What are you listening to now?

[Todd]

[jwinter]

Haydn Paris symphonies this evening, followed by Beethoven Piano trios.  I needed some classical tones after spending the afternoon at the mall with my teenager... 

[JBS]

Rattle Conducting Mahler
Symphony no 6
CBSO
Possibly followed by
Symphony no 9
BPO
If I am in the mood for more Mahler
(This is a budget set, so the last movement of 6 shares a CD with the first movement of 9.)

[SimonNZ]

I've liked Joanna MacGregor elsewhere but found this Satie disc a dissapointment

[Karl Henning]

Haydn Paris symphonies this evening, followed by Beethoven Piano trios.  I needed some classical tones after spending the afternoon at the mall with my teenager... 

I can well believe it.

[Karl Henning]

Rattle Conducting Mahler
Symphony no 6
CBSO
Possibly followed by
Symphony no 9
BPO
If I am in the mood for more Mahler
(This is a budget set, so the last movement of 6 shares a CD with the first movement of 9.)

How was it?

[Karl Henning]

"Papa"
Op. 76 Quartets
Prazák Quartet

[JBS]

How was it?

I'm still in the third movement of the Sixth.
Decent, mainstream. Basic advantage of this set is it lets me save a bit of shelf space when I give away the Rattle recordings I already have. Basic flaw of this set is that Rattle's Third seemed to me the most boring lethargic Third ever performed when I listened to it years ago. I am gearing up to try it again and see if that original impression still holds.

[JBS]

I'm still in the third movement of the Sixth.
Decent, mainstream. Basic advantage of this set is it lets me save a bit of shelf space when I give away the Rattle recordings I already have. Basic flaw of this set is that Rattle's Third seemed to me the most boring lethargic Third ever performed when I listened to it years ago. I am gearing up to try it again and see if that original impression still holds.

Update
I remembered Rattle's Ninth as decent, but not special.

Tonight it's striking me as very good.

[pi2000]

Mindru Katz/Hallé Barbirolli
Beethoven 5
[asin]B003A6WZZO[/asin]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVtqWEHweYg&feature=share

[Traverso]

Bach

[Harry]

Ignazio Cirri.

Six Sonatas opus 11.

Performed by:
Sezione Aurea.

Listening to this music in the early morning is a treat. Well balanced playing and a delightful detailing in the music, which makes it clear as a bell, and  reveals so much melodic creativity. The composer had to finance the publication of the opus II, although it had enough quality to be happily picked up and brought on the market by any publisher. The works were intended primarily as Harpsichord pieces,  but the added violin adds that extra dimension and emotion that makes them much more accessible. The music is brilliant and agile. "The sonatas essential qualities are however not simple those of elegance, brilliance and wealth of ornamentation. They provide a broad selection of both natural and artificial modes of expression, of formulas for variation and ornamentation of simple bass structures, of essential melodic and harmonic outlines".
The sound is pristine as are the performances.
Filippo Pantieri plays on a beautiful harpsichord by Roberto Livi, after Guarracino, and one after Mietke.

[Harry]

Carlo Graziani.
Sonatas for Baroque Cello.

Performed by:

Marco Testori, Baroque cello.
I musici di Santa Pelagia.
Ana Raquel Pinheiro, Cello.
Maurizio Fornero, Harpsichord.

Not much is known about this composer, thus for me he was also a big question mark. He seems to have been a accomplish performer, and was a soloist in the Concert Spiritual, but oddly enough he never performed with them.
I am not a great fan of Marco Testori, he is to my ears a comatose performer, which gets me into a nice slumber, if I am not careful. His tempi to my ears are always a tad too slow, so all the movements have this sameness which is a deathtrap for your concentration. These concertos were probably intended as pedagogical purposes, and to be honest they sound a bit like that. There is some technical prowess needed in that the scoring is a bit more demanding, but again in that respect Testori does not deliver. "The frequent use of high positions, large leaps, fast arpeggios and passagework, double and triple stops, chords, harmonic scordatura !, bariolage and complex articulation, (bow technique), but that does not save the music, it is a bit boring. I loved the playing however by Ana Raquel Pinheiro, much more so as Testori. She should have done the solo parts.
The sound is good, but I could not recommend it, unless you need lullaby's before bedtime, that will sail you directly into dreamland.

[Traverso]

Shostakovich

String Quartets 7 & 8

[San Antone]

[Andy D.]

Shostakovich

String Quartets 7 & 8

Just received that one the other day, and am already cuckoo over it! The great sound really helps make appreciating those works much easier imo.

Today I heard Honegger's Pacific 231 (Dutoit) and WOW! Really cool, quirky music. I can  hear where perhaps some of this music probably influenced film score composers like Bernard Herrmann.

I'll probably pick up the aforementioned Dutoit soon...still collating on that purchase, since there are a couple of other good reccomendations here.

[ritter]

Revisted yesterday the highly regarded (and IMO, deservedly so) classic recording of Berlioz's Les nuits d'été with the great Eleanor Steber, conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos:

[asin]B0000029PH[/asin]

[Harry]

Jean de Castro.

Polyphony in a European Perspective.

Performed by:

Capilla Flamenca.
More Maiorum.
Piffaro.
Trigon project.
Wim Diepenhorst.
Bart Demuyt, Artistic direction.

"Jean de Castro belongs to the generation of Southern Dutch polyphonists who brought the Ars perfecta of many voiced music to a last peak in the second half of the sixteenth century. Often somewhat in the shadow of the European celebrity Orlando Lassus, whom Pierre de Ronsard called, le plus que divin Orlande". This is music of a very high quality, well done by all participants.
This recording contains a representative selection from de Castro's rich production, as well as a number of instrumental and vocal works of his Southern Dutch predecessors and contemporaries, Willeart, Utendal, Lassus and De Wert, and is not be missed.

[Traverso]

Just received that one the other day, and am already cuckoo over it! The great sound really helps make appreciating those works much easier imo.

Today I heard Honegger's Pacific 231 (Dutoit) and WOW! Really cool, quirky music. I can  hear where perhaps some of this music probably influenced film score composers like Bernard Herrmann.

I'll probably pick up the aforementioned Dutoit soon...still collating on that purchase, since there are a couple of other good reccomendations here.

enjoy 

[Andy D.]

Honegger Symphony no. 2 (Dutoit)

The more I listen to this composer the more I like him.

Considering this one (but I heard the Baudo was best, despite somewhat dated sound) :