Gurn's Classical Corner

[Florestan]

These quartets from 1780 were long considered to be by Mozart and it´s not hard to understand the reason. They are utterly delightful. The charming but inappropriate cover is deceitful: this is music full of life and energy. 

[SonicMan46]

These quartets from 1780 were long considered to be by Mozart and it´s not hard to understand the reason. They are utterly delightful. The charming but inappropriate cover is deceitful: this is music full of life and energy. 

Hi Andrei - that recording piqued my interest and found it offered from BRO for $8 - added some others from ZigZag & Tactus to get to a half dozen (shipping to me was then just a buck/CD) - thanks for the recommendation!  Dave

[Florestan]

Hi Andrei - that recording piqued my interest and found it offered from BRO for $8 - added some others from ZigZag & Tactus to get to a half dozen (shipping to me was then just a buck/CD) - thanks for the recommendation!  Dave

You´re welcome, it´s right up your alley! 

[Florestan]

Major discovery alert !!!


This is one of the best Easter oratorios I´ve ever heard. It sets to music the ubiquitous 18th-century-Metastasio-libretto that so many others have splendidly made use of... but this one is really in a league of its own. You can check it on Youtube before buying, but run, don´t walk!

[Gurn Blanston]

Major discovery alert !!!



This is one of the best Easter oratorios I´ve ever heard. It sets to music the ubiquitous 18th-century-Metastasio-libretto that so many others have splendidly made use of... but this one is really in a league of its own. You can check it on Youtube before buying, but run, don´t walk!

Nice! Certainly worth checking out. The Metastasian Oratorio tradition was winding down by then, but clearly still not out of steam!

[SonicMan46]

This is one of the best Easter oratorios I´ve ever heard. It sets to music the ubiquitous 18th-century-Metastasio-libretto that so many others have splendidly made use of... but this one is really in a league of its own. You can check it on Youtube before buying, but run, don´t walk!

Andrei - enjoyed your previous recommendation, and yesterday I listened to 2 Easter Oratorios (or is it Oratoriums or something else? ) - I looked for some more but could not locate any (probably did not look hard enough) - it is available from BRO for about $5, but not sure that I want to add 'fillers' I'll disliked (discarded a couple from my last order).

Now I own nothing by this composer - the 2 discs below w/ Robert Plano on piano look of interest and would be curious if others may know this pianist and these specific offerings - just  checked Spotify and both are available to stream - Dave

 

[Florestan]

Andrei - enjoyed your previous recommendation, and yesterday I listened to 2 Easter Oratorios (or is it Oratoriums or something else? ) - I looked for some more but could not locate any (probably did not look hard enough)

Hi, Dave! I´m glad you enjoyed the Schuster SQs. I knew you would. 

As for Easter oratorios (I think this is the correct plural form), they come in different sizes and shapes.

1. The ones called as such are few, the most famous being by Bach. There is another one by Carl Heinrich Graun (check it on Youtube) and to my knowledge that´s just about it.

2. The Passions, which follow closely the text of the Gospels and are called accordingly, for instance Johannes-Passion in German or Passio secundum Ioannem in Latin. Now these are much more numerous: Cipriano de Rore, Bach (3), Schuetz (3), Telemann (3), Haendel, Alessandro Scarlatti, Francesco Feo and many, many more. Youtube has many of them.

3. The Passion of Jesus Christ Our Lord (Italian La Passione di Gesu Cristo Signor Nostro).

Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_passione_di_Ges%C3%B9_Cristo
. Ditto Youtube.

4. Stabat Mater. Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabat_Mater. There are lots of them on Youtube.

5. Responsories for Holy Week. Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsories_for_Holy_Week. Search on Youtube for Tenebrae Reponsories (or Responsoria) and they´ll retrieve an impressive line up of compositions.

6. Leçons de ténèbres. Information here: . Youtube comes to be of service --- again.

7. Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet. Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamentations_of_Jeremiah_the_Prophet. You can find a lot of them searching Youtube for Hieremiae Prophetae Lamentationes or Lamentazioni di Geremia Profeta.

8. The Seven Last Words of Christ. Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_settings_of_The_Seven_Last_Words_of_Christ. Many of them are on Youtube.

8. Oratorios (or technically assimilable to oratorios) with less common names, such as Roland de Lassus´s Lagrime di San Pietro, Dieterich Buxtehude´s Membra Jesu Nostri, Antonio Caldara´s Maddalena ai Piedi di Cristo or C. P. E. Bach´s Die letzten Leiden des Erlösers. Guess what? Well, yes. Youtube.

There. Hope this helps.

[SonicMan46]

Thanks Andrei for all of the additional information - I order the oratorio CD last night - Dave

[Florestan]

My diet today consisted of the following



6, 7, 8 from this set

and now playing



In another thread "Only Mozart and Schubert, please!" was denounced as a limitation. Well, aside from the fact that it is less of a limitation than "Only (or mostly) Haydn, please!" (  ), the sheer quantity and quality of music in all three cases warrants for a lifetime of enjoyment and discoveries. And finally, limiting oneself to only the finest and tastiest is not that bad a thing, meseems. 

[Gurn Blanston]

My diet today consisted of the following



6, 7, 8 from this set

and now playing



In another thread "Only Mozart and Schubert, please!" was denounced as a limitation. Well, aside from the fact that it is less of a limitation than "Only (or mostly) Haydn, please!" (  ), the sheer quantity and quality of music in all three cases warrants for a lifetime of enjoyment and discoveries. And finally, limiting oneself to only the finest and tastiest is not that bad a thing, meseems. 

I will have to 'grab' that 'musik'...   Letzbor is a big favorite at my house.

