What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Joseph Haydn.
Complete Baryton Trios, No. 96-98 & 100-103
CD 14.
Esterhazy Ensemble.

[ritter]

After Berio last night, staying in Italy, but moving back some 50 years....

[asin]B000A16SK0[/asin]
First listen to Riccardo Zandonai's Violin Concerto from 1919, a ultra late-romantic piece, but with a realtive lightness of touch which reflects its Italian origin. Not particularly distinguished, but still pleasant to the ear. Let's see what the later Quadri di Segalini (from 1931) have to offer.

[Harry]

Still waiting for my repaired pre-Amplifier, and due to that fact I only play chamber music. In case anyone was wondering. A huge pile of Chandos recordings are awaiting listening, but in my office I have a limited scope for orchestral works.  I am just too close to my near field monitor speakers.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Tonight I discover a formidable composer from Spain mister Fernando De Las Infantas on plus ultra ensemble, very tasty Motets of his era, a name I was not familiar whit, You guys most hear this Mandryka are you aware of this release of 2000 on an Andalusian small label, it's awesome!!!

Que du bon!!!

[Tsaraslondon]

Nothing much to write home about here in the performance of the main work, Ma mère l'oye, which is completely lacking in magic, but the couplings (orchestrations by the master orchestrator Ravel) of music by Debusy, Schumann and Chabrier) are interesting.

I followed this patchy disc with the wonderful Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in the superb Zimerman/Boulez performance, music making of an entirely different class.

[Harry]

Claudio Monteverdi.
Vespro della beata Vergine.
Cantus Colln.
Concerto Palatino, Konrad Junghanel.
CD 31 & 32.

A thing that is immediately clear, that this Harmonia Box is not giving you many details, about soloists and performers, and in this case, a pittance you get.
The performance is good, not top drawer, for that it is emotionally a bit on the cold side, but there are moments of great beauty. The recording has a excellent depth, and gives a very natural stage impression.

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

An assortment of songs with piano and English Folk songs arrangements by Vaughan Williams (Linden Lea, etc...) - CD 22 from the edition.

[asin]B00156ZWV0[/asin]

[Marc]

Claudio Monteverdi.
Vespro della beata Vergine.
Cantus Colln.
Concerto Palatino, Konrad Junghanel.
CD 31 & 32.

A thing that is immediately clear, that this Harmonia Box is not giving you many details, about soloists and performers, and in this case, a pittance you get.
The performance is good, not top drawer, for that it is emotionally a bit on the cold side, but there are moments of great beauty. The recording has a excellent depth, and gives a very natural stage impression.

Around 1998/1999, I heard these ensembles doing this piece live. It's still one of my cherished concert experiences.
I recognize your 'cold side' point i.c. this recording, but somehow, in such a live setting, the beauty (and with that the beautiful experience & perception) takes the upper hand almost from the beginning. Afterwards, we were really in a 'Wow' state of mind.

[Madiel]

Discs 1 and 2 of the 10 cd set on the excellent Carus label. I love Mendelssohn's big choral works, but he wrote a lot more in the shorter medium of Psalms and motets (mostly), but also various Kyrie, Te Deum, Magnificat and sundry geistliche lieder. I decided to explore this output as I think it will help me understand and appreciate the big works even better.

The works on these discs are for all kinds of combinations, variously involving soloists, chorus, with orchestra, strings only, organ etc. There's a lot of variety in Mendelssohn's choral output. Very high production values. There's a fat booklet with detailed notes, texts and translations (indispensable). Vocal soloists are outstanding, the small orchestra under Frieder Bernius is excellent. Recordings date from the 1980s and are (so far) very good, although there is some peaking when the sopranos soar at high volume (could be my sound system, though).

Funnily enough I was eyeing the box set earlier this week, when I was listening to Lobgesang and wondering what collections of Mendelssohn's choral works there were. Because I'm reaching the conclusion that the sacred choral works are amongst his best material.

[Madiel]

Currently listening to: Albeniz, Iberia Book 1.



Iberia was actually presented not as a 12-movement work but as 4 collections of 3 pieces each. So I'm listening in that vein because I suspect it makes musical sense. Certainly, the first book offers 3 nicely contrasting pieces with a grand finale.

