What are you listening 2 now?

[Mirror Image]

His Holst's The Planets doesn't disappoint at all either.

Indeed not. One of my favorite performances of The Planets.

[vers la flamme]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Regina coeli, K108; Ergo interest, K143. Christopher Hogwood, Academy of Ancient Music, Westminster Cathedral Choir, w/ Emma Kirkby, soprano

Enjoying some early sacred music from the master in the evening.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Alexander Von Zemlinsky, a  composer, of greatness, I just love his Orchestral work ,his The Mermaids his  greatness or Lyric Suite?

What the best orchestral work or Orchestral song he has to offer in all his output, charming, powerful, enchanting, fantasy theoretician.

[André]

The Schubert trio is a nice work but ultimately small brew. Most of the material is handled by the violin, with the viola and cello only occasionally rising from the background. Nice tunes but frankly, any imaginative schoolchild could have invented them whistling his way back home.

The Villa-Lobos is a major work. It's the only string trio written by this prolific composer, somewhere between his 9th and 10th string quartets. It is replete with beautiful thematic material and spicy harmonic turns. A real find.

The Gasteig Trio is made up of the first desks of the Munich Philharmonic. Needless to say they play with pure, sweet tone and perfect understanding of their parts. The VL trio plays for some 30 minutes but is worth the modest price of admission many times over.

[Mirror Image]

The Villa-Lobos is a major work. It's the only string trio written by this prolific composer, somewhere between his 9th and 10th string quartets. It is replete with beautiful thematic material and spicy harmonic turns. A real find.

I concur! This is the recording I own of this string trio, which I think is a fine performance as well:

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Mahler
Symphony No. 1 in D major
Royal Concertgebouw
Chailly



The 1st and 8th are my least favorite Mahler symphonies, but this is an excellent performance.

[Symphonic Addict]

My first listen to this piece. One word that could describe it pretty well: ecstatic. I was waiting for too long to hear this wonder of a creation.

[JBS]

About 2/3rds of the way through this one


The novel soundboard of the instrument doesn't make any real difference in my eard. The mikes seem to have been placed fairly close, but not close enough to catch whatever vocalizations Esfahani might have emitted.
There are mannerisms in the playing but not enough to mar my enjoyment.

So overall I liked it.

[Brian]

Back to Great Works for Flute and Orchestra with Sharon Bezaly.

Works today that I particularly enjoyed:  Chaminade's Concertino for Flute and Orchestra, Tchaikovsky's Largo and Allegro for flute and strings and lastly, Poulenc's Flute Sonata (orch. for Lennox Berkelely).



PD

The Poulenc/Berkeley arrangement is great. That whole disc is lovely.

Mirror Image - did you buy the Mehta/LA big box???

[Mirror Image]

My first listen to this piece. One word that could describe it pretty well: ecstatic. I was waiting for too long to hear this wonder of a creation.

I've always enjoyed Delius' Mass as well. The Hickox performance, for me, is the best one out of the two or three that I've heard. Do also listen to the performance of the Requiem, which receives another sympathetic and beautifully nuanced performance. Hickox certainly shows his credentials as a Delian here.

[Mirror Image]

Mirror Image - did you buy the Mehta/LA big box???

Nope. These Strauss Mehta performances came from this set I bought awhile back:



P. S. Mehta's Strauss in LA was the only reason as to why I bought this box set, which I bought quite cheaply from eBay.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Delius
Requiem
Heather Harper (soprano), John Shirley-Quirk (baritone)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Choral Society
Meredith Davies

From this set -

[Symphonic Addict]

I've always enjoyed Delius' Mass as well. The Hickox performance, for me, is the best one out of the two or three that I've heard. Do also listen to the performance of the Requiem, which receives another sympathetic and beautifully nuanced performance. Hickox certainly shows his credentials as a Delian here.

I only have the Hickox, and I'm very happy with it, certainly. I'll make sure to hear the Requiem too.

[Mirror Image]

First-Listen Tuesday

Kodály
String Quartet No. 2
Kodály Quartet

[Symphonic Addict]

Hat tip to John who recommended me this CD of Ligeti's outrageous Etudes. These pieces must be counted among the most absolutely original piano pieces I've ever heard. All of them exude inventiveness and personality. An automatic favorite.

[Mirror Image]

Hat tip to John who recommended me this CD of Ligeti's outrageous Etudes. These pieces must be counted among the most absolutely original piano pieces I've ever heard. All of them exude inventiveness and personality. An automatic favorite.

Sweet! Glad you enjoyed it, Cesar.

[Harry]

La Sublime Porte.
Voices of Istanbul.
Dialogues between East and West, between two worlds and two Seas.

Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall.

All in all a wonderful Release, full of discoveries, couched in a sublime SACD sound. There is not a single issue I have as far as the performers go, except, and I am sorry about it, are the parts in which Montserrat Figueras is part of the deal. As much as I respect her knowledge and artistry her voice does not reach above an amateur level. Only the very early recordings are of an acceptable quality, but not more as that. Just sampled the start of "Por alli paso un cavallero" an anonymous Sepharade of the 16th century, her grating voice, out of tune, notes that do not come easily and if, they are distorted. There are two items on this disc in which she participates.
A sublime and informative booklet of 251 pages with lots of pictures and full texts of the songs.

[Que]

Telemann, GP (1681-1767) - Orchestral Suites w/ Michael Schneider and La Stagione Frankfurt (period informed interpretation) - these six orchestral suites are assigned TWV 55:x numbers (see catalog HERE)) - none of these works were duplicated in my collection which now has 16 works in this specific category - what is astonishing is that I counted 139 compositions w/ the TWV 55 number - WOW!  My only complaint is that this is a 2-CD set w/ only 100 mins total music recorded; 20-40 more minutes could have been added, esp. in view of how many OTHER works are listed in the link.  Dave

 

It's amazing how organised you are in keeping track of all the different pieces.
I liked these, excellent performances & recording. Enjoy! 

[Que]

Listening:



Fingers crossed that Naïve will ever reissue this series on disc.. .

[Que]

Bach, CPE - Oboe Concertos & Symphonies w/ Xenia Löffler and Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin [...] Löffler plays a period oboe copy by Bernhard Schermer (2000) after Jonathan Bradbury, c. 1720 - her oboe sounds wonderful; the two Symphonies, Wq 180/181 feature winds w/ two oboes in the 180 work; reviews attached.  Dave

That recording looks very appealing, Dave.