What are you listening to now?

[North Star]

Morning listening doesn't get better.

Alessandro Melani (1639-1703)
Motets
Rinaldo Alessandrini & Concerto Italiano
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[listener]

The BIBER posts remind me of a block of discs I have  not catalogued, so off the shelf and onto the listening stack for today
the 15 'Mystery' Sonatas and the Passacaglia for Solo Violin
Evan  Johnson  playing 5 different period violins, with period cello and harpsichord/organ   o.o.p.
Not extensive but good notes, and the tunings are shown
I also have Lautenbacher on the Vox Box (LP's), may get to that before Easter.
also:  SARASATE   later works for violin and orchestra  - op. 41 - 52
Gabriel Croitoru, violin    Orquestra Ciudad de Malaga     Jacques Bodmer, cond.
From a used disc  bin, the only one of the series there.  Label is hq'd in Andorra la Vieille, disc pressed in Switzerland

[The new erato]

With 6 (or is it 7?) recordings of the Mystery sonatas, can the classical market really be dying? Certainly noone 40 years ago would have believed that that ever would become the case.

[North Star]

Monteverdi
Litanie della Beata Vergine a 6 voci

Bencini
Magnificat a 8 voci
Concerto Italiano & Alessandrini

This superb album doesn't seem to have gotten the attention it deserves.

"Concerto Italiano" just gets better and better! This, their most recent recording, is surely one of the most spectacular performances of 17th/18th Century vocal polyphony I've ever heard, and I've heard a lot! It's a program of ultra-passionate Marian vespers music -- Magnificats, Salve Reginas, Ave Marias -- for four, six, eight, and nine voices with continuo on theorbo and organ. It starts, as everything did, with Claudio Monteverdi, with his "Litanie della Beata Vergine a 6 voci", as published in 1650, after his death, with his masses and psalms composed for liturgical performance At St. Mark's in Venice. The wonder of Monteverdi is partly that every performance of his work sounds utterly new and plenipotent; in this case, I'd almost swear I've never heard such exhilarating sounds from a choir before, though I know I have several recordings of the same score.

Rinaldo Alessandrini, the conductor of "Concerto Italiano", is a superb harpsichordist, but for this program his particular genius has been musicological. He's selected -- resurrected and edited -- a program of rare masterpieces

All these composers are the heirs of Monteverdi, and all the compositions worthy of sharing a program with the Master! And then for good measure, Alessandrini gives us:
Ave Maria a 4 voci -- Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
and the modernism of Stravinsky is marvelously Monteverdian!

But it's the ensemble that makes this recording outstanding. For this session, "Concerto Italiano" brought together nine voices of highest virtuosity -- three sopranos, two contraltos,two tenors, and two basses, all Italian. The pieces are all sung one-on-a-part for course, with Alessandrini getting credit for melding such gorgeous soloistic voices into a sensitive choir. The only actual solo passages, in fact, belong to soprano Monica Piccinini in Melani's Salve Regina, and she sings them seraphically. Otherwise, this is a showcase of 'historically informed" ensemble technique: impeccable tuning throughout, lucid balance of voices, perfect matching of timbres, perfect unity of ornamentation styles, above all perfect coherence of affect.

Vocal polyphony doesn't get any better than this ... until, perhaps, Concerto Italiano's next release.

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[Madiel]

Sorry, I didn't see it. But it's certainly a very recommendable set, especially now when Newton Classics has gone out of business (and it's not easy to know how long its catalogue will be available).

Excellent, well it's high on my shopping list now. I'm sure I'd read favourably about it (as individual releases?) many years ago in the Penguin Guide, and it appeals because I realise that the quartets represent a gap in both my Schumann chamber music and Brahms chamber music collections. I like filling gaps neatly without duplication if I can - which I know makes me very odd on a forum where having multiple versions of works is commonplace.

EDIT: Although, I've just seen a fairly negative review on MusicWeb. Hmm... Along with snippets of other reviews that are positive. The MusicWeb reviewer seems to have wanted them to be less 'classical' and more 'romantic'. If they're relatively 'classical' I suspect that will be fine by me.

[Madiel]

First listen. Some Holmboe to cheer me up....

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2014/03/holmboe-vagn-1909-1996-complete-string_26.html?spref=tw

Go and listen to Shostakovich, then come back and tell me again how bleak and cold Holmboe is...

EDIT: Although it's true that neither no.16 nor no.18 is the cheeriest composition.

[The new erato]

You find Shostakovich bleak? I don't. Certainly not very positive, but human and all encompassing. That doesn't fit my definition of bleak. There's nearlu always hope and humour in good ole' Shosty.

