What are you listening 2 now?

[Que]

No, it is much better. 

Excellent! 

[Florestan]

Earlier, String quartet No. 1

To be an early work is a little complex in its rhythm and form, therefore sounds very interesting. I liked a lot what I heard. This set looks promising.

It's very good.

[SimonNZ]

"Christmas Music of the 15th and 16th Centuries"

[j winter]

Several Haydn string quartets, Pro Arte Qt 1938... I don't really know enough about string quartet technique to explain why I like them, but I find these recordings charming, vintage sound and all...

[San Antone]

[André]

This will probably be the last 'new' composer for me this year, and he's quite a find:



This 2 disc set covers over 60 years of activity, with works written between 1920 and 1982. Being on the losing side of the Spanish Civil War, he withdrew from public life in 1940. Since he had no prospects of having his works played, he didn't compose any orchestral scores between 1940 and 1982. His legacy is sparse, at least when it comes to orchestral works. These two discs total only 104 minutes of music. That's 1 minute and 40 seconds of music per year !!

Colours and rythms are typically spanish, drawing a lot of inspiration from regional folklore. If you can imagine a spanish Alfven or Peterson-Berger, there you have it.

[Madiel]

Debussy
Violin Sonata in G minor
Isabelle Faust (violin), Alexander Melnikov (piano)



I'll probably end up listening to this entire recording because all of this music is so close to my heart, but I do need to listen to other music, especially music I haven't heard yet. The performances in this recording are all exemplary. I would say this recording and the 2-CD set of mélodies are the gems in this Debussy Harmonia Mundi series. Many of the solo piano recordings in this series are quite good but they don't erase my mind of Jacobs, Kocsis, Egorov, Ciccolini, etc.

A special note: The packaging in all of these Debussy Harmonia Mundi recordings is first-rate. Each issue gets it's own cardboard box (like a small box set would for example) and each issue have nice booklets. The presentation just won me over. A feather in Harmonia Mundi's cap for sure.

Stop making me want this, dammit! 

[Symphonic Addict]

It's very good.

Indeed! There are some traces of Tchaikovsky here and there, but these works are more complex.

[Mookalafalas]

Playing the CD of this while reading Walter's bio and drinking morning coffee. 

[André]

Mozart: Symphonies 32, 35 and 36. Mozart was Maag's lifelong love. He recorded the symphonies throughout his career many times over. He gives us immensely characterful performances. This is big-boned yet smiling Mozart, with generally relaxed tempi but sharply pointed rhythms, replete with agogic accents and unusual phrasing. Very fresh, very satisfying. Playing and sound are superb.

[Mirror Image]

Stop making me want this, dammit! 

If you love these works, Madiel, then go for it. It's worth every penny!

[Madiel]

If you love these works, Madiel, then go for it. It's worth every penny!

The problem is it's highly unlikely I could stop myself at one volume. If they're as pretty as they look and as pretty as you say. They make my liking for sets twitch.

[Madiel]

Thread duty: actually listening from the box set.



Because I promised myself I would listen to one volume of the Hyperion Vivaldi I actually own after every 5 volumes of the Naive Vivaldi Edition I'm streaming and trying not to become too obsessed with because of the pretty covers.

[Mirror Image]

The problem is it's highly unlikely I could stop myself at one volume. If they're as pretty as they look and as pretty as you say. They make my liking for sets twitch.

Yes, indeed. I hope they box this series up for those who haven't bought them and make that box really nice as well.

[Mirror Image]

Various excerpts from this set:

[Mandryka]

Is it as good as it looks?

Q

Well what it looks like, with Mary and Jesus surrounded by angels playing a flute and a lute, gives a bit of a clue as to what it's like.

The tessatura is frequently lower than his Huelgas manuscript recording and there's a greater instrumental contribution to the performances, and the music (from the Apt manuscript at least) is more polyphonically interesting. As usual with Vellard the tempos are slowed down to allow the expressive gestures of the music to have an effect on the listener, and rhythmically it's flexible.. Annoyingly he doesn't talk about his performance decisions in the Barcelona/Apt CD (he does slightly in the Huelgas CD.)  It's astonishing the sort of music that was going on in Avignon and thereabouts at the time, and the two CDs give an interesting picture of that scene.

By the way, the Apt mass is a collage of pieces by different composers, but nevertheless for me it's a very satisfying musical experience. In the Barcelona mass the tropes are really successful IMO.

For me, Guilhem Terrail took a bit of getting used to, but now I'm OK with his voice, I rather like it in fact. 

I've put that on my wishlist a few weeks ago.

Q

I thought you had Spotify now. Maybe I'm confusing you with someone else.

[kyjo]

Earlier, String quartet No. 1

To be an early work is a little complex in its rhythm and form, therefore sounds very interesting. I liked a lot what I heard. This set looks promising.

I don't know his quartets yet, but a couple days ago I was listening to Juon's Piano Quintet (his 2nd, I believe; also recorded by CPO) and was also struck by the complexity and forward-lookingness of the music. I've sometimes seen Juon compared to Brahms and Rachmaninoff, but IMO he is much more "advanced" than either, sometimes sounding like Prokofiev before Prokofiev had really developed his style (Juon's Piano Quintet was composed in 1912). There some exotic, even spicy-sounding harmonies and odd time signatures that Juon throws in the mix. His earlier works, such as the lovely Piano Trio no. 1 in A minor, are more straightforward but still wholly original-sounding. A most remarkable composer, for sure!

[steve ridgway]

Varese - Ecuatorial. Love those Ondes Martenots in each ear .

[asin] B0001CKR28[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Varese - Ecuatorial. Love those Ondes Martenots in each ear .

[asin] B0001CKR28[/asin]

Such a cool composer and that Chailly set is fantastic, although I prefer the revised version of Amériques.

[steve ridgway]

Such a cool composer and that Chailly set is fantastic, although I prefer the revised version of Amériques.

Amériques is the piece I like least here and I'm looking forward to hearing a different one. The Nagano box should be arriving any time now.