What are you listening 2 now?

[Tsaraslondon]

Claudio Arrau's wonderfully poetic and songlike performances of Chopin's Nocturnes remind me that he loved opera, and especially admired Callas. Apparently he would play his students recordings of Callas singing Bellini to help them with their phrasing when playing Chopin, and we know that Chopin was hugely influenced by Bellini. These are not flashy performances, but thoughtful, dreamlike and poetic as Arrau draws you into his world of nighttime and shadows.

[Mandryka]

Lucia Popp.
Sigh.

Her voice was one of the main causes

Just her voice?

     


Anyway, I've been listening a lot to this, by some Dutch performers who you may well know, I think they're based in the far north in Groningen or thereabouts. I think it's really outstanding

[Biffo]

Lennox Berkely: String Quartet No 1, Op 6 - Maggini Quartet

[vandermolen]

Russian Easter Festival Overture:

[Que]

Earlier:

[asin]B007IZ667G[/asin]

This was a first listen to a new arrival.  Really nice. 

Playing this prompted me to pull out this superb seasonal release, also featuring soprano Dagmar Saskova.

[asin]B0143R4GOG[/asin]

SACD sound is about as good as it gets!  Wow.

Now listening through Spotify to the latest recording with Dagmar Šašková , singing Spanish 17th century court songs:

[asin]B07Y97DWNG[/asin]
Absolutely gorgeous recording with not only great singing but also wonderful instrumental accompaniment.
Based on my intial impressions: heartily recommended. 

Q

[vers la flamme]

Benjamin Britten: War Requiem, op.66. Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, soloists Heather Harper, Philip Langridge, Martyn Hill and John Shirley-Quirk. This is definitely awe inspiring music. I haven't decided if I will listen to it to completion or not this morning, but I am enjoying it so far.

[ritter]

One tenor too many in that War Requiem  . I believe Martyn Hill doesn't appear in the Requiem, but rather in one of the fillers.... 

[vers la flamme]

One tenor too many in that War Requiem  . I believe Martyn Hill doesn't appear in the Requiem, but rather in one of the fillers....

Shows what little I know about the work  Martyn Hill is on the Ballad of Heroes, but I was thinking he was part of the Requiem as well. My mistake.

[pi2000]

Beethoven
String quartet nr14 Smetana Quartet
from here:

[asin]B002OKTALO[/asin]

and about Smetana Quartet
from here:

[asin] 2283033764[/asin]

[Marc]

Just her voice?

     

[...]

From the few interviews I read all those years ago, mainy in British magazines in our city library, she seemed to me a very nice lady indeed, with a good sense of humour. Not a Diva Lady at all, but very down to earth and good fun. Maybe that's why she was very popular in the UK.
IIRC, even the qualified eccentric Carlos Kleiber was enchanted by her, but their liaison didn't last very long. She returned to her hubby-at-the-time (István Kertesz) and self-mockingly declared that is was impossible to have an intimate relationship with a genius.

Enough of that though.

Actually, Lucia Popp convinced me, whilst I was still a rookie in listening to classical music, that 18th century secco recitatives weren't boring at all. I recall seeing a black & white clip with Leonard Bernstein, sitting behind the piano and singing through the history of opera, by imitating various kinds of recitativo singing. Mozart's recitativo appeared to be quite boring, and, being a Lenny fan, I tended to believed him.
Lucia Popp convinced me otherwise, as Susanna in Figaro and Despina in Così for instance.
(As did, by the way, Kurt Equiluz convince me that baroque recitatives were very interesting, too.)

I haven't been listening to her for quite some time, since I'm more into other music now, but there are so many moments when she managed to move me with that lovely lyrical soprano of hers, both silvery and creamy... in Händel, Mozart, Schubert, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss (Richard AND Johann jr.), Prokofiev or Orff (and all the others I forget).

I also recall that, as a lover of silvery lyrical sopranos, 1993 was one of my saddest years, with the premature death of both Arleen Augér and Lucia Popp. Popp's final recording appearances, as Vitellia in Mozart's Tito (Harnoncourt) and in R. Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder (Tilson Thomas) were again top notch. She had developed herself more as a dramatic soprano, with, IMHO, very good results. Pity though that, in the Strauss disc, the orchestral accompaniment sounds very uninspired.