Mozart and Schubert is certainly no limitation, unless you only listen to a certain genre of music. I do listen mainly to Haydn, Mozart and their contemporaries. H & M alone have an oeuvre of nearly 2000 pieces of music. I'll let you know as soon as I have them worn out.... 

[Florestan]

Spent a very pleasant afternoon with Joseph Wolfl's music. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_W%C3%B6lfl). Various works from the following discs:






Click images for detailed info & link to reviews and full booklet in English



Click image for detailed info and link to reviews (including a dismissing one by Brian).



Superb music and musicmaking on all of them, well worth exploring by any Classical period afficionado.

[kishnevi]

Got this new one the other day.  Satisfying on all counts.  Organizing principle is Parisian music before and after Le Grand Tumult.

[San Antone]

I never thought I'd long for the days of placid cows in a bucolic setting for classical music covers ...

[Karl Henning]

I never thought I'd long for the days of placid cows in a bucolic setting for classical music covers ...

English cow-pat is better than its reputation may suggest 

[SonicMan46]

Spent a very pleasant afternoon with Joseph Wolfl's music. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_W%C3%B6lfl). Various works from the following discs:

     

Superb music and musicmaking on all of them, well worth exploring by any Classical period afficionado.

Hi Andrei - another Wölfl fan - I've just over a half dozen discs of his music, including the 3 of 4 above - don't have the Op. 4 SQs w/ QM, but w/ the Authentic Quartet; also several recordings of his solo piano works, one w/ Nakamatsu & two others w/ Laure Colladant (one harp/KB duets) - cannot seem to find the QM disc on Amazon USA?  Dave

   

[Wakefield]

Today, following the traces of a HIP band called "Accademia Hermans" (currently recording on Brilliant Classics), I did find this disk:



http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Accademia-Hermans-Fabio-Ciofini/dp/B00BF90MLW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436563305&sr=8-1&keywords=accademia+hermans

Released by a small label (La Bottega Discantica), I figure out it won't be easy to get.

Anyway, it's available through Apple Music and Spotify... at least. 

[Wakefield]

I believe this recent re-release is interesting enough to be noticed among the endless ocean of re-releases and repackings:



7 CDs
Ricercar, DDD, 2002-2007

Content:
+Gretry: Flötenkonzert C-Dur; Arien & Tanz-Divertissements aus Cephale et Procris; Les Deux Avares; Anacreon chez Polycrate; La Caravane du Caire
+Gossec: Symphonien op. 8 Nr. 1-3 & op. 12 Nr. 1, 3,5; Sinfonia concertante D-Dur; Sabinus-Ballettsuite
+Stamitz: Klarinettenkonzert B-Dur
+Kraus: Symphonie D-Dur (VB 143)
+Pieltain: Violinkonzert Nr. 3
+Gresnick: Sinfonia concertante B-Dur für Klarinette, Fagott, Orchester
+Lebrun: Oboenkonzert C-Dur
+Haydn: Symphonie Nr. 45, 82, 85, 86; Trompetenkonzert Es-Dur H7e: 1; Misera noi, misera Patria
+Beethoven: Symphonie Nr. 2
+Herold: Symphonie Nr. 2
+Arien von Salieri, Kreutzer, Gluck, Lemoye, JC Bach, Mehul, Herold, Spontini

Sophie Karthäuser, Jodie Devos, Jennifer Borghi, Eric Hoeprich, Les Agremens, Guy van Waas

[Gurn Blanston]

I believe this recent re-release is interesting enough to be noticed among the endless ocean of re-releases and repackings:



7 CDs
Ricercar, DDD, 2002-2007

Content:
+Gretry: Flötenkonzert C-Dur; Arien & Tanz-Divertissements aus Cephale et Procris; Les Deux Avares; Anacreon chez Polycrate; La Caravane du Caire
+Gossec: Symphonien op. 8 Nr. 1-3 & op. 12 Nr. 1, 3,5; Sinfonia concertante D-Dur; Sabinus-Ballettsuite
+Stamitz: Klarinettenkonzert B-Dur
+Kraus: Symphonie D-Dur (VB 143)
+Pieltain: Violinkonzert Nr. 3
+Gresnick: Sinfonia concertante B-Dur für Klarinette, Fagott, Orchester
+Lebrun: Oboenkonzert C-Dur
+Haydn: Symphonie Nr. 45, 82, 85, 86; Trompetenkonzert Es-Dur H7e: 1; Misera noi, misera Patria
+Beethoven: Symphonie Nr. 2
+Herold: Symphonie Nr. 2
+Arien von Salieri, Kreutzer, Gluck, Lemoye, JC Bach, Mehul, Herold, Spontini

Sophie Karthäuser, Jodie Devos, Jennifer Borghi, Eric Hoeprich, Les Agremens, Guy van Waas

Oh, yes indeed! I have 2 disks of the Haydn, which also contain the Kraus symphony and the LeBrun oboe concerto, and I can say they are very fine indeed. The other 2 Haydn works alone would make it a great buy for me, not to mention all the other rarely recorded items in there!  Thanks for pointing this out, Gordo!

[Brian]

Hey everybody: I'm curious how many classical-era symphonies BEGIN with a funeral march?

[Gurn Blanston]

Hey everybody: I'm curious how many classical-era symphonies BEGIN with a funeral march?

I don't pretend to have an answer, Brian, although I might be able to dig something up. AFAIK, it's pretty much a French thing, whether at the beginning or elsewhere. The current belief that Beethoven modeled his violin concerto and 3rd symphony on French models (they are nearly contemporaneous), seems to me to be buttressed by his Marche Funèbre, albeit in the second movement. In the first half of the 19th century, music of all genres is replete with funeral marches. Echoing life, I suppose.