What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

A powerfully moving choral symphony.

[Todd]

Disc one.

[Daverz]

Hans Vonk died 20 years ago or so.

What is your opinion of the performance?  The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra used to be an orchestra on the rise in earlier decades. 

It got a very positive review from Fanfare's then main Bruckner guy, Robert McColley.  Some quotes:

"For the listener inclined to relish the classical approach at its best, Vonk's interpretation pays off in making the extended quiet, developmental, and connecting passages as absorbing and gripping as the great outbursts of the full orchestra. One is reminded, among older conductors, of Hans Rosbaud, Carl Schuricht, Kurt Eichhorn, and Georg Tintner."

"[I am] delighted to welcome this new St. Louis recording to the front rank of the lyrical-classical interpretations. It should be added that the Scherzo and Finale, proportionally the shortest in relation to their predecessor among Bruckner's symphonies, are often regarded as something of a letdown. They should not be, and Vonk understands that in this symphony Bruckner favors contrast rather than continuity of mood. Thus we have a boisterously jolly scherzo and a spirited, Haydnesque finale, just as the composer intended. But the beauty of the orchestral execution and the classical balance remain. For those who care: Vonk unleashes the cymbals, triangle, and kettledrums at the climax of the Adagio."

The comparison to Rosbaud and Schuricht is very high praise in my book.

[Daverz]

Etienne Mehul!

Wonderful!  I wonder what the effect of the 2nd violins facing away from the audience is.  Perhaps in such a lively room the sound bounces off the walls anyway.  The violin sound actually has the transparency promised by HIP practice rather than just sounding whiny.

[Linz]

Mozart/Salieri Requiems, Andreas Kröper, conductor, Iva Hošpesová, soprano, Zoltán Korda, tenor, Magdalena Kožená, alto, Jiři Klecker, basss, Concertino notturno praha, Italian chamber choir

[Symphonic Addict]

Jolivet is becoming a favorite among French composers.

[JBS]

Continuing on with the Blomstedt Decca and Norrington Erato boxes

It's quite possible that I've never heard the Brahms choral works before now.

[vandermolen]

Jerome Moross: The Last Judgement (ballet)

[vandermolen]

Presto does have Arnold Cooke's Symphony No. 3 (coupled with some Brian symphonies) available for download and on sale now for $9.  Highly recommended.

Now playing:  Miraculous Mandarin, again...

Gorgeous playing from the Boston Symphony.  Amazing that this beautiful recording is nearly 50 years old.  Be warned, though, that the coupled Concerto for Orchestra has the original ending.

Unfortunately the version streaming on Qobuz has some gaps where there shouldn't be any, which occasionally does happen there.

The Brian/Cooke CD is a fabulous one from Lyrita.

[Wanderer]

[Que]

This morning a return to my Sweelinck project with the Second Book of Psalms:



Skipping the included melodies from the Genevean Psalter, gives a perfect playing time per disc of 35-40 mins.

[Que]

Picking up where I left off yesterday:



This recording has exceeded all my expectations and shows Rousset at his best. It almost seems that the quirks and eccentricities of his middle years have worn off...

https://www.apartemusic.com/albums/le-manuscrit-de-madame-theobon/?lang=en

[Harry]

J.S. Bach.
Complete Organ Works.
CD II.
Clavier Übung III.
Pieter van Dijk, Organ.
Instrument: Hagerbeer/Schnitger organ in de Grote Kerk, Alkmaar
Pitch: A'= 415 Hz. Temperament: equal.

[Florestan]

Why has this thread become regular instead of sticky?

[atardecer]

Bach - French Suites 1-6, French Overture, Italian Concerto
András Schiff

[Que]

Why has this thread become regular instead of sticky?

Fixed. (Even though I am still moderator in name only  )

BTW With any moderator "unsticking" a thread can inadvertently happen litterally by the slip of a finger...

[Harry]

Flights of Fantasy.
Early Italian Chamber Music.

Dario Castello (fl. 1st half of 17th century)
Sonata decimaquarta à 4.
Carlo Farina (c.1604-39)
2 Capriccio Stravagante .
Francesco Cavalli (1602-76) 3 Sonata à 6, (1656).
Biagio Marini (1594-1663) 4 Passacaglio à 4.
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704) 5 Harmonia Artificiosa Partia VI.
Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-90) 6 La Fugazza Sonata à 5 (1671).
Dario Castello 7 Sonata Seconda à sopran solo & Sonata decima sesta à 4 per stromenti d'arco.
Antonio Bertali (1605-69) 8 Sonata à 5.
Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (1583-1643) 9 Canzona Terza (1627/1637).

Monica Huggett Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chamber Soloists.
Recorded 2009 at St. Peter's Church, Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland.
Pitch: a' = 440 Hz, Temperament = 6th comma meantone.

This is an absolute gorgeous disc, well performed and recorded.
Beautifully crafted harmonies and rhythms, soothing, thought provoking, and thoroughly crafted pearls turned into small masterworks. The quality of this ensemble is at a very high level, and frankly you should not let that pass but buy or stream it. 

[Florestan]

Fixed. (Even though I am still moderator in name only  )

BTW With any moderator "unsticking" a thread can inadvertently happen litterally by the slip of a finger...

Thanks.

TD

[Lisztianwagner]

Kurt Atterberg
Symphony No.1

Ari Rasilainen & Radio Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt

[Harry]

Voices in the Wilderness
Cello Concertos by Exiled Jewish Composers.
Volume I

Hans Gal. (1890-1986)
Cello Concerto, in B minor.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. (1895-1968)
Cello Concerto in F major.

Raphael Wallfisch, Cello.
Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Nicholas Milton.
Recorded in 2016 at the Konzerthaus, Berlin, Grosse Saal.

Really a very successful performance by both the soloist and orchestra. The music is still in a late romantic fashion, for they withstood the warriors of the Atonal militants, and for this I am grateful, for what we get is such heartwarming music, that one will revel in such music endlessly and never get tired of it. This is Volume I, and as it happens more often then I wished it to be, there has never been a follow up. Not unusual with CPO I might add.
Well recorded though!