What are you listening 2 now?

[Mirror Image]

I can readily imagine the psychological and musical connections between The Turn of the Screw and Death in Venice. It is a bizarre coincidence that I saw both works on TV when I was in my early twenties. At the time the music made next to no impression on me. What I knew and expected from « real » opera was sung in Italian, featured treason, elopement, love duets, vengence arias, suicide or murder (or both), and lots of high Cs.  . So, no: at the time Britten operas flew way above my head and quickly disappeared in the ether...

Give Death in Venice a listen some time. I'm rather surprised you don't own a recording of it.

[Mandryka]

Just arrived -- very good it is too. It = The duet for Cello and Orchestra, which was done last year in the London Contemporary Music Festival.

[André]

I found the two sets of songs really original and rewarding. A nice off-the-beaten-path program.

[steve ridgway]

Birtwistle: Secret Theatre.

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[Mirror Image]

Continuing on with this stunning recording:

Britten
Death in Venice, Op. 88
Michael Chance (counter-tenor), Philip Langridge (tenor), Alan Opie (baritone)
BBC Singers, City of London Sinfonia
Richard Hickox

[SonicMan46]

Bach, CPE - Solo Keyboard Music, Vols. 20 & 24 w/ Miklos Spanyi on reproduction clavichords (one below from 2010, made by Joris Potvlieghe, and used on Vol. 24).  Now I have much of CPE's KB music already on piano & harpsichord, so just wanted to hear some on clavichord; came as part of a small BRO package - about $7 USD each; they had nearly a dozen or so of the solo recordings - Spanyi is up to Vol. 37 (as shown by the bottom pic, left - LINK) and planning on completion at Vol. 40 (also keep in mind in is doing/done the KB Concertos at 20 Volumes!).  Dave

 

 

[Brian]

I'm a sucker for Rolf Martinsson's song cycle "Ich denke Dein", which has the kind of opulent tonal language you'd usually associate with '50s Hollywood studio pictures or Richard Strauss. Bit surprising for a guy who studied with Ferneyhough.

[steve ridgway]

Schnittke - Concerto Grosso No. 1.

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[André]

[steve ridgway]

George Crumb: Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale).

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[Carlo Gesualdo]

I was about to put black angels by Crumb, you read mind my friend, but now I'm listening to Nikolai Obhukov, a great composer none the less one of my favorite ever in a top 10 list of early 20th Ct music.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

the program for the day is revisiting Jon Leifs, I love his work got plenty of his.

A very tonal composer i quote and signed (deprofundis). If your looking for might and power , this might be  you're alley, you're joyride.

One fine composer of Iceland, one of the best, one of the Best of Scandinavia.

[steve ridgway]

I was about to put black angels by Crumb, you read mind my friend

I have it on order now .

[Mirror Image]

Now playing:



One of my all-time favorite Britten recordings and a sentimental favorite (yes, that's right I said sentimental ). This is one of those recordings that seems to have slipped through the cracks of many listeners' collections. These are sympathetic performances and these works suit the timbre of Bostridge's voice perhaps even more than the Serenade or Les Illuminations (which he recorded with Rattle at the helm). A winning disc and one that I believe belongs in every Britten collection.

[SonicMan46]

Buxtehude, Dietrich (1637-1707) - Organ & Harpsichord Works w/ the performers on the cover art - concerning the Simone Stella harpsichord recordings, there seems to be some debate on the recording quality/extraneous noise - see the attached reviews that address this issue - at the moment, I've been listening to the first 2 discs w/ headphones and am not detecting what has been described (especially by one of the Amazonians - last short statement in the PDF file).

Lars Ulrik Mortensen & Ton Koopman have also been recording multiple CDs of Buxtehude's harpsichord works - Mortensen has 3 Naxos discs listed at JPC (not sure if more are available and/or planned?); Koopman seems to have recorded the most, but not boxed and expensive (unless someone knows a source not found by me) - in general, Stella's reviews have been quite good and the price is right.  Would appreciate any comments from those who own any of these discs/sets - thanks.  Dave

 

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Like Buxtehude quite a lot but more Sweelinck, do you guy's dig Sweelinck as well, he a fine at keyboard, he introduced me to Buxtehude and many other.

[Irons]

Rubbra: 10th Symphony.



Sensational! Concise and intense, a wall of sound with undertones of Elizabethan music. I cannot praise this symphony high enough and that is from someone who is not usually particularly enthusiastic of Rubbra. 

[André]

Broader than his previous recording of the symphony on EMI with, appropriately, the Leningrad Philharmonic. The BRSO's performance is sensational.

[Symphonic Addict]

I'm a little surprised by myself to have patience enough with the whole work (83 minutes). This is rather spiritual, a balm for soul, but it tended to be monotonous (hence my patience). It reminded me of Rachmaninov's Vespers.

[Symphonic Addict]

Rubbra: 10th Symphony.



Sensational! Concise and intense, a wall of sound with undertones of Elizabethan music. I cannot praise this symphony high enough and that is from someone who is not usually particularly enthusiastic of Rubbra.

Don't remember being too enthralled by the last symphonies of this composer. You encouraged me to give it a try in due course.