What are you listening 2 now?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Bach French Suites. Huguette Dreyfus.

[Karl Henning]

[ritter]

A varied programme of post-WW2 Italian avant-garde music. Luca Francesconi: Plot in the Fiction. Luciano Berio: Tempi concertati. Bruno Maderna: Serenata 2. Franco Donatoni: Cloches. David Porcelijn conducted the ASKO Ensemble.

[Karl Henning]

A varied programme of post-WW2 Italian avant-garde music. Luca Francesconi: Plot in the Fiction. Luciano Berio: Tempi concertati. Bruno Maderna: Serenata 2. Franco Donatoni: Cloches. David Porcelijn conducted the ASKO Ensemble.

Nice! Good day to you, Rafael!

TD:

[Irons]

I favor Handley's performances here compared to Thomson's, but not overwhelmingly. Both conductors are well aware that you want, you need atmosphere in these tone poems. BTW, the cover of this disc is thought to be offensive on Discogs and is deleted on all but thumbnail views. Good to have my innocence looked after so scrupulously, I guess... They will need to work overtime to bowdlerize Bax's biography! 

Unbelievable! Where will it all end?!

[AnotherSpin]

Another discovery in the world of early music.

[Florestan]

Unbelievable! Where will it all end?!

What is offensive on that cover is beyond me.

[Harry]

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
Le Théâtre Musical de Telemann
Ensemble Masques, directed by Olivier Fortin
Recorded 2016, Église de Suin, France
96kHz / 24-bit high-resolution recording

"Handel composes music, Telemann composes music and affects"—so mused two anonymous commentators in 1728. A passing remark, yes, but one that cuts straight to the heart of Telemann's curious genius. For where Handel builds temples of sound, Telemann sketches living portraits—whimsical, poignant, bold—each steeped in emotional nuance and theatrical flair.

This recording by Ensemble Masques bears the title Le Théâtre Musical, and rightly so. It draws from Telemann's Ouvertures, Suites, and instrumental scenes with French flair, some of which borrow characters and spirit from the stage. These works, though penned for chamber use, drip with dramaturgy: stylised dances, character pieces, and vividly painted moods. Telemann's music, ever the shape-shifter, swings between playfulness and pathos, and the ensemble meets this flexibility with remarkable unity and insight.

What makes Masques special is not just their stylishness—though they have that in spades—but their sense of internal dialogue, a sprezzatura of tone and timing that feels like music overheard rather than performed. The bass register is firm, resonant, and propelling; the violins sing with silvery agility, and above all, there's that rare thing: an unmistakable pulse, a breathing rhetoric that lets Telemann's capriciousness and emotional reach unfold naturally.
Their playing reminds me of another ensemble's delightful moniker—The Scale Knitters—for here, too, threads are spun, woven, and interlaced with great delicacy. One senses an ensemble in lockstep, listening, nudging, and echoing in the manner of a good conversation.

The repertoire on this album is mostly familiar, but played like this? Rarely. The investment of time and ear will yield joy in abundance. It's Telemann with "das gewisse Etwas"—that certain something.

The recorded sound? As you might guess, most excellent. Spacious yet intimate, finely detailed, and graced with a natural acoustic bloom courtesy of the stone nave of Suin's venerable church.

Take my word for it, this is no mere revival—it is Telemann reimagined, yet true, played with affection, wit, and not a little dash of style.
I say amen to that.

[Harry]

Dolci Accenti, Passaggi e Legature
Florid Italian Solo Music Around 1600
See back cover for composers and their compositions.
Peter van Heyghen – Recorders
'Dolcimelo' Alto recorder in G (a' = 466 Hz)
'Dolcimelo' Alto recorder in G (a' = 415 Hz)
Soprano recorder in C (a' = 415 Hz)

Kris Verhelst – Organ, Italian and Flemish Harpsichord
Organ by Luc Meurice (Stavelot, 2002), inspired by early 17th-century Italian models
Italian harpsichord by Emile Jobin (Boissy l'Aillerie, 2010), after early Italian instruments
Flemish harpsichord by Hubert Bédard (Maintenon, 1974), reconstruction after A. Ruckers (Antwerp, 1644)

Recorded at AMUZ (Antwerp, BE), 22–25 Jan. 2023
96kHz/24bit recording (Streaming)

I was never, I confess, a card-carrying fan of the recorder. In my formative years, the soprano recorder seemed engineered less for music and more for medieval dental extractions — not so much a voice as a shriek. But ears mature, and so do recording engineers, and what once sounded like a distress signal now emerges here with such sweetness and nuance that I am quite undone. This disc was a revelation: the recorder not as rustic schoolchild but as a refined courtier, dressed in Florentine silk and whispering poetry in your ear.

