What are you listening to now?

[The new erato]

Er . . . pardon?

Ironically, there seems to be only two volumes of Titz in print. I've searched unsuccessfully for the third.

[Karl Henning]

Now Préludes, Book II.

Who's the pianist, John? TIA 

[Florestan]

Ironically, there seems to be only two volumes of Titz in print. I've searched unsuccessfully for the third.

Try spotify for streaming.

[amw]

now in that stage where I really wish Mozart had written more music >.> (or at least more music at the level of these quintets)

[Mandryka]

Ironically, there seems to be only two volumes of Titz in print. I've searched unsuccessfully for the third.

The third may have gone titz up.

(that's my final "contribution" to this discussion, except to say that I listened to one movement of one of the quartets and it was most charming. )

[Mandryka]

now in that stage where I really wish Mozart had written more music >.> (or at least more music at the level of these quintets)

The problem I have is that just before he died he seems to have got into a sort of faux naive phase which I find really challenging. And yes, I too am enjoying the quintets again, thanks to you bringing them up.

[North Star]

Who's the pianist, John? TIA 

G'day, Karl! It's the Youri Egorov set in that box.

Thread-duty
Debussy
Suite bergamasque
Pour le piano
Livia Rev
(none of the Amazon reviews seems to be about this release)
[asin]B001B9W3FO[/asin]

[amw]

The problem I have is that just before he died he seems to have got into a sort of faux naive phase which I find really challenging. And yes, I too am enjoying the quintets again, thanks to you bringing them up.

His music always had breadth, melancholy, refinement, and almost no humour.... probably the last composer who could transform kitsch and cliché into "high art" without any sense of distance or irony. (Maybe that's Chopin, who had the same characteristics.) I think he always wrote with an ear to flatter his public, whose taste was not at the time for melancholy or art that conceals its artifice, and in 1791 the need for cash was especially strong. At least that's my charitable explanation for why I have a problem with eg Die Zauberflöte or the clarinet concerto at times, etc. Still, he probably would have worked it out of his system by 1795. Maybe I should try some Titz. (one might say...... a spritz of Titz??? ok, anyway. moving on)

[Judith]

Vasks: String Quartet No. 2 [Navarra Quartet]....







I remember a number of years ago when I attended a very memorable recital where the Navarra Quartet played this wonderful and exciting work and I subsequently bought this CD as soon as I possibly could.

Going to see them live this evening.

[Karl Henning]

G'day, Karl! It's the Youri Egorov set in that box.

Cheers, Karlo!  Thanks for the enlightenment  0:)

Very nice to see John enjoying some piano solo music, too!

[Karl Henning]

Going to see them live this evening.

Cool.  What's on the program, Judith?

[Florestan]

[Todd]

Leon McCawley's K282, from the only Mozart recording I own where a reverb vendor is mentioned.  McCawley's playing is so, so clean.  He seems to dislike the sustain pedal quite a lot, and his touch is light.  The left hand bass line in the Adagio is clear and dance-like.  Indeed, it is possibly more dance like than entire second movement, which ends up more melody focused, especially in the second minuet.  McCawley dispatches the Allegro in speedy, fun fashion, and here his left hand playing is again clean and noticeable, and his rubato well-judged.  Very nice.

[Mirror Image]

Cheers, Karlo!  Thanks for the enlightenment  0:)

Very nice to see John enjoying some piano solo music, too!

Karlo had it correct, the pianist was Youri Egorov. A pianist whom prior to buying this Debussy Complete set I never heard of. Oh yes, I'm enjoying solo piano music a lot these days and it all started with revisiting Ravel's works in this medium. When I get the Alain Planès's Debussy box set, I'll be revisiting all of Debussy's solo piano music after years and years of not listening to any of it.

[Karl Henning]

Splendid!

[Mahlerian]

Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2
Sviatoslav Richter, Orchestre de Paris, cond. Maazel
[asin]B00127ISEA[/asin]

[Mahlerian]

If your description is to be believed, god preserve from ever having the misfortune of ever hearing these recordings!

It's by no means as characterized by the aforementioned elements as one might imagine from that description.  The orchestral balances in that Fourth are not weighted towards the brass any more than normal, and the other sections can be heard just fine (though there are some prominent mistakes in the brass...).  The total time of 70:28 is by no means out of the ordinary for this work, and several conductors, including Wand (71:45), Tintner (72:56), and Thilemann (73:09), have turned in slower performances, to say nothing of Celibidache (86 minutes!).

There is one transition in the finale that Tennstedt doesn't handle as well as he could, but overall I agree it's a fine rendition.

[Mandryka]

Leon McCawley's K282, from the only Mozart recording I own where a reverb vendor is mentioned.  McCawley's playing is so, so clean.  He seems to dislike the sustain pedal quite a lot, and his touch is light.  The left hand bass line in the Adagio is clear and dance-like.  Indeed, it is possibly more dance like than entire second movement, which ends up more melody focused, especially in the second minuet.  McCawley dispatches the Allegro in speedy, fun fashion, and here his left hand playing is again clean and noticeable, and his rubato well-judged.  Very nice.

Yes, though I can't recall the 282, I like McCawley's Mozart set a lot, I like his seriousness. He's good also in Brahms variations Schumann, DBT,  I think.  (Haven't heard the Brahms, somehow I have a memory of hearing him do the Paganini Variations very well, but maybe I'm mistaken, maybe it was a concert.)

[Baron Scarpia]

Mozart, String Quartet No 18 in A major (Haydn Quartet No 5). Quartetto Italiano.

[asin]B00004ZC0X[/asin]

Eh, too smooth, too fluid, rhythms with not enough snap for my taste.

Well, I also think that the set of Haydn Quartets is not a high point in Mozart's chamber music output. The sense that anything can happen at any moment is not there. Mozart is being too conscientious about his motivic development, the logical working out of his themes, etc. Trying to make Papa Haydn proud, I imagine. Doesn't quite have the magic of the last four quartets or the string quintets.

[San Antone]

Cristobal de Morales : Missa Si bona suscepimus
Tallis Scholars | Peter Phillips, dir.