What are you listening 2 now?

[Brian]

Isn't Christian Petzold the name of a contemporary German film director? I watched a film of his, Phoenix, with incredible atmosphere and brilliant use of an old jazz standard song ("Speak Low") but it required acceptance of an implausible plot.

[Que]

Isn't Christian Petzold the name of a contemporary German film director? I watched a film of his, Phoenix, with incredible atmosphere and brilliant use of an old jazz standard song ("Speak Low") but it required acceptance of an implausible plot.

It is...

But this Christian Petzold (1677–1733) was organist at the Sophienkirche in Desden and court composer. His claim to fame are his keyboard minuets in G major (BWV Anh. 114) and G minor (BWV Anh. 115), which appeared in Anna Magdalena Bach's 1725 notebook and were misattributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. I guess JSB liked them... 

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 3 in D Major, 1889 Version (aka 1888/89) Ed. Leopold Nowak
Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, Günter Wand

[Todd]

Another go.  It's getting marginally better with each spin.  Quite the feat.

[Symphonic Addict]

Well, there's a lot to be said about the use of these cantatas. They were certainly intended for use during church services. I know die-hard pagans who enjoy listening to these cantatas. With organ music, there's also the inevitable association with the church, which poses a barrier for some. There are also secular cantatas, but to say that you can hear that so clearly and that they have  a different character?
Of course, that difference is audible in the Coffee and Peasant Cantatas.
Without wanting to put any pressure on you, there is quite a difference in execution. Rilling, with its large-scale approach, is perhaps not the best introduction.
Classical music is not popular, and within classical music, there are again minorities; it almost seems like a reflection of the real world.
As for so-called religious music, there's much there that I don't want to listen to. It's the quality of the music that is decisive, which should actually speak for itself. With some madrigals, I don't even want to know what they're singing about because sometimes it's so tearful that I can't stand it.
Consider this post simply as an opportunity to express my thoughts on the subject.

For what is worth, Cesar, I'll just share the approach that worked for me about 4 years ago (after struggling with German Baroque for 15 years), on the guidance of a former member (Aligreto): he sent me at the time 5-6 different cantatas covering the liturgical year, in different approaches. Rilling's is only one style that may not work for you now but there are other approaches that may click for you.

From those 5-6, I'd recommend:

BWV 12 (Easter) Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen
BWV 36 (Advent) Schwingt freudig euch empor
BWV 63 (Christmas) Christen, ätzet diesen Tag

Primarily I'd suggest Versions by Suzuki, Herreweghe and Gardiner.

Kuijken is different again, doing one voice per part in a more pared down style.

Harnoncourt/Leonhardt was the first full cycle made. It is an acquired taste with boy sopranos and now an "old fashioned" HIP sound but some still love it ( @Que 's favourite overall I think - I do like it too, if I am in the mood for it).

There really can be a version for your mood on each day !

As for the religious element, I'll just say that I listen mostly to them at random, regardless of the liturgical period or texts. Even as an atheist, I just let the beauty of the music and singing wash over me and I just wallow in it. That's how good it can be.

Like any other classical works, it may take different versions to find your entry point, that feels like the sweet spot.

I hope you try and explore again another time. These works can be incredible rewarding (and addictive too!).

I appreciate the time both of you took to express yourselves on the matter, and thank you for that. At the beginning of 2024 I wanted to explore the Bach cantatas as they're considered one of his many artistic pinnacles. Unfortunately, the effort wasn't properly fruitful. The ones I listened to didn't provide elements of interest enough to me to persevere. They often tested my patience (as happened recently). As for recordings, I can't stand HIP ones. I don't like the sound of old instruments, so that's why I chose the Hänssler recordings, they're played on modern instruments. Perhaps and it's rather likely that some years later I could have a better appreciation for those pieces. Things come at the right time I reckon.

[André]

Brahms, 2nd piano concerto

Three more excellent performances of this mighty work. My appreciation of each has changed a little over time.

Down one notch: Rösel and Berg. An excellently paced performance, perfect in that respect, with a beautiful rendering of the solo part. My quibble is that, although very well played, both the piano and orchestra could have had more presence sonically. Rösel doesn't attempt to wrest his instrument to the ground like Gilels does, but his playing could have just a bit more 'face'. Same with the orchestra, where one discerns a certain reluctance to make the performance a 'symphony with piano obbligato' (a complaint contemporary critics made when the work was first played). The cello solos in the Andante are superbly played. The concerto is curiously paired with a symphony by contemporary Estonian composer Jan Rääts. It's a bizarre piece, seemingly incoherent but it kinda grows on me every time I hear it. 8/10.

