What are you listening to now?

[SimonNZ]

Michael Haydn's Missa Tempore Quadragesimae - Ex Tempore

[NikF]

Turina: Ritmos/ Fantasia Sobre/ Fantasia Italiana/ Poema Fantastico - Jordi Maso.

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[SimonNZ]

on the radio:

Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings - James Gilchrist, tenor, Jasper de Waal, horn, Candida Thompson, cond.

hmm...that also has Barbara Hannigan singing Les Illuminations? I'll have to find a copy.

[André]

Excellent remastering. This is a slightly provincial Aida (choir and orchestra), endowed by some formidable vocal performances. Bjoerling and Milanov' s voices  are naturally suited to lighter, less heavy roles. Bjoerling in particular has a rough time negotiating his entrance aria, 'Celeste Aida' and Milanov rolls her eyes (figuratively of course) to make her mark dramatically. The lower voices are well suited to their parts (Boris Christoff is remarkable as the implacable High Priest, Ramfis). The pacing by Jonel Perlea is perfectly natural. This is more a boudoir drama than a battlefield one. I enjoyed it very much.

[Mirror Image]

Now:





Listening to Prillar, Op. 8. Great stuff!

[Todd]

Delphine Bardin's take on Faure's Barcarolles.  Largely linear and literal, with comparatively little rubato and a slight lack of lyrical fluidity, this is a largely nice set.  The set peaks very high with a bright, pastel colored third Barcarolle, but most of the rest sort of blend together.  Recorded in the music hall of La Chaux-de-Fonds, one of the greatest venues on earth for small scale works based on all recordings I've heard, the sound is SOTA and natural (if bright here) in perspective and timbre.  The half-century+ old recordings by Heidsieck and Thyssens-Valentin still rule the roost.

[SimonNZ]

Jacob Druckman's Counterpoise - Dawn Upshaw, soprano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond.

[Mirror Image]

Jacob Druckman's Counterpoise - Dawn Upshaw, soprano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond.

What is Druckman's music like, Simon? Any points of comparison?

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52. Amazing work and performance.

[SimonNZ]

What is Druckman's music like, Simon? Any points of comparison?

I might have to get back to you about that - the above was the first listen to the first piece of his I've heard, and I suspect that as a song-cycle it may not have been typical of his wider body of work. But I'll be investigating further.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I listened to Silbury Air several times from this



Astonishing work. I am looking at the score currently to work out how he composes all the wonderful cross rhythms and all the metric modulations that make this piece jive.

[SimonNZ]

Jonathan Harvey's Tombeau de Messiaen - Philip Mead, piano

[Mandryka]

Jos van Immerseel plays keyboards in Antwerp by Joannes Daniel Dulcken, Andreas Ruckers and Joannes Couchet. In fairness the recording is entitled the legacy of Hans Ruckers. The instruments sound fab and the playing is expressive. While it would be unjust to say that Immerseel is academic, I think that what he lacks is a bit of flamboyance. But this is to cavil: it's well executed, beautifully recorded  and wide ranging in terms of repertoire and instruments.

[Obradovic]

If you love Parsifal then you'll like this. And if you ever die, better stay where you are...

[Madiel]

Somehow, K.331 has just never quite done it for me despite its relative fame.

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[not edward]

Henze's Il Vitalino radoppiato is one of the few cases where I'm happy to buy into the composer's desire to write pure parody:

[asin]B00U2OT0SM[/asin]

I'd like to see a commercial recording that plays it less safe, though I understand the limited rehearsal time available for a recording funded by Kickstarter.

[Mirror Image]

I might have to get back to you about that - the above was the first listen to the first piece of his I've heard, and I suspect that as a song-cycle it may not have been typical of his wider body of work. But I'll be investigating further.

Sounds good, Simon.

[André]

Neither qualifies for my favourite interpretation, but they are not far away and as a program it's hard to do better.

[Brian]

A brand-new release of a new Paul Badura-Skoda album, recorded in spring 2015. He's still got it!



The contents: Schubert waltzes and dances, along with Otto Schulhof's Three Polkas After Johann Strauss.

[aligreto]

Locatelli: L'arte del violino Op. 3, Concerto No. 7....