What are you listening to now?

[Todd]

Another winner from Ugorskaja, with a top flight Gesange der Fruhe to open the disc.

[Ken B]

He's one of those "reviewer types" on Amazon who likes to lay on the hyperbole, and who's always one step ahead of the proverbial pack.  

Here's his Amazon history.

Ah, merci. I scrolled few some. BUT he's dead right on Rilling's Bach, which I know is a contentious claim here!

[TheGSMoeller]

Is there a finer Adagio in chamber music than that from Schubert's string quintet? If so it must be capable of bringing peace on earth because this adagio from his D956 seems unbeatable, especially in this performance from The Lindsays.

[EigenUser]

KenB, look! I'm playing minimalism!   
[asin]B000006E4C[/asin]

So hypno-hypno-hypno-hyp-hyp-hyp-hyp-hyp-no-no-no-no-tic...

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Romeo & Juliette. Magnificent of course.

[Bogey]

Samuel Barber
Violin Concerto

Great choice!

[EigenUser]

KenB, look! I'm playing minimalism!   
[asin]B000006E4C[/asin]

So hypno-hypno-hypno-hyp-hyp-hyp-hyp-hyp-no-no-no-no-tic...

I can't believe I heard the whole thing...

[Mirror Image]

I can't believe I heard the whole thing...

Me either.

[EigenUser]

Me either.

Haha. In all seriousness, it is one of the relatively few minimalist pieces that I love. It truly is music as a process, the way motifs are developed one note at a time. In fact, Reich is probably the only minimalist composer who I really like. I love Feldman, but he's more "proto-minimalist". Whatever the hell that might mean. 

[Mirror Image]

Haha. In all seriousness, it is one of the relatively few minimalist pieces that I love. It truly is music as a process, the way motifs are developed one note at a time. In fact, Reich is probably the only minimalist composer who I really like. I love Feldman, but he's more "proto-minimalist". Whatever the hell that might mean. 

The only Minimalist I prefer is Arvo Pärt. I've come to the conclusion that his music means so much more to me than any other alleged 'Minimalist.'

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Barber's Cello Concerto. Exquisite! Next I'm off to bed.

[Octave]

Decided to keep forging ahead, maybe even to the end of this big set.  In almost cases with these later discs, only the second spin, before I retire it to the shelf for another while.



The rest of the Schreier secular cantatas, over this past weekend.  Plus,

SAINT MATTHEW PASSION, BWV244
Rogers Covey-Crump (Evangelist), Michael George, Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Martyn Hill, David Thomas
choirs of King's/Jesus Colleges w/Brandenburg Consort
dir. Roy Goodman and Stephen Cleobury

SAINT JOHN PASSION, BWV245
John Mark Ainsley (Evangelist), Catherine Bott, Michael Chance, Paul Agnew, Stephen Varcoe
choir of King's College + Brandenburg Consort
dir. Goodman/Cleobury

I think I like Chance's and Varcoe's voices in particular....I'm not sure I've heard much of them.

[Ken B]

KenB, look! I'm playing minimalism!   
[asin]B000006E4C[/asin]

So hypno-hypno-hypno-hyp-hyp-hyp-hyp-hyp-no-no-no-no-tic...

Thumbs firmly upright!

[Octave]

Re: Steve Reich:
Interesting to me that Reich meh'd that (Nonesuch) recording of M18M [in a Pitchfork interview iirc].  I am a big fan of the Hungaroton recording of a Budapest group doing it, learned by ear, apparently, before scores were widely available.

EDIT:  Nope, I meant the Ensemble Modern one.  Rather, the 'meh' for the EM one.  (Not my 'meh', because I cannot remember it.)  I do love the zippy Amandinda/Hungaroton M18, though....

Pitchfork: People have expressed allegiances to various recordings of "Music for 18 Musicians". The ECM version, the Nonesuch version...

Steve Reich: And there's one by the Ensemble Modern, which I think is not as good, but has its fans, and there's a very interesting one which is called "Music for 18 Musicians Live in Budapest", on Hungaroton, of all things. I would recommend that you hear it. It is a live performance, but it was done before there was any real proper score. They worked basically by taking it off the recording and working with the very, very sketchy oral notation of my ensemble. These people put it together in the 80s, and they are burning. It is not a recording that leaves things to be desired. There are aspects of it that are absolutely magic. They turn it into something that has a life of its own.

