What are you listening to now?

[SimonNZ]

on the radio:

Prokofiev's Symphony No.7 - Kirill Karabits, cond.

[Todd]

Sol Gabetta's take on the Elgar Cello Concerto and various smaller works.  The main work is played without fault by the soloist.  Gabetta can generate a big, rich tone, but she's maybe even more impressive higher in register, where she sounds precise and in absolute control.  The whole thing lacks that last bit of passion a la Du Pre / Barbirolli - one of those much venerated recordings that fully justifies its reputation - but this is fully and thoroughly enjoyable.  The Elgar, Dvorak, and Respighi filler are all well done.  Gabetta sounds a bit bigger in perspective than she would in concert, and the orchestral support is predictably excellent in the modern way.   (How many bad orchestras are there now, and how many of those record big budget recordings?)  Superb sound.  A superb disc.

Next up are the DSCH works.  I have high hopes.

[kishnevi]

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:

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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.

I am not really "into" Henze,  so I can't say I really enjoyed that CD (or the companion with the first VC), but Vitalino was the one piece I had any urge to hear a second time.

TD
[asin]B018WS9HQE[/asin]

First listen, of course.  Only intelligent comment to make at this point is that it really is difficult to point out which music is Ibert and which Honegger.

[SimonNZ]

Stravinsky's Les Noces - Sylvain Cambreling, cond.

[The new erato]

First listen, of course.  Only intelligent comment to make at this point is that it really is difficult to point out which music is Ibert and which Honegger.

Intelligent comment is not a requirement here.

[Mandryka]

Duly noted; thank you for your comments.

If you look at the Naxos site you'll see that they used some new recording techniques, and I think that may well help give the impression of responsiveness. They also find a contemporary quote about how English music is often jubilant (as opposed to German, French, Italian music), and that explains a lot about their style I think, here and in their extraordinary Dunstaple CD.

I get the impression that the ensemble is smaller than Nevel uses for his Eton Choirbook selection, and that there are more moments when the music turns into duets and trios and quartets. I could be wrong about that, and you've got to bear in mind that they weren't singing the same music.

[Tsaraslondon]

Incendiary, exciting, thrilling, breathtaking, miraculous, electrifying and utterly overwhelming. Oh to have been in the audience for this amazing performance in 1958. Much has been written about the force of Callas's invective here (apparently aimed as much at Rudolf Bing as at Jason), but the performance is full of contrasts. You know, for instance, that it is love that brings Medea to Corinth. Jason must have had a hard heart indeed to be able to resist her melting pleas in the first Act.

Callas is in superb voice, and is surrounded by as good a cast as could be assembled at the time, with Jon Vickers a strong, virile presence as Jason, Teresa Berganza a warm voiced and mellifluous Neris, Nicola Zaccaria an authoritative Creon, Elizabeth Carron a pure voiced Glauce and tautly dramatic conducting from Nicola Rescigno.

Sound on this Arsvocalis master is better than on any other I've heard, though obviously still not state of the art. However the ear quickly adjusts, as you are drawn into the performance.

The audience here are a palpable presence, in a positive sense, listening with rapt attention in the quieter passages, but erupting with excitement at the end of the acts.

[Florestan]

A highly recommended treasure trove.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

The score of this piece I ordered arrived in the mail today so I've been going through it to this recording:



which has proven to be an earnest, passionate and dramatic performance. One of the best choral releases I've heard from Naxos!

[North Star]

Which recordings of the Johannes-Passion have you heard, Jessop? There are quite a few recordings released during the '10s so far:

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[asin]B006CAXOX2[/asin]

[Florestan]

Light, sunny and utterly charming music in unusual instrumental combinations.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Which recordings of the Johannes-Passion have you heard, Jessop? There are quite a few recordings released during the '10s so far:

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I've heard these ones, and I'm listening to that Gardiner one right now actually. It seems like an older, grander Gardiner than his 1985 recording and I like it almost as much. I've also heard recordings by Suzuki, Parrott, Harnoncourt and a few others but I can't remember exactly which.

[North Star]

I've heard these ones, and I'm listening to that Gardiner one right now actually. It seems like an older, grander Gardiner than his 1985 recording and I like it almost as much. I've also heard recordings by Suzuki, Parrott, Harnoncourt and a few others but I can't remember exactly which.

Very good!

I'm listening to the Herreweghe 1987 recording now - and I see that there is no Herreweghe among the ones you remember!
https://www.youtube.com/v/WZLeB56pgyc

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Very good!

I'm listening to the Herreweghe 1987 recording now - and I see that there is no Herreweghe among the ones you remember!
https://www.youtube.com/v/WZLeB56pgyc

I've only heard the opening chorus of that one! It certainly is magnificent though.

