What are you listening to now?

[Mirror Image]

I haven't heard the 650s (or the 598s, for that matter), but what I've read over the years from people who have heard both is that the 650s are similar to the 600s, but with more emphasis on the bass and lower mids.  Since I always found the 600s to be more than adequate in that department, I was never particularly tempted by the 650s. My sense (again, from reading others' impressions) is that the 600s offer a more balanced, neutral sound, which tends to be especially preferable for classical, IMHO.

My current headphones are the Audeze LCD2, which are wonderful,with remarkably deep bass and a remarkably liquid, almost grainless (though arguably somewhat recessed) midrange, but i would never get rid of my HD600s, which are really great all-rounders. as I said, I'd be surprised if you weren't pleased.

Thanks for the feedback about the 600s. 'A balanced, neutral sound' is exactly what I love about the 598s. If my offer is accepted, I'll own the 600s for $210 brand new in the box. I just looked up those Audeze and those must be discontinued. They're very expensive.

[Que]

My first acquaintance with Boehm´s works was his harpsichord works, which maybe are more accessible and charming than a number of his organ works.. There are some fine recordings of his harpsichord suites: e.g. Leonhardt (Telefunken and Seon) and Alessandrini on Astrée. You might try these, before you immerse youself more into his organ works.

For the harpsichord works I would recommend Mitzi Meyerson - in a convincing Stylus Phantasticus style!
The jury is still out on his organ works, though Jean-Charles Ablitzer's single disc is quite good. I guess I'm waiting for Léon Berben to get to it.

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Q

[Que]

Morning listening:

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Q

[NorthNYMark]

Thanks for the feedback about the 600s. 'A balanced, neutral sound' is exactly what I love about the 598s. If my offer is accepted, I'll own the 600s for $210 brand new in the box. I just looked up those Audeze and those must be discontinued. They're very expensive.

That is a great price for the HD 600s!  Yes, the Audeze are very expensive. Along with my speaker system (which I had never had throughout my entire adult life until that point, listening exclusively to headphones) they were a gift to myself for a major life event--getting tenure at my university. Of course, for most people, the cost of the Senns is more than what they would ever consider for headphones.  In some ways, though, for a music lover who spends a lot of time listening to headphones (and doesn't intend to use them for portable listening), I think those Senns may be one of the best bargains in audio in terms of price/performance ratio.

[Mandryka]

For the harpsichord works I would recommend Mitzi Meyerson - in a convincing Stylus Phantasticus style!
The jury is still out on his organ works, though Jean-Charles Ablitzer's single disc is quite good. I guess I'm waiting for Léon Berben to get to it.

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Q

Yes it's frustrating because occasionally you get a glimpse of how good the music can be on organ. One Boehm organist I forgot about yesterday is Martin Neu, who, in the one partita he plays seems to me to have some excellent poetic ideas.

More generally, what Beek and Neu and Foccroulle bring to Boehm is seriousness, intensity, almost solemnity. I can imagine that some people would say that Stella and Mikkelsen (in vol 2) are predominently in touch with the lively, multicoiloured, highly changeable side of Boehm's music. I would say what they do is one sided, one dimensional. Those contrasting, almost contradictory, aspects of Baroque organ music are very much on my mind at the moment, not only in Boehm but also in Sweelinck and Laebègue  - I got a recording of Sweelinck on clavierorgan by Jean Luc Ho which almost makes it sound like music for a fair or a 16th century popular entertainment. And Thiery Maeder's Lebègue is really dancing and light. The great baroque organists are circle squarers, joyful and serious at the same time.

[prémont]

For the harpsichord works I would recommend Mitzi Meyerson - in a convincing Stylus Phantasticus style!
The jury is still out on his organ works, though Jean-Charles Ablitzer's single disc is quite good. I guess I'm waiting for Léon Berben to get to it.

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Q

Yes, for completeness Meyerson is to be preferred to Stella. But I still find Leonhardt´s and Alessandrini´s single Böhm-CDs unsurpassed.

