What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Luys Milan (1500-1565)
El Maestro.
Music for the Vihuela 1536.
Hopkinson Smith, Vihuela, build by Joël van Lennep.
Probably recorded in 1984. No PDF file, so Venue unknown.
Could not find a back cover either.

Quite a sober and straightforward interpretation. Bare of any pretence, pure music, nothing less, nothing more. It will not warm your heart, but it will engender silence in your mind. There is such deep contemplation and inward thought in Smith's performance. Van Lennep's Vihuela sounds a bit raw, as if the instrument is not polished to perfection. The playing is certainly not gentle or immediately approachable, it needs time to fully understand the essence of it all. Clear and detailed sound, a little too close to the microphone to give complete comfort. Still I like it.

[VonStupp]

Benjamin Britten
The Ascent to F6
An American in England
Hadrian's Wall: Roman Wall Blues
On the Frontier
Where Do We Go From Here

Mary Carewe, soprano
Jean Rigby, mezzo
Andrew Kennedy, tenor
Samuel West, narrator

Ex Cathedra - Jeffrey Skidmore
Hallé - Mark Elder & Henry Ogg

An odd mix of incidental music for metaphorical plays and scores to propaganda documentaries. This program is perhaps the most I have heard Britten emulating popular music styles.

I am not the biggest fan of W.H. Auden's verse in this NMC series, whose best showing is when he rhymes 'tennis elbow' with 'have got B. O.'
VS

[AnotherSpin]

Luys Milan (1500-1565)
El Maestro.
Music for the Vihuela 1536.
Hopkinson Smith, Vihuela, build by Joël van Lennep.
Probably recorded in 1984. No PDF file, so Venue unknown.
Could not find a back cover either.

Quite a sober and straightforward interpretation. Bare of any pretence, pure music, nothing less, nothing more. It will not warm your heart, but it will engender silence in your mind. There is such deep contemplation and inward thought in Smith's performance. Van Lennep's Vihuela sounds a bit raw, as if the instrument is not polished to perfection. The playing is certainly not gentle or immediately approachable, it needs time to fully understand the essence of it all. Clear and detailed sound, a little too close to the microphone to give complete comfort. Still I like it.

What trait could be better than this one?

[Mister Sharpe]

Continuing my happy traversal of newly-acquired CDs. Martinů is one of my Top Ten favorite composers but admittedly because of his symphonic work (and to some extent his chamber work).  I'm less familiar with his concertante achievements, so this is a lucky find. Also an historical one: Firkušný debuted these concerti and was the dedicatee of the third.

 

[SonicMan46]

Boccherini, Luigi (1743-1805) - Guitar Quintets w/ Joan Carles Martinez on guitar and the Chamber Ensemble Almodis - recent $15 USD Bro purchase on 3 CDs which include the 8 extant works (9 are listed in the Gerard catalog with one lost - below).  Luigi probably wrote at least a dozen of these transcribed quintets for guitar.  Recordings from 2003-2005 - several reviews attached. Already own the Naxos 3 disc set w/ Tokos on guitar & the period instrument performance with Jakob Lindberg (2 discs of 6 works), so superfluous addition to my collection, BUT the recordings are quite good.  Dave

Guitar Quintets
The movements of the guitar quintets are wholly transcribed by the composer from earlier quintets (usually string or piano quintets).  (Source)

G 445: Guitar Quintet No. 1 in D minor
G 446: Guitar Quintet No. 2 in E major
G 447: Guitar Quintet No. 3 in B-flat major
G 448: Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D major ("Fandango")
G 449: Guitar Quintet No. 5 in D major
G 450: Guitar Quintet No. 6 in G major
G 451: Guitar Quintet No. 7 in E minor
G 452: Guitar Quintet No. 8 in F major (lost)
G 453: Guitar Quintet No. 9 in C major ("La Ritirata di Madrid")

   

[Spotted Horses]

Schnittke, Canon in memory of Igor Stravinsky, Kronos Quartet



A wonderful little gem, featuring haunting sonorities. I don't recognize the canonical elements.

[Spotted Horses]

Melartin Symphony No 3, Grin



An extraordinary work. In a late romantic tradition, perhaps inheriting more from Dvorak than Brahms. The four movement structure does not follow strictly the classical scheme, but it feels structured and is full of beautiful melodies, rich harmonies and very inventive use of the orchestra. There is theme that appears in different guises at various point in the music. Very fine performance and recording.

