What are you listening 2 now?

[Traverso]

Prokofiev

CD 2

[Que]

Funny, I never listened to any Early Music, couldn't imagine I'd like it. Then (around 2013?) I happened to purchase the first Sony Vivarte box, which had some Huelgas Ensemble CDs. I was struck by them, and from then on the "Renaissance Polyphony" genre has been a large percentage of my listening.

Same here!
In my adolescent years I couldn't be bothered and was way was too busy exoloring the Classical and Romantic eras, followed by a deep and long plunge into the riches of the Baroque. But I guess pushing back the limits of time with Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, finally resulted only ten years ago in my "arrival" in Early Music. The game changer was the Huelgas' Labyrinth set, which I bought in November 2009. (How time flies....)

Q

[vandermolen]

This is a marvellous disc of music by the young Anglo/Bulgarian composer. Have been playing it almost continuously. It is clearly contemporary but also, tonal, melodic, deeply spiritual, memorable and is to some extent influenced by the English pastoral school (Finzi/VW) also at times I was reminded of Canteloube's 'Songs of the Augvergne', especially in the orchestral/choral work 'Kynance Cove'. I was also impressed by the 'Diptych for solo organ'.

[Crudblud]

Abbado conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in Mahler's Sixth Symphony.

I hadn't heard the Andante—Scherzo version before. It's easy to see why Mahler himself had such difficulty deciding which way to order the inner movements.

P.S.: Wow, that hammer!

[Mandryka]

Morning listening, not on Spotify but on silver discs:



I'm not always completely won over by Beauty Farm, but this set hits the spot! 

http://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/frabernardo_FB1709761.html

Q

Ah yes, well I think it may be the best thing they've done!

[Que]

That is indeed a fine recording! Always treasured in my collection.

["Festive and Ceremonial Music for Versailles"]

I remembered that you really liked it. 

Q

[Que]

Ah yes, well I think it may be the best thing they've done!

[Bauldeweyn Masses]

I hope they keep this up. 

[Harry]

New arrival.

Giovanni Paolo Foscarini. (1600-1647)
Bon Voyage.

The Foscarini Experience.
Frank Pschichholz, Chitarra Spagnuola.
Nora Thiele, Percussion.
Daniel Zorzano, Violone.

A composer with roots in the Renaissance, created a new style of playing on the Guitar, (strumming) after he sold all his Lutes, which he regretted later in his life. He was a man with a passionate purpose, namely to create a new sort of music and playing style, in which he to my ears succeeded in doing. For the time his music was unusual, and even looked upon with frown eyebrows. Centuries later his books and playing style was hailed by Giovanni Battista Granata and Gaspar Sanz, to mention only two. Today it would be unthinkable for present guitarists not to know Foscarini. It is all very unusual and at the same time a fantastic experience. This is music of a very high order, and the playing is exceptionally good. This Raumklang CD was recorded in 2009 im Gemeindesaal der Pfingstkirche zu Berlin-Friedrichshain, Germany, in State of the Art sound.

[T. D.]

So you have a new CD player I gather?
I had the possibility of buying all the [Beauty Farm] discs for a bottom price, but I cannot get myself to like the all male singers, especially the Altos. And those front covers pictures...............

I find most of their cover art completely repellent. Otherwise I'd have been tempted to purchase at least one recording!

[Harry]

New arrival.

Division-Musick.
The Art of Diminution in the 17th Century England.

John Jenkins, William Lawes, Christopher Simpson, Thomas Baltzar, Solomon Eccles, John Banister, .

Performed by:
Musicke & Mirth.

Jane Achtman, & Irene Klein, Viola da Gamba.
Amandine Beyer, Violin.
Johannes Strobe, Virginals & Organ.