The programme is a veritable cabaret of late Renaissance and early Baroque delights — a sun-dappled walk through the florid gardens of Fontana, Frescobaldi, Bassano, Merula, and Castello, among others. Some pieces are well-known to lovers of early music, others less so, but all are rendered with a sensitivity that makes the unfamiliar instantly welcome.

Peter van Heyghen and Kris Verhelst are not merely interpreters; they are alchemists. The recorders — yes, even the soprano! — shimmer with grace and expressive agility. Van Heyghen does not merely play notes; he paints arabesques in the air, each passaggio a flirtation, each legatura a tender sigh. Verhelst, at the organ and harpsichords, provides continuo with the kind of filigreed eloquence one imagines was heard in the salons of Mantua or Ferrara.

Just listen to the Caro dolce ben mio (Bassano/Gabrieli) — how the opening phrase unfolds like a secret, passed between lovers — or the gentle anguish of Giulio Caccini's Amarilli mia bella, lovingly cradled in van Eyck's imaginative mode changes. Even the more cerebral contrapuntal works (Kerll's Toccata, Castello's Sonata Seconda) are played with vitality and joy. The instruments themselves deserve bouquets: warm, articulate, never brittle. The harpsichord sings, the organ glows.
The recording is, frankly, stunning. Captured in the acoustic embrace of AMUZ, it bathes each phrase in just the right balance of intimacy and resonance. Not a whisper is lost, not a trill out of place.

As for me? I am convinced. No longer do I regard the recorder with suspicion. Instead, I offer it a chair by the fire and pour it a dram. And yes — in the spirit of the age and under the influence of good music — I might even quote a certain Bard, who once said:

"If music be the food of love, play on."

...But please, only if it's played like this.

So do try it, will you not? Even Pandora, I suspect, left a recorder in the box — this time filled not with mischief, but dolci accenti.

[VonStupp]

Malcolm Arnold
String Quartet 1, op. 23
String Quartet 2, op. 118
Phantasy String Quartet 'Vita Abundans'
Maggini Quartet

I haven't delved far into Arnold's absolute music yet. Despite some initial harshness in his two numbered string quartets, the composer is talented at creating hooks within his music, whether motivic or rhythmic.

The composer's love of jazz comes out in the earlier Phantasy quartet.
VS

[Roasted Swan]

Malcolm Arnold
String Quartet 1, op. 23
String Quartet 2, op. 118
Phantasy String Quartet 'Vita Abundans'
Maggini Quartet

I haven't delved far into Arnold's absolute music yet. Despite some initial harshness in his two numbered string quartets, the composer is talented at creating hooks within his music, whether motivic or rhythmic.
VS

Quartet No.2 is a genuinely extraordinary work - carved from the deepest depths of despair.

[ritter]

Giuseppe Sinopoli conducts the New York Philharmonic in Respighi's "Roman Trilogy" (Fontane, Pini, Feste).

CD1 of this twofer:

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, 1878 Version Ed. Leopold Nowak
Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Eugen Jochum

[Skogwald]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, 1878 Version Ed. Leopold Nowak
Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Eugen Jochum

Some people recommended this on the Bruckner thread and I've been listening ever since. Amazing performance of an amazing piece. I feel like this symphony really encapsulates Sibelius' quote of "I admire the symphony's severity of form"

[Mister Sharpe]

Unbelievable! Where will it all end?!

Well, clearly, Discogs doesn't want to be in the morally precarious position of inspiring wanton thoughts about tiny faeryland creatures. While over in their Rock Dept., Bob Welch's French Kiss gets a free pass with partial nudity, drug use, and lusty behavior.  I hope classical fans aren't being singled out for lessons in morality! But maybe they think we need it. 

[Mister Sharpe]

Bax is one of those composers who doesn't merely offer-up music to listen to; depending on the work, you could also be the recipient of a nature or history lesson, or a fantasy or romance novel, or mythology, or...

[Linz]

Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major, Wolfgang Schneiderhan violin
Berliner Philharmoniker, Eugen Jochum

[Lisztianwagner]

Georg Böhm
Keyboard Suites No.6, 8 & 9

Harpsichord: Gustav Leonhardt

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 1894 Original Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Georg Tintner

[Linz]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mass in C Major, K. 317, Benjamin Schmidinger soprano, Michael Knapp tenor, Ernst Jankowitsch Bass
Wiener Sangerknaben, Stuttgarter Phiharmoniker
Ave verum corpus, K. 618
Wiener Sängerknaben, Peter Maerschik
Missa solemnis in C Minor, K. 139. Celina Lindsey soprano, Gabriele Schreckenbach Alto, Werner Hollweg Grünroos baritone
RIAS Kammerchor  Radio Symphony-Orcchestra Berlin, Marcus Creed
Laudate Dominum
Chorus Jeunesses Musicales, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Ivan Fischer