms's Piano Sonata No. 2;
Denon CO-73336).

PIANO QUINTET. Arthur Rubinstein, pianist; Guarneri Quartet (with Brahms's
Piano Quintet; RCA Red Seal 09026-5669-2).

"DICHTERLIEBE," "LIEDERKREIS" (OP. 24), SONGS. Ian Bostridge, tenor; Julius
Drake, pianist (EMI Classics 5 56575 2).

SYMPHONIES (4). Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim (Teldec
2564 61179-2; two CD's).

"SCENES FROM GOETHE'S `FAUST.' " Bryn Terfel, Karita Mattila and other
soloists; Tölzer Knabenchor, Swedish Radio Chorus, and Eric Ericson Chamber
Chorus; Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Claudio Abbado (Sony Classical S2K
66308; two CD's).

THIS selection of favorite Schumann recordings is not based on exhaustive
comparisons of every performance of every masterpiece. That way lies
madness. (Of course, some might argue that it's already kind of mad to own
25 different performances of the "Rhenish" Symphony, some in multiple
formats.) So my choices are based partly on memory and nostalgia, although,
to 'fess up, I did do some semi-exhaustive relistening. I have chosen one
recording in each musical genre.

Schumann is best known as a composer for the piano. I've long had a weak
spot for the playing of Hélène Grimaud, especially in German repertory. Her
recording of "Kreisleriana," coupled with Brahms's Sonata No. 2 (everyone
couples Schumann and Brahms, for biographical as well as musical reasons),
made when she was only 19, combines rangy technique, vivid personality and a
rich sense of the Romantic performance tradition.

Schumann's chamber music often involves the piano. Arthur Rubinstein's
recording of the Piano Quintet in E flat with the Guarneri Quartet, besides
being a magisterial performance, is also a tribute to Rubinstein's many
superb Schumann recordings, so influential in shaping my tastes.

The eight-volume series of complete Schumann songs on Hyperion belongs in
every serious collector's library. But for a single disc, I would choose Ian
Bostridge's grouping of the Opus 24 "Liederkreis," "Dichterliebe" and seven
other songs, handsomely accompanied by Julius Drake. Mr. Bostridge has an
ethereal tenor, sometimes so silvery and hushed that you're almost
embarrassed by the intimacy. But he can rise to the bolder, more despairing
songs, like "Ich Grolle Nicht," too. A remarkable disc.

Schumann's orchestral music is also wonderful, despite all the controversies
that have surrounded his orchestration: thick and inept, or rich and
Romantic? I tend toward the latter, but there have been wonderful
performances in all styles and all kinds of instrumentation. As much as I
regret not including Arturo Toscanini's fulminating account of the "Manfred"
Overture, I will stick with the symphonies.

For decades I preferred Leonard Bernstein's raw, impassioned performances
with the New York Philharmonic (better than his later, slicker versions with
the Vienna Philharmonic). I love them still, but Daniel Barenboim's new set
with the Staatskapelle Berlin, the same group he will lead in Schumann at
Carnegie Hall next week, is wonderfully lyrical and idiomatic, and in superb
sound as well. It's way better than his earlier set with the Chicago
Symphony.

Finally, large-scale, quasi-operatic, quasi-oratorio effusions: Schumann
could imbue his instrumental music and songs with plenty of drama, but like
some other great composers, he never found his footing in opera. Still, his
"Scenes From Goethe's `Faust,' " in a sumptuous recording from Claudio
Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic and a remarkable roster of singers, must
be on the list. And even if the work falls short of counterparts by Berlioz,
Liszt, Gounod and Mahler as an evocation of "Faust," its seraphic beauties
and contrapuntal rigor work wonderfully on their own terms.

James R. Oestreich

SYMPHONIES (4), VIOLIN CONCERTO, ANDANTE AND VARIATIONS. Leonidas Kavakos,
violinist; Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor and pianist; others; Philadelphia
Orchestra (with Clara Schumann songs, sung by Thomas Hampson; Philadelphia
Orchestra; three CD's).

PIANO QUINTET, PIANO QUARTET IN E FLAT. Menahem Pressler, pianist; Emerson
String Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon 445 848-2).

STRING QUARTETS NOS. 1 AND 3. Zehetmair Quartet (ECM New Series 1793).

VIOLIN SONATAS NOS. 1 AND 2. Gidon Kremer, violinist; Martha Argerich,
pianist (Deutsche Grammophon 419 235-2).

"DAS PARADIES UND DIE PERI," "REQUIEM FÃœR MIGNON," "NACHTLIED." Barbara
Bonney, soprano; Christoph Prégardien, tenor; others; Monteverdi Choir;
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
(Deutsche Grammophon Archiv 289 457 660-2; two CD's).

I DON'T get it: this eternal carping about unimaginative orchestration and
awkward voice-leading in Schumann's symphonies. These ebullient creations
are what they are, and they work for me every time — in a good performance,
that is.