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6490-steve-reich/

[Ken B]

We live in the golden age of the accordion. For Monkey Greg and EigenUser, a rough recording but hot damn what music

Youtube.com/watch?v=A25PCwPkZac

Studio recording of the same piece with just 3 accordions and piano

youtube.com/watch?v=Ri_bNZyMd30

And ...

This is mislabelled. It is Cornfield from Prospero's Book. From nothing Nyman conjures a rapturous wail of grief
youtube.com/watch?v=p-bb_vtOExA

[Que]

Long time since I heard this:

[asin]B00006JST6[/asin]

When this was issued a Bach recording on a pedal harpsichord was a rarity.

Now Peter Watchorn has recorded a whole bunch of them!

Q

[Moonfish]

Throughout the day - had to focus on work so not enough time for my beloved recordings   

Harpsichord exposure (thanks to all of the wonderful advice from GMG members - now tackling it with joy and frenzy):
Couperin: Suites, Pavane   Leonhardt
Initially I thought these were wonderful (and a great sounding instrument on top of it), but my attention wandered after about 30 minutes. I think I need to take the harpsichord in doses. However, before that breakdown I actually entered a hypnotic realm. I cannot quite figure out the patterns of these compositions (nor imagine how the artist can remotely memorize them!!)

[asin] B0030BYU5W[/asin]

Pondering the world of French Baroque further:
Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie   La Petite Bande/Kuijken

[asin] B0030BYU6Q[/asin]

[Que]

Throughout the day - had to focus on work so not enough time for my beloved recordings   

Harpsichord exposure (thanks to all of the wonderful advice from GMG members - now tackling it with joy and frenzy):
Couperin: Suites, Pavane   Leonhardt
Initially I thought these were wonderful (and a great sounding instrument on top of it), but my attention wandered after about 30 minutes. I think I need to take the harpsichord in doses. However, before that breakdown I actually entered a hypnotic realm. I cannot quite figure out the patterns of these compositions (nor imagine how the artist can remotely memorize them!!)

Trust me  , after a while this effect (I had the same thing with organ music and polyphonic choral music) will gradually disappear after you've  had some more milage in harpsichord listening.
Somehow the brain will get trained to decipher the patterns! It is this effect that I think is for many an obstacle to get into harpsichord or organ music.

Q

[Octave]

Initially I thought these were wonderful (and a great sounding instrument on top of it), but my attention wandered after about 30 minutes. I think I need to take the harpsichord in doses.

I am a new hand at enjoying the hpschd, but this was exactly my experience....it's gotten much easier over just the past two years.
Aside from just acclimating to the sound, I wonder if it is 'harder' to properly record a harpsichord than a piano?  Is the quality control in construction, restoration, and tuning more hit/miss than with pianos?  I have no good evidence of this, except that it's a smaller domain of performers and instruments (hpschd v. piano).

[North Star]

Trust me  , after a while this effect (I had the same thing with organ music and polyphonic choral music) will gradually disappear after you've  had some more milage in harpsichord listening.
Somehow the brain will get trained to decipher the patterns! It is this effect that I think is for many an obstacle to get into harpsichord or organ music.

Q

I am a new hand at enjoying the hpschd, but this was exactly my experience....it's gotten much easier over just the past two years.
Aside from just acclimating to the sound, I wonder if it is 'harder' to properly record a harpsichord than a piano?  Is the quality control in construction, restoration, and tuning more hit/miss than with pianos?  I have no good evidence of this, except that it's a smaller domain of performers and instruments (hpschd v. piano).

+1 to both.
I wouldn't think it's necessarily any more difficult to record harpsichords, but it's something that has been mastered much later than recording pianos, because they haven't been recorded for as long or as much.
Harpsichords need their tuning adjusted quite often, but that oughtn't matter.

Thread duty
Monteverdi
Vespro della Beata Vergine
Alessandrini & Concerto Italiano