What are you listening 2 now?

[Florestan]

Quality, my dear, not quantity. And I'm only talking about songs.

Then you can safely strike Mozart off the list. Genius as he was, his songs are few and not particularly brilliant.

Alma competes with Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wolf, Grieg, Bizet, Gounod, Massenet, Debussy, Ravel, Rossini, Donizetti, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff... all she can aspire to is an honorable mention, honestly. 

[hopefullytrusting]

Continuing my Hungarian theme:

Kodaly's Budavari Te Deum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFjalyfl_fE&list=RDSFjalyfl_fE&start_radio=1

Followed by, Brahms's Hungarian Dances
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJS0pHvDX4c&list=RDvJS0pHvDX4c&start_radio=1

[Harry]

Francois-Joseph Gossec. (1734-1829)
Symphonies, opus 8, 1-3. (Brook 43-45)
Airs de Ballet from "Sabinus",
Les Agremens, Guy van Waas.
Recorded: 2007, at the Liege salle Philharmonique.
Label: Ricercar.
Streaming: 44.1kHz/16 bit. CD quality.

Gossec is not a name that springs easily to the modern listener's tongue, but in his day, he was no minor figure. A pivotal composer at the cusp of the Baroque and Classical eras, he worked tirelessly across royal and revolutionary regimes. His early symphonies, particularly those from oeuvre VIII (first published in the 1760s), reveal a deft hand at the emerging classical style — full of symmetrical phrasing, transparent orchestration, and a penchant for sudden surprises. These are works crafted for the public stage, poised between courtly elegance and the bustling world of Parisian concert life.
Les Agrémens is without doubt a fine ensemble, and Guy van Waas a capable director. Yet my impression here is of a performance that, while neatly turned, lacks a certain fire. The spark of revolutionary vitality — or even Enlightenment joy — seems missing. These are works that thrive on contrast and propulsion, but the fast passagework, often a key to their brilliance, feels strangely muted. Instead of leaping into light, we linger in polite shadows.

The Symphonies are comfortable in the ear, their phrases rounded, melodies sweet, but the thrill that ought to stir the senses is only faintly heard. It is all form, with too little flame.

What truly lifts the disc, however, are the Airs de Ballet from Sabinus. Here, finally, the orchestra wakes up. Gone is the studied elegance — now we hear vigour, a lively forward impetus, as if the musicians have shaken off their stiffness and are finally enjoying themselves. The recording improves here too, becoming a touch warmer and more embracing, giving the dances a spring in their step. It feels like the sun coming out in the last act of a cloudy opera.

This isn't a disc that sets the fire roaring — rather, it's glowing embers with moments of real warmth, especially in the ballet. It invites curiosity more than it stirs the soul. Still, for those drawn to the overlooked corners of Classical-era repertoire, Gossec's early symphonies offer a glimpse into a fascinating musical crossroads, and the ballet music, at least, offers something truly invigorating — like a brisk walk through the Tuileries at dusk.

Some extra info
The Airs de Ballet from Sabinus are drawn from his tragédie lyrique premiered in 1773—an ambitious operatic project with mythological subject matter and grand staging. While the opera itself faded from view, the ballet movements have endured for their charm, energy, and orchestral colour. They offer a glimpse of Gossec's flair for theatrical invention and his responsiveness to the graceful demands of French dance.

[Karl Henning]

[VonStupp]

Jean Sibelius
String Quartet in A minor, JS 183
String Quartet in D minor 'Voces Intimae', op. 56
Leipzig Quartet

An engrossing reading of Sibelius' later quartet from the Leipzigers.
VS

[Harry]

Violin sonatas
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer – Sonata à violino solo, Ciaccona in A major.
Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli – Sonata No. 4 "La Castella".
Philipp Friedrich Böddecker – Sonata in D minor.
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber – Mystery Sonata No. 4 "Presentation in the Temple", and Sonata VI for violin and basso continuo.
Ensemble Stravaganza.
Domitille Gilon, violin; Ronald Martin-Alonso, gamba; Diego Salamanca, theorbo; Chloé Sévère, organ; Thomas Soltani, harpsichord.
Recorded: 2023 at Studio de L'Orchestre Nationale de L'Ile de France, Alfortville.
Streaming, 96kHz/24 bit.
Download or streaming only. No PDF file. Approx. 50 minutes. No back cover to be found.

This disc is a slender volume of sonic calligraphy, where bow and breath meet parchment and silence. In a programme that gathers four 17th-century spirits from across the Germanic and Italian realms—Schmelzer, Böddecker, Mealli, and Biber—the Stravaganza ensemble offers a vision of refinement and restrained beauty, a courtly dance of decorum rather than divine madness.