Here's a rather rare clip of Lucia Popp, singing the famous Cavatina of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. I have to admit that I melted at 3:16, when you see a glimpse of her appreciation for the applause half-way the song. She was a cutie no doubt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F65MLngYrOw

[Roasted Swan]

I was listening to some Copland today - this old CBS/Sony disc;



mainly for Previn's St.Louis/Red Pony Suite - his first "classical" recording I seem to remember and its very good indeed.  Ormandy's "Fanfare" is quite dull and likewise Louis Lane's "Rodeo" quite routine.  I'd quite forgotten the disc was completed by "A Lincoln Portrait".  Not a work I listen to much and not one that has the resonance for non-Americans I suspect.  BUT, today I listened to it through and was struck all over again by the power of Lincoln's words and how they resonate for us today.  Here's part of "this is what he said";

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility." [Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862]

He was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and lived in Illinois. And this is what he said. This is what Abe Lincoln said.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we will save our country." [Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862]

When standing erect he was six feet four inches tall, and this is what he said.

He said: "It is the eternal struggle between two principles, right and wrong, throughout the world. It is the same spirit that says 'you toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle." [Lincoln-Douglas debates, 15 October 1858]

Prescient/relevant today or what!?  Given that the UK has just elected its own arrogant self-serving political chancer I am NOT casting stones but goodness me I was struck by the text in a way I am not sure I have ever been before.........

[Roasted Swan]

From the few interviews I read all those years ago, mainy in British magazines in our city library, she seemed to me a very nice lady indeed, with a good sense of humour. Not a Diva Lady at all, but very down to earth and good fun. Maybe that's why she was very popular in the UK.
IIRC, even the qualified eccentric Carlos Kleiber was enchanted by her, but their liaison didn't last very long. She returned to her hubby-at-the-time (István Kertesz) and self-mockingly declared that is was impossible to have an intimate relationship with a genius.

Enough of that though.

Actually, Lucia Popp convinced me, whilst I was still a rookie in listening to classical music, that 18th century secco recitatives weren't boring at all. I recall seeing a black & white clip with Leonard Bernstein, sitting behind the piano and singing through the history of opera, by imitating various kinds of recitativo singing. Mozart's recitativo appeared to be quite boring, and, being a Lenny fan, I tended to believed him.
Lucia Popp convinced me otherwise, as Susanna in Figaro and Despina in Così for instance.
(As did, by the way, Kurt Equiluz convince me that baroque recitatives were very interesting, too.)

I haven't been listening to her for quite some time, since I'm more into other music now, but there are so many moments when she managed to move me with that lovely lyrical soprano of hers, both silvery and creamy... in Händel, Mozart, Schubert, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss (Richard AND Johann jr.), Prokofiev or Orff (and all the others I forget).

I also recall that, as a lover of silvery lyrical sopranos, 1993 was one of my saddest years, with the premature death of both Arleen Augér and Lucia Popp. Popp's final recording appearances, as Vitellia in Mozart's Tito (Harnoncourt) and in R. Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder (Tilson Thomas) were again top notch. She had developed herself more as a dramatic soprano, with, IMHO, very good results. Pity though that, in the Strauss disc, the orchestral accompaniment sounds very uninspired.

Here's a rather rare clip of Lucia Popp, singing the famous Cavatina of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. I have to admit that I melted at 3:16, when you see a glimpse of her appreciation for the applause half-way the song. She was a cutie no doubt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F65MLngYrOw

+1 for all you say.  I HAD forgotten that is was now over 25 years since she'd died - and likewise Auger.  I don't find the Tilson-Thomas 4 Last Songs as all-round disappointing as you - the gleam has gone from Popp's voice but somehow in the context of that work it makes it all the more moving I find.  For her in finer voice in this repertoire don't forget the Tennstedt/LPO recording.  Glad you mentioned Orff - away from the ubiquitous "Carmina" she is excellent in Die Kuge - bright eyed and pert - just perfect.

[Harry]

From the few interviews I read all those years ago, mainy in British magazines in our city library, she seemed to me a very nice lady indeed, with a good sense of humour. Not a Diva Lady at all, but very down to earth and good fun. Maybe that's why she was very popular in the UK.
IIRC, even the qualified eccentric Carlos Kleiber was enchanted by her, but their liaison didn't last very long. She returned to her hubby-at-the-time (István Kertesz) and self-mockingly declared that is was impossible to have an intimate relationship with a genius.

Enough of that though.

Actually, Lucia Popp convinced me, whilst I was still a rookie in listening to classical music, that 18th century secco recitatives weren't boring at all. I recall seeing a black & white clip with Leonard Bernstein, sitting behind the piano and singing through the history of opera, by imitating various kinds of recitativo singing. Mozart's recitativo appeared to be quite boring, and, being a Lenny fan, I tended to believed him.
Lucia Popp convinced me otherwise, as Susanna in Figaro and Despina in Così for instance.
(As did, by the way, Kurt Equiluz convince me that baroque recitatives were very interesting, too.)

I haven't been listening to her for quite some time, since I'm more into other music now, but there are so many moments when she managed to move me with that lovely lyrical soprano of hers, both silvery and creamy... in Händel, Mozart, Schubert, Dvorak, Mahler, Strauss (Richard AND Johann jr.), Prokofiev or Orff (and all the others I forget).

