What are you listening to now?

[Mandryka]

On my order list...thanks Poul! (Unless you have a better recommendation of course)

I like to hear some singing with the mass, and Mikkelson's does indeed include some, though so far I've not totally warmed to the way they sing.

[ritter]

Some Poulenc this afternoon: Aubade, Les Biches, Les Animaux modèles, and Bucolique, all conducted by Georges Prêtre. CD 7 of the big EMI box.

[asin]B0091JQH76[/asin]

[Harry]

I like to hear some singing with the mass, and Mikkelson's does indeed include some, though so far I've not totally warmed to the way they sing.

The alternative versions Premont suggested, did not appeal to me at all.
Mikkelson is far from ideal, but in the majority of tracks, she comes pretty close to what I want to hear.
The singing is not of interest to me, but I concur, it did not appeal to me that much either.

[Todd]

[Cross posted in the Soler thread.]

What's better than Soler's sonatas for a single keyboard?  How about concertos for two keyboards!  OK, the works aren't necessarily better, they are more or less qualitatively equal.  And they offer something different.  I own few if any other recordings with two harpsichords, and, at least as recorded here, the aural impact of two harpsichords is most intriguing.  First one notices the rich lower frequencies.  In a good number of dual piano recordings, the middle and upper registers start to dominate, but here, unexpectedly, it's the lower frequencies that dominate.  When the instruments double the same notes or when they cover a wider range of lower register notes than a single player or even four-hands combo can, the music becomes underpinned by an almost pianistic weight.  Sweet.  Then there's the melodic content.  Soler offer the dual soloists some wonderfully contrasting material, and when combined with the spatial split when listening through speakers, one can aurally and almost visually enjoy related but different music being played simultaneously.  The music lacks the ultimate pristine craft of Bach, but it's not far behind.  And while the two keyboard works, like the solo keyboard works, lack the rhythmic flair of Scarlatti, Soler is again not far behind.  I've been spending some quality time with Soler's solo keyboard works this year, and this augments that quality time.  Most enjoyable. 

[Traverso]

Nicolas Lebeque

Suite du cinqième ton
Suite du sixi1eme ton
Suite du Septième ton
Suite du Huitième ton

[André]

Mozart: Divertimento KV 563[ Grumiaux Trio]

The string trio and the Gran Partita are my favourite Mozart works  .

[North Star]

LOL you'd better not listen to this then .

https://www.youtube.com/v/pzgg9aCmKTA

Apparently, Portsmouth Sinfonia didn't record the entire suite...
https://www.youtube.com/v/eQlsrJY7dKQ

[André]

[schnittkease]

I'm tempted to say that the string quartets are Bloch's greatest accomplishment.

[asin]B000276K3M[/asin]

[aligreto]

Hindemith: Requiem for Those we Love [Koch]





This is a heartfelt piece of music which is filled with longing and intensity along with drama and tension. This is not a morbid work but neither is it celebratory; the tone is somewhere in between. This is the only version of this work that I own and I have never compared it to any other version as it is a satisfying performance from all concerned here.

[aligreto]

I'm tempted to say that the string quartets are Bloch's greatest accomplishment.

[asin]B000276K3M[/asin]

Certainly wonderful works given very fine performances there.

[aligreto]

The string trio and the Gran Partita are my favourite Mozart works  .

I could not honestly say which is my favourite; too many to choose from. Certainly the Clarinet Quintet is high up there.

[Maestro267]

Buckley: Symphony No. 1
NSO Ireland/Pearce

Gipps: Symphony No. 2
Munich PO/Bostock

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I love the piano versions of anything from his [Prokofiev's] orchestral ballets.

+1.

[Todd]

Glad I picked this up cheap rather than paying full price.  There's not much to recommend, other than perhaps the sound.

[aligreto]

Beethoven: Piano Quartet No. 3 [Eschenbach/Amadeus Quartet members]





This is an ebullient and spirited performance which is very engaging in its energetic portrayal of the outer movements and its atmospheric performance of the lyrical and charming slow movement.

[aligreto]

Buckley: Symphony No. 1
NSO Ireland/Pearce

A fine work and performance.

[André]

The 6th is a chameleon-like work. Some conductors emphasize the work's brassy moments and motoric rythms. Others play the work's lyrical side, its dvorakian rusticity. A well-balanced mix of boldness and lyricism will also be entirely appropriate. It works in different ways and for that reason I find many different types of interpretations wholly satisfying.

Few conductor/orchestra teams can challenge Keilberth and the Berliner Phil in the former caregory, but Bongartz and his fearless Leipzigers ar fully up to the challenge. Both recordings date from the early sixties and offer a wide soundstage with plenty of dynamic expansion. A touch of fierceness, too. Both are great recordings and a top recommendation in the Bruckner 6 sweepstakes (along with Leitner and Stein).

[Mandryka]

This is an astonishing recording. Every song, one after the other, is fresh, bold and surprising, there's nothing formulaic in it. And beautifully sung, full of life and committment. Somehow this music doesn't lose a sense of being at the avant garde, of pushing boundaries and challenging presuppositions. There are things which you just wouldn't imagine could work - three poems all at the same time, strange heterophonic textures, long passionate solo songs, a constant sense of unresolved harmonies and near dissonances   . . .

And I'm only scratching the surface, I haven't looked at the words!

[Todd]

First listen to David Wilde.  Definitely a pianist who imparts his own ideas.  Also definitely a pianist lacking the control and range of Pogorelich or Block, or the even (much) more extreme Barto.  That written, some things work better than other with Wilde's more heavy-handed, quiet or loud and not much in between style.  Op 58 is the centerpiece of the disc, which makes sense, and the slow, controlled, measured Largo is quite fine.  The Third Scherzo has its moments, but it's here, especially when compared to Pogorelich, that one hears what's missing.  Still, a nice enough disc.  I will have to give the Second Sonata a listen for the purely individual funeral march.  Perhaps Wilde's Liszt could be fun.