What are you listening to now?

[Karl Henning]

Cheers, Harry & Karlo!

[Cato]

Bernat Vivancos – REQUIEM
Latvian Radio Choir
Sigvards Klava, conductor

An excerpt from a review of a different CD:

...(His music is reminiscent of ) György Ligeti, the Hungarian composer, whose "Lux Aeterna" was memorably used in the film "2001: A space odyssey". Messiaen's choral works also echo. But whereas Ligeti and Messiaen were prone to unpleasant quirks—try listening to the whole of Ligeti's "Drei Phantasien Nach Friedrich Hölderlin"—"Blanc" seems to remain good-natured. The lively "Gloria" of the four-part "Messe aux sons des cloches" ("Mass with the sounds of the bells") even has a bluesy tinge.

I suspect that most people, even those not normally disposed to classical music, will like this record. But it is challenging. The music demands your attention, but almost anyone can appreciate its beauty. That is precisely the direction in which modern classical music should be going.

See:

https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/02/music-bernat-vivancos

[San Antone]

An excerpt from a review of a different CD:

See:

https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/02/music-bernat-vivancos

Vivancos is indeed an interesting composer.  I first came across his music in 2015 but he rolled off my radar screen until this morning.  I was listening to Part's Te Deum and searched my own blog for what I'd written about his music and, lo and behold, there I found my own little blurb about Vivancos (where Part was mentioned in passing).

I sincerely hope his music receives more attention and recordings in the future.

[Karl Henning]

Hoy, Cato!

Thread Duty:

Дмитрий Дмитриевич [ Dmitri Dmitriyevich (Shostakovich) ]
Струнный квартет № 1 До мажор, соч. 49 [ String Quartet № 1 in C, Opus 49 ] (1938)
The Emerson String Quartet

[asin]B000F3T7RE[/asin]

[North Star]

Cheers, Harry & Karlo!

G'day, Karl & al.

I may pull the trigger on both tomorrow.  (Of course, I still have something of a backlog of Martinů recordings to catch up with.)

A very pleasant problem to have.

[Todd]

Without really trying, I've managed to collect nine sets of the Brahms Cello Sonatas.  To be sure, some were bought very much on purpose - the Sung-Won Yang set, for instance - but others were acquired because they are included in big boxes.  Three of my sets are from Pierre Fournier, and all three were acquired this way.  Anyway, I do like the pieces, so I figured I should work through my accidental collection.

I decided to start with the newest set for me from Henri Demarquette and Michel Dalberto.  This 2008 release from Warner includes the two Cello Sonatas proper, plus a transcription of the Op 78 Violin Sonata.  It opens with the Second.  The music hits with gale force.  Dalberto, a pianist who typically favors a hard-hitting style, bashes the listener's ears with his overpowering Yamaha and Demarquette blasts his 1697 Cappa Cello.  The Allegro vivace almost becomes an Allegro feroce.  Both players have what it takes to keep everything firmly under control, but this is not a romantic take; this is a War Sonata.  Things back off in the Adagio affettuoso, though here Dalberto still manages to thunder.  The Allegro passionato and Allegro molto both maintain a very full-blooded approach.

The transcribed Op 78 sounds a bit more relaxed and fluid at times, though loud passages still sound hefty, with Dalberto powering out the loudest passages as well as anyone.  I prefer the original version, but this entertains.

The First Sonata finishes the disc.  The Allegro non troppo starts off more relaxed and contemplative, and cruises along for a few minutes in such a way, but then the duo belt it out.  Here, the effect works a bit better at creating musical contrasts, but it is still very much on the robust side.  The Allegretto quasi minuetto is lighter and almost playful in the outer sections and nicely lyrical in the trio.  The Allegro ends on a energetic and occasionally forceful note.

The recording, made in the excellent sounding Metz Arsenal, sounds fully modern and a bit unforgiving and perhaps a touch too close.

[Karl Henning]

A very pleasant problem to have.

You speak sooth!

[Cato]

Hoy, Cato!

Howdy, Karl, and Everyone else!

You speak sooth!

In sooth he doth thpeak the thooth!


Earlier today, a work by Karl Henning which will receive a second performance in 2018 (right?):

https://www.youtube.com/v/H1GX6gAmom8

The music and (maybe especially) the text (by yours truly) caused a soprano to dive under her bed and suck her thumb!

[Harry]

Cheers, Harry & Karlo!

Good day to you Karl

[Mirror Image]

G'day, all!

Now playing:

[North Star]

Continuing with the second half of this now, left over from last night
Sospiri d'amanti - arias and concertos
Nuria Rial
Artemandoline
[asin]B00QXYWBG8[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Earlier today, a work by Karl Henning which will receive a second performance in 2018 (right?):

https://www.youtube.com/v/H1GX6gAmom8

The music and (maybe especially) the text (by yours truly) caused a soprano to dive under her bed and suck her thumb!

In October, yes.  It is not yet known if her thumb has recovered  0:)

[Todd]

Disc one.

[Karl Henning]

Chopin
Ballade № 1 in g minor, Op.23 (B.66)
Владимир Давидович [ Vladimir Davidovich (Ashkenazy) ]

[Mirror Image]

G'day, all!

Now playing:

This was a fantastic performance all-around. Dare I say it's one of Slatkin's best performances? Okay...I dare!

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli:

[Karl Henning]

Busoni
Berceuse élégiaque, Op.42 (BV 252a)
BBC Phil
Järvi

[anothername]

[Brian]

First listen to this album:

[Mahlerian]

Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610
Boston Baroque, dir. Pearlman
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