What are you listening 2 now?

[JBS]

[Symphonic Addict]

Shostakovich: String Quartets 5 and 6

These works continue impressing me very much once again.

[brewski]

Dipping into tonight's Bowdoin concert, featuring many of the young artists there this summer, I stumbled across Abraham Schenck (clarinet) and Yi-Hsuan Su (piano) in a lovely reading of Debussy's Première Rhapsodie. You can hear it at the link below, at about 17:00.

-Bruce

[André]

Shostakovich: Symphony No.11 'The Year 1905' Houston SO/Stokowski
This sounds better than ever on my new Cambridge Audio amplifier.

(I'm having trouble posting images at the moment unless they are already saved in 'Pictures').
Just managed to do it :-)

One of the best performances of this symphony. This looks like a modern, remastered release. I wonder if the engineers did away with the dynamics tampering of earlier releases ?

[Bachtoven]

[André]

Yesterday, some Isang Yun from these very fine Camerata releases:




The cello concerto has been recorded a few times, as well as Gong-Hu, one of Yun's most famous works. I have them already in other versions but the rest is new to me. Fascinating, ear-catching, even spellbinding works. The cello concerto is one of Yun's thorniest works, but as it unfolds it exerts a magnetism that you can't fight, even if extreme modernism and sonorities are not your fach. The Gong-Hu disc also has a superb, substantial flute/alto flute concerto, not advertised on the cover.

[André]

Symphony no 6

I'm proceeding apace with this wonderful set of Bruckner's symphonies. So far nos 2, 3 and 4 can hold the candle to any of the hundreds of versions out there. They are simply magical. No 5 is almost on the same exalted level: one of the really great versions around (check for Klemperer NPO, Wand NDR or Jochum Concertgebouw 1986 on Tahra for equally glorious accounts - surprisingly, Klemperer takes 10 minutes less than Ballot but manages to sound both lower and more decisive.

Ballot's No 6 boasts what I think is the best interpretation of the first 2 movements of any versions I know. His warm, noble, majestic (1), songful and beseeching (2) approach fits the music to a T.

The scherzo and finale are splendid but here I felt Ballot's take on the work didn't work as well as in 1 and 2, resulting in a slight loss of energy. A more robust, militant approach can be heard in the superb accounts from Heinz Bongartz, Joseph Keilberth and Ferdinand Leitner (in Freiburg, his later Basel account sounding remarkedly like Ballot's).

I already owned 4 of the Gramola individual issues but couldn't complete the cycle for reasons of $$$ and availability. The release of this mid-price complete set is a godsend to all brucknerians. I'm not claiming the Ballot/Celibidache approach is the best ever, but by giving the brucknerian phrases an hitherto unknown depth of sonority and breadth of utterance they have established a totally new view on Bruckner performance standards.

[Karl Henning]

Woke up feeling like low notes. Cellos, trombones, violas, bring 'em on!

You may enjoy this:

[steve ridgway]

Messiaen: Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps

[steve ridgway]

Varèse: Amériques

A nice balanced sound; the siren is relatively mellow and kept in the background, nothing gets harsh .

[Harry]

The Italian Renaissance Organ.
See back cover for details.
Peter Waldner plays on the Italian Renaissance-Organ in der Silbernen Kapelle der Innsbrucker Hofkirche.
Pitch: 465 Hz at 23°C . Temperament: Meantone, 1/4 comma.
Recorded:2011.


An absolute beautiful recording, and superb instrument. Waldner is definitely one of my favourite organists. Lovely!

THE SILVER CHAPEL
Connected to the Court Church (Hofkirche), the Silver Chapel is situated above what today is the passage route to the former city moat. Created as a funerary chapel for Archduke Ferdinand II and his wife Philippine Welser, the chapel was built in two construction phases between 1578 and 1596. Its name derives from the silver reliefs on its Lady Altar.
The chapel comprises two adjacent, rectangular crypt chapels. Situated in the anterior alcove, which was originally planned for the tomb of Ferdinand's second wife Anna Katharina Gonzaga, is the WOODEN-PIPED ITALIAN LATE RENAISSANCE ORGAN which dates back to 1585. In 1944, following the bomb war, the organ was in a desolate, unplayable condition. The Vorarlberg-based cabinet maker Hubert Neumann was charged with restoring the instrument. He reassembled the damaged pieces; irreparable parts were reconstructed as faithfully as possible to the original. This, however, involved accepting some deviations with regard to the materials used. Cypress wood, for example, was not available and several of the pipes were replaced using larch. Later restoration work was carried out by Pier Paolo Donati (1990–1993) and Jürgen Ahrend (1998). The organ has a manual with 45 keys, a 14-key pedal and 7 stops.