[North Star]

I've only heard the opening chorus of that one! It certainly is magnificent though.

Herreweghe is certainly a name I trust, not least in Bach.

[Brian]

Ignoring the icky cover design and focusing on the awesome music. Biber believer here.

[ritter]

First listen to this recent purchase:

[asin]B019NU7BMM[/asin]
As mentioned by me elswhere on GMG, the Five Popular Songs, op. 10 are an orchestration by Shimon Cohen of the original with piano accompaniment. I don't really see the point of these orchestrations, but these are very nice songs, and the  orchestral verrsion is pleasant enough, and delightfully sung by Ana María Martínez.

But, caveat emptor: anyone looking for the "nationalistic" Ginastera must know that the only music in the vein of the big, early ballets (Estancia, Panambí) on this CD are the songs. Don Rodrigo and Milena are from the composer's last, "neo-expressionistic" period, where nothing remotely "Argentinian" can be detected (at least by me). The two long excerpts from Ginastera's first opera make a very strong impact. As opposed to the impressions Andrew Clements' in The Guardian (here), I believe that the success of these scenes is the superposition of soaring, lyrical vocal lines over a very dense and rather fascinating orchestration (Clements speaks of "highly wrought, anguished vocal writing"). Now, these are simply "bleeding chunks" (albeit very effective ones), and I do not  understand why they are presented here in isolation. Still, the end of the opera, with the bells ringing after the king's (i.e. Rodrigo's) death is gripping. Plácido Domingo (whose contribution was spliced in several years after the orchestral and soprano parts were recorded) is in top form, and very idiomatic.

Milena is fascinating (and, although I haven't listened to it for quite a while, appears much more succesful in this new recording with Virginia Tola than in the pioneering effort from Denver by  Phillys Curtin on Phoenix). Now, there is an extended spoken section that, for those who do not speak Spanish, can be a drawback. But once again, Ginastera's superposing of the vocal line with some really wonderful orchestral textures is masterful, and the piece as a whole is rather wonderful (top-notch late Ginastera IMHO). A very famous quaotation near the end (I won't spoil the effect for those who approach the piece for the first time) is haunting and touching. The text (extracted from Kafka's Letters to Milena in Spanish translation) fits the composer's phantasmagoric inventiveness perfectly (very much in the vein of the librettos to his three operas).

I've been an admirer of Ginastera's music for many, many years now--my introduction to him was the "middle-period", stunning Harp concerto--, and I find him a superb composer (in all his styles "subjective nationalism", "ojective nationalism" and "neo-expressiosm"). Listening to this CD, though, I was struck more than ever before by the "excentricity" (in the sense of "being outside the center") of his late music. Here we have a composer who abandons his Argentine "roots" to fully embrace an avantgarde idiom (even if not a cutting-edge one--the name Alban Berg often comes to mind), setting European texts (distinguished Spanish playwright Alejandro Casona for Don Rodrigo, and Kafka for Milena--and his other two operas are both set in renaissance Italy). Perhaps there is a very Argentine "malaise" and "anxiety" in his late oeuvre (cliché as this may sound), and the sun never really shines in his late music. But listening to him, I cannot help but recall (with a smile) an old joke told in most of the Spanish-speaking world: "Argentines are Italians who speak Spanish, dress like Englishmen and wish they were Frenchmen". Ginastera's late music could be defined with some sort of variation of this line.  . This, of course, does not make him any better or worse as a composer (and I insist, I think he's an excellent one).

I applaud Gisèle Ben-Dor for bringing this CD to the market (in spite of the relatively awkward programming). The orchestral contribution by her Santa Barbara band is fantastic. I'm now looking forward to two more Ginastera CDs that should appear later this year: Arturo Tamayo's world-première recording of the Estudios sinfónicos (I presume this will be on the NEOS label) and Turbae from Trinity Wall Street. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) String Quartet in A minor played by the Brodsky




Sarge

[North Star]

Cycling in the rain earlier today, this started to play in my head.

Sibelius
Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52
Sinfonia Lahti
Osmo Vänskä
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[aligreto]

If you look at the Naxos site you'll see that they used some new recording techniques, and I think that may well help give the impression of responsiveness. They also find a contemporary quote about how English music is often jubilant (as opposed to German, French, Italian music), and that explains a lot about their style I think, here and in their extraordinary Dunstaple CD.

I get the impression that the ensemble is smaller than Nevel uses for his Eton Choirbook selection, and that there are more moments when the music turns into duets and trios and quartets. I could be wrong about that, and you've got to bear in mind that they weren't singing the same music.

Thank you for your insight. I have put that Naxos recording on my List.