Tír Na HiFi

Jared wrote:

fergus wrote:
Thank you for that Jared. I certainly find the choice of instrumentation very intruiging!

have I let you down yet, when I've strongly recommended something? it is indeed quite unusual in its combination of instruments, but I'd say without doubt that this is the finest disk of Hummel's 'chamber' music I have heard...

I hears ya boss!!

bombasticDarren wrote:Mahler - Symphony No.7 (Michael Gielen, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiberg, Hanssler)

I was not sure whether or not I had that one Darren so I actually had to look it up! I obviously do not remember a note from it. Did you like it?

I finished this cycle with Symphonies 7 & 8....





Symphony No. 7 was a completely different affair to what has gone before. I found it to be very accessible and a wonderfully expansive work to listen to.
Symphony No. 8 was another very expansive work and I found it very appealing with an absolutely splendid final movement.


Rautavaara’s symphonic works were divided evenly by a big time gap where he wrote no symphonies for over twenty years. He obviously reassessed his thinking around how he wanted his symphonies to say what he wanted and I must admit that I would gravitate towards the last four much more readily than the first four.

Prompted by Fergus' recent endeavours...

Rautavaara - Symphony No.8 The Journey (Leif Segerstam, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Ondine)

fergus wrote:

bombasticDarren wrote:Mahler - Symphony No.7 (Michael Gielen, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiberg, Hanssler)

I was not sure whether or not I had that one Darren so I actually had to look it up! I obviously do not remember a note from it. Did you like it?

I think it's a significantly undervalued symphony and this recording was excellently detailed - it sounded rather unhurried and I think this works in it's favour considerably....

Jared wrote:

Jose Echenique wrote:I can´t speak for Messiaen and Dutilleux Jared, they are too avant-garde for me too, but I do love (a lot) the Ravel songs. Maybe put away the Fleming disc for now, but if you ever encounter again some of the Ravel songs give them another chance.

Pepe... I hear and agree with what you're saying.

One thing I'd like you to bear in mind is that if you'd had 'met' me 5 years ago, my experience of Classical Music wouldn't have been much more than a Strauss Waltz, Dvorak's New World, Mendelssohn's Scottish, Vivaldi's 4 Seasons, Mussorgsky's Pictures, Holsts's Planets, Beethoven 5, a bit of unnamed Sibelius and a hearing of Mahler 5, which I hadn't really liked, and several interminable sittings through Don Giovanni (I still haven't forgiven Mozart for that one).

I was brought up in a house where the spoken word of Radio 4 was King, and classical music was very seldom heard.

Now, I like Victoria, Vaughan Williams and 'most' things in between. I now like choral, vocal, orchestral, chamber and instrumental in equal measure, which would have been unheard of for me 5 years ago...

... so like Matt, Darren & Sean, I've come quite a long way in a relatively short space of time, but realise there is still a long way to go...

And that´s perfectly good Jared, no one expects you to digest 1000 years of written music just like that. Remember that what you read here are just friendly opinions with diverse points of view that on good will want to help. Music shouldn´t be like a bitter pill that has to be swallowed, it should be enjoyed, but very often a little extra effort is needed and the dividends pay handsomely in the long run.

Amen to that, Jose. I recall so very vividly in my teens listening to jazz and classical for the first time (Miles, Mingus and Coltrane on one hand, and Varese, Stravinsky and Webern on the other) and thinking about how alien it sounded. But, sometimes, you have to persist to get past the initial subconscious block and, in time, you will be rewarded handsomely. The music you have always loved will be enriched by these new sounds and countless new doors will be opened for you. The best rule of thumb with music that appears "strange" is to try and detect the basic pulse. All music has this - even the most avant-garde where it may be unstated and simply implied - and recognising that is your way in. Jared, I haven't yet heard the Fleming disc - I wonder just how much Decca spends on that photography and just how much it does Fleming a genuiune disservice - but it appears to be a nicely adventurous programme. Next time you listen to it, try to divert your active attention from it and let it seep into your subconscious. It may sound strange but distracting yourself from "active" listening will remove the barriers your mind can put up when presented with something new. The conscious analytical intellect is disabled, thereby allowing the emotionally-driven subconscious to take over. Once you get it embedded in your subconscious, the mind can do a wonderful job by itself disentangling its apparent complexities. Just don't actively concentrate on the music when this process is going on and the doors of perception will be opened.

mcq wrote: Jared, I haven't yet heard the Fleming disc - I wonder just how much Decca spends on that photography and just how much it does Fleming a genuiune disservice - but it appears to be a nicely adventurous programme. Next time you listen to it, try to divert your active attention from it and let it seep into your subconscious. It may sound strange but distracting yourself from "active" listening will remove the barriers your mind can put up when presented with something new. The conscious analytical intellect is disabled, thereby allowing the emotionally-driven subconscious to take over. Once you get it embedded in your subconscious, the mind can do a wonderful job by itself disentangling its apparent complexities. Just don't actively concentrate on the music when this process is going on and the doors of perception will be opened.

Thanks for your helpful comments Paul... the CD in question has now been packaged up, ready to be sent over to Sean tomorrow morning, for his consideration... although I will of course bear your advice in mind for future (almost certainly French) music I have difficulty with.

Delius - Violin Concerto (Tasmin Little/Andrew Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chandos)

Jared wrote:...the CD in question has now been packaged up, ready to be sent over to Sean tomorrow morning, for his consideration...

Drat! I had my eye on that one lol ;-)