What are you listening 2 now?

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, 1893 edition [Doblinger] of 1891 version. Supervised by Cyrill Hynais, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Hun-Joung Lim 

[ChamberNut]

James Ehnes was on Australian radio this morning. He was very engaging in conversation. I'm inclined to explore his recordings quite a bit.

Since you currently going through a traversal of Mozart's complete works, might I suggest sampling Ehnes in Mozart's Violin Concertos?

[Traverso]

Handel

[brewski]

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Deutsche Oper am Rhein). Thanks to OperaVision, this production was recorded earlier, but just premiered today. Also enjoying the commentary, both from viewers around the world, plus from the OperaVision team, e.g., "Are we feeling sympathy for the bored housewife Katerina already?" and "Not much in that fridge!" Hilarious.

[Linz]

Antonin Dvořák The String Quartets CD 2
String Quartet No.2 in B flat, B. 17
2 Waltzes Op.54 B.105
String Quartet in F, B.120 (fragment)

[AnotherSpin]

String Quintets K. 515 and K. 516 from this set:

[Traverso]

Hotteterre

CD 1

[Symphonic Addict]

Saint-Saëns: Suite Algérienne

How could one dislike this beauty? The entire work delights the ear, especially the endearing Rêverie du soir, which sounds pretty similar to Borodin.

[Linz]

Joseph-Guy Ropartz Symphony No. 5 in G Major, Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Charles Munch

[André]

Since you currently going through a traversal of Mozart's complete works, might I suggest sampling Ehnes in Mozart's Violin Concertos?

And if you're more into modern stuff, his performance of these works:



The Kernis concerto is mesmerizing under his bow.

[T. D.]

Excellent performances.
A drawback for me is that the ensemble decided that it was a good idea if 6 out of 14 madrigals would also be recorded in their transcription for harpsichord... According to booklet in that way it is easier to hear the harmony...   These transcriptions are actually well played by Elam Rotem, but I'd rather have heard more madrigals on this recording. The harpsichord transcriptions deserve their own recording!
Despite the misgivings on the programming choice, still an impressive recording.

Another recommended recording:

Someone on the forum once touted Blue Heron's recording of the madrigali a cinque voci 



I put it on my wish list but don't know of the ensemble, so am more likely to try the recording with La Compagnia del Madrigale, with whom I have some familiarity.
[Added: Listening to the Blue Heron on bandcamp. First impression positive, but my work computer's sound system is really bad so it's difficult to judge.]

[André]

Difficult works. Not that they are too 'modern'. They simply need repeated listenings to make their mark. They are in 9, 5 and 10 movements respectively, meaning that each can be termed a musical aphorism. Development, recap etc are non-existant and of course there are no repeats.

It's a cello soliloquy where each sentence has meaning, is not elaborated on nor paraphrased and goes unrepeated. These short soliloquies are serious in tone and deliberately unflashy. Plunging into serious, demanding stuff also means an increased mental effort is required from the listener.

Müller-Schott plays splendidly and is very well recorded. It's nice to have a clean, resonant, natural cello sound - caught at a reasonable distance, unlike many solo cello discs (Rostro on EMI). And thankfully Müller-Schott is not sniffing his way through the music (now, THAT is distracting).

Recommended.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E Flat Major, 1878/80 Version (1880 with Bruckner's 1886 revisions) - Ed. Leopold Nowak, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa Pekka Salonen

[Que]

Someone on the forum once touted Blue Heron's recording of the madrigali a cinque voci 



I put it on my wish list but don't know of the ensemble, so am more likely to try the recording with La Compagnia del Madrigale, with whom I have some familiarity.
[Added: Listening to the Blue Heron on bandcamp. First impression positive, but my work computer's sound system is really bad so it's difficult to judge.]

I really like Blue Heron as an ensemble - absolutely superb in English repertoire (Peterhouse Partbooks, 5 volumes) and brilliant Ockeghem songs (2 volumes) - but this de Rore recording didn't work for me. I don't think the Italian madrigal style suits them well.

[ritter]

Moving on tonight on this CD to Sur Incises...