Concerning the organ works the single CD by Christiaan Teeuwsen (Naxos) isn´t bad either.

[Marc]

Yes, for completeness Meyerson is to be preferred to Stella. But I still find Leonhardt´s and Alessandrini´s single Böhm-CDs unsurpassed.

Concerning the organ works the single CD by Christiaan Teeuwsen (Naxos) isn´t bad either.

It's frustrating that it was called Volume 1 and that there has never been a follow-up.

Thread duty: listening to Wim van Beek playing Bach on the Schnitger et al in Groningen's Martinikerk (BWV 565, 662, 663, 715, 564, 730, 731 and 768).

[Marc]

Piet Wiersma's final recording (Lohman organ in Eenrum, NL), just a few hours before his untimely death: Bach's Fantasia in C-minor BWV 562.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Uo4QdHvbsds

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Haven't listened to the Horn Trio in a while.  Wonder if, in the Scherzo, I'll hear again the faint echo of Du Liegst mir im Herzen - a possible reference as that folk tune had been around in northern Germany at least since 1820.

[Todd]

https://www.youtube.com/v/tFv7V431l0k

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Symphony No. 3 'Sinfonia Rustica'. Great stuff.

[Mandryka]

Yes, for completeness Meyerson is to be preferred to Stella. But I still find Leonhardt´s and Alessandrini´s single Böhm-CDs unsurpassed.

Concerning the organ works the single CD by Christiaan Teeuwsen (Naxos) isn´t bad either.

In addition to the Seon disc, Leonhardt recorded three Bohm sonatas for Teldec. The Teldec ones are in that distinctive "middle period" style that I love so much - accurate and full of feeling.

[Karl Henning]

The late Stravinsky festival continues:


Igor Stravinsky: Threni (id est lamentations Jeremiae Prophetae) - soloists, The Schola Cantorum, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer.

I've actually listened to Threni several times over the past year, and I'm enjoying it more and more. The work's beauties take a while (years?) to unveil themselves, but are many and very engaging.

How can it be that a major Stravinsky work like this has only been recorded twice, and that Robert Craft's recording has never been reissued in the Naxos Craft / Stravinsky series?

Glad to hear that this piece is growing on you!

And yes, it is very nearly a crime against culture that Naxos has suppressed that re-issue!

[North Star]

Maybe a maiden-listen Monday

Stravinsky
Threni
The Schola Cantorum
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky

https://www.youtube.com/v/FqFTGo3iM6E

[RebLem]

Since my last report, I have been listening to the following:

Aumann, Franz Joseph (1728-97): Works performed by Ars Antiqua Austria, St. Florianer Sangerknaben, Gunar Letzbor, cond.--rec. 23-26 April 2008, Augustiner Chorherrenstift St Florian, Sommerrefektorium, Austria. (Augustinian Abbey of St Florian, summer refectory, Austria.) Pan Classics PC 10234.

Tr. 1-17......Requiem  (29'31)
Tr. 18..........Ecce quomodo (4'06)
Tr. 19..........Tenebrae (3'57)
Tr. 20-24.....Te Deum (10'23)

The packaging for this issue is a bit unusual, though I have seen its like before.  It opens up like a booklet.  Its a stiff paper booklet, with just a standard plastic CD holder on the left after the booklet is opened.  To the right is a booklet attached to the inside back cover so that it cannot be removed, which contains the liner notes.  The booklet contains two essays.  The first is by Dr. Ferdinand Reisinger, Vicar of the Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian in Austria, near Linz.  This is the abbey where Aumann was a monk from 1753 until his death in 1797, and where, later, Anton Bruckner lived and died; in fact, Bruckner is buried beneath the organ of the church.  You can find pictures and travel information at Trip Advisor @ http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1195828-d1412205-Reviews-Augustiner_Chorherrenstift_St_Florian-St_Florian_Upper_Austria.html .

From Dr. Reisinger:

"Most likely, according to...Peter Dormann,...Aumann...wrote approximately 300 compositions, most of them sacred works.

