What are you listening 2 now?

[LKB]

Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 is in my head atm...

[Mister Sharpe]

A prescription of Ponti seems warranted.

Thanks for your diagnosis, doc.  If I can find those LPs (some of my collection is boxed in anticipation of a move) I will initiate dosage.

[Karl Henning]

The more I listen to the soundtrack by David Shire for the unjustly maligned and usually misunderstood movie Return to Oz, the more I am impressed by its perfection, i.e. the composer perfectly understood the movie's essence in every way, and captured that essence in his music.

A melancholy, nostalgic longing, a wistfulness for something that could never be, but seemed like it did exist, at least for a while:

e.g.

These two from the beginning are especially evocative of the movie's soul:

Listen to how the "Dorothy theme" arches above the trotting of the horses and the wagon's rolling toward a mental hospital:

Superb score, and indeed a wonderful movie!

[Linz]

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19
Maurizio Pollini, Wiener Philharmoniker, Eugen Jochum

[Cato]

A prescription of Michael Ponti seems warranted.

Those performances are slam dunks!

Hopping aboard the Scriabin Express for the White Mass and Black Mass Sonatas.  I like Lettberg's performances of both, a lot, but for better or for worse my muscle brain is filled to the brim with Horowitz's recordings which I overdosed on years ago. 

That box set with Maria Lettberg is marvelous!

[VonStupp]

Malcolm Arnold
Homage to the Queen, op. 42: Suite
Rinaldo and Armida, op. 49
Sweeney Todd, op. 68a: Suite
Electra, op. 79
BBC PO - Rumon Gamba

Filmic ✔️. Fun ✔️.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Sweeney Todd, but soft-shoe and comedic hijinks weren't part of my suppositions.
VS

[Mister Sharpe]

It has been several years since I last listened to the Scriabin Piano Sonatas.  I've always found them challenging and compelling but this time 'round I found the experience to be nearly overwhelming, stronger than a super-stiff liquor-laden drink, or a book or film that leaves you emotionally-charged or even drained, maybe both (the composer plays on contradiction)... Easily among the most moving musical moments I've experienced. Adding to the encounter, I followed along with the music for some of them and marvelled at their complexity. Realized I haven't the chops to touch them. Also discovered my favorite isn't the Black Mass or White Mass as formerly, but the 10th which rightly or wrongly I see as a kind of summation, even farewell; love his many colorful indications (if you somehow didn't know Scriabin was completely sincere and weren't convinced by the music, you might read them as Satie tongue-in-cheek directives!): avec ravissement; avec une joyeuse exaltation; avec une ardeur profonde et voilée; cristallin; vibrant; avec élan lumineux; avec une douce langueur de plus en plus éteinte (all from the 10th).  Still haven't found my Ponti recordings.     

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Ekaterina Novickaya - Beethoven, Brahms ‎– 32 Variations / Sonata Nr. 3.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

A prescription of Ponti seems warranted.

As for Scriabin sonatas, I personally like Igor Zhukov (2 sets), Stanislav Neuhaus (incomplete), some Sofronitzky, and Yakov Kasman.

[JBS]

Music by Krähmer and Paisiello, plus a Mozart transcription and a concerto formed from movements from two concertos by Haydn plus a movement from an oboe concerto that was once attributed to Haydn. (The Adagio of this "concerto" has a very bluesy cadenza that in no way could be mistaken for Haydn.)

[Symphonic Addict]

Martinu: Inventions and Suites and excerpts from operas (Julietta, Theatre behind the Gate, Comedy on the Bridge, Les trois souhaits, Mirandolina)

Never knew about the existence of a piece of his called Inventions until recently and it has some entertaining, quirky ideas as usual. The work includes an orchestral piano and I must say that Martinu was one of the greatest composers to use it masterfully. The other CD is full of delights, like a chocolate box. Martinu continues impressing, again, as usual.

[steve ridgway]

Stravinsky - Elegie

[AnotherSpin]

[AnotherSpin]

Byrd, Bull, Gibbons

[Mandryka]

Really been getting into Pallaud's Muffat this past couple of weeks.

[Que]

2nd disc. Listening to this recording and the one by Amarcord convinced me that Pierre de la Rue, a pupil of Johannes Ockeghem, had the misfortune of his career coinciding with that of Josquin Desprez. He is not Desprez, but a magnificent composer in his own right.

[Harry]

A French Odyssey.
Music for two cellos & basso continuo by Rameau, Barrière, Corrette, Boismortier, Berteau & Patouart.
UnderStories Ensemble.
Clara Pouvreau, violoncello & violoncello piccolo, Bartolomeo Dandolo Marchesi, violoncello, Margherita Burattini, double harp & french pedal harp, Silvia De Rosso, violone in G & double bass, Marco Crosetto, clavicembalo, Loris Guastella, percussion, Mario Filippini, viola da gamba.
Recorded: 2024 at Nomaglio, Chiesa di San Bartolomeo, Italy.
Streaming, 96kHz/24 bit recording. SOTA sound. New release.
See back cover for details.

