What are you listening 2 now?

[VonStupp]

Erik Satie
Homage to Satie
Utah SO - Maurice Abravanel

Spending the rest of the day with Satie's orchestral music. Interesting notes from Darius Milhaud.

 

[kyjo]

I don't hear anything wrong about the sound quality in any of those discs devoted to Andreae, actually. Moreover, when the music is so well-crafted and greatly performed, minimal sound flaws in the recording go unnoticed for me.

+1

[kyjo]

Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne

Are there any more ridiculously glittering and lovely songs than these ones? I'm totally enamoured of them! The music irradiates so much beauty and rusticity that the overall effect melts my heart. Not only is the music ineffably gorgeous, but also the impeccable orchestration. This is music to really die for. Canteloube used the orchestra to conjure up some striking effects. One of them is like imitating the sound of a bagpipe. The voice of the soprano suits magnificently the lushness and folksy nature of the music. I heard other singers but their voices were too operatic for these songs. Gens has the velvety, warm and right tone that this music demands.

La pastoura als camps, Baïlèro, L'aïo dè rotso, Obal din lou Limouzi, Pastourelle, L'Antouèno, N'aï pas iéu de mio, La delaïssádo, Passo pel prat, Lou boussu and Malurous qu'o uno fenno were my favorites. One of my most remarkable discoveries this year among many others.

I'm glad you finally discovered these exquisitely beautiful songs! I totally agree about Gens' voice being ideally suited to this music.

[kyjo]

You're not the first person I've seen saying very positive things about the Belcea.

They're a fantastic quartet. Everything I've heard from their discography is first-rate.

[André]

In the 1930s Distler attempted to reshape protestant church music by bringing it back to the simplicity of 17th century practice. This one is the most interesting of the many Distler discs I've heard.


2 discs of some 40 minutes' duration, one for Carter, the other one for Yun - no mix&match here. Both devoted to late works of their respective composer, with a program that features an oboe quartet, but also solo violin and cello pieces for Carter, and solo oboe for Yun (Piri, one of his most intriguing works). Despite being paired physically on the same album, the musical idiom and approach to music as a means of expression is vastly different. Definitely a case of the yin and the yang - a concept central to Yun's oeuvre, as it happens. A fascinating album.


The music of course is the thing here, despite the fact that it's a live performance. Shorn of visuals, it stands or falls on its intrinsic musical qualities and must be compared to just any other phonographic production. As such, what strikes the listener is the deficiencies of the singing: an uneven, sometimes strangulated tenor, two sopranos that are sometimes excellent, sometimes unpleasantly wobbly. The main role is well sung by Falk Struckmann, but his is a rather generic timbre and he is no great shakes dramatically. The orchestra is very well handled by Young. The sound is very good.

[bhodges]

I'm glad you finally discovered these exquisitely beautiful songs! I totally agree about Gens' voice being ideally suited to this music.

Another fan of these beautiful songs here, and I like Gens, too. Many people have sung these, with mixed results, but her versions are the first I've really enjoyed since Netania Davrath, from decades ago.

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Scriabin: Symphony No. 1 (Muti/Chicago SO/Mezzo-soprano, Alisa Kolosova/Tenor, Sergey Skorokhodov/Chicago Symphony Chorus) - A live recording from 2015, but just posted last August. (Note: audio only, despite being on YouTube.)

Muti has been a champion of this work for years. I love that he takes the symphony totally seriously, even though it's early, written when the composer was 28, and not nearly as harmonically daring as his later efforts. Never mind, I still love it. In addition to the two singers here, who are marvelous, the Chicago SO and Chorus acquit themselves magnificently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHzX0AcwRds

--Bruce

[Sergeant Rock]

Beethoven String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 "Serioso" played by the Suske




Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Beethoven String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74 "Harp" played by the Suske




Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Bernard Herrmann Moby Dick, the composer conducting the LPO




Sarge

[SonicMan46]

Jakob Lindberg playing music of Silvius Weiss and the Jacobean Period, the last a new acquisition; on the first two discs he is using his 1590 Sixtus Rauwolf lute, and on the last recording shown, a 13-course Baroque lute.  Dave

   

[Que]

[Sergeant Rock]

Various overtures, Norrington conducting the LCP




Sarge

[foxandpeng]

Dmitri Shostakovich
Complete String Quartets
SQ #10
Mandelring Quartett

Wow.

This is the first Quartet in my journey so far with DSCH that I have immediately loved. Everything else has taken some work before opening up, but this has been surprisingly easier. I don't know whether something is different here musically, whether my ear is acclimatising to the works themselves, or whether this is simply more accessible. I wonder whether the recording itself should take some of the credit - the second movement in particular comes to life with the way in which the stereo sound really lifts the back and forth of motifs and energy running between the players.

Tuneful and engaging from the outset 🙂
The intensity of the second movement with the excitement of the interplay between instruments, was just captivating. The adagio with its melody and pathos... stunning. The closing movement is a fitting finale.

I'm very much developing a love affair with these works.

[vers la flamme]

César Franck: Symphony in D minor. Lorin Maazel, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin

Really hitting the spot at the moment.

[Karl Henning]

Symphony № 21, Op. 152 « Kaddish »
Kremer, vn
CBSO
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Bartók
String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85, BB 93
Tátrai Quartet

[Symphonic Addict]

A big +1 here. That is a terrific set.

I've enjoyed it quite a lot. Revelatory music.

[Symphonic Addict]

++1 - all the more so for the inclusion of the rare - and very lovely - Triptyque

I yet have to hear it. As of now my expectations are high.

[Symphonic Addict]

This is totally wonderful music and a wonderful set. I'm also ready for September's new release of Carolyn Sampson singing 25 of the Chants d'Auvergne.

I don't know the singer, but I do hope the peformances will leave nothing to be desired.