What are you listening to now?

[Todd]

Listened to Helene Schmitt's complete Sonatas and Partitas in one sitting.  As with her Biber, Schmitt plays slowly, and here she often wanders off into momentary inspiration as she plays, sort of losing direction and focus.  That's not to say that she delivers something unappealing.  Quite the contrary.  There is some truly compelling playing, and her sound is quite attractive.  She really digs in at times, as the sounds of exertion are audible occasionally, most notably in the 14' Ciaccona from the Second Partita.  She's sort of the polar opposite of Tetzlaff, but just enjoyable.

After a break, I will be ending my holiday weekend listening with another big slug of something a bit older:

[amw]

The LHQ Haydn recordings are probably the most "extreme" HIP ones, including going back to earlier versions of the quartets than those commonly performed today as well as playing in a radically different manner from contemporary performance practice. Is it accurate? Obviously no one knows. The Festetics set represents a different school of ultra-HIP thought, and the Quatuor Mosaïques & Salomon Quartet recordings are significantly more accessible to modern audiences. Sampling is always essential.

And speaking of which, now listening to this new arrival



It's been such a long time since I bought a new, full price CD that I forgot how hard they are to take off the spindle without running the risk of a snapped disc >.>

[JBS]

20th century tonal chamber music


The VC is actually a duo for violin and piano written for Heifetz.

[André]

After listening to this pair of performances I was moved to listen to the Bliss in Groves' second go at the work, with BBC forces. My first impression is that they have substantial differences, so I'll give the EMI version another spin to confirm.

The War Requiem performance is probably the best work I've heard from Rattle.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

It's been such a long time since I bought a new, full price CD that I forgot how hard they are to take off the spindle without running the risk of a snapped disc >.>

Buying CDs since 1987 and I've never had a disc break coming off the spindle. If necessary press the center of the spindle and it will come off more easily.

[Que]

Morning listening:



I'm fascinated by a work (once) attributed to Bach: the Concerto e Fuga in C minor, BWV 909.
A wild piece in Stylus Phantasticus lasting almost 10 minutes. In my mind probably not by JS - sounds like an Italian (?) writing at a German or Austrian court. Or a very young Bach was in an eccentric mood, who knows...
There are very few recordings of this piece available.

Christiane Wuyts plays  a harpsichord by Henri Hemsch, 1754, and one by Jacques Goermans, 1774.

Q

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I never understand it when Beethoven's 8th symphony is characterized as lightweight. The first movement starts out amiable, but the development section builds up to an almost hysterical intensity until the primary theme returns in a more heavily orchestrated guise. The fire in this music is readily apparent in Schurict's Paris Conservatory recording (1958, I think).



Belies the trope that French orchestras did not display the highest levels of virtuosity.

[Mandryka]

The Josquin Pater Noster/Ave Maria with Reuss/Amsterdam Cappella. This is very familiar music to Josquin people, but it's not familiar to me to hear it sung by so many people. In the booklet we learn that Josquin asked in his testament for it to be sung outside his house . . .

Why can't four people sing outside?

[Irons]

Janacek: Amarus
Supraphon

from this album:

via Spotify

Hat tip Irons:

One and the same - the cover is different on my copy. The powerful text is from a Czech romantic poet. To give a flavour, the final verse -

There in the churchyard he was lying without motion up on the grave of his dead mother.
His face was turned towards the blossom and as he lay a bird was singing.

           Amarus they named him!
           Amarus they named him!
         

[The new erato]

I noticed that David Hurwitz really trashed this symphony, though not the performance:
https://www.classicstoday.com/review/larssons-reactionary-third-symphony/

Ironically, I think he really liked the Symphony #1 recording.

Any thoughts?

Dan Morgan on musicweb liked it a lot. Anyway, I have it ordered as the previous two discs in the series have been great.

[Harry]

Dan Morgan on musicweb liked it a lot. Anyway, I have it ordered as the previous two discs in the series have been great.