There are moments in one's listening life when revelation arrives not with thunder, but with the quiet precision of a bow on string. A French Odyssey is one such moment. At first glance, it may seem a curiosity—an anthology of works for two cellos and basso continuo from composers both celebrated and obscure. Yet from the first bars, it unfolds like a spell.

The UnderStories Ensemble, here in what for many will be a first acquaintance, deliver a performance so refined, so irresistibly alive, that one wonders how such repertoire has languished in the wings for so long. The names on the programme speak of the ancien régime—Rameau, Corrette, Boismortier—but it is the lesser-known voices that astonish. Louis-François-Joseph Patouart, Martin Berteau: names not yet writ in the stars, but here burnished with beauty.

This is a landscape of discovery. Whether in the lilt of a Barrière sonata, the exotic flair of Rameau's Les Sauvages, or the silken interplay of Patouart's trio with double bass, the playing brims with empathy, intelligence, and joy. The continuo textures are lush yet poised, the harps and harpsichord murmuring in intimate counterpoint, while the cellos sing and sigh with lyricism undimmed by time.

Sonically, it is as close to perfection as modern engineering allows. The acoustic space breathes—the Chiesa di San Bartolomeo yields both warmth and clarity. Every pianissimo, every stroke of gut string, every ghost of resonance is rendered with spellbinding immediacy. One does not simply listen; one inhabits the music.

This disc is, in short, a marvel. It enchants, educates, and—most importantly—elevates. To paraphrase Rameau's own Indes galantes, the heart is won not through spectacle, but through seduction. And seduced we are, utterly.

Let it be said: if 2025 holds a better chamber music release, it will need to rise early and stretch far.
Dedicated to good ears, warm valves, and may the  music always stir both marrow and mirth.    

[pjme]

Ekaterina Novickaya - Beethoven, Brahms ‎– 32 Variations / Sonata Nr. 3.

cannot help it ...1968! I remember it well. This concerto written for the competition was of course hopelessly old fashioned in that fatefull year.  Still, the melodies  linger in my mind.
If I remember correctly, Novitskaya married a Belgian after her win of the competition, started a large family and  lives -I hope so- somewhere in Belgium a happy life.
https://vod.queenelisabethcompetition.be/en/competitions-details-laureates/events/piano-1968/

[Harry]

Giovanni Mane Giornovichi (1740–1804)
Violin Concertos No. 13–15.
Air – Villageoises de Julie.
Bojan Čičić, Violin.
Illyria Consort.
Recorded: 2018, at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Summertown, Oxford.
Streaming: 48kHz/24 bit. SOTA sound.

A for me an unknown composer—but that is not a surprise, remembering that he changed his name as often as his undergarments. Born in Dubrovnik and of Croatian descent, Giovanni Mane Giornovichi (also seen as Ivan Jarnović) adopted a baffling number of aliases as he travelled across Europe, leaving musical traces in Vienna, Paris, London, and even St. Petersburg. A celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, he was a contemporary of Mozart and Haydn, admired for his brilliant playing and stylish compositions. Yet his music slipped undeservedly into obscurity.

So what can I say about this recording? That it is a gem—beautifully played and recorded. Čičić, as I have noted before, is a violinist of great refinement. His bowing is clean and elegant; every note sits securely upon the strings, delivered with concentration, taste, and gentle persuasion. There's nothing showy or gratuitous—just masterfully controlled virtuosity in service of the music.

The Illyria Consort follows him faithfully, and the impression is of one single entity moving with musical instinct. The music itself is of its time: elegant, inventive, and touched with sentimental charm. Though Giornovichi doesn't throw fireworks at us, his concertos are full of clever turns and lyrical surprises. Some passages catch the ear with subtle wit or flashes of brilliance, while others sway with sweet melancholy or pastoral ease. The Presto movements never rush—they are closer to animated Allegros, full of spirit yet never frantic. It suits the mood.

The Air "Villageoises de Julie," with its theme and variations, adds a delightful intimacy to the programme—a glimpse into the salon-style refinement Giornovichi likely excelled at.

As for the sound: it's a fine recording. The acoustic is quiet and close, allowing the textures to breathe and the violin to bloom with warm clarity. It doesn't attack the listener; rather, it caresses—elegantly seductive from first bar to last.

[Mister Sharpe]

How in tarnation did it completely slip by me, me, a Hindemith fan!? that my favorite "atonal noisemaker," (per Goebbels), wrote a Pittsburgh Symphony?? I suspect I might be blöd . Discovered the work this morning on Youtube while looking for something else.  Thanks to some Almighty Algorithm, that sad deficiency is about to be corrected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0iO8rq3rVU&list=RDk0iO8rq3rVU&start_radio=1&t=357s