What are you listening 2 now?

[AnotherSpin]

Gekic in Japan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOe_VjT-QrU

 

No, it doesn't quite measure up. Not bombastic and loud enough to be a straightaway best... I wonder if that has something to do with the short attention span?

[Roasted Swan]

Louis Vierne-Piano Quintet, opus 42, & Violin sonata, opus 23 in G minor.
Concert-Centenaire, Volume II. 1914-1918.


The life of Louis Vierne, a pupil of César Franck, was marked by hard blows of fate - and yet the French composer scaled the highest peaks of his compositional output during the most difficult times. Today, with the exception of his organ works, his oeuvre is rarely performed. It is therefore a small wonder that The colorful Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor is recorded and was commissioned by the famous virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe, who premiered the work in 1908 with triumphant success. The Piano Quintet in C minor is dedicated to the composer's son who died in the First World War. It marks Vierne's undisputed high point in his chamber music oeuvre and impresses with its bold passion and flawless architecture. The flawless architecture and bold passion are met by the performers in such a way that I listened almost breathlessly to every single note. The recording is exceptionally fine, and lets you hear the myriad details that are hidden everywhere in the music. A fantastic series.

The Quintet is an exceptionally powerful work.  Vierne wrote; "I will make something powerful, grandiose and strong.... as for me, the last to bear my name, I will bury him in a roaring of thunder, not in a plaintive bleating of a resigned and blissful sheep."    How great Art can spring from tragedy always moves me......

[Todd]

[prémont]

No, it doesn't quite measure up. Not bombastic and loud enough to be a straightaway best... I wonder if that has something to do with the short attention span?

Sokolov is of course very virtuosic, but I feel his playing like a rather brutal demonstration of virtuosity.

Gekic is equally virtuosic but not in a demonstrative way, and I think he makes more beautiful music of the piece.

And why must the piece be played in a loud and bombastic way?

[Harry]

Gabriel Fauré.
Concert-Centenaire, Volume III 1914 -1918.

Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A minor, Op.13 and No.2 in E minor, opus 108.
Judith Ingolfsson, Vladimir Stoupel.

These works by Faure, fascinate me. Not only because of the history of the works, but also the strange way in which they are written. At times brusk, and then again so lyrical and inviting. the drama is never far away, and neither is the mystery. This interpretation is a bit more expressive as others I have heard. but also here do I find other things which I did not hear that clearly before, so a complete picture is emerging, the build up of all the interpretations I've heard have their effect on how I perceive both works. It feels like a tight embrace, deeply emotional and in a strange way passionate. The two sonatas are presented in groundbreaking interpretations.
Good performances and sound.

[Mister Sharpe]

In our neighborhood, Hallowe'en now rivals Christmas not just in terms of decorations but also in spirit.  Some displays are already up and many actually appropriate the lights of the formerly more-esteemed - or perhaps equally-esteemed - holiday! My neighbor has a monstrously large inflated Stay-Puft Man from Ghost Busters looming over his lawn and lumbering, seemingly, straight at us. Anyway, in keeping with this scene, I enjoy previewing some potential Hallowe'en listening, including below.  Crrreeeeppy Classics offers only the standard and predictable fare, except for the inclusion of Ives' Central Park in the Dark.  The VW (on LP) has the song "The New Ghost," which for some reason I cannot remember. BTW, a shout-out to the memory of Michael Kennedy, music critic and author, whose liner notes grace this album. He was a friend of VW's as well as a discerning biographer of Strauss and Elgar. Did I mention he was an incredibly decent human being in a world of monsters? Well, he was. RIP indeed.

[Mister Sharpe]

The Hallowe'en Goblins, everywhere lurking, prevented me from attaching the VW LP to the above post. Here 'tis:

[(poco) Sforzando]

Sokolov is of course very virtuosic, but I feel his playing like a rather brutal demonstration of virtuosity.

Gekic is equally virtuosic but not in a demonstrative way, and I think he makes more beautiful music of the piece.

And why must the piece be played in a loud and bombastic way?

For sheer unmusical bombastic brutality, I don't know any Chopin to match Sokolov's op. 25. If you think his 25/12 is excessive, just listen to his 25/8 in D-flat, which turns this light and graceful piece into something like the stomping of an elephant.

As for Gekic, he is nothing if not individual, full of bizarre voicings and a fermata at the end that stretches to the end of time. But most pianists I know play the piece mostly forte as the score indicates. Give me Perahia, Pollini (especially his earlier and I think best recording on Testament), "Joyce Hatto," Lugansky, Zayas, Ashkenazy, even Yunchan Lim over the Great Grigory.

[Madiel]

There are now 62 volumes of Naive Vivaldi Edition in the house. So I must press on with justifying my excesses.



And gosh, the very opening of this album is really something! RV 499 in A minor starts with a really dark and thick sound, growling in the bass register. I don't know how much of that is due to the choice of continuo instruments, but it's very effective. It's quite a while (relatively) since I listened to volume 1 of the bassoon concertos, but RV 499 makes a damn persuasive case for the genre.

