What are you listening 2 now?

[brewski]

Biebl: Ave Maria (Chanticleer). Many great choirs have performed Biebl's classic, including this one. I like the filming, in an industrial loft.

[SimonNZ]

[Wanderer]

[steve ridgway]

Kagel's Vox Humana - masterpiece IMO - the more Kagel I hear, the more impressed I am.

I hadn't heard that but it sounds great on YouTube .

[steve ridgway]

Berio - Serenata I Per Flauto E 14 Strumenti

[steve ridgway]

Ligeti - Violin Concerto

[Spotted Horses]

I remember when I first started listening to Bacewicz I was mainly attracted to the Neo-classical/Neo-baroque works of the first half of her career, and I was somewhat baffled by the later works, which are more experimental, playing with sonorities and putting music together from snatches of melody. But lately I have started to find the late works uniquely attractive. For instance, the String Quartet No 7.

[Harry]

Baroque Enchantment.

Cima: Sonata a 2; Sonata for Violin & Viola
Raimondo: Casandra
Frescobaldi: Toccata for spinettina solo over liuto
Castello: Sonatas for Violin & Basso continuo Nos. 1 & 2
Hume: Love's Farewell
Mascitti: Sonata for Violin & Basso continuo, Op. 3 No. 10
Vivaldi: Sonata for Violin & Basso continuo, Op. 2 No. 3
Ensemble Chiaroscuro.

Quite an enjoyable program, performed on a high level, and a great choice in composers. Nothing to offend but simply to give pleasure. Starting with two invigorating works by Giovanni Paolo Cima, which surprised me by its ingenuity. Careful and well considered interpretations. A clear and detailed recording. A good start in the morning.

[Que]

[Harry]

Marco Uccellini (1610-1680)
Sonate over Canzoni op.5, for Violin and Harp.
Davide Monti, Maria Christina Cleary.

Marco Uccellini (1610-1680) created a new, expressive Violin style in his works, which demanded both virtuosity and cantabile playing from the performers. By extending the range of playing up to the sixth position, he also introduced important technical innovations. The ingenuity that Uccellini displayed in his music also served as a model for composers such as Schmelzer, Biber and Walther. It simply means that this music is inventive and quietly virtuosic. Very pleasant to listen to, especially in such great performances and superb sound. Uccellini is highly undervalued, if you see how little is recorded of him.

[Harry]

Upheaval.
Henriette Bosmans: Sonata for Cello & Piano in A minor. Dora Pejacevic: Sonata for Cello & Piano, Op. 35, Lili Boulanger: Nocturne, Nadia Boulanger: Three Pieces.
Janne Fredens (Cello), Sören Rastogi (Piano.)

This recording is an extraordinary project in several respects. Firstly, it presents four compositions for cello and piano written by female composers from the first half of the 20th century that challenge the cultural norms of the time, and secondly, the title "Upheaval" also refers to the turbulent period surrounding the First World War. Interesting enough for me anyways.
The works on this recording are Henriëtta Bosmansʼ Sonata for Cello and Piano (1919), Dora Pejačević's Sonata for Cello and Piano (1913), Nadia Boulanger's Trois pièces (1914) and Lili Boulanger's Nocturne (1911), all of which were written over a period of eight years in France, the Netherlands and Croatia. Henriëtte Bosmans was one of the most important pianists in the Netherlands and a composer of great distinction, as her rousing early cello sonata proves. Countess Maria Theodora Paulina (Dora) Pejačević is rightly regarded as the matriarch of Croatian composers. Her Cello Sonata op. 35 embodies late Romanticism, with influences from Mendelssohn, Brahms and Dvorák particularly evident. The program concludes with works by two amazing sisters: Nadia (1887-1979) and Lili Boulanger (1893-1918). Both were pioneers in their field (Lili was the first woman to win the coveted Prix de Rome, and Nadia taught pretty much every major composer of the post-war period) and for many years were among the best-known women in twentieth-century music.
This is a highly recommended recording for the likes of me and doubtless many others. Perfect sound and performance. 

[Que]

Since the ensemble I Gemelli was new to me, I decided on a test drive:



Lovely performances, though I'm not sure if it is any significant improvement over the Magnificat ensemble, which is (also) very nice and better recorded IMO:

[Harry]

Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
Violin concertos, 1,3 & 7, and Overture.
Joanna Kurkowicz, Violin.
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lukasz Borowicz.

In the rerun. It's simply without question superb.
What all three works have in common, is an exuberant, occasionally even unruly temperament Temperament and an unmistakable flair for extraordinary, luminous orchestral colors her commitment is communicated immediately; she masters the the not insignificant technical challenges with nonchalance and audible, infectious enthusiasm, which will undoubtedly play its part in rescuing this music from oblivion.
Pristine recording.

[Traverso]

Mozart

CD 4

[Madiel]

Beethoven: String Trio in G, op.9/1



Wonderful music that ought to be better known.