Unchanged: Pollini and Abbado conducting the WP (1976). The same pair re-recorded it about 15 years later, this time with the BP. In Vienna we have exactly what's missing from the above recording (Berg): an orchestral image that fills the room with refulgent tones, massive weight while maintaining classical elegance at all times. Abbado is at his best in Brahms - much better than in about any other classical-romantic composer. Pollini does his job wonderfully. He's never been a true Romantic but his playing has power, incisiveness, poetry and a superb sense of the work's structure.  Excellent sound. 9/10

Unchanged/On the Rise: Nikita Magaloff and Willem van Otterloo. I've had this version for decades now. It's from 1964 and was released domestically in The Netherlands and other european countries through mail-in subscription - sort of an european Readers Digest venture. The sound is very wide-ranging, with a clear and very deep bass end. It's that particular feature that makes the performance sound so imposing and commanding. The piano's bass end sounds rich and deep and Magaloff's signature sound, percussive, bell-like in its purity greatly benefits from being heard in that way. Of course that's just the technical context in which the performance unfolds. Pianist and conductor are of one mind. The opening horn call is a case in point: it is purposeful, affirmative, evoking a bright sunrise - not misty and autumnal.. The tone is set for a dynamic, powerful performance  Pianist and orchestra take off from there commandingly. The musical argument unfolds like a battle between soloist and orchestra. The Andante offers a beautiful moment of repose - superbly inward pianism from the soloist. Definitely the most life-affirming performance I've heard. Not the only way to play the piece of course. Backhaus/Böhm have just as much power but with a greater sense of repose. Different but equally valid. 10/10 

[Symphonic Addict]

Saint-Saëns: Variations for two pianos on a theme of Beethoven

Fabulous in every sense, including the marvelous playing. Music full of wit, gracefulness and spark.

[Bachthoven]

Superb playing and sound.

[Papy Oli]

I appreciate the time both of you took to express yourselves on the matter, and thank you for that. At the beginning of 2024 I wanted to explore the Bach cantatas as they're considered one of his many artistic pinnacles. Unfortunately, the effort wasn't properly fruitful. The ones I listened to didn't provide elements of interest enough to me to persevere. They often tested my patience (as happened recently). As for recordings, I can't stand HIP ones. I don't like the sound of old instruments, so that's why I chose the Hänssler recordings, they're played on modern instruments. Perhaps and it's rather likely that some years later I could have a better appreciation for those pieces. Things come at the right time I reckon.

Fair comment and that sounds about right.

@Traverso and I will sit patiently until Advent 2033 when you post in "pieces that have blown you away" a BWV number between 1 and 200 

[Symphonic Addict]

Fair comment and that sounds about right.

@Traverso and I will sit patiently until Advent 2033 when you post in "pieces that have blown you away" a BWV number between 1 and 200 

Haha, sure, there's hope!

[Symphonic Addict]

Copland: Piano Variations

A variation day it seems. Absolutely brilliant. Copland got these variations out of nothing, practically, as the theme is rather short and laconic in character. Really impressive.

[Symphonic Addict]

Dohnányi: Variations on a Hungarian folksong

More excellent piano variations.

[VonStupp]

Malcolm Arnold
Concerto for Piano Duet, op. 32
    David Nettle & Richard Markham, pianos
    London Musici - Mark Stephenson

Concerto for Two Pianos (3 Hands), op. 104
    David Nettle & Richard Markham, pianos
    Royal PO - Vernon Handley

Fantasy on a Theme of John Field, op. 116
    John Lill, piano
    Royal PO - Vernon Handley

The two-piano concertos sound like Arnold has one foot in the concert hall and one in a piano bar. Great fun!
VS

CD 3 from this set:

[Symphonic Addict]

Lyadov: Variations on a theme of Glinka

At 15 min long it's one of his most substantial pieces for sure, and quite charming to boot.

[AnotherSpin]

To wake while it is still dark is to meet the day before the world begins to speak. In that silence, music appears naturally, not as sound but as presence, something you do not listen to, but enter. It flows through the quiet, dissolving haste, loosening the grip of day routine.

There is no need to become anything then. Only a vast stillness, where existence feels wide and gentle. Even when the stars fade from sight, their presence remains. In the same way, this early music stays through the day, unseen yet alive.

And so the day begins not as a struggle, but as a soft unfolding, a space to simply be.

[Que]

PS This is a reissue of these:

 

[Madiel]

A couple of different recordings of Mozart's duet "Nun, liebes Weibchen", K 625. Just so that I could confirm that yes, both singers are required to make meowing noises extensively. 

[Madiel]

Beethoven: String quartet in A major, op.18/5

[Madiel]

Mozart: String quintet no.5 in D, K.593

[Traverso]

Bach & de Visée