This Week's Listening & Muses - April 1-7
Schmitt - Suites from Antoine et Cléopâtre. For r/classicalmusic 's piece of the week. I haven't listened to much by Florent Schmitt, I know his symphonie concertante and some piano works. I liked his orchestration, like Debussy mixed with Strauss. Doesn't captivate me as much as the piano and chamber works but it is luscious.
Mendelssohn - Concerto in Ab Major for two pianos. Decided to listen through more of Hyperion's catalogue of "Romantic Piano Concertos", which were some of the works I listened to getting into classical music and were formative to my tastes. Mendelssohn's double piano concertos were written when he was a teenager for him to play with his sister Fanny, and they weren't published in his lifetime and apparently he thought they were immature. The concerto was charming and made me think of the early/classical Beethoven piano concertos
Moszkowski - Piano Concerto in E major. Another recording from the Romantic Concertos series, I hadn't listened to this one much before and wasn't that interested. Listening to it again now, I loved the exuberance and larger-than-life sounds
Schmidt - Symphony no.1. A less popular symphonist I was really into years back, late romantic and decadent. I didn't like this one as much at first, but listening now I'm surprised that I used to find it boring. It's very loud, grand, "majestic", and like a lot of romantic symphonies, long. It's great for blasting on speakers
Messiaen - Turangalîla. To break up the Romantic monotony, I was happy to see Marc-André Hamelin as the pianist for this masterpiece. Bombastic, "futuristic", otherworldly, fun and beautiful and sometimes mind-boggling.
I'll try to post the top favorites of music I listen to in a week to share some recommendations and act as my own listening diary, hopefully introduce some music to you guys or get recommendations in return!
