What are you listening 2 now?

[Traverso]

Bach

I have a soft spot for this violinist, it's not HIP but musically from head to toe.

partita No.1

[aligreto]

Brahms: Symphony No. 2 [Alsop]





Alsop gives a fine account of this work.

[aligreto]

OH YES !! 

Table pounding 

[aligreto]

Bach

I have a soft spot for this violinist, it's not HIP but musically from head to toe.

I would very much agree there. Accardo is definitely "Old School" but he is certainly very lyrical and musical in whatever he played.

[Traverso]

Table pounding 

Indeed it is ,Charpentier-Les Arts Florissants and Christie are a very good combination,I enjoy it very much.

[aligreto]

Indeed it is ,Charpentier-Les Arts Florissants and Christie are a very good combination,I enjoy it very much.

Yes, it is always a pleasure to take it down and give it a listen.

[Florestan]

First listen to this performance



Vols 1 & 2.

Immaculate and fresh piano playing, all voices clearly separated (Mandryka, you would relish that)), perfect balance between Classical poise and Romantic drama, music flows like honey and everything is a sheer delight, including the sonics. Listening to this is like listening to these sonatas for the first time. I'm only about halfway through but I can safely predict that this set is going to make it to the top tier of my favorite complete cycles, alongside Pires (Denon), Ingrid Haebler and Fazil Say. It might even top them all.

Desert island stuff.

[aligreto]

First listen to this performance



Vols 1 & 2.

Immaculate and fresh piano playing, all voices clearly separated (Mandryka, you would relish that)), perfect balance between Classical poise and Romantic drama, music flows like honey and everything is a sheer delight, including the sonics. Listening to this is like listening to these sonatas for the first time. I'm only about halfway through but I can safely predict that this set is going to make it to the top tier of my favorite complete cycles, alongside Pires (Denon), Ingrid Haebler and Fazil Say. It might even top them all.

Desert island stuff.

A strong recommendation there.

[Florestan]

A strong recommendation there.

Tbh, that cover is not what I have. What I have is a 4-CD individual series issued by Warner Classics, containing only the sonatas --- but I could not find CD2 image on the net. I suppose the set I posted contains also the fantasies, hence the 5th, supplementary CD. Be it as it may, yes, I recommend it wholeheartedly. I could let you have it for free, if interested just PM me and consider it already done. 

[kyjo]

There is an orchestral version too, and this CD has both the orchestral and two-piano versions:

Ah, thanks Cesar. I wasn't aware of that CD.

[kyjo]

Estancia

Incredibly this is my first listen to the complete work. Better late than never. There are bits that reminded me of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Copland. A phenomenal work.

Great stuff, Cesar!

[kyjo]

What's this like, Johan?

[Que]

Well, at long last there it is: Paul Badura-Skoda's Beethoven sonatas cycle on 7 period instruments, recorded 1978 -1989.

[asin]B081WPY6NK[/asin]
Those going for the shiny discs (and at $/€ 35, why not?) won't be disappointed.
A neat, sturdy carboard box with thick paper sleeves for the discs, which conveniently have the sonatas & instrument printed on the front, repeated at the back with a full track listing.
Thick booklet with full liner notes on the music and the instruments. Full marks for presentation. 

Q

[kyjo]

This is the kind of discoveries I like to come across. A spectacular, epic, moving and memorable tonal modern symphony. It has very positive reviews on Amazon. Another ravishing find this year.

Totally agree; it's long been a favorite of mine. Perhaps it's not terribly "symphonic"  and more like a film score, but that hardly matters when the themes are so memorable! Some might call it "simplistic" but I find it very endearing. It's a shame Mr. Hurwit has not given us more music.

[Mahlerian]

Strauss: Four Last Songs
Lucia Popp, London Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Tennstedt


Popp songs?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Indeed it is ,Charpentier-Les Arts Florissants and Christie are a very good combination,I enjoy it very much.

+1

I don't have that set though I do remember debating about purchasing it in the past.  I do very much like WC and Les Arts Florissants though and have some other of their recordings.

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It is a lovely performance CD and refreshing to hear the version for Violin and Piano. It's also beautifully played. Hearing the orchestral version over and over again on Classical FM etc meant that it had lost much of its appeal to me through over-familiarity. However hearing this version was so refreshing - in some ways I find it more moving and intimate than the orchestral version. This to me is the highlight of the disc. So, strongly recommended for this.

Thanks for the feedback Jeffrey; I'll see if I can find a recording of it online to listen to.

TD

Laszlo Lajtha's Symphony No. 4, "Le printemps".  Sadly, this one didn't do it for me.  Still to go on same CD, his Symphony No. 9 and his Sinfonietta.

PD

[Iota]

Debussy: Preludes Book I

Javier Perianes, piano


I'm in awe at some of the sounds and atmospheres Perianes conjures from the piano. Simply magical playing. 

[Que]

+1

I don't have that set though I do remember debating about purchasing it in the past.  I do very much like WC and Les Arts Florissants though and have some other of their recordings.

PD

Long, long time ago I did a post on that set:

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,1729.msg78534.html#msg78534

Q

[ritter]

More Mahler conducted by Maurice Abravanel: the Third.

[asin]B004TB6GEA[/asin]
What a beautiful performance! Again (as in the Seventh I listened to yesterday), not the most virtuosic orchestra in the world, but there's a freshness, a dreamlike quality, which are really engaging, And, fortunately, there's also a lack of angst and of philosophising (but not of drama) which is most welcome to these ears. I had never even heard of alto Christina Krooskos (this seems to be her only recording listed on Discogs) but she's a superb soloist.

I would never have thought even a couple of weeks ago that Abravanel's (appropriately) "summery" Mahler cycle would reconcile me with good old Gustav's music (which I had neglected for the past several years). And I'm glad to say that the much-maligned David Hurwitz is partly to thank for this  .