[prémont]

The Italian Renaissance Organ.
See back cover for details.
Peter Waldner plays on the Italian Renaissance-Organ in der Silbernen Kapelle der Innsbrucker Hofkirche.
Meantone temperament. Pitch?
Recorded:2011.

An absolute beautiful recording, and superb instrument. Waldner is definitely one of my favourite organists. Lovely!

https://www.orgelsite.nl/innsbruck-hofkirche-silbernen-kapelle/

and the description of an exact copy of the organ:

https://www.organa.it/instruments/instruments/renaissance_wood.html

This was the recording which some years ago converted me to Waldner's recordings..

Strangely enough (considering Waldner's high level of historical information) neither pitch nor tuning of this organ is mentioned in the booklet. Musicians and labels don't realize, that this is an information equally important as the information of stops .

[Harry]

https://www.orgelsite.nl/innsbruck-hofkirche-silbernen-kapelle/

and the description of an exact copy of the organ:

https://www.organa.it/instruments/instruments/renaissance_wood.html

This was the recording which some years ago converted me to Waldner's recordings..

Strangely enough (considering Waldner's high level of historical information) neither pitch nor tuning of this organ is mentioned in the booklet. Musicians and labels don't realize, that this is an information equally important as the information of stops .

Yes I know, its a mystery to me too. And thank you for the additional info. I have little time as it is to listen, and even less time to find the info.

[Mandryka]

I thought I'd give this another shot.

[Harry]

Ottavio Bariolla.
Ricercate per sonar d'Organo, Milan 1585.
Silva Manfrè plays at the 1565 Antegnati organ of the Palatine Basilica of Santa Barbara, Mantua,Italy.
Mesotonic temperament in ¼-comma meantone [extended].
Chorister: 466 Hz at 20 ° C and 61% of R.H. at La4 of the Principal.
(See, it is possible and well done to put this info in the booklet)
Recording: 2021.

First of all this organ is also a marvel, and secondly Ottavio Bariolla is a composer that has my ear, although I know little of him, and even more, have heard even less of him. He was and is still highly regarded, and I hear the quality of his compositions in every single piece. I am not sure if Silva Manfrè is getting the most out of his music, for there is a certain sameness and rigorous tempi that gives me a feeling of boredom, even though the music is not. The recording is good, but I know it is better recorded in other instances.

[Que]

This recording came recommended on the internet and focuses on the combination of oboe and recorder. Sofar so good! Naturally, the audio quality of any recording on Aeolus is self recommending.

https://earlymusicreview.com/telemann-trio-sonatas-quartets/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R2S2GEU61MGLF6/

[Traverso]

The A-LA-MI-RE Manuscripts

[Traverso]

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3. Gary Graffman, George Szell & The Cleveland Orchestra.

Your Inbox is full.

[Cato]

Symphony no 6

I'm proceeding apace with this wonderful set of Bruckner's symphonies. So far nos 2, 3 and 4 can hold the candle to any of the hundreds of versions out there. They are simply magical. No 5 is almost on the same exalted level: one of the really great versions around (check for Klemperer NPO, Wand NDR or Jochum Concertgebouw 1986 on Tahra for equally glorious accounts - surprisingly, Klemperer takes 10 minutes less than Ballot but manages to sound both lower and more decisive.

Ballot's No 6 boasts what I think is the best interpretation of the first 2 movements of any versions I know. His warm, noble, majestic (1), songful and beseeching (2) approach fits the music to a T.

The scherzo and finale are splendid but here I felt Ballot's take on the work didn't work as well as in 1 and 2, resulting in a slight loss of energy. A more robust, militant approach can be heard in the superb accounts from Heinz Bongartz, Joseph Keilberth and Ferdinand Leitner (in Freiburg, his later Basel account sounding remarkedly like Ballot's).

I already owned 4 of the Gramola individual issues but couldn't complete the cycle for reasons of $$$ and availability. The release of this mid-price complete set is a godsend to all brucknerians. I'm not claiming the Ballot/Celibidache approach is the best ever, but by giving the brucknerian phrases an hitherto unknown depth of sonority and breadth of utterance they have established a totally new view on Bruckner performance standards.

Many thanks for the review!

I just revisited the Sixth Symphony of Bruckner via the DGG/Eugen Jochum/Bavarian Radio S.O. performance.

Also...Nikolai Tcherepnin: Piano Concerto !

And another gem from  Karl Henning!

[Traverso]

Bach

Sonata 1-2 & 3

Is there music more lovely than these sonatas? After years of playing the clarinet, I started playing this instrument especially for these sonatas for traverso. Bach sometimes forgets that as a wind player you sometimes have to breathe. In my opinion, more beautiful works have never been written for this instrument.
It is striking that I never see it here on the forum, it is a shame, it is touchingly beautiful.