What are you listening 2 now?

[Roasted Swan]

Lili Boulanger
Faust and Helen
Psalm 24
Psalm 130
D'un soir triste
D'un matin de printemps

CBSO Chorus
Lynne Dawson & Ann Murray, sopranos
Bonaventura Bottone, tenor
Neil Mackenzie, tenor & Jason Howard, bass
BBC PO - Yan Pascal Tortelier

Hadn't heard Faust et Hélène before. Some wonderful stuff in there, per usual with LB's music. It is referenced as a cantata, but it reminds me more of an operatic scene.
VS


Coronation of the Virgin with Four Saints (1490), Botticelli

I love Faust and Helene but this version is a major disappointment.  Mainly because Bonaventura Bottone has completely the wrong timbre for the solo tenor part.  Also, suprisingly, Tortelier doesn't quite get the impetuous ebb and flow.  Check out the only other complete recording by Igor Markevitch - a Boulanger specialist - and Andre Mallabrerra - the ideal French lyric tenor.  The recording may be murky, the orchestra 2nd rate and the soprano wobbling but the feel of the piece amazing.  I keep hoping this performance will make it to CD.

I see there are a couple of other more recent live versions of the work on YouTube - I should check them out....

EDIT:  after a very quick dip into various live versions.  This guy has the most apt/idiomatic tenor voice to my ear;

[Que]

Capprici, Francesco Cera, harpsichord and organ.

I'm currently alternating between the Hassler and Frescobaldi sets. 

[classicalgeek]

Kalkbrenner
Piano Concerto no. 1
Hummel
Piano Concerto 'Les Adieux'
Hans Kann, piano
Hamburg Symphony Orchestra
Heribert Beissel
(on CD)



Brahms
String Quartet no. 1
*Clarinet Quintet
*Pascal Moragues, clarinet
Prazak Quartet
(on CD)

[Que]

Arrangements for two harpsichords of music from Rameau's Zoroastre, Les Boréades, Les Indes Galantes and Zaïs.

[prémont]

These posts have inspired me to take on this beast, listening to CD1 now.

Truth is, Tomadin's prolificity has made it difficult to select one item to focus on. His Erbach and Martini sets were released in the same year as the Hassler, so that's three different ten-hour releases just in 2022...

The Martini box, despite featuring interesting instruments and skilled musicianship, doesn't appeal to me, primarily because of the music which I find less engaging.

[Papy Oli]

Stravinsky - Petrouchka

Some more great stuff from the Boulez Sony box.

[Mookalafalas]

[Harry]

The Martini box, despite featuring interesting instruments and skilled musicianship, doesn't appeal to me, primarily because of the music which I find less engaging.

That's why I stream them. Not all his organ music is interesting, but he is able to surprise me.

[Que]

The Martini box, despite featuring interesting instruments and skilled musicianship, doesn't appeal to me, primarily because of the music which I find less engaging.

I already had some harpsichord and organ Martini recordings on Tactus, so I passed on that set.


Thread duty:

[VonStupp]

Frederick Delius
Koanga: La Calinda
Irmelin: Prelude & Idyll
Hassan: Intermezzo & Serenade

Sylvia Fisher, soprano
Robert Tear, tenor
Jess Walters, baritone
Halle Orchestra - John Barbirolli

VS

[Todd]

[steve ridgway]

Ligeti: Violin Concerto

Just culling a bit of Ligeti from my music player so I can focus on the good stuff. The Masterworks aka Works aka György Ligeti Edition CDs can remain in quarantine for now; I hold them responsible for overloading me with disappointing music .

[Brian]

What are your thoughts on the Op. 39 Quintet?

Sorry it took this long to reply, but it took this long to listen! (I may or may not have watched a movie while "working" in the afternoon.)

My first impression is positive. Its origin as an incidental suite is clear from its structure of short movements, the writing for the five instruments is very resourceful, and there is an interesting blend of "enfant terrible" modernist Prokofiev (the frankly rather ugly adagio), the folk-influenced Prokofiev of the Hebrew Themes overture in some of the clarinet solos, his fellow Paris bad boys like Stravinsky, and a few moments of slapstick/jokiness. Because the work was originally written as incidental ballet music for a circus-like performance, it doesn't really hold together as a concert piece and doesn't have much structure to analyze...but it's colorful and weird and kinda grotesque and memorable!

[steve ridgway]

Ligeti: Sonata For Cello Solo

Being banned by the Soviet Composers Union for being too modern is recommendation enough .

[Iota]

Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 14 in A minor, D784

Spellbinding first movement, and throughout some of the most communicative and affecting Schubert playing I've heard.

[Selig]

Franz Haselböck playing Bach chorales

Organ built in 1778 by Johann Gottfried Malleck for Eisenstadt Cathedral

(I started listening thinking this was Martin Haselböck, now realizing it's his uncle playing  )

[Karl Henning]

Sorry it took this long to reply, but it took this long to listen! (I may or may not have watched a movie while "working" in the afternoon.)

My first impression is positive. Its origin as an incidental suite is clear from its structure of short movements, the writing for the five instruments is very resourceful, and there is an interesting blend of "enfant terrible" modernist Prokofiev (the frankly rather ugly adagio), the folk-influenced Prokofiev of the Hebrew Themes overture in some of the clarinet solos, his fellow Paris bad boys like Stravinsky, and a few moments of slapstick/jokiness. Because the work was originally written as incidental ballet music for a circus-like performance, it doesn't really hold together as a concert piece and doesn't have much structure to analyze...but it's colorful and weird and kinda grotesque and memorable!

I remember both more or less liking it and feeling that Harlow Robinson may have oversold it a bit  in his discission of the piece in his Prokofiev biography.

[Brian]

I remember both more or less liking it and feeling that Harlow Robinson may have oversold it a bit  in his discission of the piece in his Prokofiev biography.

Does he say it is revolutionary or bold or Prokofiev's most "out there" piece or something like that?

[Karl Henning]

Does he say it is revolutionary or bold or Prokofiev's most "out there" piece or something like that?

I should go back gto the text to report properly.

[Que]