What are you listening 2 now?

[Que]

Not just songs (chansons): This recording by the Ferrara Ensemble features nine of Agricola's extraordinary instrumental fantasies, played chiefly on lutes, harp, cittern, and violas da gamba, plus eight vocal chansons, some of them also involving instruments.

Review by Amazon's Gio

[AnotherSpin]

[Que]

Philippe Verdelot played a very important role in the development of the madrigal during the Italian Renaissance. Born in France, he probably moved to Italy at a young age. From 1522 onwards, he held the most important positions in church music in Florence first he was maestro di capella at the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral, and a year later also at the Cathedral itself. After 1530, with the riots surrounding the expulsion of the Medici family and the siege of the city, all biographical traces are lost, and no works created after these events seem to have survived. In the years before, however, Verdelot had initiated important musical developments with his madrigals, which at that time were the most published in Italy. The Ensemble Profeti della Quinta presents a selection of four-part madrigals from an anthology published posthumously (1540, 1565).

Lots of interesting recordings on the Website of Profeti della Quinta! 

[Madiel]

Mozart: Piano Concerto no.22 in E flat



Whoa. WHAT a work. It's the longest piano concerto, and there's something magnificently grand about the first movement. There's such a powerful change of mood for the Andante, and changes of mood within it. And the rondo finale too, starts off like any happy charming rondo but transforms into something magical in the central section.

I feel like I should have been taking notes this time around on the Viennese piano concertos, to work out just which ones of this amazing series are my favourites. I've failed to do so, but... this is going to have to be right up there. I found myself incredibly moved at one point during the Andante.  The thing is, I have a vague sense that the next 2 concertos are pretty stunning as well.

[ultralinear]

Weinberg  Flute Concerto No.1  (Korneyev / Barshai / Moscow Chamber Orchestra)



Followed by:

Shostakovich  Chamber Symphony op.118a  (Barshai / Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano)

[Madiel]

Poulenc

3 Poems of Louise de Vilmorin
The Portrait

 

The third of the Vilmorin songs is exactly the kind of Poulenc I adore. Not that the rest is bad!

[Traverso]

Telemann

Matthäus Passion

CHOER DE CHAMBRE DE NAMUR
Les AGRÉMENTS

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP:

Mendelssohn
Lieder Ohne Worte, Books II & III, Opp. 30 & 38
Howard Shelley

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concertos 19, 20, 23 and Rondo in D major. Alfred Brendel, Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

This 2CD is one of the first purchases I ever made after getting into classical music; I don't get back to it often, but it is sounding very good right now.

The protagonist in Carson McCullers's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter loved Mozart piano concertos though I don't remember exactly which concertos she liked. I liked the description how the music made her feel like.

[Harry]

1)Hans Koessler.
Trio suite for Violin, Viola, & Piano. (1922)
Piano Quintet in F major.
2)Emanuel Moor.
Sonata for Cello & Piano,in G major, No.2, opus 55. (1901)
See back cover for all details.
Recorded: 2004

I was surprised to learn that Hans Koessler (1853-1926), was a cousin of Max Reger, and is alas mainly remembered as the composition teacher of Bartók, Kodály, Dohnányi and other Hungarian musicians at the Budapest Academy. The trio sonata he wrote when he was past 60  sounds quite youthful and intellectual as a matter of fact, tinged with a hefty dose of Hungarian folk influences,, especially in the last movement "Finale". It's a work of great beauty and ultimately accessible. A lovely romantic work in the best Hungarian tradition. The Piano quintet is a equally original work and as passionate. There is a energetic drive that pushes the music to great emotional heights.
Emanuel Moor's Sonata, is a work worthy of this composer. To me he is a genius, albeit a forgotten master. It's an extrovert work in the grand late romantic tradition, and was composed around 1900. Long-lined stately melodies, dramatic and energetic. In the Scherzo a cello makes an ominously growling sound, which is startling to say the least but great fun. The music has a lightness and sparkling quality, and many sudden changes of dynamics and rhythms which makes you wonder what comes next. But there are also moments in the music, especially the "Adagio" that is permeated with sadness, almost sounding like a funeral dirge. It's good that the music closes in a  lively and energetic, fashion, to get your mind on the right track again. The performance is exemplary, although the recording is direct, so you should be cautious with the volume. Then things will be fine.

[Traverso]

Bach

There are a number of works by Bach that for me reflect the peak of his musical mastery. First of all, "Die Kunst der Fuge", "Musikalisches Opfer", "Die Brandenburgische Konzerte", "Die Matthäus Passion", oh I could make the list a lot longer, there are so many sublime organ works and cantatas, oh well, one's life is actually too short to explore Bach's work thoroughly. There is a lot of other musical noise that I have paid little attention to lately. More than any other composer, Bach is for me the musical compass that I focus on. His magnificent partitas and sonatas for violin and the wonderful sonatas for traverso that unfortunately receive so little attention. Some people are truly blessed with a special talent and Bach in this respect is still in a category of his own. How I would have liked to hear the master himself play the organ. What has been left behind are the many scores that give us access to an area in which we can detach ourselves from our ego. Music that penetrates so deeply into us that it throws us off balance and expresses our fears and insecurities with a sometimes crushing impact that is both disorientation and liberation.

[Harry]

Karl Weigl.
Chamber Music.
See back cover for details of works, performers, and dates of recording.

Weigl to my ears is a fine and accomplished composer. I delight in his Orchestral works for some time now, and starting with his chamber works, the pleasure is even more heightened. He had an perfect sense for shape, balance and unerring melodies, woven into the fabric of magical expectation. His music makes me think of the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites like Millais, Holman Hunt, Rossetti, Waterhouse....All I can say "It's a Mystery". Like a small bubbling stream of clear water, his music refreshes my mind and senses in general. Excellent performances and ditto recording.

[Que]

[Traverso]

Purcell

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Four Orchestral Works from Turkey. Hikmet Simsek/Budapest.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP:

Handel
Cantata - With Roving and the Ranging
Nicki Kennedy, Sally Bruce-Payne
The Brook Street Band

[Linz]

Ernest John Moeran Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphony in G minor, New Philharmonia Orchestra
Overture for a Masque, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP:

Brahms
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis

[ChamberNut]

Four Orchestral Works from Turkey. Hikmet Simsek/Budapest.

That looks interesting!

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP:

Brahms
Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 2
François-Frédéric Guy