What are you listening to now?

[AeolianHarp]

I've felt rather crappy since Sunday afternoon so have done relatively little serious music listening. I did listen to the Takacs quartet play B's Op.59 Nos.2 & 3 and the Tatrai Quartet play Haydn's Op.77 Nos.1 & 2 "Lobkowitz". Possibly due to health I was not overly ecstatic above any of these performances.

At YouTube I attempted to listen to several filmed interpretations of Beethoven's seventh symphony, but neither was fiery enough to suit me, which again might be partially due to not feeling well.

Hope you feel better soon DP.

[Harvey]

I am listening to Mary Stuart (Maria Stuarda) by Donizetti from Opera in English with Dame Janet Baker. Very wonderful opera.

Also am fully recovered from the pneumonia that had afflicted me for three weeks and took me out of work for two weeks.

[AeolianHarp]

Glad to hear you are better Harvey.

[hal9000]

Mendelssohn's third symphony by Gardiner and the LSO. It sounds to my ears like this is a precursor to Brahms' symphonies. Brahms' symphonies sound more like this than Beethoven's.

[AeolianHarp]

String Quartet No. 7 in F major

String Quartet No. 7 in F major-Razumovsky.

From Wikipedia:

On the last leaf of the sketches for the Adagio, Beethoven wrote, "A weeping willow or acacia tree on my brother's grave" (Einen Trauerwiden oder Akazien-Baum aufs Grab meines Bruders). Both of his brothers were alive when this work was written so these words are interpreted as having a masonic significance, for the acacia is widely considered the symbolic plant of Freemasonry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_...28Beethoven%29

That's kind of interesting- anyone know any more about that?

[Harvey]

Mariella Devia in the opera Adelia (Donizetti).

[AeolianHarp]

Sounds amazing...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5pKC0V4B-k[/YOUTUBE]

[AeolianHarp]

Joseph Haydn – Piano Concerto in D major, Hob. XVIII:11 (Andreas Staier, fortepiano)

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAStZ8AvOWw[/YOUTUBE]

[Sorrano]

This morning:
Berlioz: Eight Scenes from "Faust," Op 1, "Histoire d'un rat"
Bach: Violin Concerto #2 in E, BWV 1042

[Sorrano]

This morning:
Mendelssohn:
"Songs Without Words," Op 19
Six Songs, Op 34, #2, "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges"

[Megan]

Hans Pfitzner

Palestrina - Prelude to Act 1
Orchestra: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
Conductor: Wolfgang Sawallisch.
ORFEO.

[Decrepit Poster]

Yesterday at YouTube I again watched/heard Pollini playing the closing movement of Les Adieux, which has become my preferred interpretation.

Also yesterday I got bee in my bonnet to hear Karl Goldmark's 'Rustic Wedding' Symphony, at one time something of a concert staple but nowadays not often performed. The performance I settled for is a bit more subdued than I find ideal, but well played and enjoyable. (I attempted to listen to a more rambunctious performance, but its instrument balances were often wonky.) Here's the first portion of the movement one.

This evening I returned to an old favorite and watched/heard the period group Tafelmusik play the final movement of Beethoven's seventh symphony. I find it quite exhilarating. I watched and/or heard a number of alternatives, but by and large found them tame by comparison.

[Sorrano]

This morning:
de Wally: "Aubade"
Françaix: "Flower Clock"

[Decrepit Poster]

Listening to Goldmark's "Rustic Wedding" day before yesterday reminded me of another piece first encountered during my early days beginning to explore symphonic literature, Dvorak's orchestral tone poem "The Golden Spinning Wheel", which I am watching at YouTube as I type. Don't think I've heard it in a great many years.

[hal9000]

This evening I returned to an old favorite and watched/heard the period group Tafelmusik play the final movement of Beethoven's seventh symphony. I find it quite exhilarating. I watched and/or heard a number of alternatives, but by and large found them tame by comparison.

Despite the sound clipping, I really enjoyed that. I don't think I will ever get tired of that coda, with its incessant Jaws-like chromatic bass line that underpins the rest of the orchestra as it ratchets up to its climax. Carl Maria von Weber thought Beethoven was ripe for the madhouse for a similar move Beethoven did in the first movement, there's no telling what he must have thought when he heard this.