What are you listening 2 now?

[AnotherSpin]

An album of pieces by Stéphane Orlando brought the Belgian music day to its close, though works by composers from other countries were also heard.

[Harry]

NOTKER BALBULUS.(c. 840–912)
Liber ymnorum.
Schola Antiqua of Chicago, Michael Alan Anderson.

A huge blast from the past.

[Harry]

Reges Terrae.
Music from the time of Charles V.
Nordic Voices.

The women's voices are often quite exposed in the works on this CD. To hear their impeccable intonation is quite a stunning experience! But there is more, the ensemble sound is intimate and close yet individual voices exhibit an airiness and spaciousness one does not often hear. Clear timbres and an impressive expression, so, intonation is impeccable, this ensemble displays unfailing precision in phrasing, dynamics, and color, everything finely tuned into a succession of bright sprinklings, that washes over one in SOTA sound. You have to hear this in order to believe it. Does it need more recommendation?

[Todd]

[André]

Silvestrov: Symphony No. 5

It's hard not to be moved by this immensely sorrowful music. However, around the min. 30 onwards it can't sustain its material, it gets a little monotonous in my view.

My favourite Silvestrov symphony. I don't know this particular performance. I have two others and there's not a trace of sameness or monotony in them. In the 6th symphony however I find bits where these faults can be found. As if he had tried to continue in the vein of the 5th but not with the same degree of consistency.

[Karl Henning]

Léon Boëlmann, Menuet gothique

[Lisztianwagner]

Franz Joseph Haydn
Stabat Mater

Barbara Bonney, Elisabeth von Magnus, Herbert Lippert, Alastair Miles
Arnold Schoenberg Chor
Nikolaus Harnoncourt & Concentus musicus Wien

[brewski]

From a Sep. 16 livestream, Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Gürzenich-Orchester Köln. In the final movement, there's a slight editing bobble, a few seconds missing from the opening, but doesn't detract from the overall excellence.

[brewski]

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra (Kondrashin / Concertgebouw, live recording from 1977). The finale really is too fast for me (YMMV), and the orchestra sounds pushed to their limits but overall, a performance well worth hearing.

[Mandryka]

It's very very good. I don't know why, but I know it is.  Somehow he turns it into music.

[Linz]

Carl Nielsen Symphony No. 5 op. 50
Helios Overture Op, 17
Jean Sibelius Spring Song Op 16
Night Ride and Sunrise Op, 55
Royal Scottish Orchestra, Alexander Gibson

[Madiel]

Today's winning RV numbers are 325, 353, 451, 463, 577 and 569.

[JBS]

CD 6 of

[AnotherSpin]

It's very very good. I don't know why, but I know it is.  Somehow he turns it into music.

Well said, 'turns it into music.' That must be Messiaen's peculiarity, the magic word has to be known for sounds to become music. I'll definitely listen, thank you.

[Que]

Today's winning RV numbers are 325, 353, 451, 463, 577 and 569.

That's a personal favourite.

[AnotherSpin]

I haven't done a thorough comparison, but a couple of years ago I would undoubtedly have preferred the piano version. Nowadays, I find the harpsichord version far more enjoyable. How else can this be explained, if not for the insidious influence of this forum?

[Roasted Swan]

Carl Nielsen Symphony No. 5 op. 50
Helios Overture Op, 17
Jean Sibelius Spring Song Op 16
Night Ride and Sunrise Op, 55
Royal Scottish Orchestra, Alexander Gibson

that's a famously fine recording!

[Madiel]

Just watched on OperaVision: Verdi, Un giorno di regno.

Reasonably good. The setting is modernised, and hammed up a lot which I can guess you can do with a rare Verdian comedy. Some of it worked - the scene at the end of Act 1 was a highlight in general, but seeing the angry Baron armed with a rocket launcher was quite funny. Some of it didn't, and towards the end there were a couple of things that actively got in the way of the music.

[Madiel]

Beethoven: Piano sonata in F minor, op.2/1



I don't believe I've tried to compare my 2 complete Beethoven sonata sets before. Apparently I haven't listened to the Kovacevich recording since January 2016, and the Goode recording since October 2019. Perhaps that's partly because I know the piece so well. Listening to these gave me flashbacks to trying to master a particularly awkward passage in the trio...

Kovacevich goes off like a (Mannheim) rocket in the first movement, but he does it magnificently. It doesn't feel too fast, it feels like a genuine cut time. There's no real repose in the rest of the performance either, but it works. This kind of thing would normally feel breathless to me, but Kovacevich is capable of pulling it off.

Goode doesn't seem slow (except for one weird hesitation he does in a particular passage of the 1st movement), he just gives the piece a somewhat more Classical character. The Adagio still flows, but there's a bit more freedom to it. The Presto finale, on the other hand, speeds along just as much Kovacevich's version.

I like both a good deal, even though they're quite different.

[Que]

I haven't done a thorough comparison, but a couple of years ago I would undoubtedly have preferred the piano version. Nowadays, I find the harpsichord version far more enjoyable. How else can this be explained, if not for the insidious influence of this forum?

Probably.... 

Anyway, this recording is new to me. It does seem I am very much behind with latest developments...

I have these recording for the sole pieces and duo pieces respectively:

. 

And William Christie once upon a time (1977) did a recording with Arthur Haas, but has recently revisited these pieces with rising star Justin Taylor (haven't heard that one yet):