What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Sigismondo D'India.

CD XV.

Eight Book of Madrigals for 5 voices, & Madrigali a una voce..

The Consort of Musicke.

[Florestan]

First listens



The orchestral part of the VC is colorful and atmospheric. Too bad that the soloist part is mostly banal and consists more of note spinning than of anything substantial, while in terms of melody it lacks any appeal. The beautiful, moving slow movement cannot save the whole. The PC1 is better but still nothing memorable.

Meh.



I remember liking Bowen's piano sonatas performed by Danny Driver so I had high hopes about his other piano works. Alas, was I disappointed. Celis bangs the piano "con tutta la forza", as if he were a fervent follower of Bartok's idea that it is a percussion instrument. After a while, it became painful to my ears and I had to drastically reduce the volume. Bowen was labeled as the "English Rachmaninoff" so one would expect at least a modicum of legato, rubato and cantabile, right? Wrong. No trace of such things can be detected in this recording --- well, perhaps a cantabile here and there. This is piano playing exactly how I don't like it, so it might be more Celis' fault than Bowen's for the fact that I have little incentive for listening to the other three volumes in the series.

[Harry]

Just out today I think. Very beautiful soft lute and as far as I can tell from the first few tracks, very lyrical soulful performances.

That's on my order list too.

[Harry]

One of those singular cpo releases that sometimes is overlooked. Wetzler was a German composer who lived a part of his life in USA. An almost exact contemporary of Bantock. Reading some info on the internet, he wrote few works, among them the ones on the CD: Visionen and Assisi. Both works belong to the German late-Romantic tradition at its best, so you can expect some grandiloquent and opulent music here. I could hear echoes from Wagner (Siegfried), Strauss (Alpine Symphony), Dukas (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), Respighi (Pini di Roma, Fontane di Roma), even Franck (Le Chasseur Maudit) and Hausegger (Nature Symphonie, Barbarossa). Subdued and thought-provoking passages mixed with other angrier and more explosive throughout. The orchestration is so magnificent, resplendent and subtle when needed. Some will say that the works are a bit bombastic, but hey, it's good bombastic! Two most welcome discoveries. This label always has some really nice kept secrets.

Agreed, a superb disc!

[Harry]

First listens



The orchestral part of the VC is colorful and atmospheric. Too bad that the soloist part is mostly banal and consists more of note spinning than of anything substantial, while in terms of melody it lacks any appeal. The beautiful, moving slow movement cannot save the whole. The PC1 is better but still nothing memorable.

Meh.



I remember liking Bowen's piano sonatas performed by Danny Driver so I had high hopes about his other piano works. Alas, was I disappointed. Celis bangs the piano "con tutta la forza", as if he were a fervent follower of Bartok's idea that it is a percussion instrument. After a while, it became painful to my ears and I had to drastically reduce the volume. Bowen was labeled as the "English Rachmaninoff" so one would expect at least a modicum of legato, rubato and cantabile, right? Wrong. No trace of such things can be detected in this recording --- well, perhaps a cantabile here and there. This is piano playing exactly how I don't like it, so it might be more Celis' fault than Bowen's for the fact that I have little incentive for listening to the other three volumes in the series.

Your a hard man to please

[Traverso]

Purcell

Fine playing of the Parley of Instruments

CD 2

[Florestan]

Your a hard man to please

Have you listened to Bowen's Preludes played by Celis?

[Harry]

Have you listened to Bowen's Preludes played by Celis?

Yes I have listened to these recordings and was not pleased. But I was rather referring to the Dutton recording with the VC concerto, and the fact that you said the following things.

Too bad that the soloist part is mostly banal and consists more of note spinning than of anything substantial, while in terms of melody it lacks any appeal. The beautiful, moving slow movement cannot save the whole. The PC1 is better but still nothing memorable.

I could not disagree more. I find it a very fine performance, and the music is York Bowen as best as it comes.

[Harry]

Second rerun. New release.

I said good things about it in my first review, and stick to that.

[Mandryka]

Second rerun. New release.

I said good things about it in my first review, and stick to that.

Can you give me a link to your first review Harry. I have the CD but I haven't been able to get on the same wavelength yet -- so what you say may well help me out.

[Harry]

Can you give me a link to your first review Harry. I have the CD but I haven't been able to get on the same wavelength yet -- so what you say may well help me out.

New release 2019.

Polish Lute Music.

