What are you listening to now?

[listener]

Frank MARTIN: CENDRILLON (CINDERELLA. ASCHENBRÖDEL)
soloists, Orchestre de la Haute école de musique de Genève
Gabor Takács-Nagy, cond

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Symphony No. 2. One of my favorite Barber works. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief that Barber had this score destroyed or so he thought. I'm so thankful that this wasn't to be the case and it survived.

[kishnevi]

Watched this earlier tonight
[asin]B0000DI871[/asin]
Filmed in 2000 (at least, that's the copyright date)
Includes Nun komm der Heiden Heiland I BWV 61
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben BWV 147
Magnificat BWV 243
Stray observations
The men of the ASC wear tuxes, but the ladies are outfitted in frumpy black dresses with an AS monogram.
Harnoncourt does not use a baton, but does often emote and mouth the music, but in solo passages often is content to stand back and merely signal a general tempo.
Unusually in my experience, "Sicut locutus" in the Magnificat is sung by the five soloists, not the chorus. "Suscepit Israel" is sung by the three female soloists, not the women of the chorus, but that's something I have come across before. The nonchoral version of "Sicut" is new to me.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

There was a minor stink over this a few years ago and I think someone at MusicWeb made some inquiries and learned that many Nimbus/Wyastone discs, even new releases, are CD-Rs.

Ah, interesting. Hadn't heard anything about this, myself. Any idea who, or what, Wyastone is? EDIT: just googled Wyastone...so why CDRs I wonder....

[HIPster]

Rolf Lislevand and Co. play Vivaldi:

[asin]B000LE0TEC[/asin]

[The new erato]

Ah, interesting. Hadn't heard anything about this, myself. Any idea who, or what, Wyastone is? EDIT: just googled Wyastone...so why CDRs I wonder....

Small batch production, probably the only way to keep a diverse catalogue of small demand productions in print. Everything CD-R. Understandable, but the real stink is they don't make it all clear to customers.

[The new erato]

Thanks to Karl:



The Hindemith operas are really very fine.

[Madiel]

Understandable, but the real stink is they don't make it all clear to customers.

Yes, doing it is one thing. Hiding it is quite another.

THREAD DUTY: The Academic Festival Overture and the Tragic Overture.

[asin]B0149KEADY[/asin]

[SurprisedByBeauty]

#morninglistening to @KennethWoods' #HansGál en route to the @Elbphilharmonie where I hope... http://ift.tt/2iZHffb

[The new erato]

This, from the Bashmet box:



The viola concerto is a very fine work.

[aligreto]

Albinoni: Oboe Concerti Op. 7 Nos. 11 & 12....

[Que]

Morning listening - continuation of this set:



There is much to admire in these performances, but I have mixed feelings about the choosen approach....

Q

PS The same recording has later been reissued on Æon.

[aligreto]

Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia [L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Ansermet]....





A short but wonderfully orchestrated work given very fine treatment here.

[Que]

This just arrived, so I popped it in the CD player:



Note at medieval.org:

A program of French music for the Good Friday liturgy, with polyphony drawn from the tenth motet collection printed in Paris by Pierre Attaingnant (1534). In terms of performance practice, this recording represents a very welcome experiment in applying Eastern-style vocal techniques to western polyphony, apparently inspired by Marcel Pérès.

[Spineur]

This ensemble has a sound (very nice) of its own.  Very little vibrato, and great recording quality

[asin]B01K68918C[/asin]

[Harry]

This just arrived, so I popped it in the CD player:



Note at medieval.org:

A program of French music for the Good Friday liturgy, with polyphony drawn from the tenth motet collection printed in Paris by Pierre Attaingnant (1534). In terms of performance practice, this recording represents a very welcome experiment in applying Eastern-style vocal techniques to western polyphony, apparently inspired by Marcel Pérès.

Well of course I am very curious after your impression.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I haven't heard 1898 yet so I will start with this

[aligreto]

Haydn: Symphony No. 76 [Goodman]....

[Que]

Well of course I am very curious after your impression.

Morning Harry. 

Well sung and well recorded. The Eastern/Byzantine style is applied in moderation.
As a whole - with the music from the Attaignant publication - it doesn't quite win me over right a way. I reserve my judgement for another run.

Q

[Que]

This set arrived as well. And since I'm already familiar with Belder's Soler cycle, I went immediately for the bonus disc:

[asin]B00SKER31C[/asin]

Which turns out to be a rather tepid affair most of the time, with musically and emotionally measured playing.....

I have these concerti in a version for two harpsichords by Marju Vatsel and Jordi Reguant (La Mà de Guido).
Now, those performances are joyous, virtuosic and exuberant...
Pieter van Dijk's Sweelinck is excellent, but Soler obviously requires something else.

Q