What are you listening to now?

[king ubu]

Agreed, superb set. Played the whole box three times.

Cheers Harry!

(Playing Chuck Berry now ... time to get those three Hip-O-Select sets compiling his Chess sides off the shelves.)

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Symphony No. 3, "Liturgique" from this outstanding recording:

[Drasko]

Act II - Fassbaender and Popp are in great voices and beautifully touching in presentation of the rose. Kleiber marshals the kerfuffle that is the most of the rest of that act with sparkle and brio.

[betterthanfine]

^ I've been wondering about that performance since I read about it in last month's Gramophone. How's the sound?

[asin]B00TG0BQ9E[/asin]

Listening to this right now, which I picked up second hand a while ago. Great performance with a visceral first movement!

[Mister Sharpe]

How curious modern music sounds after listening exclusively to things medieval for several weeks.  You should try it, though the return trip is not altogether pleasant I must say...it's a bit overwhelming, overdramatic, overly dense and overly self-conscious.  Over the top.  Considering a return to the plague, lice and Inquisition-ridden paradise...

[asin]B000028BFT[/asin]

I note that Biarent is not Grove-worthy.  As in not listed therein.  Wonder how many other composers I have CDs of who fail similarly to make that steep grade. 

[Mahlerian]

My Boulez Erato set finally arrived, and I dove right into the deep end of post-war modernism:

Dufourt: Antphysis; Ferneyhough: Funerailles I and II; Harvey: Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco; Holler: Arcus
Ensemble Intercontemporain, cond. Boulez (and Eotvos for the last one)


Donatoni: Tema, Cadeau, Ligeti: Etudes (Book 1), Horn Trio
Ensemble Intercontemporain, cond. Boulez, Pierre-Laurent Aimard


I wanted to go for the least familiar music here (which this is, other than the Ligeti pieces).

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Cantata BWV 78 "Jesu, der du meine Seele" [Herreweghe]....

[Mandryka]

Wolfgang Rübsam plays the final few pieces from WTC2. Very extended tempos, complete independence of voices, expressive playing, not imposed on the music but spring quite naturally from it. Maybe the tempos are the best thing here, or rather the tempos and articulation together, because it's revealing of the sheer plethora of meaningful ideas in the music, I mean emotionally meaningful.

One thing he does, I think, is change the microphone placement to give each piece a distinct colour. The instrument is very warm, and sounds like several lutenists playing together.  The sound is as soulful as any keyboard  instrument I've ever heard, as poetic as  Rampe's clavichord and Leonhardt's Flemish harpsichord.

This is a WTC which demands to be listened to - you can't just let it take play an anodyne rôle in the background. The most interesting WTC 2 since Leonhardt's, including from Egarr and Weiss.

(Rubsam's cantabile has something in common with Egarr's - something to explore there.)

[HIPster]

Outstanding recital of Neapolitan music here by Margret Koll, focusing on the Spanish influence. I'd noticed before in Veronique Musson-Gonneaud's CD how well Cabezon sounds on harp, better than on keyboard IMO, and that's conformed here. It's something to do with the colours and the gentleness, the refinement, of the instrument.

There are some impressive large toccatas by Mayone and Trabaci - I was more impressed by the Mayone here than on any other recital I've heard, but that could be just me - I'll revisit Chritopher Stembridge's Mayone soon.

There's a lovely piece by a composer I can't remember coming across before called Francesco Lombardo.

Thanks for posting this. 

I'll add that to the wishlist - alongside this recording:

[asin]B019HVPAFW[/asin]

Are you familiar with it?

Thread duty:

Various this morning ~

[asin]B00004ZBJS[/asin]

[asin]B00004ZBJL[/asin]

[asin]B011JG5LRK[/asin]

[aligreto]

Buxtehude: Jesu, meine Freude, BuxWV 60 [Purcell Quartet + LeBlanc/Kirkby/Harvey]....





