What are you listening to now?

[vandermolen]

Duly noted, thanks! Will take second seat to Tippett's King Priam, which I've had for even longer. As I scan the shelves, I see things I've purchased 2-3 years ago that I yet have to listen to... .

Yes, noted by me too. Thanks Cesar.

[Todd]

Rite on.

[aligreto]

Rodrigo: Concierto madrigal [Pepe & Ángel Romero/Marriner]

[vandermolen]

A few listenings of Kancheli symphonies 4 and 5 this week:




Same conductor, different orchestras, different recording venues/ sound engineers. These two recordings were made some 20 years apart. They offer very different listening experiences. Kakhidze was to Kancheli what Mrawinsky was to Shostakovich: close friend, musical champion, trusted interpreter. And yet the results differ significantly. I haven't heard the Ondine disc, but I note that their symphony no 5 clocks in under 20 minutes vs almost 30 for Kakhidze's second version.

Interesting comparative survey Andre. I've enjoyed renewing my acquaintance with Symphony 5 (Ondine).

[André]

Gorgeous works, big, brawny, generous. The London Philharmonic was London's premier orchestra at the time and Alwyn conducts with feeling and energy. The sound is ample and natural (venue not specified).

[André]

Interesting comparative survey Andre. I've enjoyed renewing my acquaintance with Symphony 5 (Ondine).

If you aske me, I'd say I prefer the Melodiya for their more 'centrist' virtues. The Beaux label versions are more extreme in tempi (broader) and dynamic range. I should now listen to the other symphonies, some of which I have in more than one version. If memory serves, my favourite is the 6th. Could take a little while. I will attempt to listen to his opera Music for the Living first.

[Zeus]

Caccini: L'Euridice
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
Naive

[asin] B00H4G4D6U[/asin]

Not to be confused with the Peri opera of the same name from the same year (1600).

[Malx]

Although I don't listen to Bruckner much these days this recording has a special place in my affections - don't ask me to explain in any detail but to me this just sounds 'right'. The music flows as if it is coming from a celestial source directly through Furtwangler's baton.

[Karl Henning]

Liszt's transcription of the LvB Op.67 c minor Symphony
Glenn St-Gould 

[asin]B004TVVZI2[/asin]

[Judith]

Having a Sibelius evening with

Symphony no 6
Swan of Tuonela
Karelia Suite

Halle Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

From box set

Bliss

[André]

Concertos 16 and 17, with Annerose Schmidt and Kurt Masur (Dresdner Philharmonie).

Superb engineering, pellucid textures, vigorous and well-detailed playing contribute to make these performances simply perfect.

[Todd]

Dueling Mahler 6s.  The Kubelik is fast and light, coming in at just over 72'.  Knowing his Mahler, Kubelik and his band deliver a dramatic and satisfying performance, and one that very much sounds live and in the moment.  It lacks maximum punch and intensity and excess, but makes a nice addition to my collection.

Currentzis offers something more.  Very interventionist, with both a focus on details and ample intensity, it really is quite excellent.  Sometimes the detail on offer are clearly owed to the studio setting, ample microphones, and knob twiddling, but I'm not complaining.  Low strings and winds rarely sound so clear on disc, and never in person, even from the front row.  Currentzis uses a large dynamic range, and the fully up to snuff modern recording allows one to really crank the volume and experience some weight.  I reached 97 dB peaks while listening, with quiet sections very quiet, indeed, though a live performance would be better.  One can say that Currentzis pushes and pulls tempi, and so forth, but it's all been done, mostly by Lenny.  Of special note is the Scherzo, which takes on an times Stravinsky like feel (a la Petrushka), and the finale is superb. 

Currentzis is better overall, though he doesn't displace Bernstein III or Eschenbach, instead blending in with some other luminaries.

[vandermolen]

Gorgeous works, big, brawny, generous. The London Philharmonic was London's premier orchestra at the time and Alwyn conducts with feeling and energy. The sound is ample and natural (venue not specified).

Two fine scores. Lyrita fitted all five Alwyn symphonies on two CDs in excellent performances conducted by the composer.

[Daverz]

Symphonie Marine, as seen on GMG:

[asin] B004ZARXTW[/asin]

Via Tidal.

[André]

These sonatas are variously played on the harpsichord, the fortepiano or the modern piano. Hoeren is a harpsichordist who is just as is just as comfortable on a fortepiano (by Derek Adlam, after Heilmann). Substantial works, not as quirky and original as those of his brother Carl Phillip Emanuel. One can see why Mozart admired him.

[Todd]

First listen.  The Schuchs' second release is even better than their first.  And it moves from strength to strength.  The Mozart is very fine, but the Debussy sounds more cogent and fluid, and very clean.  The Zimmermann, though, in its modernist pastiche glory, is the best thing on the disc.  Given that the duo made Hindemith sound extra-compelling on their first disc, I'd like to hear what they can do in other modern fare.  I'd also like to hear them in Schubert four hands works.  They really need to record Schubert.  Also, Mr Schuch needs to lay down another solo disc soon.  I would not be averse to hearing what Ms Ensari can do on her own, either.

[Karl Henning]

Liszt's transcription of the LvB Op.67 c minor Symphony
Glenn St-Gould 

[asin]B004TVVZI2[/asin]

This, by the way, is excellent.

[Ken B]

Ockeghem, Lament for Binchois
Graindelavoix, Schmelzer

More Schmelzer. I did not like his Machaut. I do like this, but I can also see some of the things I don't like. Not being a musician I have trouble articulating what I mean, but sometimes it's a bit like Peter, Paul, and Mary are hovering over the recording. It just somehow sounds modern and granola-inflected. Still, it is beautiful.

Does this make sense to anyone? Can anyone express it more exactly?

UPDATE I found this interesting YouTube video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uec85gC7m4

Dear god, I just heard their Missa Caput, The Kyrie, by Ockeghem. Deranged. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBZ-pmN5T0A World Music R Us.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Hot on the heels of Kultyshev's remarkable Chopin Etudes (in my collection, not chronologically) comes his scorching recording of The Twelve.

As in the Chopin, Kultyshev again shows that there's nothing technically that he can't achieve. His technique, however, isn't force-fed on the listener in empty, angry pursuits. The central aim is more to flesh out the poetry in the music, by means of technically mastering the notes first, then applying liberal doses of imagination. End result: a new favorite Twelve.

A big plus is the extraordinary recorded sound. We hear everything.



[asin]B001RPWQ54[/asin]

[Mandryka]

Ockeghem, Lament for Binchois
Graindelavoix, Schmelzer

More Schmelzer. I did not like his Machaut. I do like this, but I can also see some of the things I don't like. Not being a musician I have trouble articulating what I mean, but sometimes it's a bit like Peter, Paul, and Mary are hovering over the recording. It just somehow sounds modern and granola-inflected. Still, it is beautiful.

Does this make sense to anyone? Can anyone express it more exactly?

UPDATE I found this interesting YouTube video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uec85gC7m4

Dear god, I just heard their Missa Caput, The Kyrie, by Ockeghem. Deranged. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBZ-pmN5T0A World Music R Us.

To me the deploration sounds like lapping waves of the sea, waves collide and new waves form.

I absolutely adore the timbre of the top voice. And I like their way of forming vowel sounds, it's not too rich and large, and it's pretty introspective.

It's slow. I find it hard to hear and follow the words.

Re world music R Us, that connection has been part of medieval music interpretation since the 1960s, maybe less so in music as late as this Ockeghem. The one thing we know about this period of music is that it didn't sound like Dietrich Fischer Dieskau. Everything else is up for grabs.