What are you listening to now?

[kishnevi]

Welcome back, Harry. 

Even if I (in retrospect) recognized something well known in Chen Tao´s broad listening repertoire, I didn´t strike me that it was you.

I also would like to join in the general rejoicing.  I confess I had no clue,  although last night the following thought did cross my mind.

Hmmm,  you know,  Chen Tao is to Sterling Records as Harry is to CPO 

[Karl Henning]

I also would like to join in the general rejoicing.  I confess I had no clue,  although last night the following thought did cross my mind.

Hmmm,  you know,  Chen Tao is to Sterling Records as Harry is to CPO 

:-)

[listener]

MENDELSSOHN:  Piano Concertos 1 & 2, Capriccio Brillante
Anton Kuerti, piano     London Philharmonic Orch.      Paul Freeman, cond.
VIERNE: Organ Symphony no.3, op. 28   Prélude funèbre op. 4
and from op. 31: Pastorale, Scherzetto, Arabesque
Daniel Roth, organ ( St. Antoine des Quinze-Vingts, Paris by Cavaillé-Coll)

[Harry]

Welcome back, Harry. 

Even if I (in retrospect) recognized something well known in Chen Tao´s broad listening repertoire, I didn´t strike me that it was you.

Thank you! Yes in the end that gave me away, being an omnivore in Classical music.

[Harry]

I also would like to join in the general rejoicing.  I confess I had no clue,  although last night the following thought did cross my mind.

Hmmm,  you know,  Chen Tao is to Sterling Records as Harry is to CPO 

I confess, that as Harry I bought almost the entire Sterling catalogue, but listened to it all as Chen Tao, but in my blog I was always truthful to my name. And by the way, you would not believe the amount of CPO discs, that is waiting to be listened too.  But your thought was clever.

[Karl Henning]

I'm glad you're formally back, mijn vriend!

Thread Duty:

Hindemith
Organ Sonata № 1 (1937)
Marcus Torén
Marcussen Organ (1939), Skänninge, Sverige

[asin]B0085J1E3A[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

All right, so it's no surprise:

Hindemith
Organ Sonata № 2 (1937)
Organ Sonata № 3, Nach alten Volkslieden (1940)
Marcus Torén
Marcussen Organ (1939), Skänninge, Sverige

[asin]B0085J1E3A[/asin]

[Lisztianwagner]

The music of the Spheres:

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.9

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03t0crc

[Brian]

Welcome back, Harry! I will confess that I had absolutely no idea. Oops 

First-listen Friday:

[Brian]

Scarlatti on accordion!

[TheGSMoeller]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 6
Klemperer - New Philharmonia

[asin]B00000J28U[/asin]

[Todd]

Revisiting one of my first classical purchases.  Still quite enjoyable.

[Wakefield]

Guillaume de Machaut - Messe de Nostre Dame
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Dominique Vellard



http://www.amazon.com/Machaut-Nostre-Ensemble-Binchois-Vellard/dp/B00004TC4U/ref=pd_sim_sbs_m_1

Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady) is the oldest known Mass cycle by a single, named composer, so it has a permanent place in music history courses and probably has been recorded more than any other 14th-century work. This particular version has a history of its own, having quickly become a legend among lovers of medieval music. The French label Harmonic Records made this recording in 1990, and released it the following year to widespread acclaim--then went out of business shortly thereafter. Naturally, the disc became hard to find and much sought-after: sightings were actually posted on the Internet as if the disc were a rare songbird. Happily, the Spanish label Cantus has acquired the rights to Harmonic's old catalogue and made this marvelous performance available once again. The Ensemble Gilles Binchois (which, in 1990, included a young countertenor named Andreas Scholl) has incorporated Machaut's setting of the Mass Ordinary into a complete Mass liturgy (including brief prayers and intoned Scripture readings) for the Feast of the Assumption; the spare beauty of the flowing plainchant that's specific to this service contrasts nicely with the daring harmonies and intricately interlocking rhythms of Machaut's groundbreaking music. Many performances of the Messe de Nostre Dame make much--too much--of those rhythms, and bang them out in a near frenzy; Dominique Vellard and his ensemble take a meditative approach that seems more in keeping with the work's purpose as part of an act of worship. Pretty much everything about this performance is exemplary--thank goodness (and Cantus) that a worldwide search for a copy of it is no longer necessary. --Matthew Westphal

Ditto. 

[not edward]

Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain

Available free at: http://www.medici.tv/#!/brokeback-mountain-wuorinen-teatro-real-madrid-titus-engel-ivo-van-hove

My expectations weren't really that high, as I'm not really an opera person, I've often had trouble connecting with Wuorinen's writing, and the reviews I've seen have been rather tepid--but I think this is a much stronger work than the reviewers are giving it credit for.

Stylistically and structurally, Wozzeck and late Stravinsky are definitely amongst its ancestors, though the leitmotiv related to the mountain and its use at key moments in the opera did bring Tippett's The Ice Break to mind. Wuorinen's orchestration was clear and lucid, and I found the pacing to be impressively taut: the momentum barely sagged during two hours without a break, and the final scenes had an impressive inevitability about them.

I suspect much of the negative criticism has come from the somewhat reserved emotional atmosphere much of the music conjures up, but surely that restraint parallels Ennis' inability to be honest about his feelings, and is certainly a major element of the tale that is being told here.

[Que]

Guillaume de Machaut - Messe de Nostre Dame
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Dominique Vellard



http://www.amazon.com/Machaut-Nostre-Ensemble-Binchois-Vellard/dp/B00004TC4U/ref=pd_sim_sbs_m_1

Ditto. 

An essential Early Music recording, I would say. A classic.

[Brian]

Revisiting one of my first classical purchases.  Still quite enjoyable.

Does Isaac Stern conduct a piece? It's weird that his name is on twice.

[Todd]

Does Isaac Stern conduct a piece? It's weird that his name is on twice.

No, he doesn't conduct.  His name is on the cover twice because one lists him as a performer and one is the title "Isaac Stern A Life in Music".

[amw]

My expectations weren't really that high, as I'm not really an opera person, I've often had trouble connecting with Wuorinen's writing, and the reviews I've seen have been rather tepid--but I think this is a much stronger work than the reviewers are giving it credit for.

A lot of the reviews I saw were along the lines of "soulless dissonant modern music" (with occasional alternative views of "a completely dated and retrograde sell-out, not a patch on Robert Ashley") so I'm not surprised by that.

ns Ferneyhough Chronos-Aion, Nielsen Symphony no. 1 (this may actually be one of my favourite of his compositions) and... something else later. Maybe Sciarrino or Schnittke or Stockhausen or something else starting with S. I'll be in the air, so maybe I should listen to the Helikopter-Streichquartett.

[North Star]

Good to have you with us, Harry! I didn't guess who you were, although I did see think first that it was you after seeing what you were listening - but then I thought: nah, it's some new Chinese chap who just happens to like the same stuff. Of course I should have realized that if that really was the case, record companies could afford to record much more obscure repertoire than they can at the moment... 

An essential Early Music recording, I would say. A classic.

Agreed, the singing is absolutely gorgeous - although I've only listened to it on Spotify.     

Of course, I do intend to pick this up one day, the mother of all bargains (barring megaboxes)

[asin]B004QRUJJ0[/asin]

[Todd]

Some Dvorak and Francaix from Heifetz and friends.  Energetic, personal, delightful.