What are you listening to now?

[Madiel]

Tonight's piano selection, drawn from my new discs:

Dvorak, Two Furiants, op.42 (Poroshina)
Medtner, Three Arabesques, op.7 (Milne)
Schubert, Four Impromptus, D.899 (Brendel)
Prokofiev, Five Sarcasms, op.17 (Raekallio)

I was in fact halfway through before I realised what was unfolding. Completely unplanned.

[Que]

Morning listening:

[asin]B00BGJ5BNK[/asin]

When introduced to this set, I commented on recordings by The Sound and the Fury as "hit or miss". And my point of view hasn't changed. Their recordings can be very frustrating for that reason. I am happy to report to Draško, Mandryka and other watchers of this ensemble that this set is somewhat of a (qualified) hit.....
Caveats: live recording, several rough edges...balance issues, not so neat ensemble work, hooty countertenor...

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Firminius-Caron/Composer/172325-1

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/caron-masses-and-chansons

http://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/frabernardo_fb1207302.html[/quote]

PS After listening to this again, I feel that I am growing weary of Peres' "Byzantine" approach in post Medieval music...

Me too.

Me three 

I also feel a bit ambiguous concerning Graindelavoix for the same reason.

It is essentially the same conception.

I see I'm not alone in this... And agreed on all points, I havd avoided the Graindelavoix recordings for that reason.

Q

[The new erato]

The first issue in what is proving to be a very valuable series:

[asin]B011WH43M0[/asin]

[Que]

The first issue in what is proving to be a very valuable series:

[asin]B011WH43M0[/asin]

An Alessandro Scarlatti Stradella edition on ARCANA, I'm on it...

What fascinates me as well is that after ARCANA was revived by an Italian investment company that reissued the back catalogue, it now seems to be connected to Outhere Music and is producing new recordings.

[Que]

.[asin]B000J3DV68[/asin]
Q

[The new erato]

Well not Scarlatti though he is in need of his own series.

3 single disc issues so far, and 2 more announced for 2017. All very listenable.

[Drasko]

When introduced to this set, I commented on recordings by The Sound and the Fury as "hit or miss". And my point of view hasn't changed. Their recordings can be very frustrating for that reason. I am happy to report to Draško, Mandryka and other watchers of this ensemble that this set is somewhat of a (qualified) hit.....

Noted, thanks!




Tchaikovsky - Pique Dame
Z.Anjaparidze, T.Milashkina, V.Levko, Y.Mazurok, I.Arkhipova - Bolshoi Theatre - Boris Khaikin (1966)

[Spineur]

Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2
Seven Romances on Verses by Alexander Blok, Op. 127

from this recording:

+1
TD
[asin]B0013JZ4EE[/asin]

[Que]

Well not Scarlatti though he is in need of his own series.

3 single disc issues so far, and 2 more announced for 2017. All very listenable.

Oops! Not properly awake yet! 
Bummer... but no complaints about a Stradella series....

Q

[Que]

Tchaikovsky - Pique Dame
Z.Anjaparidze, T.Milashkina, V.Levko, Y.Mazurok, I.Arkhipova - Bolshoi Theatre - Boris Khaikin (1966)

Doesn't get any better IMO!

Q

[Mandryka]

hooty countertenor...

David Erler. In fact I prefer the recordings they made with him to the ones with Kristine Jaunalksne because they're muscular and give a strong impression of living, interactive responsive singing. Jaunalksne's got a nice voice but the performances seem colder to me -- one really clear point of comparison is their two recordings of the Ockeghem l'Homme Arme.

I havd avoided the Graindelavoix recordings for that reason.

Q

An obvious point to make is not all, indeed not most, of Scmelzer's recordings use Corsican or Byzantine singing, same for Peres.

The second thing to say is that both Peres and Schmelzer are doing it for a reasons: they want to make you feel uncomfortable because they think that very early polyphonic music sounded strange to the original audiences and that somehow, in a time when we're used to polyphony, their job as interpreter is to make us feel some strangeness too.

I think this second idea is not uninteresting, so basically I'm very glad Graindelavoix and EO are/were here. And from commercial recordings I've not found any alternative approaches which bring a feeling of strangeness in a more satisfactory way. There are some bootlegs of things which point to other strategies though  . . .

Finally I'd add that some of Schmelzer's recordings seem quite disappointing to me, especially the recent Machaut, but not because of the voices -- because of their decisions about how and where to inflect the music to make it expressive.

By the way, I know nothing about "the art of singing" so stuff to do with  ensemble or intonation I often just don't notice.

[Keep Going]

Rautavaara: Piano Concerto No. 1



A marvellous work, this is. The andante is particularly sublime, and is played wonderfully here by Gothoni.

[The new erato]

I just purchased all three discs in the concerto/trio series from Harmonia Mundi. First listen, and this is extremely good.

[asin]B01AMFCI2A[/asin]

I've always loved the wistful cello concerto.

[aligreto]

Sicut Moses, BuxWV 97
Passacaglia, BuxWV 161 [arranged fro strings by Mallon]

[SurprisedByBeauty]

#morninglistening to #Mozart w/Lennie & @BRSO on @dgclassics in the Great Mass to go with ... http://ift.tt/2gCfsCk
This still in conjunction with The Worst Mozart Biography Ever. Paul Johnson: «Mozart -- A Life»

[cilgwyn]

This is one of the best of the Abravanel cycle. I like this performance. Although,a little more mystery in the Nachtmusik would have helped it's cause. The sound quality is very good. Very clear. You can hear every detail. It is one of the best in the cycle in that respect. I collected a load of Abravanel recordings a while back;being fascinated by the idea of this man building an otherwise obscure band of musicians out in the desert into a familiar sight on record shop and library racks around the world. Klemperer's Seventh next!!

[aligreto]

Kyrie [Missa "La sol fa ee mi"] - Josquin des Prez

[San Antone]

I just purchased all three discs in the concerto/trio series from Harmonia Mundi. First listen, and this is extremely good.

[asin]B01AMFCI2A[/asin]

I've always loved the wistful cello concerto.

Yep, I've been touting this series for a little while.  The playing I find excellent but I also really like the couplings.

[Madiel]

Debussy, Preludes Book II

[asin]B00925T9LK[/asin]
What a good choice this set was.

[San Antone]

Bach : Cantatas - Gardiner



Ihr Menschen, et seq.