IMSLP Forums

I haven't actually listened to anything recently, but I always tend to have some piece stuck in my head. Currently, it is Uranus the Magician from The Planets by Gustav Holst. About an hour ago I had Mars the Bringer of War stuck in my head.

Chopin Sonata No.2 in B flat minor Op.35 -1 Grave, Doppio Movimento. A pure work of art.

William Schuman's Violin Concerto played by Robert McDuffie with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin

Probably the most abrupt beginning I have heard in a piece so far, but very good beginning nonetheless.

Handel's Harpsichord Suite N.3

Meant to Be - Rob Costlow

Jeff Manookian's String Quartet 'The Dances of St. Gregory', currently on the fourth movement. I would recommend checking this guy's work out - it is really quite good, and we're lucky to have someone of his eminence generously contributing his own works here.

Yes, along with Leo Ornstein and Rzewski (to come).

Sunday night, September 11. NY Philharmonic conducted by music director Alan Gilbert, Mahler Symphony 2, live-on-tape broadcast on PBS. This was a special non-subscription performance in honor of 9/11, with free tickets I believe. This likely explains why significant numbers of the audience erupt into applause at major musical climaxes during a couple of the movements so far. Gilbert is good, but the mezzo in the 4th movement is not. One plus is the divided 1st and 2nd violins, though the cellos are inauthentically seated to the seconds whereas they should be next to the firsts with the violas inboard to the seconds. This has been Gilbert's standard string seating for a couple of seasons now.

--Sixtus

Canteloupe - Us3

http://youtu.be/JwBjhBL9G6U

Wagner Die Feen, an early opera. Definitely shows his roots in Weber.

--Sixtus

PS: Listening to webcast feed from "Swiss Radio's" opera channel, a source for LOTS of little-known operas (often deservedly so):
http://www.swissradio.ch/menu/discograp ... /index.htm

Well, the track in my iTunes that's gotten the most "plays" is the finale to Furtwängler's symphony no.2 (Barenboim/Chicago Symphony)... the answer to "right now" is, I think, the finale of Mozart's 6th string quintet, running about in my head, but the answer probabilistically most likely seems to be the Furtwängler (followed by the rest of the work, followed by some Medtner recordings, Bax, and at least the first movement of Boughton's lovely Symphony no.2 "Deirdre"...)

Just finished listening (multiple times in a row) to No.2 'O iurupari e o caçador' of Duas lendas ameríndias (1952) by Heitor Villa-Lobos. This is a really beautiful two-minute a cappella choral piece that extensively uses fourths and major ninths to create an interesting harmonic atmosphere; the recording by the Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble is recommended. It is also one of Villa-Lobos's less 'sloppily' written works - the textures are well-realized, rhythmic phrasing is excellent, piece as a whole is balanced and nicely developed. Unfortunately it seems that VL's choral music, which makes up numerically the largest portion of his output (surpassing by a fairly narrow margin his art songs - ~140 to ~125, not accounting for individual members of sets like Canto orfeônico and Música sacra), is grossly underrepresented in the standard listening repertoire (I'm not sure how many performances occur, though I know that there are comparatively few recordings). Some of it is rather trivial, but there are many gems out there as well. I would definitely recommend an investigation into this semi-forgotten corner of music.

Beethovens pastoral symphony... the one that iniciated me on classical music!

Opening night at the Metropolitan Opera, streamed live from Metopera.org. Donizetti's Anna Bolena is about to start.

--Sixtus

Partitas no. 6, Glenn Gould.