Albert Dlugoraj, (1558- after 1619)
Diomedes Cato, (1565-1628)
Jakub Polak. (c.1545-1605)

Joachim Held, Lute.

Unfortunately there is no info about the Lute on which he plays, and that irks me! Joachim Held is for most people an unknown name, but I already have several recordings in which he features, and have a high regard for his abilities as a Lute player. Educated by Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith, he is held to be an excellent musician, and so it is. This CD proves that abundantly. Polish Lute Music, by composers totally unknown to me and most, what a treat that is! Held is a sensitive player, who takes his time to unfold the music in a elegant and yet very refined way. He is one of those Lutenists who successfully combines historically informed practice, with a insightful technique. No lavish ornamentation in this music, but fine changes in colour throughout. And that makes his style very approachable. Deeply affectionate performances.
Stephan Reh is the engineer of this CD, and him too I hold in high regard, for this is a State of the Art recording.
Recommended.

[Roasted Swan]

Have you listened to Bowen's Preludes played by Celis?

Florestan - you tweaked my interest.  My memory of those Celis/Bowen discs is much more positive than your description .... I'll have to dig them out for a relisten!

[Tsaraslondon]

The performance of the Walton, recorded at a Prom in 1993, is a bit rough round the edges, but very exciting  and the audience erupt in a spontaneous round of applause at the end of the first movement.

The Takemitsu, recorded at a different Prom in the same seaon, here gets its first recording. It is a sort of concerto for percussion and rather beautiful.

[Harry]

Duetti da Camera.

CD XVI.

A host of Italian composers, in which the consort of Musicke feels more at home. For there is more emotion in the music, and a much freer approach towards the text. As a whole there is more expression overall. The last disc in the series I like more then I thought I would.

[Traverso]

Buxtehude

[Florestan]

Florestan - you tweaked my interest.  My memory of those Celis/Bowen discs is much more positive than your description .... I'll have to dig them out for a relisten!

Please do and report. I'm curious about what you make of them.

[Florestan]

Yes I have listened to these recordings and was not pleased.

Do you agree with my assessment or do you have other complaints?

But I was rather referring to the Dutton recording with the VC concerto, and the fact that you said the following things.

Too bad that the soloist part is mostly banal and consists more of note spinning than of anything substantial, while in terms of melody it lacks any appeal. The beautiful, moving slow movement cannot save the whole. The PC1 is better but still nothing memorable.

I could not disagree more. I find it a very fine performance, and the music is York Bowen as best as it comes.

Different strokes for different folks. 

Please note that I didn't say anything about the performance in itself, which I agree it's fine. It's the music that I find nondescript, but who knows, a second listen might change my mind.

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

Janacek - Glagolitic Mass
(Chailly / Wiener Philarmoniker / Slovak Phil. Choir)

Didn't remember having that work in that boxset. Most probably a first listen,

[asin]B0001Y4JH0[/asin]

[Traverso]

Steve Reich

Music for 18 musicians

I saw this recording come by, became curious about it, so I throw myself in this musical perpetuum mobile

[Roasted Swan]

Yes I have listened to these recordings and was not pleased. But I was rather referring to the Dutton recording with the VC concerto, and the fact that you said the following things.

Too bad that the soloist part is mostly banal and consists more of note spinning than of anything substantial, while in terms of melody it lacks any appeal. The beautiful, moving slow movement cannot save the whole. The PC1 is better but still nothing memorable.

I could not disagree more. I find it a very fine performance, and the music is York Bowen as best as it comes.

Florestan - I've been listening to the Celis/Chandos disc that you did not enjoy ad comparing the works with the Hyperion recordings of the Sonata by Danny Driver (which you mention) and the Preludes by Stephen Hough which you don't.  In both cases Celis delivers a more overtly muscular direct interpretation but I have to say I don't find is as unrelentingly heavy-handed as you do.  And certainly I feel the music sounds valid this way.  Certainly I do not find the music itself to be simple note-spinning. 

My one thought is that the Chandos recording is closer and more analytical which serves to underline Celis' approach.  Hyperion favour a warmer acoustic.  Hough is simply superb in the Preludes - a shame he recorded only a selection and as far as I know has never returned to Bowen in the recording studio.  From memory this was the path-finding disc of Bowen's piano music which reawakened people to his compositions.  Even allowing for the recording, I prefer Celis in the Sonata to Driver although the latter is still very fine.

I am not so convinced of Bowen writing for orchestra - I don't hear as much individuality - but I like his solo keyboard compositions very much.