What are you listening to now?

Started by Dungeon Master, February 15, 2013, 09:13:11 PM

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Que

Quote from: Florestan on September 22, 2019, 12:35:33 AM
Could you please detail?

I prefer the Italian(ate) approach, his sounds very British to my ears... 8)
Particularly apparent in the (chorsl) singing. But it fits in with a the British tradition of Vivaldi interpretations by Pinnock, Hogwood et al.

Q

Florestan

Quote from: Que on September 22, 2019, 12:47:18 AM
I prefer the Italian(ate) approach, his sounds very British to my ears... 8)
Particularly apparent in the (chorsl) singing. But it fits in with a the British tradition of Vivaldi interpretations by Pinnock, Hogwood et al.

Q

Thanks. What is funny, though, is that I mistook that box for this:



which I'm halfway through.  :D

(I also have the King set --- hence the error --- but haven't listened to it yet.)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Madiel

Quote from: Florestan on September 22, 2019, 12:26:08 AM
The sacred music is his best kept secret, imho. And that box is superb.

The thing is, the best part of the Naive series so far has been a couple of the albums of the sacred music.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

SimonNZ

#142343


Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli - Theobald Schrems, cond.

I love and am a staunch defender of a great many of the Archiv "yellows" - but this 1961 album is a very very dated and uncertain approach, to such an extent that I thought it must have been the first recording and they were largely flying blind, but it appears there was an earlier 1954 recording on Philips:


San Antone

Christopher Rouse: Flute Concerto
Alan Gilbert / Sharon Bezaly


Florestan

Quote from: Madiel on September 22, 2019, 12:56:04 AM
The thing is, the best part of the Naive series so far has been a couple of the albums of the sacred music.

How about the operas series? Have you listened to any of them, and if yes how are they?
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Que

#142346
This recording I picked up as a gamble 2nd hand. A special issue by the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum in Innbruck, Austria, sounds like an oddity. But the ensemble Affetti Musicali with Marianne Rônez and Ernst Kubitschek, known from recordings on Winter&Winter, won me over.



Florestan already foretold wonderful music, and indeed it is! :)
This is matched by absolutely beatiful performances in an excellent recording, which makes me wonder why this recording hasn't been picked up by a proper record label for reissue?

Anyway, for me this recording leaves little reason to investigate the alternative Letzbor recording (ARCANA), although that would undoubtedly be an excellent option as well.  :)

Q

Madiel

#142347
Quote from: Florestan on September 22, 2019, 01:35:45 AM
How about the operas series? Have you listened to any of them, and if yes how are they?

Yes I've listened to a few of the operas. I'm going completely in the order of the volumes as Naive now lists them, so 3 operas so far: L'Olimpiade, La verita in cimento and Orlando finto pazzo.

But to be honest I'm not a great person to ask about operas. Especially not when I'm just having them on as... well, basically as background music. Streaming opera albums without libretti and with only a faint idea of the plot is not really a good method if you ask me.

But the music making is fairly consistently energetic and colourful, I can say that much. I've read some of the reviews of the opera albums which I've listened to, which have generally been positive reviews, and there's a pattern of fast, dramatic approaches to the music. This seems to be the way to do Vivaldi these days, and frankly if that's a way of making it entertaining I'm not going to complain about it.

I noticed that some of the booklets for the operas (ones later in the series) are available to preview online, and the presentation was quite impressive. At some point I will have to decide if I'm mad enough to buy some of them so that I can sit down and follow the libretti, an act at a time the way you should... with the risk that I'll then realise that it's opera and I'm still not that much of a fan of opera.  ;D

EDIT: I haven't yet got up to any of the "opera arias" albums. These seemed a bit odd until I read a bit more about Vivaldi's way of working and the library collection that the whole series of albums is based on. There are actually sets of arias (in some cases all that's left of a particular opera) that Vivaldi took around with him, partly as a potential calling card and partly so that he could drop a handy aria into a production. There were no qualms about putting a hit song into the middle of a work in those days.