[Madiel]

I knew I wanted some Dvorak. Then I had to figure out which Dvorak I wanted.

Ended up going with Piano Trio No.3.

[Harry]

Around 1998/1999, I heard these ensembles doing this piece live. It's still one of my cherished concert experiences.
I recognize your 'cold side' point i.c. this recording, but somehow, in such a live setting, the beauty (and with that the beautiful experience & perception) takes the upper hand almost from the beginning. Afterwards, we were really in a 'Wow' state of mind.

Yes I can well understand that, I have seen them performing in Munchen, I think at the end of 1999, maybe 2000, and yes their live recording made a huge impression on me.
The recording might be called a tad academic.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Frédéric Chopin: Nocturnes, op.27. Claudio Arrau. Just listening to this amazing pair of nocturnes before starting to unwind for the evening. Arrau plays them beautifully, emphasizing the interesting counterpoint of it all, more so than my other favorite recording (Ivan Moravec, which is beautiful in its own way). My copy is on Philips rather than Decca—I always see online Decca versions of these Philips DUO releases, but I've never seen one in real life... are they really out there? Or are these covers just used for MP3/digital versions of these releases?

I don't recall hearing the Arrau recordings before (will have to dig in the 'archives' later).  I do love Moravec's recordings, so delighted to know that there is another fan of him here.   

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Some Debussy mélodies with Souzay and Baldwin from this disc:



Exquisitely performed.

Love Souzay....an amazing voice from the past.  Delighted to see that his recordings are still (back in?) in print!  Was a challenge getting ahold of them for a while....particularly his Bach.   

PD

[vers la flamme]

Henri Dutilleux: Cello Concerto, "Tout un monde lointain..." Mstislav Rostropovich, Serge Baudo, Orchestre de Paris. Haven't heard this work in some months, it's welcoming to return to it.

[Harry]

Johann Pachelbel-Johann Christoph Bach-Johann Michael Bach.
Motets.
Cantus Colln, Konrad Junghanel.
Johanna Koslowski, Maria Cristina Kiehr, Sopranos.

One of the best discs in my collection. This is a superb disc, excellently sung, a choir balance that takes my breath away, and diction that is understandable to the last syllable. The recording is a match to all those qualities.
Kolowski and Kiehr are in top form, but the tenors Gerd Turk Wilfried Jochens and Martin Post are also in good form.
As to the music, it belongs to the best Motets I know from that time.

[Traverso]

Bach

Cantatas

[Biffo]

Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, D 804, Rosamunde - Alban Berg Quartet

[André]

Funnily enough I was eyeing the box set earlier this week, when I was listening to Lobgesang and wondering what collections of Mendelssohn's choral works there were. Because I'm reaching the conclusion that the sacred choral works are amongst his best material.

I've finished listening to disc 3 as well, the best so far IMO. I rummaged through the discs and found that recordings were done over a 25 year period (1983-2008), and numbered chronologically in the box. IOW I listened to the earliest discs, which may explain the slight peaking in the sound - women's voices can be tricky to reproduce clearly. The sound is already better in vol 3, from 1988.

JPC issued the Carus box in tandem with another one devoted to the oratorios last year: 14 discs for 25€ . I'm glad I made the move then even if I wasn't particularly eager to explore that repertoire at the time. This special offer has been discontinued since.

[San Antone]

On a first listen, I like the performance. However, it's a cold night and I have the wood stove lit with the blower running to circulate the hot air - not an ideal environment for Feldman listening.
Haven't heard the recording on Mode, and in fact little if any Feldman on that label. Really ought to try some Mode recordings...early on I was disappointed in the sonics of some American Feldman recordings (e.g. Three Voices on New Albion and For Philip Guston on Bridge), and have mainly gone with hatART since then. But I have some Cage number pieces on Mode which sound good.

Off Topic: What kind of stove do you have?  I have a Lopi Endeavor and have been burning it quite it bit this winter.  The hardest thing is finding good wood.  But the stove is great, and puts out good heat, the blower does make a small amount of noise, but not enough to seriously effect my enjoyment of listening to Feldman.   

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