What are you listening 2 now?

[Florestan]

Belcanto goes French in this hilarious little opera full of charm and wit.

Me voici, me voici, militaire et mari! --- indeed, double reason for merriment...

Vive la guerre, vive la mort! --- I wonder if General Millan Astray was a Donizetti fan...

Je suis la duchesse de Crackentorp! --- Glad to meet you, Ma'am.

The only quibble I have with this recording is Sutherland's French diction which is, let's say, a little fuzzy. Par contre, Pavarotti's is surprisingly good.

Excellent.

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

Debussy - Various piano works (Danse Bohémienne, Rêverie, Mazurka, Tarantelle Styrienne, Ballade Slave, Valse Romantique, Suite Bergamesque)

[Que]

[Biffo]

Guerrero: Magnificat quarti toni; Lamentations - Peter Phillips directing El León de Oro - new release downloaded from Hyperion

[Traverso]

I have that set, Jan, and I find it to be wonderful. I hope that you get a lot of enjoyment from it.

Yes, and a bargain as well. 

[Traverso]

Jacobus Handl-Gallus

continuing:


Moralia (29-47 & Harmoniae Morales (1-19)

[Harry]

J.S. Bach.
Complete Organ Works, Volume XII.

Miscellaneous works.

Ute Gremmel Geuchen plays on a Gaston Kern, (after Silbermann) organ (2002) Villingen, Benediktienerkirche.

The organ has a fine sound, but I rather have a original Silbermann organ, if I had the choice. So I mildly enjoyed this volume, because of Kern's take on Silbermann. Geuchen plays well, but from all the pupils of Ewald Kooiman, she is behind the others, by a margin though.

[pjme]

This definitely belongs in the "Worst looking CD/LP artwork" thread.

Now listening: Olly Wilson - Symphony nr 3 "Hold on".

https://www.youtube.com/v/pjK2UTX-L1k

[Brahmsian]

If anyone wants to recommend me more Maazel recordings worth hearing, I'm all ears.

For sure, Maazel's Sibelius cycle with Vienna Philharmonic. Not the one with Pittsburgh.

[Traverso]

Jacobus Handl-Gallus

Performance of De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, in 2018 this was sung after the closing chorus of the St. Matthew Passion.


https://www.youtube.com/v/0WW0ZHuSZsM

[pjme]

Jacobus Handl-Gallus

Performance of De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, in 2018 this was sung after the closing chorus of the St. Matthew Passion.

https://www.youtube.com/v/0WW0ZHuSZsM

Exquisite!
Responsorium:
  Ecce quomodo moritur justus
  et nemo percipit corde:
  et viri justi tolluntur
  et nemo considerat.
  A facie iniquitatis sublatus est justus
  et erit in pace memoria eius.
   

Responsorium:
  Behold how the just man dies,
  and nobody takes it to heart;
  and just men are taken away,
  and nobody considers it.
  The just man is taken away from the face of iniquity,
  and his memory shall be in peace.
   

[DavidW]

Yesterday I listened to Hindemith's string quartet #4.  I was expecting it to sound dry and academic.  But what I heard instead was lyrical.

I also listened to the first movement of Gorecki's third symphony to audition some new headphones.  And quite a bit of baroque flute concertos

[Mirror Image]

Yesterday I listened to Hindemith's string quartet #4.  I was expecting it to sound dry and academic.  But what I heard instead was lyrical.

'Dry and academic' is usually a criticism leveled at Hindemith and, quite frankly, it's a lazy criticism. To me, it's like calling all of the Second Viennese School "atonal noise-making". Can some of Hindemith be called 'dry and academic' sounding? Sure, but once a listener dives into his oeuvre, they soon find themselves confronted with music that doesn't fit this description at all and is, in fact, inspired and even in some cases heart-rendering. Hindemith like so many other composers around this time wore many different masks, but those opportunities we get to hear the man behind the smoke and mirrors are truly something else and, in many cases, unforgettable. Keep listening, Dave. I love those SQs, but I love so many of his works and felt he wrote incredibly well in all genres.

[Artem]

I love these works. First heard them played by the Raphael Ensemble on Hyperion. This Juilliard recording has some criticism online, but seems ok.

[Mirror Image]

NP: Bartók String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17, SZ 67 (Takács Quartet)

From this set:

[Brahmsian]

I love these works. First heard them played by the Raphael Ensemble on Hyperion. This Juilliard recording has some criticism online, but seems ok.

The Brahms string quintets and string sextets are truly special. Amongst a truly special chamber music oeuvre.

[Brahmsian]

I also listened to the first movement of Gorecki's third symphony to audition some new headphones.

I wonderful piece of music for testing new headphones. 

[Harry]

Alexander Moyzes.

Symphony No. 7, opus 50.
Symphony No. 8, "21-08-1968", opus 64.

Slovak Radio SO, Ladislav Slovak.

Again a CD with symphonies that are totally beguiling, mesmerizing even. Just savour the third movement of the 7th symphony "Largo", which took my breath away, Moyzes at its best. But then again the 7th is a masterwork. This kind of orchestration is rare, unique, and full of colours. The work is dedicated to the memory of the composer's daughter Martha who died tragically young. It expresses deep sorrow.
That also goes for the 8th symphony, which is based on a totally different framework, "the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union". This work was his protest.
There has never been a public performance to this day. It is scored for a very large orchestra.
The performances are first rate, and the recording quite good.

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

While true that conductors should not wallow in Franck's D minor Symphony, nor should they attempt to break the world's land speed record like Ashkenazy does here.  Not that the results are uninteresting - they are compelling at points - but the sum total for me is that Ashkenazy felt like he had to "kick this warhorse up a notch" either to distinguish it from other recordings or because he disagrees with its composer on how it should be played... Well-engineered in any case, and Psyché and Les Djinns are as fine recordings as I have of those.

[Harry]

British Violin Concertos.
CD I.

Arnold Bax-Violin concerto.
George Dyson-Violin concerto.

Lydia Mordkovitch, Violin.
London PO & City of London Sinfonia, Bryden Thomson & Richard Hickox.

Mordkovitch is definitively one of my favourite violinists, and its a bloody shame she died in 2014. I cannot remember a single disc with her that I did not enjoy, and I am still enjoying both Violin concertos on this disc, a worthy remembrance of a great artist. She simply had magic in her fingers!
Sublime Chandos sound.