I also recall that, as a lover of silvery lyrical sopranos, 1993 was one of my saddest years, with the premature death of both Arleen Augér and Lucia Popp. Popp's final recording appearances, as Vitellia in Mozart's Tito (Harnoncourt) and in R. Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder (Tilson Thomas) were again top notch. She had developed herself more as a dramatic soprano, with, IMHO, very good results. Pity though that, in the Strauss disc, the orchestral accompaniment sounds very uninspired.



Here's a rather rare clip of Lucia Popp, singing the famous Cavatina of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. I have to admit that I melted at 3:16, when you see a glimpse of her appreciation for the applause half-way the song. She was a cutie no doubt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F65MLngYrOw

Funny enough I like her voice too, always have, one of my guilty pleasures.

[vers la flamme]

George Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad, Two English Idylls, The Banks of Green Willow. Frederick Delius: The Walk to the Paradise Garden, from "A Vilage Romeo and Juliet". Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. The Butterworth here is great. I would like to explore more of his very small body of surviving works – I think the songs for voice and piano would be the next step. My infatuation with Delius' music continues.

& now moving onto:



Anton Webern: Im Sommerwind, idyll for orchestra. Giuseppe Sinopoli, Staatskapelle Dresden. Actually not too dissimilar to the English music I heard prior. Just as idyllic, I feel like I'm being transported to a magical faery kingdom of some sort, but this time with a distinct Wagnerio-Mahlerian bent to the thematic development and orchestral palette. I highly doubt that Webern was familiar with any of the English composers from around this time, but it is clear that they were all drawing from the same sources. (Wagner, Mahler – did Webern know Debussy?)

[Roasted Swan]

Earlier on the radio they played Lucia Popp singing the transformation scene from Richard Strauss' Daphne, a work of his I haven't heard but will be quickly acquiring based on that excerpt.

you are quite right that this is stunning as a performance.  But the first time I ever heard the transformation scene was from this disc;



Stuart Challender conducting the Sydney SO with soprano Joanna Cole.  Sadly Challender died much too young just a couple of years after this recording was made so in someways a rather beautiful and radiant epitaph to him.... spine tingling music.

[Marc]

+1 for all you say.  I HAD forgotten that is was now over 25 years since she'd died - and likewise Auger.  I don't find the Tilson-Thomas 4 Last Songs as all-round disappointing as you - the gleam has gone from Popp's voice but somehow in the context of that work it makes it all the more moving I find.  For her in finer voice in this repertoire don't forget the Tennstedt/LPO recording.  Glad you mentioned Orff - away from the ubiquitous "Carmina" she is excellent in Die Kuge - bright eyed and pert - just perfect.

No, I'm very happy with Popp herself in the Tilson Thomas recording. As I said: top notch, maybe less lyrical & silvery, but beautiful none the less.
As you mentioned yourself though, Tennstedt is a much better partner in these songs than Tilson Thomas.

"Die Kluge" OMG yes... just listen to this, this is Popp at her very best IMHO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRaMmy03vds

Funny enough I like her voice too, always have, one of my guilty pleasures.

Yeah, I remember we did talk about her long long time ago, Harry. Maybe it was even at the old forum. We were both very positive.

I have to say though, that, now that I've grown old and wise, I do not believe in guilty pleasures anymore. A pleasure is a pleasure and just has to be enjoyed. So enjoy Emma Kirkby AND Lucia Popp, when they both are able move you and give you pleasure, without those feelings of 'guilt'. That's a serious advice from a severe old man to you, my young friend.

[Traverso]

Schubert

CD4

[Marc]

Earlier on the radio they played Lucia Popp singing the transformation scene from Richard Strauss' Daphne, a work of his I haven't heard but will be quickly acquiring based on that excerpt.

Oh, and thanks very much SimonNZ, for mentioning the name of Lucia Popp.

Now listening to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO2ru6fuBIc

No guilty pleasures here!

[Harry]

Yeah, I remember we did talk about her long long time ago, Harry. Maybe it was even at the old forum. We were both very positive.

I have to say though, that, now that I've grown old and wise, I do not believe in guilty pleasures anymore. A pleasure is a pleasure and just has to be enjoyed. So enjoy Emma Kirkby AND Lucia Popp, when they both are able move you and give you pleasure, without those feelings of 'guilt'. That's a serious advice from a severe old man to you, my young friend.

Well not that young anymore though, I turn 64 this year, but young friend feels soothing, so thank you!

[Sergeant Rock]

Ravel Shéhérazade Ouverture de féerie and Rapsodie Espagnole, Boulez conducting the New York and Cleveland




Sarge