What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

Asrael is a heartfelt and towering piece. As a whole it's a cohesive musical narrative. However, it does have some longueurs in some movements.

[Klavier1]

An excellent new release.

[Mirror Image]

The Op. 145 is sublime!

Absolutely! All of the Shostakovich song cycles are exquisite.

The music is of course great but I do like the performances here as well ......... but that CD cover!!!... what were they thinking of

Yeah, I'm not crazy about the cover either, but, thankfully, it's the performances that save the day.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Telemann

If someone were to ask me which are your favorite pieces by Telemann, I would without a doubt opt for these wonderful Paris Quartets, which are also given a performance that adds to the festivity even more.

CD2

What a hip and cool cover art!

[Spotted Horses]

I love me some Telemann. I have Jan to thank for putting me onto his music—he put me onto some great Handel too like the Carmelite Vespers recording that I just finished, and tons of other great stuff, too  Excited to check out this Paris Quartets recording.

Just started this:



Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV 232. John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir

Amazing stuff... This recording is phenomenal, but there are others I want, too: the Leonhardt on DHM, Parrott on Virgin, and Klemperer on EMI.

My favorite part of the Mass in b minor is the first Kyrie. I recall that Gardiner's recording is striking in that he has the initial entrance of each voice of the choir taken by a soloist, to be joined by the full choir sections as the fugue unfolds.

[Mirror Image]

NP:



From this set -

[Symphonic Addict]

Stravinsky: Suite italienne, from Pulcinella for violin and piano

Stravinsky in his light-hearted side. A real delight. The performance has only a quibble from me. Kavakos's breathing could be a little intense at times.





Falla: Noches en los jardines de España

Absolutely spectacular work. I've come to think that this work has some gestures from Saint-Saëns and Rachmaninov in the most charming and passionate passages respectively. Top-notch sound.

[Symphonic Addict]

Symphonies 12, 14, 23.

Apart from no 7 and 24, all the other works are short one-movement pieces. All of them I found entertaining and eminently listenable. Not all have truly memorable material, but Röntgen's music is not about themes, more about the ingenious, original way he creates music - a bit like Langgaard and Milhaud. Totally different composers, but recognizable through their quirkiness, embrace of different styles and steadfast refusal to compose 'traditionally'.

+1 A most charming release.

[Mirror Image]

Falla: Noches en los jardines de España

Absolutely spectacular work. I've come to think that this work has some gestures from Saint-Saëns and Rachmaninov in the most charming and passionate passages respectively. Top-notch sound.

Do give a listen to the solo piano works. They're also outstanding. This Perianes recording is top-notch

[JBS]

Absolutely! All of the Shostakovich song cycles are exquisite.

Yeah, I'm not crazy about the cover either, but, thankfully, it's the performances that save the day.

My guess is the cover designer didn't realize "Romances" might be a distinctive literary/musical category, and went for something that seemed romantically Russian (or perhaps Russianly romantic).

+1 A most charming release.

Fully agreed, so make that
+2

TD

The Second, a concert recording from London October 1948, has all the hiss and crackle that make me avoid most pre-1950 recordings (out of about 50 LvB cycles, I have only 3 in mono--this new acquisition, Toscanini, and Karajan/Philharmonia).
The Fourth is a studio recording from Vienna December 1952, with sonics that are if not spectacular, at least much better than those of the Second.

[Mirror Image]

My guess is the cover designer didn't realize "Romances" might be a distinctive literary/musical category, and went for something that seemed romantically Russian (or perhaps Russianly romantic).

Capriccio covers aren't why I turn to their recordings. Any way you shake it, the cover stinks.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Hindemith
Der Schwanendreher
Tabea Zimmermann, viola
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Hans Graf

[Linz]

Now I am listening to Haydn's Horn signal Symphony with Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger's

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

NP:

Hindemith
Der Schwanendreher
Tabea Zimmermann, viola
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Hans Graf

Nice!

[Linz]

Now I am listening to this set which coincidentally has Haydn's Symphony 31 Horn signal on it

[Karl Henning]

Now I am listening to Haydn's Horn signal Symphony with Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger's

Cracking album!

[Mirror Image]

Nice!

Indeed. I love Hindemith!

[Daverz]

NP:

Hindemith
Der Schwanendreher
Tabea Zimmermann, viola
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Hans Graf

Also listened to a bit of Hindemith earlier in the evening, the Clarinet Quartet, a fine work:

[Que]

Morning listening on Spotify:



My thanks to Mandryka - indeed a lovely recording.

[Irons]

Eshpai: Songs of the Mountain and Meadow Mari.
Very eloquent, poetic and atmospheric:


You can judge for yourself 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwp-ouuunYA

Gorgeous, Jeffrey. Haunting, with a true sense of the vastness and loneliness of the subject. One of the best things I have heard from Eshpai. Thanks for posting.