SECOND EDIT: I do get the impression that Vivaldi was a composer unlikely to let a "plot" get in the way of a tune. I don't know if that makes him my kind of opera composer or not...
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Florestan

Quote from: Madiel on September 22, 2019, 02:18:27 AM
Yes I've listened to a few of the operas. I'm going completely in the order of the volumes as Naive now lists them, so 3 operas so far: L'Olimpiade, La verita in cimento and Orlando finto pazzo.

But to be honest I'm not a great person to ask about operas. Especially not when I'm just having them on as... well, basically as background music. Streaming opera albums without libretti and with only a faint idea of the plot is not really a good method if you ask me.

But the music making is fairly consistently energetic and colourful, I can say that much. I've read some of the reviews of the opera albums which I've listened to, which have generally been positive reviews, and there's a pattern of fast, dramatic approaches to the music. This seems to be the way to do Vivaldi these days, and frankly if that's a way of making it entertaining I'm not going to complain about it.

I noticed that some of the booklets for the operas (ones later in the series) are available to preview online, and the presentation was quite impressive. At some point I will have to decide if I'm mad enough to buy some of them so that I can sit down and follow the libretti, an act at a time the way you should... with the risk that I'll then realise that it's opera and I'm still not that much of a fan of opera.  ;D

Thanks. Interesting --- and funny.

I never follow the libretto while listening, I just go with the flow. Given that many (most?) opera libretti, especially Baroque ones, are rubbish, knowing exactly what's going on isn't that important to me. I treat the voice as just another instrument and wallow in the sound. It might not be the best approach, but it works for me. With the famous operas a synopsis read before listening will do just fine, my Italian is serviceable enough and I speak French fluently --- provided the performers' diction is decent, which is not always the case.  :)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Cato

Quote from: Florestan on September 22, 2019, 12:26:08 AM
The sacred music is his (i.e. Vivaldi's) best kept secret, imho. And that box is superb.

Concerning a composer's sacred music being a "best kept secret"...

https://www.youtube.com/v/TrcAzm6ntT8

Franz von Suppe' would be 200 years old this year.
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Madiel

Quote from: Florestan on September 22, 2019, 02:28:24 AM
Thanks. Interesting --- and funny.

I never follow the libretto while listening, I just go with the flow. Given that many (most?) opera libretti, especially Baroque ones, are rubbish, knowing exactly what's going on isn't that important to me. I treat the voice as just another instrument and wallow in the sound. It might not be the best approach, but it works for me. With the famous operas a synopsis read before listening will do just fine, my Italian is serviceable enough and I speak French fluently --- provided the performers' diction is decent, which is not always the case.  :)

Well then, Vivaldi will give you vocal fireworks and fairly nonsensical plots in Italian. Should be perfect.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Madiel

Sibelius, some orchestral works from 1912/13:

The orchestral version of the song Duke Magnus (op.57/6)
Two Serenades for violin and orchestra, op.69
The Bard, op.64
Luonnotar, op.70

I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Que

More from this set:

[asin]B072ZQ1HNZ[/asin]
Disc 5 has a complete suite, 8 fugues and some miscellaneous pieces.

Q


Harry

Quote from: Que on September 22, 2019, 03:26:28 AM
More from this set:

[asin]B072ZQ1HNZ[/asin]
Disc 5 has a complete suite, 8 fugues and some miscellaneous pieces.

Q

I may assume that you are quite content with this set?
Quote from Manuel, born in Spain, currently working at Fawlty Towers.

" I am from Barcelona, I know nothing.............."

Traverso


Traverso

Quote from: "Harry" on September 22, 2019, 03:53:58 AM
I may assume that you are quite content with this set?

Happy birthday :)

Madiel

#142357
Streaming some selections from this Sibelius album.



EDIT: Noting that while this says it's the complete music for cello and piano, by the time the big BIS Sibelius Edition was in full swing they found plenty of other things to give world premiere recordings to.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Maestro267

Simpson: Symphony No. 8
Royal PO/Handley

aligreto

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on September 21, 2019, 02:20:34 PM


Some of the most delightful baroque concerti I know. Short but packed with lots of charm.

Those were my first Locatelli CD purchases many moons ago and I enjoyed them then and still do.