What are you listening 2 now?

[Todd]

[Traverso]

Dufay

[Traverso]

Desprez

A beauty....

[Madiel]

Starting on another Vivaldi album...



Chamber concerto in C (for recorder, oboe and 2 violins), RV 87
Cantata for alto Amor hai vinto, RV 683

As with the similar album I've tried before, the concerto recordings and the cantata recordings were made at different times (i.e., all the L'Astree concerto recordings released on several albums were done together, and all the L'Astree cantata recordings released on several albums were done together at a different time)... and so it's no surprise the cantata recording again sends my particular CD system into a frenzy of bass thumping from the way the harpsichord is recorded. I know how to reduce this though not entirely get rid of it.

Laura Polverelli is an okay singer but not my favourite. That together with the recording issue makes it highly likely I'll listen to the instrumental half of this album a lot more often than the vocal half.

[brewski]

This is in the "what will you be listening to later" category: just uploaded a few days ago, a performance of Dvořák's String Quartet No. 13, recorded live in June in Dresden, with the Isidore String Quartet. I dipped into it for a minute and could tell it's going to be great, so since work calls, I turned it off and will return when I can give it full attention.

[Harry]

Grace Williams.
Orchestral Works.
4 Illustrations for the Legend of Rhiannon; Castell Caernarfon; Ballads; Sea Sketches for Strings.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Andrews.


For many years, the works of Welsh composer Grace Williams (1906-1977) were criminally underrepresented in discography, which is certainly (also) simply because she was a woman. In recent years, the gender wind has shifted, so that her music is now finally receiving more attention. Williams was a "big deal" in the UK simply because she was the first woman to set a feature film ("Blue Scar", directed by Jill Craigie) to music in 1949.the illustrative element is inscribed in her orchestral music, and this is expressed in the first piece on the album, the "Four Illustrations for the Legend of Rhiannon" (1939), which is as "vivid" as it is musically convincing. With this four-movement piece, which refers to the Welsh mythological deity Rhiannon and is in the tradition of Sibelius' "Lemminkäinen Suite", Williams paves the way for the symphonic genre in contrast to the "Illustrations", the (also four) "Ballads" (1968) have absolute movement designations (such as Allegro and Andante) and otherwise do without a programme. Nevertheless, the music is no less striking and "eloquent". Williams' "Sea Sketches for String Orchestra" (1943) are a highlight, the title of which of course immediately brings to mind Benjamin Britten's "Four Sea Interludes", which were written two years later (!)according to Williams, she wanted to express her "preference for long, non-repetitive melodic lines and flowing rhythms" in the "Sketches", which she has succeeded in doing in a compelling way here. The BBC Philharmonic teases out the rich and delicate timbres from Williams' "very British" music with great skill. Simply fantastic! A superb recording, landed on the British best sellers list in the autumn of 2024, and rightly so.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 8 in C Minor, 1890 Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer

[Florestan]

A strong contender for the best recording of anything ever.

[Florestan]

Vivaldi: the concerto for oboe and bassoon (RV545)



A very interesting and effective piece. The two instruments go so well together, it makes me wonder whether other composers have seen fit to pair them.

[Linz]

Johann Sebastian Bach Partita No. 2 in C minor BWV 826
Partita No. 3 in A minor BWV 827
Partita No. 4 in D major BWV 828
Scott Ross

[AnotherSpin]

If anyone's interested, the album cover features a fragment of a painting by Agnolo di Cosimo (1503–1572), usually known as Bronzino:

[Irons]

Grace Williams.
Orchestral Works.
4 Illustrations for the Legend of Rhiannon; Castell Caernarfon; Ballads; Sea Sketches for Strings.
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Andrews.


For many years, the works of Welsh composer Grace Williams (1906-1977) were criminally underrepresented in discography, which is certainly (also) simply because she was a woman. In recent years, the gender wind has shifted, so that her music is now finally receiving more attention. Williams was a "big deal" in the UK simply because she was the first woman to set a feature film ("Blue Scar", directed by Jill Craigie) to music in 1949.the illustrative element is inscribed in her orchestral music, and this is expressed in the first piece on the album, the "Four Illustrations for the Legend of Rhiannon" (1939), which is as "vivid" as it is musically convincing. With this four-movement piece, which refers to the Welsh mythological deity Rhiannon and is in the tradition of Sibelius' "Lemminkäinen Suite", Williams paves the way for the symphonic genre in contrast to the "Illustrations", the (also four) "Ballads" (1968) have absolute movement designations (such as Allegro and Andante) and otherwise do without a programme. Nevertheless, the music is no less striking and "eloquent". Williams' "Sea Sketches for String Orchestra" (1943) are a highlight, the title of which of course immediately brings to mind Benjamin Britten's "Four Sea Interludes", which were written two years later (!)according to Williams, she wanted to express her "preference for long, non-repetitive melodic lines and flowing rhythms" in the "Sketches", which she has succeeded in doing in a compelling way here. The BBC Philharmonic teases out the rich and delicate timbres from Williams' "very British" music with great skill. Simply fantastic! A superb recording, landed on the British best sellers list in the autumn of 2024, and rightly so.

Great that in our more enlightened times that the music of Grace Williams receives the attention deserved.
Josef Holbrooke also inspired by the legend with his 'The Birds of Rhiannon'.

[Spotted Horses]

Martinu, Jeaux, Part I and II, Koukl (volume 6)



A string of delightful miniatures, Kaleidoscope Martinu.

[Wanderer]

[Que]

[Todd]

Op 7.

[prémont]

Op 7.

Levinas made an excellent integral I ought to revisit soon.

[Linz]

Bohuslav Matinů Who is the Most Powerful in the World, Ballet
Prague Symphony Orchestra, Jiříí Bělohlávek

[AnotherSpin]

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony in D Minor, 1869 Ed. David Chapman [2023]
Altomonte Orchester St. Florian; Rémy Ballot