[The new erato]

Now listening:

[asin]B0081UG17M[/asin]

I am slowly getting a grip on Holmboe. And I don't know if this music fits the bleak description. But then; why would bleak music be any less good? Musics "job" is not only to bring joy, but also to say something about us, and too us, as humans. If not, we could suffice with (good) pop music, and forget about music as high art. Occasionally bleakness is good, just as a barren landscape can be just as beautiful as something more abundant.

[Madiel]

You find Shostakovich bleak? I don't. Certainly not very positive, but human and all encompassing. That doesn't fit my definition of bleak. There's nearlu always hope and humour in good ole' Shosty.

I definitely find Shostakovich bleaker than Holmboe in the field of string quartets. Shostakovich's 13th and 15th, particularly. Although there are others that aren't anything like that - I love the 12th, which has a great deal of warmth in it.

And Shostakovich certainly does have humour, but it's often rather sardonic. Hope? Not so much.

Their careers actually have some fairly marked parallels, in particular the fact that both of them have significant cycles of both symphonies and quartets, but in both cases there aren't really any 'early' quartets and the balance shifts significantly during their career (more symphonies in the early career, more quartets in the later career).

[The new erato]

As long as we can get down to discussion of particular works, I agree with you more. Particularly about the two quartets you mention,  but the 13th is still my favorite among his quartets, underlining the point I made in my previous post.

[Madiel]

Well, again, in the 'particular works' vein, I would certainly say that Holmboe's quartets that Harry has been listening to include works that are more severe and intellectual in tone than the chamber symphonies you're listening to.  I would say that he's not a composer who wears his emotions on his sleeve that often.

I guess I find few of Holmboe's works cold or bleak (which to me are emotional qualities, rather than a lack of emotion), but then what I'm drawn to are his more intellectual qualities. I go to Holmboe more for a rewarding/satisfying time than a 'good' time.

[The new erato]

Well, again, in the 'particular works' vein, I would certainly say that Holmboe's quartets that Harry has been listening to include works that are more severe and intellectual in tone than the chamber symphonies you're listening to. 

Yes, they definitely are. The quartets as a group are pretty severe, but I found as I listened to the cycle that I warmed gradually to them. They will never be charmers though.

[Madiel]

PS To be honest, I think a large part of me being a bit irked still stems from what Harry said about Holmboe 10-12. Because while number 10 is one of the severe, intellectual quartets, number 11 is in my opinion the happiest of the entire cycle (it's certainly the one that leaves a grin on my face at the end, not that common a reaction for classical music in general never mind Holmboe), and number 12 has what is, for me, the single most profoundly beautiful movement of the cycle.

[The new erato]

PS To be honest, I think a large part of me being a bit irked still stems from what Harry said about Holmboe 10-12. Because while number 10 is one of the severe, intellectual quartets, number 11 is in my opinion the happiest of the entire cycle (it's certainly the one that leaves a grin on my face at the end, not that common a reaction for classical music in general never mind Holmboe), and number 12 has what is, for me, the single most profoundly beautiful movement of the cycle.

I'll pick out those for a relisten. Thanks.

[Madiel]

I removed all my postings about Holmboe so everybody might be happy again. Maybe Orfeo, its better to stay clear of my reviews.

What?

I'm sorry, but that reaction is far sillier than any opinion you had about the music. If you're only going to post things on the internet on the condition that everybody agrees with you, I'm not sure the internet is what you're looking for! The fact is that people disagree here all the time about which composers they like and which performances they like.

[The new erato]

I removed all my postings about Holmboe so everybody might be happy again. Maybe Orfeo, its better to stay clear of my reviews.

Why? I don't want to be happy, I want to be informed, and your opinions are part of that.

[Lisztianwagner]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No.5

http://www.youtube.com/v/L9Q3K85a9rM
Looking at Karajan conducting is absolutely wonderful......

[Mookalafalas]

I removed all my postings about Holmboe so everybody might be happy again. Maybe Orfeo, its better to stay clear of my reviews.

I agree with the other guys.  As a wise man once said, "Do not apologize for your musical tastes. To each his own."  It might even be a good motto...

I'm playing this from the Das Alte Werk big box.  So far so awesome
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[Harry]

What?

I'm sorry, but that reaction is far sillier than any opinion you had about the music. If you're only going to post things on the internet on the condition that everybody agrees with you, I'm not sure the internet is what you're looking for! The fact is that people disagree here all the time about which composers they like and which performances they like.

Please show a little respect, and do not call my actions or my reviews silly, they are far from silly. I approach you with respect and expect the same. I tried to get some discussion going, but you politely ignored what I wrote, so naturally I removed my offending postings. I have no problems that people disagree with me, I protest however against the fact that you accuse me of designating Holmboe's SQ to a all negative surrounding.

[TheGSMoeller]

Music from Intermezzo...