Tír Na HiFi

fergus wrote:Another CD set that I often pull out is this one....





From the very start of my listening career I have been fascinated by instruments of all shapes and sizes and what composers through the ages have done with them. I love the music in this work and in particular I love the instrumentation. Christie was famous for his attention to detail and it really shows through in works like this. The wonderful textures and sonoroties are fascinating to my ear. There is no over sophistication just simplicity itself; I just love the presentation.

A wonderful recording of one of the pinnacles of French Baroque opera and, for me, one of the many highlights in Christie's distinguished career.  But, most of all, for one of the great Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's very finest performances.  Like the very best singers, she utterly inhabits the title role with a fierceness and conviction that still startles.The lady is much missed.

Just about any performance of Mahler's completed Symphony #10 (except the awful Mazzetti I and Mazzuca/Samale). No piece of music has ever spoke to me like this one, broken and incomplete as it is.

This is my favorite recording and one I turn to time and again.



Sanderling Berlin Symphony Orchestra on Berlin Classics.

I quite like Honegger and this is a good performance of these two symphonies.

James

He wrote five symphonies and a good bit of choral work.

james wrote:

I must confess that I am not familiar with Honegger's work at all.

One more that I really must include (I could go on ad infinitum!)....





The music is so rich, deep and beautifully heart felt....there is a Life lived therein. There are lots of versions of the Four Last Songs but for me this is the ultimate (sorry Pepe!). If the house was on fire this is one that I would try to save! I could not imagine not being able to hear Schwarzkopf singing Beim Schlafenghen in particular. I know that she has many detractors but to me she is just sublime in that song.

fergus wrote:

james wrote:

I must confess that I am not familiar with Honegger's work at all.

Honegger was one of 'Les Six' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_six which included Milhaud and Poulenc. Honegger was actually Swiss. His music has tunes but tends to be dissonant. [The second symphony uses the semitone interval]. He is famous for the 'overture' Pacific 231 which mimics the sound of a steam-train.

Personally I think his best symphonies are probably No. 2 and No. 5. When I first heard him he was one of the first 'modern' composers I liked. He is NOT serial. Years ago I had a record with Honneger symphony no 2 and Messiaen Et expecto ... Symphony 2 is for strings but has a trumpet in the last movement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._2_(Honegger)

james

Thank you for that James. I will try to find something on You Tube to listen to.

fergus wrote:Thank you for that James. I will try to find something on You Tube to listen to.

Not his best but try Pacific 231 ...

or symphony 2 ...



The picture is a swiss banknote with Honegger

james wrote: Not his best but try Pacific 231 ...

Thank you very much for that James, I quite liked it! I thought that it was very evocative of the train struggling to start off on its journey and eventually gathering momentum and finally speeding along on its way. The raw power required to get that initial momentum was very ably portrayed in the music. The brass represents the glory of the train very well and I thought that the flurry of smoke, steam and speed was exciting and well caught by those dotted rhythms. It was a most enjoyable listen.