I always remember what Sibelius said about music critics.....

[vandermolen]

And speaking of which, now listening to this new arrival



It's been such a long time since I bought a new, full price CD that I forgot how hard they are to take off the spindle without running the risk of a snapped disc >.>

My father was in Italy during a holiday in the 1960s in his flash Zephyr convertible car with white tyres. He had a very early record player in the car, which took singles, although you had to press out the middle of the disc. A group of curious people gathered round the car to see the on-board record player in operation. My father held up the vinyl single for all to see, before beginning his demonstration. He then put pressure on the centre of the disc to remove it, prior to playing it - snapped the whole disc completely in half and then drove off having concluded the demonstration. Someone I knew witnessed an early demonstration of an automatic record player in a shop in the Noth of England. It went horribly wrong and the automatic changer started throwing the discs at the shop window where they smashed.

[vandermolen]

From a review of Op. 20 by Burton Rothleder in Fanfare:

"The period-instrument sound on these discs is characterized by too many exaggerated swells and attenuations during passages of sustained notes, by frequent weak intonation, and occasionally by caterwauls. This is interspersed with some mighty uninspired and sometimes lifeless playing [...]"

Some of the other Fanfare reviews of other London Haydn Quartet discs were quite positive, though.

Thread duty:

Larsson: Symphony No. 3

[asin] B07FTL1TLC[/asin]

Wilhelm Georg Berger, Romanian composer

[asin] B00BSJDJKU[/asin]

Berger's compelling Symphony No. 4 wins the evening so far.

Both discs I have greatly enjoyed recently, especially the symphonies.

[vandermolen]

After listening to this pair of performances I was moved to listen to the Bliss in Groves' second go at the work, with BBC forces. My first impression is that they have substantial differences, so I'll give the EMI version another spin to confirm.

The War Requiem performance is probably the best work I've heard from Rattle.

It's a great double album Andre. Since the WW1 Armistice commemorations I've also played 'Morning Heroes' several times - possibly Bliss's masterpiece. The Groves/Liverpool version is probably the best version with the best speaker. Having said that I've mislaid the other Groves BBC version which I look forward to hearing again if and when it turns up. I wonder if you know the Kibblethwaite version on Cala? It is my other favourite version although the speaker, Brian Blessed, goes a bit 'over-the-top' (no pun intended) on a couple of occasions, although he is generally very good. The other great WW1 inspired work issued by EMI at around the same time as the Bliss is Bridge's eloquent 'Oration' for cello and orchestra. His masterpiece, along with 'Enter Spring' I think. Do you know it?

Thread duty:

Prayer of Saint Gregory by Alan Hovhaness.

[Traverso]

The Josquin Pater Noster/Ave Maria with Reuss/Amsterdam Cappella. This is very familiar music to Josquin people, but it's not familiar to me to hear it sung by so many people. In the booklet we learn that Josquin asked in his testament for it to be sung outside his house . . .

Why can't four people sing outside?

I purchased this disc ( still waiting ) and thought it was sung very well.Herreweghe made also a Desprez recording with a larger choir.

[Madiel]

Brahms: Violin Concerto

Nathan Milstein / Eugen Jochum / Vienna Philharmonic

[Traverso]

Brahms: Violin Concerto

Nathan Milstein / Eugen Jochum / Vienna Philharmonic

I love this recording.

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Sonata for Solo Violin BWV 1001 [Shumsky]

[aligreto]

I love Haydn and his string quartets best of all. The absence of vibrato isn't a problem but find the swelling of notes gets in the way of the music.

aligreto: The recordings are up to the normal Hyperion high standards.

Reading subsequent posts this is obviously a performance issue.

[aligreto]

A legendary recording.

Not as well known, Janacek's cantata "Amarus" also on Supraphon is equally powerful but on a smaller scale.

I do not know the work so thank you for the recommendation.