What are you listening to now?

[kishnevi]

A live recording of a performance from Glyndebourne, with fantastic performances, from three of my favourite singers (Dawn Upshaw, David Daniels and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson), especially Daniels and Hunt Lieberson who are both quite sublime, William Christie presides over a superb performance.

Daniels I don't admire quite as much, but I put the question to the house: Did Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson ever make a bad recording?
And will gladly take the negative side.
TD
The penultimate CD of the Rubinstein gigabox (I will forgo the DVDs just now, since is a documentary and the other the video version of the Benefit for Israel , of which I played the CD version just last night.

These three final bonus CDs seem to be available only as part of the box. 

[Que]

.[asin]B00005R2KX[/asin]
Q

[Wanderer]

.[asin]B0094BDOR2[/asin][asin]B002XDFOGM[/asin]

[Florestan]

[Tsaraslondon]

Daniels I don't admire quite as much, but I put the question to the house: Did Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson ever make a bad recording?
And will gladly take the negative side.
TD

In answer to your (rhetorical) question about Hunt Lieberson, "None that I know of."

I wonder, though, what is your problem with Daniels, a singer, who, to my mind, has very similar qualities to Hunt Lieberson, and who also, as far as I am aware, has never made a bad record. I first heard him live at the Barbican in an all Vivaldi programme with Fabio Biondi, and fell completely under his spell. I was pretty much allergic to countertenors before I heard him, but here was a voice of surpassing beauty, full and rich that easily filled the hall, allied to a gift for communication, innate musicality and an emotional connection with the text which is second to none. I have heard him live several times now, in a wide range of different music, and he never disappoints.

[Tsaraslondon]

Terrific performances of this all Barber programme in demonstration-worthy sound.

[amw]

Those who have Qobuz can now listen to my favourite recording of Schubert's string quintet—albeit transferred at too high a speed (maybe the machine was set to 45 instead of 33?), resulting in the pitch being a sixth-tone (or thereabouts) too high. Also on Spotify!

[Florestan]

[amw]

Those who have Qobuz can now listen to my favourite recording of Schubert's string quintet—albeit transferred at too high a speed (maybe the machine was set to 45 instead of 33?), resulting in the pitch being a sixth-tone (or thereabouts) too high. Also on Spotify!

The pitch of that transfer was bothering me, and also I know the interpretation pretty well, so I'm listening to another one that I've probably only heard once or so. It's actually quite good.

Jansen does intensity pretty well, of course, but I'm actually most impressed by the Maintz/Thedéen combo.

edit: I don't know that anyone reads my Schubert Quintet posts these days, but where I'd place this in a lineup by preference: nowhere near the top three. Close to the "1st tier" (Leipzig/Sanderling, Arcanto/Marron, Fitzwilliam/van Kampen, Emerson/Rostropovich, etc). Probably in a narrow "1.5th tier" containing its closest interpretive relative, Auryn/Poltéra—a slightly softer and darker-hued, more lyrical reading—and Orpheus/Wispelwey. Above the 2nd tier containing the likes of Pavel Haas/Ishizaka (which, however, I do need to re-evaluate—it's the other close interpretive relative, on the more intense, less lyrical side of things), Kavafians et al., Raphael Ensemble, Brentano/Kannen and so on.

I'm not sure if this one will end up in the library, I'll do an a/b/c with Auryn and Pavel Haas before deciding.

[Camphy]

String Quartets 10 & 11 from this set:

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[Christo]

Really?! 

[Florestan]

Really?! 

Yes, and I quite liked them.

TD

[aligreto]

Honegger: Symphony No. 2....





I like this work for the juxtaposition, in the first two movements, of despair and the indomitable struggle to overcome it and the triumph/resolution in the final movement.

[Wakefield]

Performances by Luca Guglielmo sounds appealing, but 29 discs is more than a bit daunting! 

Q

At some extent, you're right. It's a superb project, but Tartini - who was an excellent  composer - isn't Vivaldi.

I mean he has some difficulties to write the same concerto 600 times.

[Florestan]

At some extent, you're right. It's a superb project, but Tartini - who was an excellent  composer - isn't Vivaldi.

I mean he has some difficulties to write the same concerto 600 times.

Is this is praise or criticism? 

I think Tartini´s violin concertos are more complex than Vivaldi´s (and so are Locatelli´s for that matter), reflecting his deeply intellectual, meditative and introvert nature.

[Karl Henning]

Henning
Discreet Erasures, Op.99
[ MIDI ]

[Cato]

Honegger: Symphony No. 2....





I like this work for the juxtaposition, in the first two movements, of despair and the indomitable struggle to overcome it and the triumph/resolution in the final movement.

Serge Baudo and the Czech Philharmonic!  Oh, the good old days!

[Wakefield]

Is this is praise or criticism? 

I think Tartini´s violin concertos are more complex than Vivaldi´s (and so are Locatelli´s for that matter), reflecting his deeply intellectual, meditative and introvert nature.

If "complexity" means less naturalness and less fluency, I agree. But only in that case. 

Vivaldi is one of the greatest composers in history, and Tartini just a very skilled one. I would add an emoticon with a smile, but you're a big boy. 

IMO, Locatelli is superior to Tartini, too.

[Karl Henning]

Henning
In the Artist's Studio (There's a wide world in there), Op.107
[ MIDI ]

[Florestan]

If "complexity" means less naturalness and less fluency, I agree. But only in that case. 

Vivaldi is one of the greatest composers in history, and Tartini just a very skilled one. I would add an emoticon with a smile, but you're a big boy. 

IMO, Locatelli is superior to Tartini, too.

There is only one statement in the above that I agree with, but we can still be friends.