What are you listening 2 now?

[Iota]

Hammarklavier Sonata, Angela Hewitt (new release).



I only focused on the first movement today, that's as fast as I can absorb this Sonata. I found the performance splendid, wonderfully fluid in the dramatic passages, and the central fugato came alive under Hewitt's fingers. I snuck in the Scherzo and will tackle the expansive slow movement tomorrow.

There was a time decades ago when I listened to this work obsessively, then got burned out on it. But now I have a wonderful feeling of not being lost in the argument as it unfolds. Pollini is my reference, which I doubt will ever be surpassed in my regard.

Interesting, I've seen a number of positive mentions of Hewitt here recently, I can't quite imagine her in such an epic. I liked her when I started listening to her, but then developed a certain ambivalence towards her playing, and haven't really listened to her for a few years. But that feeling was exclusively to do with her Baroque playing and may well be out of date now. A visit to some Hyperion samples is probably due. I split the Hammerklavier up too sometimes, it can be enhancing for absorption purposes I find.

[Klavier1]

He still has it!

[Iota]

I think it was me. Glad you like it-it's one of my favorites. His playing is astonishingly accurate unless there were some patch-up sessions after the audience left, but that can be tricky to match the sound since an empty and full venue sound different. Anyway, I'd like to think it's just as he played it. He offers a nearly perfect blend of lyricism and dramatic power when needed.

Ah right thanks for mentioning it, I was very taken by it, and it's prompted the desire to explore FFG's LVB further.
Very much agree with your final point, his lyricism in particular is a lovely and illuminating thing in the two Sonatas I listened to, though the playing is excellent throughout.

[Que]

Que - my Mozart Symphony box is the one inserted above - just checked my orders on Amazon, purchased back in 2010 for $80 USD - assume same recordings but yours must be a newer re-packaging - was there any re-mastering?  Dave

Mine is a reissue by Italian Decca from 2012.

[Karl Henning]

CD 4
whereof the novelties (for me) are:
Frédéric Alfred D'Erlanger
Midnight Rose—Waltz

Edvard Armas Järnefelt
Præludium
Berceuse

[ritter]

First-Listen Sunday

Honegger
Poèmes d'Apollinaire, H 12
Brigitte Balleys, Jean-François Gardeil
Billy Eidi



Gorgeous. I believe Rafael spoke highly of this song cycle.

Indeed! The song Automne is extraordinarily beautiful! Good day to you, John.

TD:

Another new arrival...



Further exploring the music of the recently deceased Luis de Pablo, one of the leading Spanish composers of the late 20th and early 21sr centuries. A  very exuberant avant-grade style, which in the works I've listened so far (Notturnino and Concerto da camera) is rather playful and enjoyable. The former is a short divertissement, composed for the performers on this disc (Paul Méfano's Ensemble 2E2M). The booklet notes mention a "bizarre" instrumentation, without saying exactly what instruments are used  .

The Concerto da camara is a chamber reduction of de Pablo's Piano Concerto, a work that had been dedicated to pianist Claude Helffer (who plays the solo part here, without being credited on the cover — but we get his bio in the booklet ). The main interest of the piece, in this first hearing, is the writing for the soloist.

Paul Méfano and his ensemble 2E2M first came to my attention some 40 years ago, as their's was AFAIK the first recording of Boulez's Messagesquisse (never transferred to CD, I believe). Méfano was a composer in his own right (a product of the Domaine Musical and Darmstadt milieu, and a student —surprise!  — of Messiaen).His music doesn't seem to have had much circulation (although he himself recorded it profusely), and I now learn he died in 2020.

[VonStupp]

PI Tchaikovsky
Quartet Movement in B-flat
Allegretto Moderato in D for string trio
Allegretto in E for SQ
Allegro vivace in B-flat for SQ
Andante molti in G for SQ

Endellion Quartet

The latter four are very short juvenalia. The Quartet Movement in B-flat, though, really caught me for its stunning lyricism, despite being a student-era work.

VS

[Mirror Image]

Indeed! The song Automne is extraordinarily beautiful! Good day to you, John.

It certainly was, Rafael. Good evening, my friend.

[Artem]

SQ and Orchestra
Oboe and Orchestra
Atlantis

[listener]

Piano Trios by Silvio LAZZARI (op. 13 in g)  Wilhelm KIENZL (op. 13 in f)
and the 3-minute Serenade Viennoise op. 18 by Wilhelm JERAL
Thomas Chriatian Ensemble
TANEYEV: At the Reading of a Psalm   - Cantata no.2   op. 36
Russian National Orch.,  choruses, soloists    Mikhail Pletnev, cond.

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JS - English Suites w/ the performers shown below - obviously, own two piano and two harpsichord versions - just me, but in Baroque and Classical works where instruments were in transition or newer ones used, I like to have both examples.  Of course, there are plenty of other recordings of these suites, so comments/suggestions appreciated.  Dave

[Karl Henning]

CD 1

Smetana
Má vlast
Recorded Mar '68

[Linz]

Shostakovich Symphonies 1 & 6 From the Sanderling set

[Klavier1]

The Concerto da camara is a chamber reduction of de Pablo's Piano Concerto, a work that had been dedicated to pianist Claude Helffer (who plays the solo part here, without being credited on the cover — but we get his bio in the booklet ). The main interest of the piece, in this first hearing, is the writing for the soloist.

Is the original version of the Piano Concerto available or ever been recorded? I'm not having any luck finding it.

[vers la flamme]

Robert Simpson: Symphony No.9. Vernon Handley, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

I'm not too crazy about any of Simpson's other works that I've heard, but this one really does it for me.

[ritter]

Is the original version of the Piano Concerto available or ever been recorded? I'm not having any luck finding it.

I've found this release on discogs. Seems to have had a very limited, local distribution locally in Spain (I don't recall ever having seen it, but haven't followed Luis de Pablo that closely until recently).



The chamber version has received another, much more recent recording, which is readily available inexpensively at Amazon.es:



https://www.amazon.es/Anatomias-Zahir-Ensemble/dp/B07Q958VRQ

[Que]

[Klavier1]

I've found this release on discogs. Seems to have had a very limited, local distribution locally in Spain (I don't recall ever having seen it, but haven't followed Luis de Pablo that closely until recently).



The chamber version has received another, much more recent recording, which is readily available inexpensively at Amazon.es:



https://www.amazon.es/Anatomias-Zahir-Ensemble/dp/B07Q958VRQ

Thank you. I added the first one to my Discogs Wantlist since there aren't any available copies at the moment, and Qobuz has the newer recording, so I can check it out.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

CD 1

Smetana
Má vlast
Recorded Mar '68

Wow!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Bach, JS - English Suites w/ the performers shown below - obviously, own two piano and two harpsichord versions - just me, but in Baroque and Classical works where instruments were in transition or newer ones used, I like to have both examples.  Of course, there are plenty of other recordings of these suites, so comments/suggestions appreciated.  Dave

I like both the Janssen and Murray. I love the entire box of Janssen. As for harpsichord, I like the recording by van Asperen and the two recordings by Leonhardt.