What are you listening 2 now?

[Todd]

Mladen Čolić's Soler on modern grand disc on Naxos stands as the highpoint of that series so far, so I just had to hear his debut solo recital on Naxos.  Unfortunately, the first thing one notices is the sub-par sound, which is close and has limited lower register weight.*  Fortunately, the second thing one notices far outweighs sound quality: the playing.  Čolić brings fresh new insights to the well-known music on this recording, and he introduces a corker of a new work.  That new work is Tardes de almazara by Juan Medina, a just shy of ten-minute flurry of notes, written in a sort of avant-garde style, with kinda quotations and allusions to other composers.  The piece flies by, almost overwhelming the listener with musical invention and goodness. 

The rest of the disc is given over to Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, and closes with Schubert's D760.  The Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales starts almost rough and clunky, but, partly aided by the bass-light sound and Čolić's less generous than normal pedaling, one soon begins to hear every little detail.  As in his Soler, Čolić tinkers with every aspect of playing, all the time, with very fine dynamic control and micro-tempo shifts everywhere.  He maintains an appropriate, or almost appropriate but just kind of off rhythmic style.  The disc then moves on to three of Rach's Études-Tableaux, and Čolić delivers an idiosyncratic musical x-ray, where individual note accents and accelerations and decelerations are performed just because, and they work.  They do not sound like any other Rach recordings I have heard.  Čolić then does something basically miraculous: he makes me like Schumann's Toccata, a piece I typically merely tolerate.  Some of the playing sounds off, as if he played the wrong thing, until he repeats the playing, and his little touches and forward momentum combine to compel more than any other version I've heard. 

The disc closes with the Wanderer Fantasie, and here the lack of bass heft limits scale, precluding a quasi-orchestral feel.  What one gets in the single-track work is a piano-scaled rendition where some of the dynamic contrasts are muted, but the clarity of voices at times completely dominates the listening experience.  The tempo shifts, sometimes abrupt yet precisely controlled, can nearly startle.  The theme and variations movements doesn't quite display a Kirschnereit level of differentiation, but the listener is keenly aware that the movement is a theme and variations.  As compelling as all this is, it is when Čolić slows down and plays quietly – oh so very quietly – that one is treated to something even better, with the quality approaching that of Jean-Rodolphe Kars.  Čolić does so much in the piece, and there is so much to enjoy, that one sits nearly gobsmacked.  It makes for a supremely fine end to a magnificent recording.   



* What is it about piano recordings made in Spain?  Almost every one I have heard, from any pianist on any label, has been far from SOTA, though ultimately listenable.  Fortunately, every sub-par sounding disc has displayed exceptional musical quality, which is the right trade-off. 

[André]

A truly great disc of the 'other' Leifs, better known for his awesome, craggy orchestral works. Even the serial Scherzo concreto casts a spell. Magic.

[Karl Henning]

OK, thanks. I just wasn't that fond of the singers....

That was my guess.

Otherwise, the Gielen Mahler box set has some fine stuff.

That, I should indeed expect.

[André]

Three-Page Sonata, 10 Studies, Set of Five Take-Offs. The disc concludes with a Carl Ruggles piece, Evocations - Four Chants for Piano. Quite captivating stuff.

[Iota]

Fauré: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120
Fidelio Trio

Despite the subtleties and harmonic nuances of Faure's distinctive style, there's a certain simplicity about the music that's very welcoming I find. The Piano Trio a most pleasing case in point. Nicely played by a group I haven't heard before.

[ritter]

Truly a gem of a set: fascinating works and excellent interpretations.

It sure is, André! Bonsoir!

So, moving on to Recréation concertante (III Concerto per orchestra)...

...

Iwas surprised to see that Satie had composed a Piano Trio I had never heard of (not that I'm that much of a fan of the composer, anyway). It turns out that what the CD contains is arrangements of Satie works by another hand...

Good evening to you as welll, Iota.

[Mirror Image]

A truly great disc of the 'other' Leifs, better known for his awesome, craggy orchestral works. Even the serial Scherzo concreto casts a spell. Magic.

Three-Page Sonata, 10 Studies, Set of Five Take-Offs. The disc concludes with a Carl Ruggles piece, Evocations - Four Chants for Piano. Quite captivating stuff.

Nice!

[MusicTurner]

(...)


I was surprised to see that Satie had composed a Piano Trio I had never heard of (not that I'm that much of a fan of the composer, anyway). It turns out that what the CD contains is arrangements of Satie works by another hand...

Good evening to you as welll, Iota.

Checked it - turns out that it's arrangements from Le Piege de Meduse (complete?) and a small section of Messe des Pauvres.

[Iota]

Iwas surprised to see that Satie had composed a Piano Trio I had never heard of (not that I'm that much of a fan of the composer, anyway). It turns out that what the CD contains is arrangements of Satie works by another hand...

Good evening to you as welll, Iota.

Indeed, I hadn't heard of it/them until encountering this album. I'll be getting on to them later.

More details here: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8516997--faure-chausson-satie-piano-trios

Buenas noches!