"Monasteries at that time had their own house composers who were monks; if they had extraordinary talent, their works would be performed in other monasteries, churches, or palaces.  This was the case with our Franz Aumann: in his lifetime his works spread to the entire monarchic realm; today many of the scores have been lost.  Dormann has made a list of where the works of Aumann have been slumbering...Who was he?  We don't know what he looked like....He was born in 1728 in the city of Traismauer, and went to Vienna to study music where he also met important musicians of his time....  Why at 25 years of age he came to establish himself at St Florian [and study to take Holy Orders] has not yet been discovered.  He must have had special talent because only two years later he became Regens Chori, one year before his ordination!  He remained in the service of our monastery...until his death in 1797.

"He worked for numerous prelates and always expressed his appreciation for them.  He composed new Requiems (there must have been 12 of them) for funeral ceremonies, in addition to masses for various occasions, many motets, litanies, offertories and even oratorios.  His musical dramas were known to have been written in dialect.

This man, though very devout, seems to have had...a very pungent sense of humor.  In fact, in a biographical letter from a certain Giuseppe Carpani addressed to Josef Haydn, Aumann is named, among others.  Carpani writes: 'on the eve of the feast day of St Cecelia it was customary to play music in all the houses [by which is meant abbeys].  Traditionally, the most famous composers went out on the streets with farcical music making to amuse the people.  On one of these evenings Aumann directed...his own satirical mass, but the singers never made it to the end because of all the laughter it provoked.  It became known as the <Farmers' Mass.>  The author divided the syllables, repeated them, mixed and rearranged them at random.  What came out was hilarious stammering and ridiculous nonsense....  This tower of Babel of confusion was composed nevertheless according to the precise rules of musical science, and was rich in beautiful and sophisticated ideas....that clown was an Augustinian Friar from St. Florian; he was truly a scrupulous theoretician...'

"His theoretical knowledge influenced not only his role as Regens Chori, and not  only his compositions; he was one of the advisors most in demand during the construction of the great organ for our collegiate, that is, for the prelate Gogl and for the organ builder Franz Xavier Krissmann.

"His epoch...was one of liturgical and musical change; Josephinian spirit was widespread, the expansion of the Baroque came to a halt; its fluttering wings were clipped.  Aumann's earlier works embraced a style that was closer to the Baroque (the requiem recorded here belongs to that phase).  Subsequently, Musica brevis became the norm; church music with texts in German were in demand....

"For around 40 years, Aumann was the dominant musician at this monastery.  What he sowed later bore fruit; by the time of organist and Regens Chori Anton Bruckner, his heritage was still very much alive."

Well, that's quite a lot to absorb, isn't it?  But I think even further explanation is needed.  What is "Josephinian spirit," I hear you ask.  I suggest you go to  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephinism and go down to the section titled "Catholic Church in Habsburg lands."  At the top of the article, you will see this sentence: "Josephinism was the collective domestic policies of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1765–1790). During the ten years in which Joseph was the sole ruler of the Habsburg Monarchy (1780–1790), he attempted to legislate a series of drastic reforms to remodel Austria in the form of the ideal Enlightened state. This provoked severe resistance from powerful forces within and outside of his empire, but ensured that he would be remembered as an "enlightened ruler." 

It is this last ten years of Joseph II's reign in which the principles of Josephinism  were implemented.  They included implacable hostility to contemplative orders like the Ausgustinians, whom Joseph saw as contributing nothing to society and serving only as a clerical vehicle for accummulating and preserving unjustified wealth without providing any valuable service to the community in return.  Quote from referenced article: "More than 500 of 1,188 monasteries in Austro-Slav lands (and a hundred more in Hungary) were dissolved, and 60 million florins taken by the state. This wealth was used to create 1,700 new parishes and welfare institutions."  St. Florian managed to escape this carnage, but many other Augustinian monasteries were closed, and the order was weakened considerably. 

