Recordings Of The Month

[Sergeant Rock]

I didn't nominate this HIP Mendelssohn 2CD set for Recording of the Month, but my editors thought that the quibbles I had were small enough that they could go ahead and bestow it the title anyway. I don't mind.



(img links to review)

It's the complete Felix & Fanny piano trios on period instruments, with a different piano used in each piece.

Bizzare pricing at Amazon DE: €10.82 for the CDs plus mp3 downloads (AutoRip). €13.98 for the mp3s only 


Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Yes, every now and then I see a similarly curious disparity.  Almost like one is penalized for not wishing the physical medium . . . .

[The new erato]

Listening to this disc could be an epifanny for many.

[mc ukrneal]

Listening to this disc could be an epifanny for many.

Clever one! Love it!

[TheGSMoeller]

[Johnll]

Yes! the Belcea Beethoven SQs (actually I have only heard half this cd) are great. I am not sure, bickering aside, how many realize how valuable GMC is.

[TheGSMoeller]

[Brian]

I'll give that Aadland Grieg a try today; to be honest, I've been wary of it since it comes out right after two superb series by Engeset (Naxos) and Ruud (BIS) which were already hard to choose between.

[DavidA]

I recently bought BBC music mag which has, no less, Horowitz's 1982 London recital. Not at his best but any Horowitz performance tends to be more interesting than many other pianists.

[Brian]

I just bestowed a Recording of the Month accolade at MusicWeb.



"Whether you read Volodos' booklet essay, listen to the way he's transcribed two songs in new guises for solo piano, or hear his playing throughout the CD, there's no doubting the artist's sincere affection and affinity for this music. With the second half taken up by excerpts from the austerely beautiful masterwork Música callada, the CD forms a sort of logical progression from Mompou's early years, more in the style of Debussy, to the sparer, leaner works of his maturity. This program usefully reveals a cross-section of the composer's long career: Musica callada is his last published piano music, but Scènes d'enfants is among his first. Volodos excels in all of it.... One never senses, not for a second, that Volodos wants to rush through, or make Mompou into something he is not."

http://musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Aug13/Mompou_Volodos_88765433262.htm

[Sammy]

I recently bought BBC music mag which has, no less, Horowitz's 1982 London recital. Not at his best but any Horowitz performance tends to be more interesting than many other pianists.

That reminds me that I've been listening in my car to a BBC mag disc of Mozart's Violin Concerto no. 5 performed by Jennifer Pike.  Although her vibrato is rather narrow, it is constant and irritates the hell out of me.  I have no idea why some violinists are obsessed with vibrato in classical era music.  All that's left to say is  - DOWN WITH STRING VIBRATO.

[Brian]

That reminds me that I've been listening in my car to a BBC mag disc of Mozart's Violin Concerto no. 5 performed by Jennifer Pike.  Although her vibrato is rather narrow, it is constant and irritates the hell out of me.  I have no idea why some violinists are obsessed with vibrato in classical era music.  All that's left to say is  - DOWN WITH STRING VIBRATO.

Don't buy Wendy Warner's new CD of Haydn cello concertos. She's a superb cellist and everything she plays sounds gorgeous, but vibrato out the wazoo.

[Sammy]

Don't buy Wendy Warner's new CD of Haydn cello concertos. She's a superb cellist and everything she plays sounds gorgeous, but vibrato out the wazoo.

Thanks, your advice will be taken.  For Haydn's cello concertos, Coin/Hogwood is my standard.

[TheGSMoeller]

I'm a little behind...

[TheGSMoeller]

[Brian]

I'm about to send a ROTM review to MusicWeb for this choral album:



Music for male choir and sometimes organ, by a range of composers from Rossini, Milhaud, and Grieg to a clutch of newer voices. There's Arvo Part but also a late 70s funk-jazz organ passacaglia, some quick conversational works, a Hungarian piece that's heavily redolent of late Janacek, and just generally an eclectic mix of awesome.

I'm not a big choral music lover or expert, so I'd be interested if those who know more on the subject (Karl, Neal, Monkey Greg, Jens?) like the CD as much as I did.

[Karl Henning]

I don't know the CD, but you've got me curious, Brian.

[Karl Henning]

Strangely, took me a while to find the album on Amazon, but I have, now, and am sampling . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Delicious sound.  Wish-listed that one.

[mc ukrneal]

I'm about to send a ROTM review to MusicWeb for this choral album:



Music for male choir and sometimes organ, by a range of composers from Rossini, Milhaud, and Grieg to a clutch of newer voices. There's Arvo Part but also a late 70s funk-jazz organ passacaglia, some quick conversational works, a Hungarian piece that's heavily redolent of late Janacek, and just generally an eclectic mix of awesome.

I'm not a big choral music lover or expert, so I'd be interested if those who know more on the subject (Karl, Neal, Monkey Greg, Jens?) like the CD as much as I did.

Interesting one. The sound of the choir is warm. One thing that is hard to judge is the transparency, because the quality of the clips is just too low. Some of the tracks with the organ may also be heavy, but the organ is one of the worst on these types of clips, so I'd have to hear it to make a fair judgment. A lot of the composers are new to me, but the clips were interesting enough for me to wishlist it as well.