This beautiful recording was made on the label Ramee in 2011, in the Künstlerhaus, Boswil, Switzerland, which has a fine acoustic.
A host of well known composers, at least in my book, and together they produced a wealth of worthwhile music, played by a very capable ensemble. A well known names in the authentic world. I always had a weak spot for William Lawes, " Suite for two Division Viols and Organ in G minor, with a breathtaking first movement "Pavan". The contribution of the Organ ( John Steinhoff 2007) is especially noteworthy.

[Biffo]

Schoenberg:- Pelleas und Melisande, Op.5 - Edward Gardner conducting the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

[Crudblud]

Abbado conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in Mahler's Sixth Symphony.

I hadn't heard the Andante—Scherzo version before. It's easy to see why Mahler himself had such difficulty deciding which way to order the inner movements.

P.S.: Wow, that hammer!

Some thoughts after listening:

Abbado plays the first three movements quite lightly, undermining climaxes and slightly rushing crescendi, then delivers a (if I'm permitted to be dramatic) near heart-stopping finale. The Andante—Scherzo ordering of inner movements lends itself well to this vision of the symphony, leaving Abbado free to take the Scherzo at a faster pace, untethered as it is from the first movement as its Tempo I. Yet the broader scheme of I, II, IV as exposition, development, and recapitulation of the central major/minor conflict is undermined, and the ambiguity of the Andante (from which a fleeting passage in the first movement is backwards derived) is lost.

The Berliner Philharmoniker plays well throughout, and despite being a live recording very few mistakes are in evidence—the audience is also very well behaved even in the symphony's most quiet moments. The recording quality sparkles with brilliant detail, and the famous hammer blows of the finale are really something to behold.

All told, a very good and dramatically weighty presentation of this difficult work, yet one which I don't find entirely convincing.

[Todd]

The other Belcea cycle is on DVD, and it's possible they may have done a second DVD-only cycle at some point, I didn't keep track. (In any case their CD cycle is one of my favourites but not one i'd necessarily recommend to others.)
I think the Mirò Quartet also started around that time but didn't finish the whole cycle until 2019. Hard to determine what decade to assign a cycle to in those circumstances.

Decade of completion; it ain't done until it's done.

[Traverso]

Mozart

Symphony No.39

[Todd]

The first three quartets.  At times, there's something approaching the relaxed, just right feel of the Vegh, with a bit more vigorousness in other spots, and a Soviet intonation.

[Harry]

Rerun.

Musik am Hofe derer von Bünau Volume II.
Saxon musical landscapes in the 16th & 17th centuries.

Composers are:
Thomas Avenarius, Stephan Otto, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Samuel Seidel, Daniel Selichius, Esajas Hickmann, Johann Groh.

Ensemble Alte Musik Dresden.

This is the last of a series of Five CD' s dedicated to the mentioned era and region. Raumklang made a very good recording in der Schlosskapelle zu Weesenstein in 1999 and 2003. In the vocal ensemble are very good voices, not least of Dorothee Mields, Constanze Backes, and Christine Maria Rembeck. They make a very attractive picture of the music, all quality compositions mind. Diction is fantastic, choir discipline amazing, and the expression takes some beating. Instrumental contributions are fine too.
Not much to wish, well maybe more of this menu. The other 4 discs are of equal quality.

[Irons]

It is on a CD coupled with The Crown of India Suite. I am not sure how generally available it is as it came to me in a Chandos Mystery Box and these tend to contain impending deletions.

The reason I ask is mistakenly I thought Gibson never made it to CD in Elgar.

[Biffo]

The reason I ask is mistakenly I thought Gibson never made it to CD in Elgar.

I hadn't seen the symphony before but he did make an excellent CD album of overtures for Chandos which I have owned for many years.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

[listener]

PALIASHVILI:   Liturgy of St. John Chrisostom
Cantus Sacred Music Ensemble
good notes, and an English translation supplied!
ENESCO: Dymphonie Concertante for Cello, Suite Villageoise
Franco Maggio-Ormezowski, cello
Monte-Carlo Philharmonic    Lawrence Foster, cond.