What are you listening 2 now?

[Roasted Swan]

Sibelius: Tapiola. Twice.



Truth be told, knowing Tapiola from the Ashkenazy set I've never been all that enthusiastic about it. And so I decided to take the opportunity this time around to first try streaming Kamu's version (having used that same album last week for the suites from The Tempest).

And Kamu made me realise something that is true surprisingly often for pieces I struggle to unlock - the real "music" is happening in the long, slow notes. The first clue comes near the start, from that incredibly long note that is passed around different instruments. And from there, Kamu somehow conveys that the surface "tune" fragment that keeps happening over and over is often not the thing holding the piece together. And I felt that chill. Cliches about Sibelius being a wintry composer often get a bit tiresome. But here, in this work, I see now how it needs that feeling.

There are many great things in Ashkenazy's set, as various reviews attest along with my own ears, but I don't think Tapiola is one of them. It's certainly not awful but it's... just that fraction too warm, too dramatic. My ear gets drawn to the tune, and that turns out to be the problem because the music starts feeling a little repetitive.

This might possibly become a pathetic excuse to buy another symphony cycle or something. I don't know. I'll at least explore some more on streaming, in case I find that a couple of the symphonies I don't like quite as much are because of the performance rather than the work. Mind you, I did try the much praised Karajan 4 through 7 and didn't feel I was getting more there than I got with Ashkenazy. I might check out Berglund or Maazel or another Berglund or...

Kamu is relaibly fine in Sibelius - his BIS "remake" with the Lahti SO of the symphonies is very fine but not that often commented on it seems to me.  Probably because he does not tick enoguh modern-day A&R boxes!!

[Harry]

Ewald Strässer. 1867-1933.
Chamber Music.
Clarinet Quintet, op.34; Sonata for Clarinet & Piano op.58; Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn & Bassoon, op.9b.

Berolina Ensemble.
Recorded: 2021.

Truly beautiful music on par with Brahms but frankly way ahead of him in many respects. He is alas totally forgotten, but that does not diminish the quality of his works. The works with the Clarinet in the lead are to my ears masterworks, and I do not lightly use that term. The sound is SOTA and so is the performance.

[DavidW]

I listened to my favorite recording of Mahler's 3rd last night:

[Irons]

Rawsthorne: Sonata for Cello and Piano.



Concentrated bitter and sweetness.

[Harry]

George Enescu.
Piano Trio No.1 in G minor.
Anton Arensky.
Piano Trio in D minor.

Trio Enescu.
Alina Armonas-Tambrea, Violin.
Edvardas Armonas, Cello.
Gabriele Gylyte, Piano.
Recorded, 2016, at Loge "Zur Einigkeit," Frankfurt am Main, Germany.



Emotional, Resonant and Authentic, playing in both Piano trios.
How passionate and at the same time perfect music of a mere seventeen year old can sound. Enescu in his youthful work amazes me no end. Not for a moment are expressiveness on the one hand or structural and formal clarity and refinement on the other given short shrift.
And the first trio by Arensky is a real find, certainly one of the most beautiful works of the genre!   Perfectly matched, dynamically and articulatory, it sounds distinctly atmospheric, and is as inspiring as the Enescu piece. I am very happy with this recording and performance.

[Harry]

Rawsthorne: Sonata for Cello and Piano.



Concentrated bitter and sweetness.

In the waiting queue with the rest of the series.

[ando]

After failing to get through a couple of dreary versions of J.S. Bach's Partita No. 6 in E Minor this morning (even a Schiff version felt heavy handed) I came across this rather idiosyncratic take by Grigory Sokolov. I almost didn't recognize it as Bach - and I rather liked it better for it. 

[foxandpeng]

DSCH
Symphony 15
Rudolf Barshai
WDR Sinfonieorchester
Brilliant Classics

Apologies for the extended quiet. Still stopping by regularly, just little time to post, atm.

Shostakovich 15 in various guises today. Michael Sanderling, Petrenko, and now Barshai. I had forgotten how much I appreciate the Barshai cycle.