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Britten Symphonic Suite from "Gloriana", Op. 53a with Gardner/BBC Philharmonic:

[ritter]

After the superb Petrassi Third Concerto, on to some crazy programming I've been meaning to do for a while ...

Francisco Guerrero (1951-1997): Zayin IV (for string quartet) and Zayin V (for string trio), played by the Arditti String Quartet.



followed by...

Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599): Processional motets — Salve Regina, Pange Lingua, Ave Maria, Regina Coeli—, with the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Ensemble Ricercare, and the Freiburger Münsterbläser, all led by Frieder Bernius. From CD2 of this new acquisition.



Two Spanish composers with the same name, separated by 400 years! Guerrero  "el viejo"  is one of the great exponents of the glorious Spanish polyphony of the 16th century, and Guerrero "el joven" was among Spain's most prominent composers of the ultra-complex late 20th century avant-garde (next to him, Xenakis sounds like nursery rhymes    ). And yet, both these musics can be viewed as  very advanced  for their respective eras, and there's an arcane unity between them, not least because of their strong expressive power.

This actually could be interesting in concert (in a church setting?). But the 20th century Guerrero would have to be played before the 16th century one for it to work, IMO.

The respective CDs sport some real jewels of Spanish pictorial art on their covers: El Greco's wonderful Annunciation (from around the time of Guerrero "the elder's" death, and now hanging on the walls of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum here in Madrid) and one of Antonio Saura's many takes on El Perro de Goya, from sometime after 1967 (I haven't been able to locate this particular piece). Saura paid homage to Goya and one of his most intriguing paintings (Perro semihundido, translated simply as The Dog, on display in the Prado Museum) with an interminable and rather fascinating series of oil paintings and prints.

[vandermolen]

Holst: The Perfect Fool (ballet music)
LSO Previn

[Madiel]

A truly great disc of the 'other' Leifs, better known for his awesome, craggy orchestral works. Even the serial Scherzo concreto casts a spell. Magic.

The only Leifs disc I truly like.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Schulhoff Concerto for String Quartet and Winds from this fantastic recording:



Schulhoff is becoming one of my favorite composers. So many excellent works and many of them are masterpieces like both String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 for example.

[Todd]

Disc three.

[JBS]

After the superb Petrassi Third Concerto, on to some crazy programming I've been meaning to do for a while ...

Francisco Guerrero (1951-1997): Zayin IV (for string quartet) and Zayin V (for string trio), played by the Arditti String Quartet.



followed by...

Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599): Processional motets — Salve Regina, Pange Lingua, Ave Maria, Regina Coeli—, with the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Ensemble Ricercare, and the Freiburger Münsterbläser, all led by Frieder Bernius. From CD2 of this new acquisition.



Two Spanish composers with the same name, separated by 400 years! Guerrero  "el viejo"  is one of the great exponents of the glorious Spanish polyphony of the 16th century, and Guerrero "el joven" was among Spain's most prominent composers of the ultra-complex late 20th century avant-garde (next to him, Xenakis sounds like nursery rhymes    ). And yet, both these musics can be viewed as  very advanced  for their respective eras, and there's an arcane unity between them, not least because of their strong expressive power.

This actually could be interesting in concert (in a church setting?). But the 20th century Guerrero would have to be played before the 16th century one for it to work, IMO.

The respective CDs sport some real jewels of Spanish pictorial art on their covers: El Greco's wonderful Annunciation (from around the time of Guerrero "the elder's" death, and now hanging on the walls of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum here in Madrid) and one of Antonio Saura's many takes on El Perro de Goya, from sometime after 1967 (I haven't been able to locate this particular piece). Saura paid homage to Goya and one of his most intriguing paintings (Perro semihundido, translated simply as The Dog, on display in the Prado Museum) with an interminable and rather fascinating series of oil paintings and prints.

Is Zayin the Hebrew letter that sounds as Z and has the numerical value of 7? Or something else?
And if so did Guerrero ever write a Zayin 7?

TD
A CD full of bits and bobs and encore pieces recorded at various times in 1968-73 in Paris and Tokyo from here.

The most substantial piece on the CD is Brahms's Paganini Variations, preceded and followed by two different recordings of Mendelssohn's Andante and Rondo Capriccioso.

Cziffra definitely plays the Brahms as a flashy showpiece.

[Mapman]

Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad, The Banks of Green Willow, and Two English Idylls
Boughton: English String Orchestra

Despite the name, the orchestra contains winds. Beautiful music, I particularly like The Banks of Green Willow.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39 from this Ashkenazy set -



I adore Rachmaninov's solo piano music so much and I couldn't imagine anyone who doesn't love this composer's music not feeling the same way.

[Symphonic Addict]

Now playing Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39 from this Ashkenazy set -



I adore Rachmaninov's solo piano music so much and I couldn't imagine anyone who doesn't love this composer's music not feeling the same way.

I LOVE his orchestral works, but some of his piano works are rather ellusive to me. The works for two pianos are a different matter, nonetheless.

[Symphonic Addict]

Boris Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2

Outstanding work.