[Symphonic Addict]

Melartin Symphony No 3, Grin



An extraordinary work. In a late romantic tradition, perhaps inheriting more from Dvorak than Brahms. The four movement structure does not follow strictly the classical scheme, but it feels structured and is full of beautiful melodies, rich harmonies and very inventive use of the orchestra. There is theme that appears in different guises at various point in the music. Very find performance and recording.

It really is. Not sure if you know about a different performance of that symphony that appears on YouTube which is a different edition, contains more music and I think it's better played (the Finnish Radio S.O. under Sakari Oramo):

I really hope that CPO will record that larger version of the symphony.

[Spotted Horses]

It really is. Not sure if you know about a different performance of that symphony that appears on YouTube which is a different edition, contains more music and I think it's better played (the Finnish Radio S.O. under Sakari Oramo):

I really hope that CPO will record that larger version of the symphony.

Thanks to you for reminding me that I never finished my traversal of the Melartin symphonies.

I am looking forward to the completion of their Melartin series (hopefully). But that will take years and in the mean time I am very happy with the Ondine recordings.

[André]

Solar music (pun intended)

Vol 12's cover features Queen Barbara, a talented harpsichordist who  studied with  Scarlatti. It was for her that Scarlatti wrote many of his 555 sonatas. I don't follow why she's portrayed on this booklet, as Soler wrote mainly for the Infante Gabriel, who was Queen Barbara's step brother's child. Naxos seems to have been confused on the subject of Spanish Royals.

[Karl Henning]

[Henk]

Classic!

On which grounds you judge it a 'classic'? A classic means it needs to have some features like collective memory. Which is that collective in this case?

[Karl Henning]

On which grounds you judge it a 'classic'? A classic means it needs to have some features like collective memory. Which is that collective in this case?

It is a superb account of core repertory. That is enough. Your attachment of "collectivity" here puzzles me. You needn't explain for me, though.

[Karl Henning]

[Henk]

It is a superb account of core repertory. That is enough. Your attachment of "collectivity" here puzzles me. You needn't explain for me, though.

Do you mean a account of compositions or also performances? I mean the latter. Does it hang in the air? In jazz there is the Penguin Guide. I don't know something like this exists in classical music. Otherwise what is called loosely 'classic' has no substance. GMG can be called a collective, but it's an island.

When you have contacts in the world of classical music it might be different. Please explain to me if you like.

But classic means standing the test of time. Imo a recording rarely does so, agreed upon by many, but I can't really tell, I just assume.. How many are needed, it needs to have some charism, how does a recording gets fame?

[Karl Henning]

A piece by a friend I've just made:

But classic means standing the test of time. Imo a recording rarely does so, agreed upon by many, but I can't really tell, I just assume.

This recording has given, and continues to give, general satisfaction.

[Roasted Swan]

It is a superb account of core repertory. That is enough. Your attachment of "collectivity" here puzzles me. You needn't explain for me, though.

Yup!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Malcolm Arnold guitar concerto. Bream.

[Henk]

This recording has given, and continues to give, general satisfaction.

For whom? The recording of which you write it's a classic, who on this forum can confirm? How do you know of the outside world? My guess is that when you are immersed in the classical world of theatres and composing like you, you can possibly tell and it becomes intuition, a feel. Is that the case? But that's not the case for me, I just listen to stuff in my living room, more or less isolated except for GMG.

See also my discussion in the jazz board, very much related. I want to discuss this thing, it's important imo for culture and for knowing in what kind of world we live.. https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,34475.msg1624128/topicseen.html#msg1624128

[André]

First listen to anything by Pergament (1893-1977). His ancestry can be traced back to the Ukraine, where his grandfather lived before emigrating to Finland. Young Moses was born in Helsinki. He studied in Germany and eventually settled in Sweden. He was granted swedish citizenship in 1919.

Apparently he was considered a radical modernist in his early days. These works from the period 1918-1920 are anything but grating or 'difficult'. Quite romantic (of the 'post' variety maybe) and definitely tonal. According to the booklet notes there are jewish influences in his music and Pergament himself declared he wanted to be « the Jews' Wagner ». He did recognize his dual heritage (Nordic and Jewish) as fundamental to his artistic make up.

Good music, but not especially remarkable or original. I find Hilding Rosenberg's string quartets more compelling. Interestingly, Rosenberg was married to Pergament's sister.  There's another Pergament work I'll be exploring eventually, a ballet suite.