A mixed day’s listening today. Prior to departure for the chocolate teapot factory:

  • Shostakovich Symphony no 13 (Ashkenazy) – mvts III-V
  • Haydn Symphony no 50
  • Haydn Symphony no 51 – with its amazing horn part in the slow movement. This must surely have caused hospitalisation of more than one intrepid horn player…

In the car:

  • Kate Bush – Never for Ever – Kate gears up for the weirdness of The Dreaming
  • Kate Bush – The Sensual World

At my desk:

  • Brahms – String Quartet no 1, on Radio 3 streaming over the iPhone – didn’t catch who the performers were
  • Purcell – Faerie Queen (Harry Christophers/The Sixteen)
  • Suicide – Suicide – “Ghost rider, motorcycle hero…” – such a rock’n'roll record for a duo with just cheap electronics
  • Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Flaunt It! – gave up at Rockit Miss USA. I’ve always loved the idea of Sputnik, but ultimately find the records themselves a bit of a trial.
  • Sigue Sigue Sputnik – The First Generation - just for the un-tampered-with “Love Missile F1-11″
  • Ornette Coleman – Ornette on Tenor
  • Sun Ra – Space Is The Place (on Impulse!) – crazed space-chant greatness!

In the car on the way back from the CTF:

  • The Raveonettes – Chain Gang of Love

    • Ensconced at home I put on the Shostakovich 13 from the Ashkenazy box of the complete symphonies. I was getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of drama in this reading, and finally worked out why after checking timings against my other recordings. Rostropovich takes a respectable 62+ minutes over it, Haitink a slightly more stately 64+ minutes, whereas Ashkenazy belts through it in ten minutes less! I’m intrigued as to why – I wonder if he takes Shostakovich’s occasionally rather daft metronome markings rather too literally.

    The Ashkenazy recording, as I type, has been replaced with Haitink and the Concertgebouw. Bliss.

    I’m interested to know if anyone has any other favourite Shost. 13 recordings, though – I believe the Kondrashin set is very highly thought-of. Do I need four boxes of the Shostakovich Symphonies? Probably…