What are you listening 2 now?

[ritter]

First listen to this new acquisition:


Brilliant Classics seem to be intent on turning Arrigo Boito's Italian translation of Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder into a staple of the repertoire. Some years ago they recorded it with the original piano accompaniment, sung by soprano  Michela Sburlati accompanied by Marco Scolastra (the release also included the original setting in German and other songs). Now we get the Boito translation with Henze's orchestration (already recorded —in German— among others by Marjana Lipovšek and Wolfgang Sawallisch). The Boito version is very pleasant, and it's nice to have these lieder translated by one of Wagner's greatest Italian apologists (and a leading cultural figure of his time). I must admit that Henze's scaled-down scoring sounded really beautiful to me this time around —I've never much cared for Mottl's heavier orchestration, I'm afraid—.  Marco Angius and his Padua forces perform it very convincingly, while  Sara Mingardo's plush, mature contralto delivers the goods. All in all, a very engaging performance of this music.

I've never been a fan of Salvatore Sciarrino (or, more exactly, the little of his I've listened to hasn't prompted me to explore his music further). Here we get a work, Languire a Palermo (Wagner, melodie ultime),  based —as the title says— on melodic sketches Wagner jotted down in the winter of 1881/82 in Sicily. So, it's a sort or "Reliquary for Wagner", to paraphrase Charles Wuorinen. This is what Sciarrino has to say of his piece: "The fascination of a distant melody, without accompaniment, of one who plays for himself and relies on the wind"..."[corresponding] to the sonic stimuli that in Sicily amaze the ear"..."In the throat of every street vendor springs the Mediterranean enchantment"..."What ornamentation did those voices flourish in Wagner's years? Come and hear if the echo of the Sirens remained in the wind". I must revisit this piece (which, truth be said, has some interesting use of orchestral colour) to make up my mind as to whether it (just like the composer's comments I've quoted) is sublime or pure kitsch.

The CD also has a very beautiful take in the Siegfried-Idyll. It starts out slowly and nostalgically, gains momentum and force in the middle section, and then recedes into intimacy and an almost dreamlike atmosphere. What an extraordinary piece of music this is!

To close the CD, we get another relative rarity, Träume (the last of the Wesendonck-Lieder) in Wagner's own version for solo violin and chamber orchestra. The violin solo doesn't really IMHO prove a suitable substitute for the female voice, and somehow the piece (one of the studies for Tristan) loses much if it's undeniable beauty in this transcription. No wonder it's not performed more widely.

In any case, an interesting disc of rarities (more or less) by Wagner (more or less  ), beautifully performed.

[Todd]

Disc one.  More or less as I remember it.  K283 is relatively better than the rest, but Uchida's style does not work as well for me in Mozart.  I might as well work my way through the cycle now.

[ritter]

Following the Wagner above with another new acquisition:


The program here is intelligently and convincingly put together. First we get Berio's Folk Songs, followed by Ravel's Introduction et allegro (a piece I must confess I've never warmed that much to —it has great moments, for sure, but it's too "pastel shaded" for my taste— ) and a very successful transcription of Histoires Naturelles for chamber orchestra by the young —b. 1987– Arthur Lavendier (Manuel Rosenthal had much earlier made a version for full orchestra —the superb live performance by none less than Nan Merriman conducted by Bruno Maderna, released in CD decades ago but now OOP— can be found on YouTube). The disc closes with Falla's enigmatic Psyché (his most "French" composition, along with Nights in the Gardens of Spain).

Anne Stéphany's enchanting and intelligently used mezzo voice is perfect for this repertoire, and she's accompanied formidably by the Labyrinth Ensemble.

A great disc!

[Mirror Image]

Following the Wagner above with another new acquisition:


The program here is intelligently and convincingly put together. First we get Berio's Folk Songs, followed by Ravel's Introduction et allegro (a piece I must confess I've never warmed that much to —it has great moments, for sure, but it's too "pastel shaded" for my taste— ) and a very successful transcription of Histoires Naturelles for chamber orchestra by the young —b. 1987– Arthur Lavendier (Manuel Rosenthal had much earlier made a version for full orchestra —the superb live performance by none less than Nan Merriman conducted by Bruno Maderna, released in CD decades ago but now OOP— can be found on YouTube). The disc closes with Falla's enigmatic Psyché (his most "French" composition, along with Nights in the Gardens of Spain).

Anne Stéphany's enchanting and intelligently used mezzo voice is perfect for this repertoire, and she's accompanied formidably by the Labyrinth Ensemble.

A great disc!

Nice! I may end up buying this disc and a good evening to you, Rafael.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing this Bax disc in its entirety:

[Karl Henning]

CD 9

Schubert
Symphony № 5 in B^b, D. 485 (1816)
cond. Lenny

LvB
Mass in C, Op. 86 (1807)
cond. Sir Colin Davis

The Beethoven (a little strange to consider) is probably a first listen

[Todd]

Disc 22, a Haydn sonata and Schubert piano & violin works.  Not the first combo I would think of.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Hello fellaw

I purchased today at a sac of peanut price a wonderful Gregorian album 7 can $

May I subject this store Label Librairie Pauline one 20 minute walking from my home on rue Masson, 3 ave .Know the  owner of store  he order me in the past awesome suprise he en erudit seller of taste called Denis, ask or check the stock there is old Franco-Flemish (renaissance stuff) baroque, 20 century , very cool store, not a lot of CD album but  sometime he able to get you stuff unvalable elsewhere.

