What are you listening to now?

[ritter]

Monique Haas plays Ravel.

CD 6 of this set:

[asin]B000QFBW5G[/asin]
Miroirs, Jeux d'eau, Pavane..., Menuet antique,both the À la manilère... pieces, the Haydn minuet and Ma mère l'Oye (w. Ina Marika as second pianist)

[Roasted Swan]

You make William Wallace sound interesting. I have heard the name but that's all.

As usual - an insightful and accurate assessment of a disc from Andre.  To add my two pennyworth, of the pair of discs devoted to Wallace that Hyperion produced I think the 1st one;

[asin]B000002ZXC[/asin]

is the more instantly appealing.  Everything that Andre says about the tantalisingly-titled "Creation Symphony" is true in terms of form and conception - but the result is not as impressive.  These tone poems are more standard perhaps in their execution but a pleasurable listen if a bit literal.

[pi2000]

Brahms Violin Concerto
Ida Haendel Sergiu Celibidache/LSO
from here
[asin]B07MWZ5NK1[/asin]

[Irons]

On a Miaskovsky binge at present. The first two string quartets share the same opus so guess written about the same time. Yet I found the 1st uneventful and the more concise 2nd superb.



The monumental 22nd Symphony is cast from musical granite. It is obvious from the performance that Svetlanov loves this music to his fingertips. Miaskovsky was a fastidious man which is evident in his music - there is a story that when sharing a picnic with Prokofiev, the latter teased him by scattering egg-shells on the ground. Miaskovsky could not abide this so dug small holes and buried the egg-shells! - It comes as something of a shock that Miaskovsky lets his hair down in the finale with a good old Russian knees-up. I didn't see that coming!

[Que]

TD, Third listen.
Pietro Vinci.
Secondo Libro di Ricercari a tre voci & Primo Libro della Musica a due voci.
Diego Cannizzaro, plays on a Giuseppe Speradeo organ from 1666, nella Chiesa di San Pantaleone in Alcara Li Fusi, Messina.
Pitch: LA3 = 415 HZ. Temperament: Mesotonico regolare.
Restored in 2000.

An absolute gem to me.

Wishlisted! 

Q

[Harry]

TD, Thirdlisten.
Johann Gottlieb Janitsch.
Sonate da Camera, Volume I.
Notturna, Christopher Palameta.

An absolute fine series, very much enjoyed by me. The music is something that makes you very happy indeed, with such levels of excellence.

[pi2000]

Bruch Violin Concerto 1
Silvia Marcovici
Ida Haendel
from here
[asin]B07MWZ5NK1[/asin]
[asin]B07Q4477QR[/asin]

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all

Malcolm Arnold - symphony No. 2 (Penny cycle - Naxos)

[Papy Oli]

George Lloyd - symphonies No.1 & 12
(Lloyd / Albany SO)

[prémont]

TD, Third listen.
Pietro Vinci.
Secondo Libro di Ricercari a tre voci & Primo Libro della Musica a due voci.
Diego Cannizzaro, plays on a Giuseppe Speradeo organ from 1666, nella Chiesa di San Pantaleone in Alcara Li Fusi, Messina.
Pitch: LA3 = 415 HZ. Temperament: Mesotonico regolare.
Restored in 2000.

An absolute gem to me.

Yes, I also found this CD overwhelming in every respect.

[Biffo]

Bax: Symphony No 1 in E flat major - BBC Philharmonic conducted by Vernon Handley

[Harry]

TD, Third listen.
Andrea Antico.
Frottole Intabulate, Libro primo 1517.
Maria Luisa Baldassari plays on a Clavichord, Harpsichord and a beautiful Vincenzo Colombo organ from 1533, (Casale Monferrato Venezia. Chiesa del SS. Corpo di Christo in Valvasone.
Pitch: A=485 Hz. Meantone tuning 1/4 comma. Restored to the original register disposition.

Tactus is releasing an endless stream of fine Keyboard recordings. This is definitely one of them.  All historical instruments. The organ has me in utter rapture, perfectly restored with a very sweet sound to it. And that goes for the rest of the instruments used too. Smashing recording too. Baldassari was unknown to me, but she is one of the finest organists I heard so far.

[Mandryka]

TD, Third listen.
Pietro Vinci.
Secondo Libro di Ricercari a tre voci & Primo Libro della Musica a due voci.
Diego Cannizzaro, plays on a Giuseppe Speradeo organ from 1666, nella Chiesa di San Pantaleone in Alcara Li Fusi, Messina.
Pitch: LA3 = 415 HZ. Temperament: Mesotonico regolare.
Restored in 2000.

An absolute gem to me.

I haven't heard that one, but I know he wrote a couple of nice masses.

[Harry]

TD. Third listen.
Stylus Phantasticus, und lied variationen bis Bach.
Gerhard Gnann, Organ. ( Riegner & Friedrich in Riegel, (Freiburg)

Gnann is in topform on this CD. He lets the music speak! Sound of the organ is superb as is the recording.
Perfect.

[Mandryka]

This is a very small ensemble of men, no countertenor, nearly all a capella - almost as a capella as Gothic Voices. The music's all well chosen, rare. It's well recorded, loads of space between the singers, there's a good ambience, a sense of the hall, very clear polyphony, they don't form the notes in a loud way. This all is good. The harmonies seem a bit white note, the sound reminds me a bit of Diabolus in Musica, better IMO.

[Papy Oli]

Ralph Vaughan Williams - symphony no.3
From the EMI edition (Handley IIRC)

[André]

Brahms Violin Concerto
Ida Haendel Sergiu Celibidache/LSO
from here
[asin]B07MWZ5NK1[/asin]

Haendel is still alive. I don't know if she performs anymore, but when I last heard her a few years ago she displayed amazing command and, yes, physical strength. She is easily the most impresssive violinist I have had the chance to hear. When she plays it is like a priestess performing a sacred rite.

I suspect her physical appearance may have played a role in her gradual fading out from the heavily marketed solo scene from the 1980s onward. It is a real shame. The local (Montreal) music critic Claude Gingras, who died this year at 87 was a lifelong friend of Haendel's. He wrote many years ago that she was still upset about a critic that started with a disparaging comment on her physical looks. 

I can still see and hear her in my mind playing the Bruch g minor concerto (it was around 1977 if memory serves). She had a magnetic presence. Hard to explain, but once experienced, never forgotten.

[Brian]

First-ever listen to Dvorak's Saint Ludmila, one of the few major mature works by the composer that I haven't heard yet:

[Madiel]

First-ever listen to Dvorak's Saint Ludmila, one of the few major mature works by the composer that I haven't heard yet:

I'll be interested in your reactions.

[Harry]

What an amazing piece Johann Sebastian Bach wrote when he penned down the Toccata in C  BWV564. (Toccata ex Pedaliter) I cannot get enough of it. Moves me greatly. Gerhard Gnann plays it with so much feeling for the melody line, in a quiet way, never overstressing the notes, but lets it flow...