What are you listening 2 now?

[Madiel]

Dvorak: Rusalka (Act One so far)



Well! This recording often gets mentioned for Dvorak's most famous opera.** Dvorak's music is magnificently vivid. And very tied to the action (once I found a libretto online, the Czech language characters are mangled but the English next to it is fine). And Mackerras just hits it out of the park.

All of the singing is good too. Though at times a bit distant - there are parts where clearly the intention is to convey offstage singing, but a couple of times in the First Act I wasn't quite so sure whether a character was supposed to be distant (I've never seen a staging), or whether one singer just wasn't projecting as well as another. No matter, it still tended to sound good. Renee Fleming is gorgeous (even if there is a tiny touch of "I am the star here" about it), and the Prince and Vodnik are both really strong as well.

On to Act Two...

**I'm vaguely aware there's also one by Neumann that's considered a benchmark.

EDIT AFTER ACT TWO: Okay, having your main character be silent for such a long stretch of an opera is daring. But she comes back with a bang.

This is very much my kind of opera - not only because it's Dvorak, but because the thing actually moves. Opera is never going to be the fastest-paced thing, but around this time period of the late 19th and early 20th century composers seem to have truly abandoned the "everything must stop for the arias" mindset, and even in the solos the singers aren't repeating the same lines over and over. There's really not much repetition at all. I already quite like a number of operas from around this time period, and I definitely need to check out some more (like Puccini).

SECOND EDIT AFTER ACT THREE: "Kiss me, give me peace... keep kissing me till I die". Well, there was plenty of high operatic drama in the final act. Frankly, the only disappointment is when the wood nymphs wasted about five minutes being happy. The big first scene between Rusalka and Jezibaba is superb, and the finale once the prince turns up is... well, it's exactly how you'd want this to end. A big thumbs up.

ADDENDUM: Gramophone magazine's record of the year in 1999? Seems fair.

[Que]

Concertos for piccolo, flute, two flutes, oboe, trumpet.. you name it!

[Traverso]

Telemann

 

[AnotherSpin]

Valentyn Silvestrov / Franz Liszt / Claude Debussy / Lowell Liebermann

[AnotherSpin]

Jürg Frey: Voices

Exaudi Vocal Ensemble

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Piano Recital by Carlo Zecchi.

[VonStupp]

Granville Bantock
Old English Suite
Russian Scenes
Czecho-Slovak SPO Košice

Hadn't heard either of these before.

Bantock's Suite runs ala Respighi and orchestrates Renaissance composers, while the Russian Scenes are a bit of programmatic Orientalism.
VS

[pianococo90]

Gerard Pesson
Neige bagatelle for guitar, cello, and piano

[Karl Henning]

[Karl Henning]

I forgot that this is just a two-minute taste!

So:

[nico1616]

Dvorak: Rusalka (Act One so far)



ADDENDUM: Gramophone magazine's record of the year in 1999? Seems fair.

One of those rare opera recordings where everything is right. Mackerras is an ideal conductor for this repertoire and Fleming has never sound better. Not only is her vocal range stunning but her acting is so moving, you feel her suffering in the second and third act. Heppner is also completely in control and Zajick has the perfect wobbly declamation for the witch. An absolute gem!

[nico1616]

A very good recording of Handel's organ concertos.

[foxandpeng]

Nice to see you keep enjoying this piece. Which other symphonies or works by Langgaard do you like?

Big fan of 4, 7, 6, 9 and obviously the Music of the Spheres. Apart from 8, which for me, at least, is a less valuable listen, I enjoy all his symphonies. I also like his SQs very much, but it has been ages since I poked them.

[Traverso]

Bach

CD 3

[Number Six]

Saturday Symphony!



Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Philadelphia

With bonus Der Rosenkavalier Suite.

I have been out and run a number of errands. Even did a load of laundry. It's late morning now (just after 11am), but I am enjoying sitting with some coffee and a symphony, via Presto Music.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, 1892 Edition (Doblinger). Supervised by Cyrill Hynais with revisions by Bruckner, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Hun-Joung Lim

[Traverso]

Froberger

CD 2

 

[VonStupp]

Benjamin Britten
Cantata Misericordium

Gerald Finzi
Requiem da Camera

Gustav Holst
Psalm 86
Psalm 148

John Mark Ainsley, tenor
Stephen Varcoe, baritone

Britten Singers
City of London Sinfonia - Richard Hickox

Do I sense a bit of Stravinsky's world in Britten's cantata? I will have to spend more time with it to really nail down this work, as I find this one rather elusive.

Finzi's Requiem sounds rather introspective and contemplative. Perhaps more Howells than Britten.
VS



Harvest Home, Sunset: The Last Load (1858)
John Linnell

[Number Six]

Oof. Der Rosenkavalier is as sublime a piece of music as ever written. Even just as an orchestral suite, the Trio is divine.

[Linz]

Antonin Dvořák  The String Quartets CD3
String Quartet No.3 in D major, B.18
Prager Streichquartett