[hopefullytrusting]

Continuing the Piston train: Partita, for violin, viola, and organ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D8wpFfL7ro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mFcWAe-V74
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR-sbntosAg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfhyttwh3x4

I like how Piston just gets straight into with all three instruments. I know, at least I have become accustomed to, a lead-in, but he does away with that, and it works here, although, I can imagine that, for some, the sound might be overwhelming, especially since one of the instruments is the organ, which can be overwhelming even when it isn't trying to be. It is an interesting mix to be sure because both the violin and viola, especially when compared to the organ, are weak instruments, as even at their fullest have difficultly filling a hall without being massed, but, at least in this first movement, it appears that he is using the violin and viola as ways to extend the sound of the organ, which is an interesting maneuver.

The second section has a lead-in, giving the strings the time to dominate the space, so the roles have flipped from the first movement, where now the organ is helping extend the reach of the strings, and, by howdy, do the strings need the help. I know Piston has a reason to compose the piece in the manner that he did, but, for me, there are so many better instruments to pair with the organ - pretty much any of the brasses and winds, in fact, the two he chose might be the two weakest, maybe that is why he chose it. The melody is gorgeous in this section, and the organ is almost taking the role of grace notes playing in the register that the strings would struggle to reach outside of using harmonics. This section feels too long, and I suspect that is because it was dominated by the strings, which, are lulling me to sleep, beckoning me to bed.

Third section. Thank goodness, back to the way things are supposed to be. Organ on top, strings on bottom. The organist is very active here equaling the strings, but they are definitely mixing it up, and the dissonances are simply part and parcel. He isn't focusing on them, but allowing them to naturally emerge as the instruments clash with each other as they play their individual parts. They intersect, perpendicularly, and that point of convergence, the ton that isn't meant to be heard - the overtone - is heard through compositional design.

Piston bringing it all home, opens with vigor - almost toccata-like vs. partita - this last section is not only more flourish - it is far more technically demanding - it is an ending showcase, and it is also the best sounding of the four sections. I will wholly admit I do not see the connection between the four - the sound like four individual pieces packaged together, but I find that is the case with most classical music, for me, when it comes to the content/form argument. Piston goes all out with the organ, and will have you playing your own air organ alongside it. The strings here are so far back that this almost feels like a straight-up concerto at this point - the interplay is significant, but it is clear who this was meant for.

High, high recommendation.

[Harry]

Elsa Barraine (1910-1999)
Orchestral works.
See back cover.

An all time favourite, played it many times and with a good reason.
Elsa Barraine must have been a musical prodigy. At the age of eighteen, she came second in the competition for the coveted Prix de Rome, and at nineteen she had it in the bag. While the pupil of Paul Dukas was in the Eternal City, she composed her first, unmistakably neoclassical symphony of remarkable quality and independence: no question, this was no talent, this was the articulation of an outstanding figure. And it fulfilled the great expectations.
Her second symphony 'Voina' (War) was composed during this period (1938) - a moving monument, especially with a view to what was to come. The central Marche funèbre is grandiose and abysmal at the same time - it would be exciting to hear the symphony in a concert coupled with Honegger's Symphonie Liturgique, for example: Barraine's work would not have to fear appearing pale or falling down next to the better-known one.... She was not an enraptured l'art-pour-l'art artist, but wanted to speak directly to the listener with her music. Her works are melodic and written in a clear, fresh, often somewhat rough diction that leaves no puzzles to be solved and immediately captures the listener's attention. And she fulfills every expectation. SOTA sound and great performances.

[Madiel]

Mozart plus some unknown arranger: the inauthentic violin-sonata version of K.570



I mean, it really is a case of a violin part whacked on top of the original piano sonata. Which means the violin either follows the piano to a high degree, or fills in whatever little gaps could be found.

It seems that if you're wondering why there's a gap in the numbering of the violin sonatas, this is the reason. Which only makes me wonder why people believed for so long that this was a violin sonata. It only qualifies if you think Mozart's writing for violin has regressed significantly.

[Iota]

Initially the lack of string vibrato rather threw me, the music had such a different aspect/character to what I'd heard before, that I wasn't quite sure what to think. The choral singing was unequivocally gorgeous from first moment though, and as my ears adjusted to the new orchestral sound my feelings began to warm fairly quickly. Indeed by the first thunderingly apocalyptic crescendo of the 2nd movement I was fully won over by its virtues, the outburst on timpani et al was utterly terrifying/thrilling, never heard it better.
Star billing for all this unquestionably goes to Pynchon, whose direction is fresh, exciting and illuminating throughout. It's true I occasionally missed some of the string warmth that comes with vibrato, and am glad there are many other less Norrington-ian inclined performances around, but overall I find this a truly stimulating take on this wonder of a work to add to the repertoire.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Manolis Kalomiris Rhapsodies.