What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

The Faces of Melancholy.
Ayres, both Grave and Light for Viols or other musical instruments.
See back cover for details.
Ensemble Isabella d'Este.
Recorded: 1993 at the Eglise Sornetan, CH

This by all means a wonderful disc, filled with fine music, and as a performance, Chapeau! Recording quality is excellent too. The music gives lightness and darkness at the same time, the latter is good, for it is dark and rainy outside, the lightness cheers me up, which I also need...So a win win situation.
I found the original cover and the reissued one, both have their aesthetic quality. A good start in the morning plus coffee of course. I have some stuffed bears in the listening room, they are enjoying themselves too    

[Irons]

Janacek: Concertino for Piano and Chamber Ensemble.

Franz Holetschek, piano and Barylli Ensemble.

[steve ridgway]

Ives - String Quartet No. 2

[Que]

I've commented on this recording before. It fills an important gap in the Richafort discography with the two surviving masses apart from the Requiem. This Czech ensemble provides very convincing and idiomatic performances of Franco-Flemish repertoire. Their style reminds me most of that of the Egidius Consort: small, mixed ensemble, some voices are doubled.

The hardcover booklets by Musiques en Wallonie are my preferred physical format, with nice artwork. And I can't complain about liner notes in Dutch either! (Even though the label is Francophone.) The Flemish have always been much stronger defenders of our shared language - good on them.

[Harry]

Battaglia.
See back cover for details.
Ars Antiqua, Gunar Letzbor.
Recording: Altomonte Saal, Stift St. Florian (Austria), 2024.
Cover picture: Leonardo da Vinci, The Battle of Anghiari, Study of battles on horseback and on foot,

Interesting, music connected with fighting and violence,  especially written for the occasion so to say. A bit macaber, but however bizar it may be, it was and still is part of the musical culture, even violence has culture it seems. It has all the elements of inciting bravery and a strengthening of ones resolve to slain the enemy. As such, the quality of the compositions are excellent. At the one hand there is peace, the next there is turmoil, and attaque, all in a few minutes. O well! The recording is top notch, and so is the performance. Come on brave soldiers and shake hands and enjoy the music, what!
Battaglia offers unadulterated listening pleasure, in which there can really only be winners!

[AnotherSpin]

[Harry]

The Turkish vibes caught you completely it seems. Good for you, it's very invigorating. I often resort to this kind of music.

[Harry]

When listening to this ballet yesterday I was disturbed several times, so I now play the second part of this wonderful ballet. Bliss.

[Traverso]

Bach

Vol.9  CD 1

[Iota]

Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68
Mandelring Quartet

Wow, am yet again really impressed by the Mandelrings, vividly clear and expressive playing. And as always when I dive in, knocked out by the DSCH quartets, I think I may now follow in @Karl Henning's recent footsteps and work my way through them chronologically.
No.2 has a particular place in my affections, being my first enthusiastic encounter with them, full of the transfixing intensity and invention that makes Shostakovich such a draw for me.

[foxandpeng]

Malcolm Arnold
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 1
Richard Hickox
London Symphony Orchestra
Chandos

Not enough hours in the day nor opportunities in the week to listen to all that I would like to hear. Arnold's symphonies are great, but he is one of many who receive too few plays here.

[Harry]

Malcolm Arnold
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 1
Richard Hickox
London Symphony Orchestra
Chandos

Not enough hours in the day nor opportunities in the week to listen to all that I would like to hear. Arnold's symphonies are great, but he is one of many who receive too few plays here.

Just pack your bags, old friend, and resort for a month or longer in my neighborhood, and we will listen continuously to all the music you miss so much. It is at my home as you were sitting in the Concert Hall, the best rank....    

[foxandpeng]

Just pack your bags, old friend, and resort for a month or longer in my neighborhood, and we will listen continuously to all the music you miss so much. It is at my home as you were sitting in the Concert Hall, the best rank....    

How tempting this sounds!

Malcolm Arnold
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 2
Richard Hickox
London Symphony Orchestra
Chandos

More Malcolm.

[Cato]

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #3, coupled with the Andante and Finale.


Sergei Taneyev worked on both compositions, after Tchaikovsky had died: I find the "synthesis" quite fine!

Some wonderful moments in every movement!

[foxandpeng]

Malcolm Arnold
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 3
Richard Hickox
London Symphony Orchestra
Chandos

An Arnold Marathon this afternoon, it seems... these are fine works.

[Que]

Rerun:



This volume starts with "the" famous Fandango... marvelous! 
According to Spotify Van Asperen plays a harpsichord after Pascal Taskin, Paris 1764.

[Lisztianwagner]

Heitor Villa-Lobos
Bachianas brasileiras No.3

Cristina Ortiz (piano)
Vladimir Ashkenazy & New Philharmonia Orchestra

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Hasse (1699-1783) spent 30 years in Dresden. He was as famous in Dresden as Bach was in Leipzig or Vivaldi in Venice.

There are a few recordings of a 1763 Requiem in C composed upon the death of Augustus II 'The Strong', Prince Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. That's not the one on this recording. Someone else died right after Augustus II: the heir to the throne, prince Friedrich Christian. Hasse picked up his composing pen for another requiem, this time in E Flat. It is a quite beautiful work, devoid of theatrics or fire and brimstone gestures. Hasse was also famous for his italian operas, performed throughout Italy but also in England (Handel was a rival for the London public's favour). There's an unmistakable italianate feel to this Mass for the Dead. It is pastoral, rustic and refined at once, moving along mostly at an andante pace throughout. Do not expect the drama and anguish felt in Mozart's Requiem (the first romantic choral masterpiece). This is a comforting, almost bucolic view of the Great Pastures.

The Miserere in d minor is also a fine work, if lesser in scope. Somewhat confusingly, Carus recorded the other (C major) Requiem and paired it with another Miserere. It just so happens that both requiems last around 42 minutes whilst the Misereres last about 22 mins. Determined to fool the buying public, Carus plays tricks with its cover art: they are almost identical, one showing the right portion of a Canaletto painting, the other showing the left portion of the same painting.

Nice recording!

[Harry]

Frederic Chopin.
Complete Piano works.
Disc 2.
Scherzo No. 1-4.
Berceuse, opus 57.
Barcarolle, opus 60.
Fantasie, opus 49.
Bolero, opus 19.
Contredanse, opus KK Anh la/4.
Tarantelle, opus 43.
Nikita Magaloff, Piano.
Recorded: Concert gebouw Amsterdam 1976.

O, boy it makes me as happy as in the days I bought this box. Magaloff is a forgotten master. Chopin was simply his thing. Amazing pianism, and great artistry in expression. And superb sound too. It will be a tough nut to crack to play it any better.

[Kalevala]

Malcolm Arnold
Complete Symphonies
Symphony 3
Richard Hickox
London Symphony Orchestra
Chandos

An Arnold Marathon this afternoon, it seems... these are fine works.

I need to check out more Arnold (have a tiny bit me thinks).  Roland Garros is on now, so I'm sunk!

As an aside, a French woman ranked 361 just took out two top ten seeded players in a row:  Boisson.  She's into the semi-finals of (I believe) her first ever slam.

Cheers,

K