What are you listening to now?

[Madiel]

Late Faure songs, isolates, taken from the Hyperion set of albums with Graham Johnson as accompanist.

Le don silencieux, op.92 (Jennifer Smith, whose wobbly tone is sadly the biggest downside of the series)
Chanson, op.94 (Stephen Varcoe)
C'est la paix, op.114 (Jennifer Smith)

Sad to say, as much as I love Faure I find some of the late songs pretty uninspiring. Maybe there are some other performances somewhere that give the music more shape. Ironically, the one of these I like the best is C'est la paix, and according to the liner notes Faure thought the poem, which was the winner of a newspaper competition and which he was obliged to set, was horrible.

[Madiel]

  This is MINDBLOWING!!!  This man is the Romantic J.S. Bach, small short pieces packed with so much lyrical variation and not to mention emotional power....it hit my heart hard..... The completist in me bought this in 2014 I had no idea what I bought at the time..... my God those Four Album leaves B.109 and Six piano pieces Op.52 on CD3 are TO DIE FOR! the motif that opens Op.52 No.2 is HAUNTINGLY DELIGHTFULLY PAINFUL...i had no idea Dvorak had so much in him. What's in store for me on CD4 and 5 I wonder?......

  [asin]B003XKDF0Q[/asin]

  marvin

Basically the best is yet to come. Well, that's my opinion anyway. The set is largely chronological and I think it generally gets better as Dvorak gets older.

[Madiel]

Schumann, 3 Gedichte, op.29

[asin]B003UW6WE8[/asin]
A duet, a trio and a 4-part ensemble with percussion, all to the poetry of Emanuel von Geibel. More entertaining than deep, but very enjoyable.

[Mandryka]

Yes, equal temperament. Unfortunately many of the greatest historical organs in Holland are equally tuned (Schnitger/Alkmaar, Müller/Harlem, Müller/Leeuwarden e.g.).

It's a credit to Beekman that he makes it sound so harmonically interesting. How do you change the temperament of an organ? Do you have to change the lengths of the pipes? found this article on tuning - it's quite a major undertaking!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_organ_tuning

[aligreto]

Vanhal: Sinfonia in C major [Grodd]....

[ludwigii]

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Piano Concertos No. 3 & 4

Andras Schiff
Staatskapelle Dresden
Bernard Haitink




Continuing with Schiff's integral, I'm appreciating its brilliance and precision, perhaps lacking a bit of lyricism.
Imperious entry of the piano in the Third concert, I had never listened to those scales so peremptory   

[Mirror Image]

To continue with Dvorak here too :

[asin]B0032Z1IG0[/asin]

A great disc!

[Harry]

More of this box, CD 15 & 16.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2017/12/locatelli-pietro-antonio-1695-1764_2.html?spref=tw

[Mirror Image]

Continuing the Stravinsky-a-thon: The Firebird

[Papy Oli]

A great disc!

very enjoyable indeed, MI.

[Todd]

The Schubert disc.

[Papy Oli]

A selection of Haydn trios by the B.A.T.

[asin]B00VL4Q0A8[/asin]

[aligreto]

Grieg String Quartet No. 2 [Oslo String Quartet]





Only the first two complete movements are included here.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I've always been a huge fan of Berlioz' Roméo et Juliette (the Shakespeare's play itself evokes mixed opinions in me) but this Davis recording freaking blew me away. Easily the greatest listening experience I've had with this work so far.

[aligreto]

I've always been a huge fan of Berlioz' Roméo et Juliette (the Shakespeare's play itself evokes mixed opinions in me) but this Davis recording freaking blew me away. Easily the greatest listening experience I've had with this work so far.

Davis does seem to have a special affinity with the music of Berlioz.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Davis does seem to have a special affinity with the music of Berlioz.

His Sibelius is great as well!

[HIPster]

Relistening :

[asin]B00B9S3OQO[/asin]

After an entire disc of Platti (HERE), this time 3 Platti cello sonatas (which seem the best of the bunch) and 3 Vivaldi sonatas.
Performances  by Sebastian Hess and Axel Wolf quite impress: a gentle but dynamic flow, well articulated.
The use of the lute and theorbo for the continuo part works really well.

If they record the remainder of the Vivaldi sonatas, which seems likely, count me in.... 

Q

Thanks, Que.  This looks mighty fine. 

[Mirror Image]

Davis does seem to have a special affinity with the music of Berlioz.

Indeed, but I prefer his Philips recordings. I do feel that Davis' best performances, of all that I've heard, have been in Berlioz. He really understands this composer's musical language.

[Todd]

[Mahlerian]

Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony
London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, cond. Boult
[asin]B00B2GYJ3U[/asin]

Never really cared much for this work.