The music itself—particularly Schmelzer's Ciaccona and Böddecker's elegant Sonata—speaks in noble gestures, with florid passagework and expressive figures that hint at deeper passions beneath a powdered wig. Pandolfi Mealli's La Castella is a character sketch tinged with melancholy and flair, the violin weaving lines with just enough wistfulness to recall a faded portrait in a forgotten drawer. Biber's Presentation in the Temple, from the Rosary Sonatas, gives the programme its spiritual spine—a solemn meditation suffused with incense and candlelight. The Sonata VI rounds out the portrait with a more worldly but still devout flourish.

Ensemble Stravaganza perform with precision, elegance, and a clear sense of inner architecture. There is no brashness here, no attempt to ignite the heavens. Rather, it is as if the musicians arrived for the recital already dressed in formal attire—ladies in satin, gentlemen in black tie—and chose to whisper beauty rather than declaim it. The balance of ensemble is fine-tuned, with Domitille Gilon's violin leading the line like a modest poet, graceful and poised.

If I sometimes wish for a touch more rhetorical sparkle, more bright-eyed danger in articulation—well, that's merely to say I missed a little theatrical daring. One might say, in the Bard's own words:

"She is pretty to walk with,
And witty to talk with,
And pleasant too, to think on."

—Much Ado About Nothing

Indeed, the recording is clean and forward, perhaps a little close for comfort at times. But turn the volume to a temperate setting, and the sound becomes a pleasing companion—intimate, warm, and articulate.

In sum: an engaging recital that honours the past with polished boots and a quiet gleam, if not with wild blood. Its charm lies not in dazzle but in discretion, a well-brewed cup of sonority for those who listen with inward ears.

Ah, then let us not part without a proper sigh—one borrowed from the Bard's own tender quill, and perfectly attuned to the genteel elegance of the music just heard:

"These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
— Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 6

Though there were no such flames here—no wild tempests or devouring passions—still, a more modest delight may endure the longer. For not all music must consume; some may simply glow. And this disc, like a quiet chamber bathed in late sunlight, invites us not to burn, but to breathe.

Forgive me my elaborate reviews, the muse caught me unaware

[Karl Henning]

I think CPO is up to vol. 7 now, I should check.  You count yourself a Telemann fan, do you not? He has taken an unfortunate Bachseat (sic) to his contemporaries, in my view.  Proof of this is when Schweitzer and Philipp Spitta found fault with some of Telemann's Cantatas and praised some they thought were Bach's but were actually Telemann's.  He had a sense of humor, he'd have loved that! 

Separately, "There are no wrong reasons for liking a work of art, only for disliking one."  E.H. Gombrich is brilliant.

[Karl Henning]

The Dover String Quartet playing Beethoven's Op. 132 (live):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1NBrmpcPvo

I probably shouldn't be listening to this so early in the morning, as I find string quartets tend to lull me into a state of relaxation (almost or to the point of sleeping = very asmr), but I was feeling this piece as I almost bought a disc of it last night (I may still), but this particular performance is nice.

If you like string quartets, you'll like this.

good to "see" you, buddy!

[Karl Henning]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Patrick Power (tenor), Petteri Salomaa (bass-baritone), Sarah Walker (mezzo-soprano), Yvonne Kenny (soprano)
Schütz Choir of London, London Classical Players, Roger Norrington (conductor)

It may be nearly 40 years old now, but this is still a pretty revelatory recording imo. The way the music springs off the page as if only just written and raring to go, gives it an energised and illuminated quality I find very exciting. I feel Norrington's handling of the final movement is the least successful, the choral parts in particular, but nonetheless, for me this is a memorable recording.

RIP Roger Norrington

Mighty tasty!

[Karl Henning]

The Bugallow-Williams Piano Duo

I heard them play here in Cambridge. Superb!

[Linz]

Robert Schumann Missa sacra in C Minor, op147
Carl Maria von Weber Missa sancta No. 2 in G major, op.76
Anne Hoffman soprano, Mechthild Georg alto, Andreas Wagner tenor, Yoo-chang Nah bass
WDR Runfunkchor Köln, WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Helmuth Froschauer

[hopefullytrusting]

good to "see" you, buddy!

Good to be seen.

Finishing up my Hungarian adventure with Lauren Zhang playing Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0YWy6RLt-8

[Florestan]

[

Forgive me my elaborate reviews, the muse caught me unaware

You must have imbibed something particularly inspiriting. What was it, I could use a sip or two. 😀

[Harry]

You must have imbibed something particularly inspiriting. What was it, I could use a sip or two. 😀

A rare malt....

[Harry]

Attilio Ariosti – The Stockholm Sonatas I.
Lessons and Sonatas for Viola d'amore.
Thomas Georgi, Viola d'amore.
Lucas Harris, Theorbo, Archlute & Baroque Guitar.
Joële Morton, Viola da Gamba & Great Bass Viol.
Recorded in May 2005 in Grace Church on the Hill, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Instrumentarium:

Violas d'amore:

Lezione 1, 3 and 5: Thomas Eberle, Naples 1783, six gut playing strings, three plain uncovered, three wire wound, six sympathetic strings.