After that, RV 472 in C major has quite a different character, starting with an almost radiant bassoon solo.

[AnotherSpin]

Sokolov is of course very virtuosic, but I feel his playing like a rather brutal demonstration of virtuosity.

Gekic is equally virtuosic but not in a demonstrative way, and I think he makes more beautiful music of the piece.

And why must the piece be played in a loud and bombastic way?

That was what I heard in Sokolov's rendition.

I must say, I wasn't keen on Sokolov for quite a long while, but in recent years my view has shifted completely. The change really took hold after I heard him live a couple of years ago.

[prémont]

As for Gekic, he is nothing if not individual, full of bizarre voicings and a fermata at the end that stretches to the end of time.

Maybe it's these bizarre voicings which makes the piece lively and attractive to me. The fermata I don't like though.

[prémont]

That was what I heard in Sokolov's rendition.

I must say, I wasn't keen on Sokolov for quite a long while, but in recent years my view has shifted completely. The change really took hold after I heard him live a couple of years ago.

I am not much into romantic piano music any more and don't know Sokolov's recordings that well except for his Art of Fugue (and the partita no.2 on the same CD) which I - of course - find next to horrible. I think he revels in the music in a very eccentric way. I haven't had the opportunity to hear him live, so I can only judge from his recordings.

[Mister Sharpe]

There are now 62 volumes of Naive Vivaldi Edition in the house. So I must press on with justifying my excesses.

Not excesses - I'd call them finesses. Congratulations on not just a great accomplishment, but an investment in intellectual curiosity and a testament to one of the most ambitious recording projects in history. Bravo!

[AnotherSpin]

I am not much into romantic piano music any more and don't know Sokolov's recordings that well except for his Art of Fugue (and the partita no.2 on the same CD) which I - of course - find next to horrible. I think he revels in the music in a very eccentric way. I haven't had the opportunity to hear him live, so I can only judge from his recordings.

Allowing for the inevitable simplification, I would say that I like his later (more recent) recordings much more than the earlier ones.

I also listen to the Romantic repertoire much less than I used to.

[Madiel]

Handel, arranged Mozart: Acis und Galatea



It's next up in the Köchel catalogue. I wasn't certain I was going to listen to it, and I'm not sure whether I'll listen to the whole thing at this late hour or at all. But I need something pleasant to help me decompress as I get over registering that someone thought an album from a murderous neo-Nazi would make a nice gift (see the Purchases Today thread). Pastoral baroque/classical seems a suitable antidote.

[Mandryka]

For sheer unmusical bombastic brutality, I don't know any Chopin to match Sokolov's op. 25. If you think his 25/12 is excessive, just listen to his 25/8 in D-flat, which turns this light and graceful piece into something like the stomping of an elephant.

As for Gekic, he is nothing if not individual, full of bizarre voicings and a fermata at the end that stretches to the end of time. But most pianists I know play the piece mostly forte as the score indicates. Give me Perahia, Pollini (especially his earlier and I think best recording on Testament), "Joyce Hatto," Lugansky, Zayas, Ashkenazy, even Yunchan Lim over the Great Grigory.

Gekic has some lectures on op 25 12 on youtube. I'm listening now and it seems to be getting interesting, because he talks at length about how he thinks as a musician, how he comes to his interpretation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW2Jf8fmmXQ

In fact I prefer his studio recording - I can't find it on youtube.

[Mandryka]

That was what I heard in Sokolov's rendition.

I must say, I wasn't keen on Sokolov for quite a long while, but in recent years my view has shifted completely. The change really took hold after I heard him live a couple of years ago.

I've heard him a few times playing Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert - and of course a pile of baroque encores. I think he's a good experience in the concert hall, partly because of the sound (I'll never forget the sound he made for the first note of the first Schubert impromptu, like an irresistible call to attention) and partly because you can sense his love of concertising, his good relationship with audiences.

Re his Chopin, when I heard him play the third sonata I felt it was somehow Lisztian, and that may be true of the op 25/12 too. His mazurkas are bizarre.

[Irons]

Exploring (and, so far, quite enjoying) an area of Arthur Honegger's output that was hitherto completely unknown to me, namely his music for solo piano (of for piano duo).



Jean-François Antionioli at the keyboard (joined by Ju-Ying Song in the Partita for two pianos).

Like the cover.

[hopefullytrusting]

Exactly: it is a lake in the Tatra National Park!

"In the past, Morskie Oko was called "Rybie Jezioro" ("Fish Lake") due to its natural stock of fish, which are uncommon in Tatra lakes and ponds. In the clear depths of the water, one can easily notice trout - so-called "famine" trout - that live in the lake. The name "Morskie Oko" ("Sea Eye", "Eye of the Sea") is derived from an old legend, according to which the lake was connected to the sea via an underground passage"
 Wiki

Okay, thank you very much for clearing that up. That makes a lot more sense now, lol.

[Brian]

Plucked from the new release listings, two opposite soundworlds!