What are you listening to now?

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

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

I love that cd! Zinman has Barber in his blood. Fantastic permances.

The Schippers is absolutely fantastic as well- but of course it doesn't have the great Argo engineered sound. I love the sweep of the strings that he brings to The Overture to the School for Scandal.

[Mandryka]

The Brabant Ensemble play motets by Nicolas Gombert - this is almost as inspiring as the performances by The Sound and The Fury I was listening to yesterday, both of whom make me think that Gombert was an imaginative and original composer, not just a footnote to Josquin. I kind of already knew that from the Magnificats, but the motets have taken me longer to appreciate.

Has anyone enjoyed Beauty Farm, with their big fat bass up sound?!

Isn't it strange how Gombert's music which, in its day was seen as really dissonant, seems very natural to me. I think that I've got too used to dissonance from listening to C17 organ music

[aligreto]

Handel: Organ Concerti 7 & 10....

[Tsaraslondon]

^ I'd call the '59 Markevitch Sacre "savage squared," myself.

Its my all time favorite Rite.

<Clink.> Cheers.

It has the most charging and galvanizing horns on the "Ritual of the Rival Tribes"- and the hammering drive of "The Glorification of the Chosen One" and "The Sacrificial Dance" are in a class of their own.

Markevitch does a thrilling "Ritual of Abduction," but the most ferocious one I've ever heard is the Mehta/LAPO on Decca- which is one of the most exciting things I've ever heard in Stravinsky. The recording quality is stellar as well.

Rattle's BPO Rite has the most powerfully 'engineered" "Sacrificial Dance" I've ever heard, although his comparatively-slower tempo vis a vis the Markevitch makes it less exciting for me.

Raphael Fruhbeck de Burgos Rite with the LSO is another savage performance that I love- and the Muti/Philadelphia has an absolutely thrilling "Ritual of the Rival Tribes" and "Dance of the Earth"- I just love hearing the Philadelphia Orchestra play that passage.

So all said and done, there are other performances that do one section or another marginally more viscerally- but overall the Markevitch wins in spades for me.

Gosh! You certainly know your Rites!

I don't know very many other performances, but overall greatness will do for me! 

[San Antone]

I have recently listened through Vivaldis op. 1 - op.12 incl. Yes, there are some outstanding works there, but much of the rest is just stuffed with repetitive and foreseeable stereotypes IMO, but this may rather belong to the "unpopular opinions" thread.

My feelings, too. 

[listener]

CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO:  2 violin concertos   Concerto Italiano op. 31, Concerto #2 op.66  'I Profeti'
Tianwa Yang, violin  SWR S.O. Baden-Baden und Freiberg   Pieter-Jelle de Boer, cond.
The 'Italiano' quite a pleasant work, would be a pleasant change from the Bruch in concert programs.
SAINT-SAËNS: Symphony no.3 (with organ)   FRANCK: Chorale no.3 (organ solo)
Edgar Krapp, organ   Bamberg S.O.    Christoph Eschenbach, cond.
Ethel SMYTH: Overture "The Wreckers",   Hamilton HARTY: With the Wild Geese, Hamish MacCUNN: Concert Overture "The Land of the Mountain and the Flood"  Edward GERMAN: Welsh Rhapsody,
Scottish National Orch.  Alexander Gibson, cond.
tuneful pieces that used to be popular filler music on radio, nice' music with composer's names which made them acceptable to highbrow listeners.  The MacCunn reminds me of Rachmaninoff's 2nd (4th mvt).

[Tsaraslondon]

Felicien David's Le Desert was much admired by Berlioz, and occasionally there are echoes of that great genius in the music, though it never quite reaches his level. None the less, it is an enjoyably original work, and certainly worth listening to from time to time, especially in this excellent performance by Accentus and l'orchestre de chambre de Paris under Laurence Equilbey.

[North Star]

Bach
Cantatas 34, 98, 117 & 120
Hana Blažíková, Robin Blaze, Satoshi Mizukoshi, Peter Kooij
Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan
[asin]B004UBB39W[/asin]

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

Gosh! You certainly know your Rites!

I don't know very many other performances, but overall greatness will do for me!  

How Rite you are.

[Todd]

From the big box.  Young Kissin's Mozart is excellent.  He keeps mannerism to a minimum and plays with some realy beauty in some passages.

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

Felicien David's Le Desert was much admired by Berlioz, and occasionally there are echoes of that great genius in the music, though it never quite reaches his level. None the less, it is an enjoyably original work, and certainly worth listening to from time to time, especially in this excellent performance by Accentus and l'orchestre de chambre de Paris under Laurence Equilbey.

What by Berlioz does David's Le Desert sound like?

[Tsaraslondon]

In its gentler moments, a little of L'Enfance du Christ, I guess, but it rarely thrills the way Berlioz does.

The one moment of real startling, ever so gorgeous originality is his depiction of sunrise, which doesn't sound like Berlioz at all.

[Que]

Listening to the stereo version, recorded back in 1959, but sounding amazing for its age. This has to be one of the most thrillingly savage versions in the catalogue.

Yes! But I would replace "thrillingly savage" by: stylish....

Q

[Todd]

Symphonies 4 & 7.  Nice.

[SimonNZ]

Benedetto Marcello's Requiem in the Venetian Manner - Filippo Maria Bressan, cond.

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

Yes! But I would replace "thrillingly savage" by: stylish....

Q

But 'savage' just means 'untamed'- which is always haute couture to me.

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

In its gentler moments, a little of L'Enfance du Christ, I guess, but it rarely thrills the way Berlioz does.

The one moment of real startling, ever so gorgeous originality is his depiction of sunrise, which doesn't sound like Berlioz at all.

^ Thank you for that. . .



Evil never sounded so fiercely glamorous.  .  . well, aside from, say, Callas' '53 Florence Medea.

[Tsaraslondon]

^ Thank you for that. . .



Evil never sounded so fiercely glamorous.  .  . well, aside from, say, Callas' '53 Florence Medea.

Er.. You've lost me a bit. Where did evil come into it? Ah, unless you've just segued into what your listening to right now! 

[The new erato]

Er.. You've lost me a bit. Where did evil come into it?

Yes Macbeth is a pure goodness!

Evil here too, and occasionally pretty thunderous as well:

[asin]B00006C2D8[/asin]

[The new erato]

Now for something more relaxing. Fine disc, I think I may follow this series:

[asin]B00PO9AG0Q[/asin]