Love Your Classical Music Geek

#A-Schubert-A-Day Day 180 ‘Furcht der Geliebten’, D285 from 12 September 1815. A really beautiful song, this, with lots of light and shade.

Yes this is exactly true. Incredible performances too!

Yo can say anything you like. And I might even agree with you. On this occasion….I do!

This morning’s delights were clear. Two ABSOLUTE bangers. One of them crackled, sizzled, was full of joyous flavour and glorious textures throughout. The other was just, you know, a bit of pork in a piece of skin.

#NowSpinning Glazunov Symphony No.4 with Otaka in Wales. The opening cor anglais solo is to die for. This is a stunning symphony whichever way you look at it. Rimsky-Korsakov conducted the premiere and described the work as ‘marvellous, noble, expressive’. How nice!

It’s a really marvellous work. Starts a bit like Alfvén and ends up like Shostakovich!

#NowSpinning Weinberg Symphony with Thord Svedlund in Gothenburg. The opening is lightly whimsical and very tuneful, but it soon develops into something more serious. But the Nordic sensibilities of the work are ever-present.

Gardner was great, but Jurowski really moved the orchestra into a different league. I genuinely believe Järvi will continue that job!

#A-Schubert-A-Day Day 179 ‘Lied’, D284 from 6 September 1815. Short but most definitely sweet! www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W2...

I do have it. Magnificent.

Well good god that *is* big news. If you are going to pick a successor to Jurowski, this is one helluva way to go!!

#NowSpinning Copland’s Orchestral Variations, with John Wilson and the BBC Broncos. This is a gnarly, angular work. And it’s pretty exciting as the played here.

#A-Schubert-A-Day Day 178 ‘An Den Früling’, D283 from 6 September 1815. We could easily predict that Spring freshness would figure in this setting! www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W2...

#NowSpinning ‘Willows’, with Pekka Kuusisto on majestic form. Great personal tragedy immediately preceded the recording of this album for Kuusisto. I find some of the works included more effortful than natural - particularly the Caroline Shaw - but that’s a personal view.

Rather impressed with the first disc of the Audite Grieg Symphonic Works set, which I managed to finally track down. There’s a wonderful freshness and clarity of articulation, which works beautifully with Grieg’s sound palette. Aadland’s conducting is full of light and shade.

#A-Schubert-A-Day Day 177 ‘Cronnan’, D282 from 5 September 1815. I hadn’t realised the extent to which Schubert entered into the twilight worlds of Celtic myth and legend! This is epic! www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W2...

#A-Schubert-A-Day Day 176 ‘Das Mädchen von Inistore’, D281 from September 1815. Melancholic, haunting and mournful. Painting ‘Young Girl on the Beach’ by Edvard Munch. www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W2...

The vast majority! So I will hold back on this one. The big set of Beethoven in there is a large chunk.

#A-Schubert-A-Day Day 175 ‘DAs Rosenband’, D280 from September 1815. This Schubert setting fully matches the almost ‘floral’ tone of the text. www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W2...

Oh nice!

Yes I bought this work after David Hurwitz promoted it. Fabulous work.

#NowSpinning Glazunov Symphony No.3 with Tadaaki Otaka in Wales! This is an excellent version of a Symphony that does need careful handling. Anything less than top notch conducting can make it seem bland and directionless. Here there is sparkle and purpose.

#A-Schubert-A-Day Day 174 ‘Ossians Lied nach dem Falle Nathos’, D278, from September 1815. An evocation of Another Time in Another Place. www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W2...

#NowSpinning next up in the Rattle CBSO years is the first ever recording of Sibelius 1 I ever heard. I have not heard this cycle for many years, so it will be interesting to compare it with the Berlin set. I’ll do them side by side.

#A-Schubert-A-Day Day 173 ‘Punschlied, Vier Elemente’, D277, from 29 August 1815. A memorable tune, while the text tells us how to make punch! www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W1...

Thank you. There’s also a lovely version on Hyperion.

Herbert Howells’s String Quartet No.3 is gracing this morning’s dog walk. It’s a gorgeously lyrical piece with many passages of astounding beauty. But there is a more searching, introspective side to the music, too.

7!!!!

This is the Dvořák 8 that I truly believe sums up what is gorgeous, thrilling, heartwarming and inspiring work it is. It’s never managed to be my favourite Dvořák Symphony, but this may be my favourite Dvořák Disc. Surely that underlines Honeck’s genius.