What are you listening to now?

[Sergeant Rock]

That one's long done. Striving for The World's Worst Clarinet Sonata.  I can do it!

Go for it, Karl! I know you can do it! 

(If the first movement is anything to go by, I may anoit the Clarinet Sonata as the Worst, i.e., Best, ever.)

Sarge

[aligreto]

Bax: November Woods....





....a lovely atmospheric work.

[ritter]

First listen to this recent acquisition  (and listening to  Die Schöpfung every once in a while should be mandatory IMHO, if only to preserve the sanity of music lovers):

[asin]B002SR3Y5G[/asin]

[aligreto]

Telemann: Suite in A minor for Recorder, Strings and Continuo....

[ritter]

Telemann: Suite in A minor for Recorder, Strings and Continuo....

I don't know that particular recording,  but that is one wonderful composition,  isn't it? It's been a favourite of mine since my early teens.....

[SimonNZ]

Haydn's The Creation - Adam Fischer, cond.

[SonicMan46]

Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674–1763) - the first two images below (3-discs total) - decided to order the third disc, i.e. Vol. 2 of 'Chamber Works' w/ Camerata Köln - both of these CPO offerings received excellent reviews on Fanfare - Dave

   

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Mozart's 5th serenade. A pretty cool work as it mixes concertante and symphonic elements into one multi-movement orchestral extravaganza.

[Todd]

Figured I might as well give disc two another spin.

[mc ukrneal]

Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674–1763) - the first two images below (3-discs total) - decided to order the third disc, i.e. Vol. 2 of 'Chamber Works' w/ Camerata Köln - both of these CPO offerings received excellent reviews on Fanfare - Dave

   

Very interesting and a new name for me!

[SimonNZ]

Pachelbel's Hexachordum Apollinis - John Butt, organ

[Mirror Image]

Now:





Le tombeau de Couperin
Ma mère l'Oye
Rapsodie espagnole

[kishnevi]

=Brunnhilde's Awakening and the concert version of T&I's Act II duet (with a cameo from Violeta Urmana as Brangane).

[SonicMan46]

Very interesting and a new name for me!

Hi Neal - as stated just own a few discs of Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674–1763), from a French family of instrument makers and wind players - his music transitions from Late Baroque into the pre-Classical period - just ordered that second chamber CD w/ Camerata Köln and will likely enjoy - see the attachment of the CPO reviews, if interested.  If a fan of pre-Classical wind music w/ French-Italian influences, then a consideration - Dave

[Sean]

I'm listening to the Richard Lester complete Scarlatti sonatas, now on CD 16 out of 38; he's basically second to Ross but one better than Belder.

[Todd]

[Madiel]

Now streaming: first listen to the Shostakovich Cello Sonata.

[asin]B001E1TGBS[/asin]

Yeah, definitely a piece I need to get a hold of at some point.

[NikF]

Brahms: Viola Sonatas - Gulda/Hagen.

[Tsaraslondon]

Working my way through this mammoth box (though I actually already have quite a bit of the music on here.

Disc 1 . Monteverdi, A & D Scarlatti + Schutz, Schein and Lillius Duets (with Fischer-Dieskau).

Leppard's lush, romanticised accompaniments for the Monteverdi are not fashionable these days, but singing of this quality never goes out of fashion. Dame Janet's intensity and emotional range is wonderfully vivid.

I had it originally in this sleeve.

[amw]

31 minute Op. 111?

The allegro actually takes off at a good pace once he's out of the intro, in which a bit of slowness is not inappropriate (though it should be half the speed of the allegro if we're counting). Notable are a few moments where he drags the music to a halt before starting again. Also notable is the lack of drama. The Arietta is... incredibly slow (~21:30 plus applause) and it's difficult to get used to in the theme, where the pauses between chords are sometimes long enough to allow the chords to decay to near silence, and any sense of triple meter is basically gone. It creates an effect that goes beyond meditative to elegiac, which is actually rather effective, but not so much so in the variations. Variation 2 has a kind of ridiculous solemnity, like a very self-absorbed child. Variation 3 is overdotted for some reason, and not quite as manic as it should be due to the slow tempo. It sounds slightly heroic I suppose. Variation 4 and the coda (all 9 minutes of it) come off much better, giving the feeling of music suspended out of time and trills like the subtle vibrations of the universe and whatever. You know, profound Beethoven. One gets the feeling he wanted to play the whole movement like that, and just didn't know what to do with those annoying Variations 1 through 3 and their boring amabilità. (He even does a rit. into the final bars, in order to make them as profound as possible, I guess—I've always seen the point of those bars as emphasising simplicity and normality after the "transfigured" appearance of the theme under a trill, but not Sokolov, apparently.)

I can't dislike it the way I disliked his Hammerklavier—I mean, it's not boring. Interpretively it's interesting if only as a curiosity, and of course the playing's very well done. I remain convinced Beethoven is just not his area of expertise, though.