Beautifully performed and sung. The music is gentle and devotional in tone [and also inventive] and the performance adequately reflects this.

[aligreto]

[asin]B00004ZBJL[/asin]

Any comments to offer on this one?

[James]

Decided not to dumb things down in creating that playlist for this person who's game for a deeper musical experience, something other than pop music ... i settled on 3 complete works in truly fine performance, by the 3 titans of western music. JS Bach (Goldberg Variations, Gould 1954), Beethoven (Eroica Symphony, BPO/Cluytens 1958), Mozart (PC 21, Brendel/Marriner 1981).  The onus will be on this guy to engage or not. See how it goes, and if good .. we'll go on with future playlists. Listening & reviewing now ..

[Zeus]

I'll add that to the wishlist - alongside this recording:

I think that L'arpa Barberini is an excellent album. Strongly recommended.

[cilgwyn]

I'm listening to this now. I like Spohr. Gorgeous orchestration. He has his own very distinctive soundworld once you get to know it. He knows what he's doing. A very satisfying composer to listen to,imho! I think Howard Griffiths recordings of his symphonies are superb and make you realise just how good this music is. These are two of his best. Great Cpo artwork,as usual!

[Spineur]

Félicien David, chamber music, Quatuor Mosaïques and friends

[asin]B004NQ92D8[/asin]

Beautiful although not as original as Le Désert, or Herculanum

The portrait of Félicien David @25 with the Saint-Simonian scarf, is by Gaston Bonheur and can be found in the Museum of Art and History, Saint Denis, France

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Decided not to dumb things down in creating that playlist for this person who's game for a deeper musical experience, something other than pop music ... i settled on 3 complete works in truly fine performance, by the 3 titans of western music. JS Bach (Goldberg Variations, Gould 1954), Beethoven (Eroica Symphony, BPO/Cluytens 1958), Mozart (PC 21, Brendel/Marriner 1981).  The onus will be on this guy to engage or not. See how it goes, and if good .. we'll go on with future playlists. Listening & reviewing now ..

Excellent choices. I find that's the way to go: Not to sell classical music as something other than it is, but obviously start with the ones that are most easily leading down the road of seduction.

Here's something along those lines I did a few years ago:

How To Build A Top Quality Classical Music Library For $100



Includes, along your lines, LvB4 (Vanska), Bach Concerto italiaens (Tharaud), and for Mozart some symphonies (Szell).

Have been toying with the idea of/planning on the "2nd $100" for years; Gould's GVs are in the projected top-slot there.

TD: Also some chandler baroque:


#morninglistening to @LaSerenissimaUK/@AvieRec:

http://a-fwd.to/1U50Uhf
"The Italian Job... http://ift.tt/2ntbnEN

[aligreto]

Vivaldi: Salve Regina RV 618 [Negri]....





A wonderful work that is expertly executed and interpreted. The direct, assertive approach of Negri pays wonderful dividends in this performance.

[aligreto]

I'm listening to this now. I like Spohr. Gorgeous orchestration. He has his own very distinctive soundworld once you get to know it. He knows what he's doing. A very satisfying composer to listen to,imho! I think Howard Griffiths recordings of his symphonies are superb and make you realise just how good this music is. These are two of his best. Great Cpo artwork,as usual!

I have his Clarinet Concertos and some chamber music in my collection but none of his symphonies.....

[Mandryka]

Thanks for posting this. 

I'll add that to the wishlist - alongside this recording:

[asin]B019HVPAFW[/asin]

Are you familiar with it?

Not yet.

[Florestan]

Vivaldi: Salve Regina RV 618 [Negri]....





A wonderful work that is expertly executed and interpreted. The direct, assertive approach of Negri pays wonderful dividends in this performance.

Funny coincidence! Last night I've been listening to



and had it not been for the less-than-perfect Latin diction (read: incomprehensible most of the time if one didn't know the texts by heart), it would have been perfect. 

A comparison with Robert King is in order one of these days.