The second essay in the booklet was written by the conductor on the CD, Gunar Letzbor, who is also, apparently, a monk at St. Florian; in the one B&W pic of him  playing the violin, he is seen, if you look closely, wearing a Roman collar.  The first three paragraphs of his essay detail the development of the musical establishment at St. Florian during Aumann's time there.  The great organ which is still there and played on this recording was built 1770-4 to, apparently, Aumann's specifications and under his supervision, although it now bears the name of Anton Bruckner.

This recording employws 13 singers and 13 instrumentalists, including an organist, and two conductors--Letzbor in overall control, and choral director Franz Farnberger.  I presume this to be comparable to the forces available at the abbey during the Baroque period before the reign of Joseph II.  Joseph introduced some of his reforms before 1780 in areas he alone controlled; St Florian was one of those.  Already, in the mid-1770's, the musical establishment at St. Florian had been reduced to one full-time organist, one tenor, one bass, 3 instrumentalists and 3 choirboys.  By 1790, however, he was down to 2 violins, bass and organ and a few singers.

From Letzbor's essay:

"We present day musicians and music lovers are somewhat handicapped by having grown up with the Romantic tradition...so the original sound of the music of Aumann's period may seem a bit strange....

"The use of almost exclusively solo instrumental parts and also solo singers bring us a sound that provides a richer variety of tone colors than we could have with a choral setting....When one boy, an oboe, and the organ are heard together playing one line at the unison, we hear shades of color we are not used to, which...lend transparency and a layered effect to the composition, available only with this original setting."

So, what are we to make of all this?  Go get the record.  I find it very rewarding. And I also wonder what Bill Donohue of The Catholic League would think of Aumann's "Farmers' Mass!"

From a 6 CD set from Warner Classics, licensed from EMI, of Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra (4 & 7), New Philharmonia Orch. (all save 4 & 7) performing the Bruckner Symphonies 4-9, all recorded in Kingsway Hall, London.

CD 4--Tr. 1-3 of 3 & CD 5 Tr. 1 of 5.....Sym. 8 in C Minor (1890 vers.,  ed. by Nowak) (84'15")--rec. 29-30 October & 2-4, 10, 11, 14 November 1970.
CD 5--Tr. 2-5 of 5.....Sym. 6 in A Major (1881 vers., ed. by Haas) (55'04")--rec. 10-12 & 16-19 November 1964.

One of the things I like about EMI is that it seems to be significantly more honest and sophisticated than most of the other main-line labels.  I remember, for example, playing through a box of Klemperer Mozart symphony recordings.  Klemperer did two recordings of # 40, the so-called "Great G Minor" Symphony, to distinguish it from the only other symphony in that key he wrote, #25.  The earlier of his two recordings was in MONO and was coupled with #25, the little G Minor Symphony.  The other, in STEREO, was part of a set which had earlier been issued in a box and also on separate discs, of the last 6 Mozart symphonies.  This box was issued before the newer era, where it has now become the custom to include both recordings in these inclusive sets, so someone had to make a decision as to which one to include in the reissue.  The reflexive response of a know nothing bean counter type would have been to issue the stereo one, because it was in more up to date sound.  But that was not what was in the box.  What was in the box was the earlier mono recording, because it was a significantly better performance than its stereo successor.  That's when I became a big fan of the EMI process.

They've done it again in the liner notes of this issue.  Generally, liner notes promote the performances in the box.  The conductor is a great man and can do no wrong, everything's wonderful and a must-have.  Not so, however, with their liner notes on the recording of the 8th Symphony, written by Richard Osborne in 2012:

"Klemperer's long awaited recording of the Eighth Symphony, made in the autumn of 1970 in the conductor's 86th year was, alas, a crisis-ridden affair.  Announcing that 'the composer was so full of musical invention that he went too far', Klemperer set the clock back 40 years by slashing 141 bars from the symphony's finale (bars 211-87 and 582-647 in Leopold Nowak's already abbreviated 1955 Critical Edition.)  Producer Suvi Raj Grubb was aghast.   At a stroke, Klemperer had rendered the recording uncompetitive.  But Klemperer was adamant.  'If you want an uncut fourth movement, find yourself another conductor.'  The recording, released posthumously in December, 1973, was not widely collected, a fact which makes its present reissue as part of a comprehensive overview of Klemperer's Bruckner of more than usual interest."