[Traverso]

Anthony Bailes

[SonicMan46]

Handel, GF - Chamber Music with L'Ecole d'Orphée - pleasant 6-disc set - MusicWeb review HERE for comments and a complete listing of the works performed.  Dave

[Karl Henning]

DSCH
Symphony 15
Rudolf Barshai
WDR Sinfonieorchester
Brilliant Classics

Apologies for the extended quiet. Still stopping by regularly, just little time to post, atm.

Shostakovich 15 in various guises today. Michael Sanderling, Petrenko, and now Barshai. I had forgotten how much I appreciate the Barshai cycle.

Good to "see" you, Danny!

[Karl Henning]

TD:

[Mandryka]

Lots of English music given the iki once over. It's quite satisfying but somehow not as sweet and fluid as the early O'Dette recording which @Traverso put me on to the other day. When you ikify something - giving it loads of space, loads of opportunities for the music to respire, and in doing so opportunities for the listener to relish the melodies - you turn it into "great music" rather than simple domestic music.

Maybe (and that's a big maybe) that's what Satoh meant in the Delphic essay he wrote for his latest release, a recording of selections from Denis Gaultier's La Rhétorique des Dieux. He says that he posed himself the question: why are these pieces so short? And his answer was that with this msuic, you don't need greater length. That may be true if you ikify - the breath, the phrasing, says all.

Got it - Toyohiko's Satoh's great gift in his later recordings is to make the pieces sound like important utterances, without being pretentious or solemn.

[Traverso]

Fitzwilliam Virginal Book

CD 1

[Henk]

Makes me feeling soaring. Sounds like Handel, but more airy, less gravity.

[vandermolen]

Sibelius: Tapiola. Twice.



Truth be told, knowing Tapiola from the Ashkenazy set I've never been all that enthusiastic about it. And so I decided to take the opportunity this time around to first try streaming Kamu's version (having used that same album last week for the suites from The Tempest).

And Kamu made me realise something that is true surprisingly often for pieces I struggle to unlock - the real "music" is happening in the long, slow notes. The first clue comes near the start, from that incredibly long note that is passed around different instruments. And from there, Kamu somehow conveys that the surface "tune" fragment that keeps happening over and over is often not the thing holding the piece together. And I felt that chill. Cliches about Sibelius being a wintry composer often get a bit tiresome. But here, in this work, I see now how it needs that feeling.

There are many great things in Ashkenazy's set, as various reviews attest along with my own ears, but I don't think Tapiola is one of them. It's certainly not awful but it's... just that fraction too warm, too dramatic. My ear gets drawn to the tune, and that turns out to be the problem because the music starts feeling a little repetitive.

This might possibly become a pathetic excuse to buy another symphony cycle or something. I don't know. I'll at least explore some more on streaming, in case I find that a couple of the symphonies I don't like quite as much are because of the performance rather than the work. Mind you, I did try the much praised Karajan 4 through 7 and didn't feel I was getting more there than I got with Ashkenazy. I might check out Berglund or Maazel or another Berglund or...

Next month Gramophone magazine is surveying recordings of Tapiola - I'm looking forward to reading it. I rather agree with you about Kamu's recording. I also like Berglund's Bournemouth recording plus Segerstam (Ondine/Chandos) and Maazel.

[Iota]

Debussy Preludes: Book 2

Another entrancing Debussy recording from Osborne, everything is measured out in such exquisite proportions. He's like an alchemist who envisions fantastical scenarios, then evokes them with clear-minded and precise handling of the raw materials.
His Hyperion Debussy Etudes release hovers mighty alluringly on the near horizon (Nov 3rd).

[Karl Henning]

TD:

That was from 1941 (superb piece, by the by ... this, from 1942:

[ritter]

Revisiting this cleverly programmed and beautifully performed CD, by that great pianist who is Pi-Hsien Chen.



We get Stockhausen's Klavierstücke I through IV, Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 op. 101, Klavierstück V, the Sonata No.32 op. 111, and Klavierstück VI. 

[AnotherSpin]