Sur Incises and ...explosante-fixe... are probably the two works of Boulez's "official" catalogue I feel less attuned to. Let's see if this new recording of the former changes my opinion.

[T. D.]

I really like Blue Heron as an ensemble - absolutely superb in English repertoire and brilliant Ockeghem songs (2 volumes) - but this de Rore recording didn't work for me. I don't think the Italian madrigal style suits them well.

Thanks! Maybe it was their Ockeghem that was praised here...my memory of old posts is fallible.

Listening to Blue Heron's de Rore on bandcamp, it's pretty good. Subject to my poor computer sound, perhaps they could be a bit more expressive/colorful. The interspersed poetry readings are interesting, but might be less welcome on repeated listening.

[Brian]

William Walton (1902– 1983).

Symphonic Suite from 'Troilus and Cressida' (1947 –54, revised 1963, 1972– 76)  Arranged 1987 by Christopher Palmer (1946– 1995) from the opera in three acts.

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1936–39, revised 1943) For Jascha Heifetz.

Portsmouth Point (1924–25) Overture. To Siegfried Sassoon.

Charlie Lovell-Jones, Violin.
Sinfonia of London, John Wilson.
Recording venue, Church of St Augustine, Kilburn, London; 2024 (Symphonic Suite from Troilus and Cressida) 2024 (other works)

A new release, and again a very welcome one. All three works are performed with excellent results.  For me, one cannot have enough Walton. And another fresh look so you will, does sometimes increase the appetite. I am always hungry in that sense. I will say this, really outstanding performances in SOTA sound, as per usual with Chandos. Lovell-Jones really adds a different look on the Violin concerto, more so as I thought he would. Another winner, he delivers the goods right and proper.

I'm very excited to listen to this soon!

[André]

Making my way through the Haydn Missa Cellensis recordings in my collection.

Sometimes called St-Cecilia Mass, this large-scale work was composed in 1766. Between 1764-1768 Haydn composed his symphonies 22 ('Philosopher'), 31 ('Hornsignal'), 59 ('Fire') among others - the traditional numbering is not chronological.

It's composed on a very grand scale, lasting almost double his bigger but more compact later ones. There are grand choral fugues, many vocal solos (sometimes almost operatic), many instrumental effects and boasts a full orchestral complement (winds, strings, organ, trumpets and timpani). It strikes me that Beethoven's Missa Solemnis has the same overall duration, but also the same musical centres of gravity (there can be more than one), the Gloria and Credo being high points where all the forces are called to exalt God and the Church.

I've known this work for over 45 years now. My first version ever was a 2-lp set from german Electrola,




It's now reissued on EMI in this incarnation:

.

I urge anyone interested to invest in this fabulous set. Wilhelm conducts chorus and orchestra with a sure hand, encouraging everyone to deliver natural, committed playing and singing. On no other interpretation will you hear the string ritornello echo effect in the Kyrie so beautifully rendered (most conductors run the same phrase identically both times). A breathtaking moment. And so it goes. Pacing is completely natural. The small orchestral ensemble is always responsive, the fine soloists are characterful and vocally superior to their counterparts from the competition (except Kurt Moll on the Orfeo disc - but even compared to him, bass Siegmund Nimsgern is stellar).

This is one of the few indispensable Haydn discs to have in your collection. As I recall it, the LPs boasted an airier, slightly more spacious sound, but the CD version sounds vey fine.

[Madiel]

Since you currently going through a traversal of Mozart's complete works, might I suggest sampling Ehnes in Mozart's Violin Concertos?

Ah, but I'm up to the 480s in Köchel.

I might very well have used some of his recordings anyway when I was at the right point in the Mozart catalogue. My interest in him wasn't created by the radio interview, the interview just enhanced the existing interest. I have definitely sampled his work a number of times when I've been checking out violin repertoire.

[Madiel]

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Deutsche Oper am Rhein). Thanks to OperaVision, this production was recorded earlier, but just premiered today. Also enjoying the commentary, both from viewers around the world, plus from the OperaVision team, e.g., "Are we feeling sympathy for the bored housewife Katerina already?" and "Not much in that fridge!" Hilarious.

Thanks for the reminder, I knew the release was coming up. OperaVision is such a great service.