So I bought and listen to Canto Gregoriano Missa DE Angelis - E canti dell'anno Luturgico all singer are Italian. Stirps Iesse = Direttore: Enrico DE Capitani. Very good 7 can$ 8$ whit taxe.

[André]

Soltan was a belorussian composer (1953-1997).

Works and sound recordings are of uneven quality. The Symphony (1986) has striking ideas and sonorities, but it sounds curiously cobbled together and at times runs into dead ends, abruptly changing course. It is in a single track, but obviously it's a multi-movement work (4? 5? -  Like I said, the abrupt changes could signal a new movement or a different section within one. The liner notes don't help here). Plus, it's not well recorded, with some overloading at climaxes.

The Symphonic Poem (1974, no programme) is quite good and retained my attention throughout. The short Melody and Chorale for cello and piano is quite beautiful. The Cello concerto from 1986 is a major work, indeed a fascinating piece with some moments of transfixing beauty. Again, a single track although there are 3 movements. A rare clumsy effort from Olympia. Recommended for the two cello works, comparable in quality to anything by Schnittke.

[foxandpeng]

Thomas Oboe Lee
Six Concertos
Eurydice: A Tone Poem for Cello and Orchestra
Boston Modern Orchestra
Gil Rose

This is excellent. Tuneful and moving.

[classicalgeek]

Vers la voûte étoilée is kind of interesting, like a loud version of Debussy's Faun. The Seven Stars, however, I had to turn off on star #5. Intolerably aimless meandering in a language that borders on easy listening, like romantic dances but without structure or rhythm. Things are probably not helped by the coarse, crude sound, which makes every member of the orchestra sound like they are trying to blare out everyone else. I assume that is largely the responsibility of the high-level, low-dynamic-range recorded sound, which is more pop albumish than the authentic concert hall acoustic you will hear on BIS or Chandos.

Well, different strokes for different folks, as they say! Vers la voûte étoilée is one of my favorite discoveries in the last few years, and I find Seven Stars endlessly fascinating, not least for its orchestration. I'm definitely planning on getting this disc before the end of the month!

TD:
Boris Blacher
Dance Suite
Poeme
Hamlet
Concertante Musik
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Johannes Kalitzke
(on Spotify)



If I'm being honest, Blacher didn't do much for me - I found much of the music drab and colorless, and ultimately unmemorable. Hamlet had its moments, but I wish I could say the same about the rest of the works on this disc.

[Mandryka]

Disc one.  More or less as I remember it.  K283 is relatively better than the rest, but Uchida's style does not work as well for me in Mozart.  I might as well work my way through the cycle now.

One composer where I thought that Uchida brought something remarkable is Schumann.

[JBS]

R. Strauss (arr. Rudolf Leopold)
Metamorphosen for 2 vn, 2 va, 2 vc & cb

from the Boosey & Hawkes score:

In 1990 a short score of Strauss's late masterpiece Metamorphosen was discovered in Switzerland and acquired by the Bavarian State Library in Munich. It is headed 'Metamorphosen. Andante (für 2 Violinen, 2 Bratschen, 2 Celli[,] Contrabass) Richard Strauss'. This gives rise to the assumption that the composer had clearly conceived the piece as scored for seven strings and then changed his mindon receiving a commission from Paul Sacher to write a work for a larger string group. The short score bears the date 31 March 1945 at the end, the full score for twenty-three strings having already been started on 13 March. Rudolf Leopold, concert cellist and professor of cello at the University of Music, Graz, prepared the septet performing version of Metamorphosen, of which the study score was published in 1996. He explains that, for the most part, the 23-part version consists of doublings. "In the realisation of the 'original version' for string sextet and double bass I have made use of both the short score and the final score so that the complete tonal image appears in a chamber music format whilst retaining certain interesting details from the short score (for example the original closing modulation)."

The name of the performing group--Hyperion Ensemble--is a bit amusing, since this version of Metamorphosen was recorded by the Nash Ensemble for the Hyperion label.

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Hartmann String Quartet No. 1, "Carillon" with the Zehetmair Quartett:

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Now playing Hartmann String Quartet No. 1, "Carillon" with the Zehetmair Quartett:

Killing picture!

[Mirror Image]

Killing picture!

This Hartmann SQ is quite nice, too. I love me some K. A. Hartmann.

[JBS]

We call this composer lineup a murderers' row:

Is this all works for bassoon and piano?
I had forgotten that Ulysses Kay was Black.
I see now he wrote 5 operas. Jubilee can't be performed because of a veto by Margaret Walker, but that leaves 4 others that should be of interest to American opera companies.

[TheGSMoeller]

The 6th, which gets an excellent performance from this duo...

[Mirror Image]

Now playing Berg Kammerkonzert with Barenboim/Zukerman/Boulez/Ensemble Intercontemporain from this incredible box set:

[JBS]

No, some of the works are for solo bassoon. Here is a link to a solid writeup: https://www.allmusic.com/album/legacy-works-for-bassoon-by-african-american-composers-mw0001865472

Operas, especially those outside of the standard repertoire are nigh impossible to stage, but I'd love to see/hear them. :-)

Thanks.
One of them is a one act opera, another is a chamber opera, and the biggest one focuses on Frederick Douglass. You'd think that would attract some attention...

Thank you for the link. It boils down to a question of "do I want that much bassoon in my life?"  The probable answer is "yes".
...and I see the name Henning appears in the mix (granted, nothing to do with our own KH).