Lezione 2 and 4: Mathias Thir, Vienna 1721, six wire playing strings (Pyramid, Germany).

Sonatas 6 and 7: Thomas Eberle, Naples 1772, seven playing strings (Dominants), seven sympathetic strings tuned in a triad.

Plucked Instruments:

15-course theorbo and 14-course archlute by Michael Schreiner.

5-course baroque guitar by Ivo Magherini.

Bowed basses:

Bass viol by John Pringle (2004) and great bass viol in G by Roel Prins (1995).

The funny and quite amusing thing is that certain critics have brushed aside the three-volume Stockholm Sonatas as uninteresting. Reviews have ranged from lukewarm to dismissive—and one wonders whether the pen might sometimes outpace the ear. Because I must beg to differ. Not lightly, but emphatically.

If a piece of music offers joy, solace, or quiet reflection to a listener, then it is most certainly worth the effort. And these sonatas, in their graceful intimacy and richly coloured timbral palette, speak not only to the heart but to the intellect. The Viola d'amore—an instrument I've long admired—breathes here under the fingers of Thomas Georgi, who brings both scholarly command and poetic intuition to the fore. His artistry is matched by his companions, whose phrasing and timing reveal a deep camaraderie: a conversation not only among players, but across centuries.

The music is without affectation. Ariosti doesn't aim for theatrical excess or pompous display. These works belong to the drawing room, not the opera house—to a world of cultivated listeners, of candlelight and conversation. But within that gentle sphere lies considerable charm: elegance of form, natural expression, and a carefully measured rhetorical grace. One hears in them the Enlightenment spirit—curious, measured, humane.

Let us remember that Ariosti (1666–1729), a native of Bologna, was not merely a composer but a singer, cellist, diplomat, and adventurer. His career wove through the courts of Berlin, Paris, and London, and his compositions spanned oratorios, cantatas, operas, and instrumental music. The Stockholm Sonatas are so called because the manuscripts reside in the Royal Library in Sweden—a testament to his music's European reach.

And what of the sonatas themselves? They do not shout, but they speak. Their language is articulate, reserved, lyrical. Their lines dance with grace, and the sympathetic strings of the Viola d'amore lend a luminous resonance that seems almost metaphysical—as if the past were echoing inside the present.

The BIS recording, as ever, is sublime—warm, clear, and perfectly scaled to the chamber environment. The acoustic of Grace Church in Toronto adds the final polish, wrapping each phrase in a halo of quiet reverberation.

To those who dismissed these works—I would say: listen again. Slowly. Let your mind quieten. There is music here for those who seek not spectacle but sincerity. In the end, it is not the firework but the candle flame that stays longest in the memory.

It was a stressful day, and I often find joy in the Poems by Emily Brontë. a little adapted to the CD I played and close my listening day

When weary with the joys of sense,
And tired of earthly light,
I turn again to gentler strains
That soften sound to sight.
The strings of old, the voice of past,
Within this shaded air—
Awake the thoughts that sleep in me,
And cradle them with care.

For music such as this can hold
What time and loss deny—
A hush of soul, a breath of grace,
A starlit, inward sky.

— after Emily Brontë

[Henk]

[Mister Sharpe]

Separately, "There are no wrong reasons for liking a work of art, only for disliking one."  E.H. Gombrich is brilliant.

Indeed, I love the man and his work, his intellect and insatiable curiosity. I also like his writing style; even in the most erudite topics it's friendly and approachable.  In his vast reach, however, it was entirely predictable that he would fumble and he is not - either in art historical terms or the field of art psychology/perception - without error. It's held against him nowadays; he's little appreciated and in fact it's amazing how often he's picked-at for this or that and lesser minds get to enjoy a momentary sense of superiority in doing so.

[Mister Sharpe]

Sticking with Telemann until my CD of Pimpinone arrives (Friday, I'm told).  The other thing about the Magdeburg Master (besides his melodic genius) I wish more listeners realized is the great debt he's owed for fighting for composers' copyrights, precedent-setting at the time. Way more than I realized, CPO has gone in for Telemann in a big way, bless 'em.  Has anyone here been to the Telemann Museum in Hamburg?

[Karl Henning]

Indeed, I love the man and his work, his intellect and insatiable curiosity. I also like his writing style; even in the most erudite topics it's friendly and approachable.  In his vast reach, however, it was entirely predictable that he would fumble and he is not - either in art historical terms or the field of art psychology/perception - without error. It's held against him nowadays; he's little appreciated and in fact it's amazing how often he's picked-at for this or that and lesser minds get to enjoy a momentary sense of superiority in doing so.

We none of us get it right all the time.

[Florestan]

A rare malt....

We're on holiday at the seaside so that'd be too strong, but I'll have a glass or two of some rosé.