What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

Händel: Concerti grossi, op. 6 (one to six)

[Daverz]

The Best of Enrique Bátiz, Vol. 3: Galindo - Revueltas - Moncayo.

What label is that on?  Would be good to have these Batiz recordings back in print.

[AnotherSpin]

We can't be right
in every case.
We are left the right
to be wrong some days.

We stay the same before, during, and after being right or wrong. What we are remains unchanged.

[steve ridgway]

Scriabin - 2 Poèmes, Op. 71

[steve ridgway]

Pierre Henry - Spatiodynamisme

[Symphonic Addict]

Yet another engrossing Martinu recording.

[AnotherSpin]

Today, after the night's attack, fires broke out and various buildings were damaged in the historic part of the city, protected by UNESCO. We now await some concern, maybe even deep concern. If we're lucky, maybe an official statement, though of course without naming names. Business as usual.

I, as usual, begin my morning in a musical paradise.

[steve ridgway]

Xenakis - Concret P-H

[steve ridgway]

Ives - Three Places In New England

[AnotherSpin]

[AnotherSpin]

I'm listening again to Massimiliano Stanca's version of the trio sonatas. I'm pretty sure his interpretation is nowhere near the generally accepted one, I mean, the Adagio in the first sonata alone stretches on for over 13 minutes. I love it when music slips beyond time and space and just hangs there in a shimmering nothingness. That's probably what hooks me. I'm not exactly a seasoned pro when it comes to this kind of music anyway.

[Iota]

Scriabin: Sonata No. 2 Op. 19, in G Sharp Minor
Roberto Szidon (piano)

A lovely sonata, and Szidon plays it beautifully. Though in the climax of the first movement development, I had to really buckle in for Szidon's abrupt eruption of wildness, and it seemed a bit much to me.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

What label is that on?  Would be good to have these Batiz recordings back in print.

Luzam. I think the recording is only for download or streaming.



https://www.qobuz.com/ca-en/album/lo-mejor-de-enrique-batiz-vol-3-galindo-revueltas-moncayo-enrique-batiz-london-philharmonic-orchestra-orquesta-filarmonica-de-la-ciudad-de-mexico-orquesta-sinfonica-del-estado-de-mexico/wxwra2tq540yb

[AnotherSpin]

[Mister Sharpe]

Late night listening to BBC3 yielded much that was wonderful and two works that were entirely brand new to me and awesomely wonderful to my ears (and soul):  Langgaard's Rose Garden Songs (here's one of them): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnmy8MCqSlg&list=RDNnmy8MCqSlg&start_radio=1  and Syzmanowski's Prelude and Fugue in C Sharp Minor : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuBw6yJsRTQ&list=RDfuBw6yJsRTQ&start_radio=1

[steve ridgway]

First listen to Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 1

Curiosity now satisfied; not a bad work and the explanation that it suffered from a poorly performed premiere seems reasonable.

[Harry]

Massimiliano Neri (ca. 1620 – after 1670)
Sonate da sonarsi con varij stromenti
Sonatas a 4 Op. 1 Nos. 1, 2, 10 · Canzon a 4 Op. 1 · Sonatas Op. 2 Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 11, 14, 15 · Salve Virgo benignissima · Ad charismata caelorum
Concerto Scirocco, Giulia Genini – with the participation of Voces Suaves
Pitch: Strings, organ, harpsichord and theorbos at a=415 Hz (1/4 comma meantone); winds at a=466 Hz (1/4 comma meantone)
Recorded: 2022, Grosser Festsaal, Landgasthof Riehen BL, Switzerland
Cover: The Rape of Europa by Alessandro Turchi ("L'Orbetto")
Streaming: FLAC 96kHz/24bit · SOTA recording.

To be entirely honest, Massimiliano Neri had not made his way into my book of knowns. He was not even hovering on the margins—his music simply hadn't crossed my ears. Which, in a way, is unsurprising: the 17th century is a vast ocean of forgotten names and nearly-lost sonorities. But this disc, a revelation in many respects, makes a persuasive case for remembering Neri.

Son of the famed organist and theorist Giovanni Felice Neri, Massimiliano worked in Cologne and Venice during a fertile musical era shaped by the likes of Monteverdi, Froberger, and Schütz. His Sonate da sonarsi con varij stromenti Op. 2 (1666) are among the earliest printed collections of ensemble sonatas by an Italian composer based in Germany. These pieces, rich in contrast and colour, prefigure the late Baroque trio sonata and orchestral idiom.

What's most striking about this release is Neri's inventive and often dazzling writing for winds. The brilliance of his scoring leaps from the page, nowhere more so than in the Sonata undecima a nove from Opus 2—a work that sparkles with contrapuntal clarity and rhythmic vitality. His imagination seems unflagging, the pen guided by a Muse who dances lightly, never weary. It's hard to fathom why such vivid music fell into obscurity.

Concerto Scirocco gives these works their full due. The ensemble's phrasing is articulate, well-shaped, and responsive, and the pitch contrast between winds and strings—a hallmark of certain German courts—is handled with impressive finesse. The sonic image is crisply rendered, with ample air and definition between the lines. Every chirp, slide, and sparkle is accounted for, drawing the listener into Neri's vivid 17th-century sound world. The acoustics are beautifully judged, giving the winds space to bloom without blurring their bite.

The only slight blemish is the vocal interludes from Voces Suaves. Their delivery lacks sometimes the poise and polish of the instrumentalists, and some unsteadiness in pitch and blend makes these sacred miniatures less satisfying. But their brevity ensures they don't overly distract from the instrumental core.

There is something of the painterly in this music—a chiaroscuro of gesture and texture, a gallery of sonatas each framed by differing instrumentation and mood. Listening, one senses an artist reaching for resonance and majesty, not just function. And at its best, this music does not merely fill the air—it inhabits it, like light spilling through a high, painted window.

Let us hope this is not the last rediscovery of Neri's work. There is gold here, waiting to be lifted from the earth.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Enrique Bátiz live in Madrid.

[steve ridgway]

Radulescu - Capricorn's Nostalgic Crickets II

I much preferred this atonal flute ensemble piece to Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1. Someone has to, that's just the way the universe works .

[AnotherSpin]