At the moment, I'm particularly fond of Wolfgang Sawallisch with the
Philadelphia Orchestra in performances recorded live last season and
repeated at Carnegie Hall. There is nothing here either lightweight or
heavy-handed, and the freshness of Mr. Sawallisch's approach is all the more
remarkable given the parlous state of his health over the last year; the
Second was recorded late in the season, and he began canceling appearances
soon after. The "Spring" Symphony performance is a special treasure, quite
possibly addictive. Mr. Sawallisch, a superb pianist, is heard in that role
in a chamber work, the Andante and Variations, and in songs by Clara
Schumann.

In advance, Teldec has issued a memento of another Carnegie series: Daniel
Barenboim's with the Staatskapelle Berlin next week. I find these
interpretations of the symphonies less persuasive at first hearing, a little
fussy and studied in their pushings and pullings. But I'm eager to hear
whether those gestures and others might sound more spontaneous in the
Carnegie concerts.

An enduring favorite among the symphonies is Christoph von Dohnanyi's set
with the Cleveland Orchestra on Decca. In some ways, this orchestra — lithe,
clear and precise — has long been an ideal Schumann instrument, whether led
by George Szell, Mr. Dohnanyi or, presumably, the relative newcomer Franz
Welser-Möst. (The Szell recordings on Sony are also classics.) The
orchestra's virtues are most apparent in the mercurial scherzo of the Second
Symphony, which Mr. Dohnanyi liked to carry in his trunk as an encore.

Although Schumann's chamber music also comes in for some carping, the Piano
Quintet is almost universally recognized as a masterpiece. To the worthy
renditions cited elsewhere on this page, I will add the collaboration
between Menahem Pressler and the Emerson String Quartet. These are all
chamber musicians of abundant gifts, wide experience and distinctive styles,
and it is fascinating to hear the musical ground shift between Mr.
Pressler's relative mellowness and the Emerson's characteristic fire: a
scintillating mix.

In music that does not strain to sell itself, fire is often a good thing;
conviction is essential. Those qualities pervade the other chamber discs
listed here as well. The Zehetmair Quartet's performances make a persuasive
case for two of Schumann's string quartets, especially the First, as
masterworks. Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich cannot do as much with the
slighter material of two violin sonatas, but their urgent performances make
the works sound eminently respectable and, more important, appealing.

Veering way off the beaten path, John Eliot Gardiner offers lovely
performances of three Schumann choral pieces dripping with good tunes.

"Das Paradies und die Peri" is a large-scale work in three parts, and though
it cannot be said that the drama is maintained consistently, each part
builds to a compelling finale. The melting lullaby that ends the second part
is itself worth the price of a disc, maybe both."




mvh

[vilmann]

Nu er det nat og familien sover. Jeg burde sikkert sætte finde en god klassisk skive...    Men jeg havde altsÃ¥ sÃ¥dan en lyst til at høre Eruption. Og resten af skiven er jo ganske glimrende:


/vilmann

[SES.]

...billede pist borte...

Jeg forsøger mig udi Bruckner's 2. symfoni med Günther Wand i spidsen for Kölner Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester.

I øvrigt et flot cover efter min mening.

Indholdet matcher

Er netop blevet færdig med den flotte 2. sats og ja jeg er meget fornøjet - jeg er ikke så fortabt endnu, som i Shostkovich, men jeg har på fornemmelsen at der gemmer sig mere end jeg umiddelbart kan kapere nu.

Han (Bruckner - eller Wand?) er god til at håndtere de kraftige passager. De helt kraftige passager med fuld skrue, kommer på de helt rigtige tidspunkter så musikken ikke virker anmasende/anstrengende.

Lidt ligesom en god sanger/sangerinde der forstår at udnytte sin stemme uden nødvendigvis at skulle give den hele armen hele tiden (dvs. _ikke_ Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celline Dion,...).

Jeg kan godt lide at musikken er tilbageholdt på en måde så man hele tiden kan fornemme at der er et uforløst potentiale (det sætter fantasien igang).

Puhh! det er svært at sætte ord på sådan noget - håber det er forståeligt

Jeg forstÃ¥r det godt, sjovt nok har jeg fravalgt de 3 finker (og mange andre) med samme begrundelse - det er for anstregende. En der burde læse dette er Cæcilie Norby, en kæmpetalent men som ikke tør holde tilbage, vil hele tiden vise hvad hun kan. SÃ¥ efter 2-3 numre bliver cd'en taget af - bare too much Norby.  

Fin beskrivelse af Bruckner, der bygges stille og roligt op - og det tager tid - Wand kan trække en bue fra 1 tone til den sidste. En Bruckner adagio kan være lige den "medicin" man har brug for. Wand, Celibidache, Furtwängler - kan. Musikken er skrøbelig så der skal en rigtig rorgænger på.

[zaka]

Min første Joan Sutherland. Nøj, hun synger som en engel.

Det er vistnok hendes første studie optagelse af operaen. Den er fra 1961 og i mono. Den lyder fremragende og man kan sagtens leve med at stemmerne er en smule tilbagetrukket i forhold til orkestret.

Noget rigtig italiensk musik som bringer lidt varme  - jeg fryser.

[Kristian]

9 LAZY 9

Electric Lazyland

http://www.ninjatune.net/ninja/release.php?id=120

groovie acid jazz

[vilmann]

Før:


Nu:


Nogle gange Lee Perry således ud:



/vilmann