Well.  Whaddaya think uhdat?

And now, from the liner notes about the Sixth:

"In March 1964, Walter Legge suspended the Philharmonia Orchestra (the players quickly reformed as the New Philharmonia Orchestra [and became a self-governing ensemble], ans shortly after [Legge] resigned from EMI, a resignation that helped clear the way for Klemperer to make good some serious gaps in his Bruckner discography.  His first priority was to record the rarely played Sixth Symphony. 

"Less a Brucknerian 'cathedral of sound', more a shrewdly worked symphony in the classical style, the Sixth had received its posthumous premiere under Mahler's direction in 1899.  An early advocate was the distinguished English musicologist Donald Tovey.  'Listen to the music with reverence,' he wrote of the slow [2nd] movement, 'for the composer meant what he said, and he was speaking of sacred things.'

Klemperer's recording of the Sixth reveals his Bruckner conducting at its uncomplicated best.  Where other conductors muddy the waters by looking for complications that do not...exist, Klemperer sails grandly on."

One searches for descriptives to characterize a performance like this 6th.  Secure is one.  Klemperer knows this symphony like loving couples know each other after 25 years of marriage.  He knows how everything is supposed to go.  He knows exactly what to do.  And yet, it never gets boring for him.  He is struck as much as the rest of us by the wonder of it all.  That's another descriptive.  Wondrous.  Powerful.  Joyous.  Unself-conscious abandon.  Dedication to the service of the music and what it has to offer us.  But unlike that loving couple, it also includes an eagerness to share the joy with others, with us, and we feel it is a privilege to be in the presence of such magnificence.  At least I do.


Glossa Platinum GCD P31508--Bach, J.S.: Goldberg Variations, S 988 (79'05)--Fabio Bonizzoni, harpsichord, rec. @ Chiesa del Colletto, May, 2004.

This recording was made on a harpsichord built by Willem Kroesbergen after J Couchet.  This is a truly magnificentt instrument.  Unfortunately, the liner notes contain no photos of anything or anyone except a B&W pic of Bonnizzoni.  But, Mr. Kroesbergen has a Facebook page, and I have sent him a friend request.  He is Dutch, and apparently recently retired to Cape Town, SA, but he is still doing musical research on Bach's temperaments.

I found this performance to be a magnificent one.  It has the lyricism needed, without the metronomic sameness that undermines many performances.  In fact, for me, this moves to the head of the pack.  Its my favorite performance of this work, and even those who until now have wrongly preferred their Goldberg's on piano will, I think, be persuaded by this one.

[Karl Henning]

Stravinsky
Symphony of Psalms
Pater noster, Credo, Ave Maria (unaccompanied)
Mass
Canticum Sacrum

The Choir of Westminster Cathedral
John Mark Ainsley (T), Stephen Roberts (Bt)
Iain Simcock (org/pf), Martin Baker (pf)
City of London Sinfonietta
James O'Donnell
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I for one do not fault you in the least for repeated visitations to this disc 

[Drasko]

[North Star]

I for one do not fault you in the least for repeated visitations to this disc 

I was somewhat worried, thanks for setting my mind at ease. 

[HIPster]

RebLem - that Aumann looks interesting, thank you for the write-up.

Now listening to the Retrospect Ensemble ~
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On a second play of this recording and I am won over by its many charms.  Sound is truly state-of-the art.

This edition is the original release: a Hybrid SACD.  Linn has re-released this recording as a CD, as a part of its 'ECHO Series':

http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Ascension-Oratorios-Retrospect-Ensemble/dp/B00O29YB64/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1431965521&sr=1-3

[SonicMan46]

Stravinsky, Igor - Symphony of Psalms on Spotify from the recordings below - contemplating obtaining another CD of this work - Dave