What are you listening to now?

[Irons]

Thread Duty:

David Morgan: Contrasts (again).

I find more and more in this comparatively short work. I think that Morgan's premature death was a great loss to music. In a way his modern but tonal music, from a young composer in the 1970s, was quite courageous I think. I find his tribute to Shostakovich both inspiriting and moving. I have listened to it about five times today, whilst wrapping Christmas presents.

Right. Contrasts this evening. I did not realise it was dedicated to Shostakovich. A sobering thought that without the Lyrita recording of his violin concerto and Contrasts, Morgan would be forgotten. The debt owed by British music to Richard Itter is large.

[San Antone]

It's interesting how closely Rebecca Stewart relates her singing practice to her spiritual practice. Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised really, but sometimes I see early music groups as just a bunch of professional performers, entertainers.  Rebecca Stewart definitely does not see what she does in those terms!

Mary Berry (Sister Thomas More) was another early music director whose approach could be seen similarly to Stewart's.  Berry's scholarship was in the Gregorian tradition and I am guessing that her approach to the performance of polyphony was informed by her knowledge of performance practice regarding chant. 

Ebb and flow would be an apt description.

Rebecca Stewart's association with Cappella Pratensis ended in 2002 and there seems to have been a stylistic change with her departure. 

TD

[Que]

Morning listening:



I've switched allegiances from Kuijken (HM) - very pretty, beautifully sung, but very much with a high Baroque feel to it - to this recording by Bernius.

Q

[Irons]

Bartok: Violin Concerto No. 1 [Stern/Ormandy]





This is hugely intense music given a hugely intense performance here. I find the contrapuntal scoring in the first movement to be oftentimes dense but the the performance and recording deliver clear, distinguishable lines. The mood is sombre and grave, sometimes forlorn and poignant but always passionate and atmospheric.

I know what you mean regarding "dense". I found the Bartok VC, like most of his output, creeps up on you. After many plays I now love the work, but it didn't start off like that.

Edit: Realize now the 1st not the more famous 2nd featured. My comments are directed at the second concerto.

[Irons]

Previn made some cracking records in the 1970's but this isn't one of them. He misses the special Sibelius idiom of dark forests and huge lakes. More Tchaikovsky then Sibelius which I guess has some currency as the latter was influenced by the former. I was expecting fireworks in the build-up to the big tune in the finale but instead it was just loud.

[Que]

Second disc:

[asin]B00LAN01QO[/asin]
I'm not going to fill my shelves with recorded music by Carl Friedrich Abel, but this is a nice enough set with music for the drawing room for him and his pupil, the Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery.

Review by Johan van Veen: http://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/Hyperion_CDA68045_Archiv_481-0926_Coviello_COV91411.html

Q

[cilgwyn]

On now. Cd 1 of this 3 cd set. The Martinu symphony,much as I love it,was a bit much at circa,midnight,after a lager;so I put this on,instead. I got this & the early,Alan Rowlands set of John Ireland's piano music,coutesy of Lyrita's Black Friday 50% off sale. These recording made between 1959 and 1965,are in mono,but wonderfully atmospheric. These were originall released on 3 Lp's & are amongst the earliest Lyrita issues. A fourth Lp of shorter pieces was never released,for some reason;and this box set,provides the first opportunity to hear them. The recordings were made in Richard Itter's music room. Iris Loveridge really gets to the soul of this music like no other,imho. The mono tape recordings only add to the atmosphere of some of the more introverted,gloomy pieces. I do find it strange that there is nothing about the pianist in the booklet provided. Yes,you can find out about her online;but it does seem an odd oversight. Iris Loveridge isn't exactly a household name these days,and I think it would have been nice to have written something about her. Anyway,perhaps there is some,justifiable reason for this? Grumbling aside,this is a wonderful release. I love Bax's piano music,and I wouldn't be without this set. It might even be my first port of call,for this,oft overlooked,aspect of Bax's prolific output. The mono sound is very clear. A slight,background tape hiss audible.

[Madiel]

I've been dabbling in works of Frank Bridge sporadically today.

Now, 3 Improvisations for the Left Hand.



Bebbington really is first class in this repertoire.

[Traverso]

Sweelinck

The Secular Works

[Mandryka]

Mary Berry (Sister Thomas More) was another early music director whose approach could be seen similarly to Stewart's.  Berry's scholarship was in the Gregorian tradition and I am guessing that her approach to the performance of polyphony was informed by her knowledge of performance practice regarding chant. 

Ebb and flow would be an apt description.

Rebecca Stewart's association with Cappella Pratensis ended in 2002 and there seems to have been a stylistic change with her departure. 

TD

Yes possibly Mary Berry. She is supposed to have had some major radical ideas about how to sing chant, to do with flexibility of rhythms, but I've not been able to find out much about it. I have a little book she wrote on chant, but it's not been a great help really.

Speaking to Martin Erhardt has been quite revealing because there's clearly a little world of musicians who all worked with Rebecca Stewart and saw her as a sort of guru. He taught with her at one time, he said.  All the groups on his website seem to be part of this circle, and seem to be very good committed inspired etc.  Germany/Holland/Denmark is so active in early music right now, it's not easy to get to know about all the things that go on there, not concerts, but ideas. I once joked with Bjorn Schmelzer that anyone who's interested in this area had better learn to read Dutch - but it may have been a true word spoken in jest!

[Mandryka]

This is so good, and it shows that a good clavichord player can make even the most flamboyant virtuosic music work well, very well, on the instrument. I hope that Giovanni da Cecco will record the Bach partitas one day using a clavichord - it will be a revelation!

Or maybe . . . music which was primarily intended for organ works better on clavichord than music which is essentially for harpsichord . . . something to think about there . .  .

[Que]

.[asin]B001E1TG5E[/asin]
Allesandro Scarlatti: Messa per il Santissimo Natale

Q

[Que]

This is so good, and it shows that a good clavichord player can make even the most flamboyant virtuosic music work well, very well, on the instrument. I hope that Giovanni da Cecco will record the Bach partitas one day using a clavichord - it will be a revelation!

Or maybe . . . music which was primarily intended for organ works better on clavichord than music which is essentially for harpsichord . . . something to think about there . .  .

Interesting! I also have quite a soft spot for these transcriptions.

Q

[Traverso]

 Le Temps de L'Amour Courtois

CD 3

[aligreto]

Scarlatti: Sonatas [Ross]





What to choose from this wonderful box set? Today is the 24th of December so I scientifically chose CD No. 24 which includes Sonatas Kk 372-391.

[aligreto]

An incredibly 'ahead of its time' work. I know that is a bit of a meaningless concept but the excellent 'Singuliere' sounds like a much later work.

Meaningless or not I understand exactly what you mean and I am in agreement with you on that.

[Christo]

A little gem, the Suite for Oboe and Strings (1924) - the opening Overture uncannily reminiscent of the opening of Holst's 1923 Fugal Concerto - by Robin Milford (1903-1959), a composer with a tragic life:
https://www.youtube.com/v/GQOae9XRLuY

[aligreto]

I know what you mean regarding "dense". I found the Bartok VC, like most of his output, creeps up on you. After many plays I now love the work, but it didn't start off like that.

Edit: Realize now the 1st not the more famous 2nd featured. My comments are directed at the second concerto.

The same comments would readily apply to both works for me.

[JBS]

First listen
[asin]B07HNFBCPB[/asin]
So far, quite good.

[Biffo]

Bach: Magnificat in D - The Sixteen, The Symphony of Harmony and Invention and soloists directed by Harry Christophers