What are you listening 2 now?

[Todd]

Op 90.

[Cato]

Thanks for the many peals of Laughter your Epistle gave me, just what I needed.    

I am glad to know that!   

[Iota]

Chopin: Preludes
Eric Lu (piano)

Lu's Chopin Preludes, quite apart from anything else are highly refreshing. Even at 22 years of age (as he is here), he seems happy to follow his own path, and with his extraordinary talent and sensibilities great things emerge.
Broadly his pianism seems to tend to the delicate end of the spectrum (perhaps something he shared with Chopin?), he is not for example as unbridled or intense as some in a number of the stormier preludes. But elsewhere he achieves such a rare melodic, often quiet intensity, that what is gained on the swings more than compensates for any issues one may have on the roundabouts, which are only a question of taste, as throughout his playing is superb, and frequently mesmeric.
 
It seems hardly surprising that somebody who can manipulate a piano to such magical ends at the age of 22, goes on to win the most recent Chopin Piano Competition on top of the Leeds really.

[Harry]

Viola d'amore.
Works by:
Biber: Partita VII for 2 Violas d'amore & Basso Continuo from "Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa".
Huberty: Aria for Soprano & Viola d'amore; Duet for 2 Violas d'amore.
Gansbeck: Aria for Soprano, 2 Violas d'amore, Basso Continuo "Maria schönste Bluemen zirt".
Ariosti: Cantata for Voice, Viola d'amore, Basso Continuo "Pur al fin gentil Viola".
Ganspeckh: Partita (Overture from A a 2) for 2 Violas d'amore & Basso Continuo.

Marianne Ronez (Viola d'amore), Monika Mauch (Soprano), Affetti Musicali.

Very satisfying, delightful in fact, it's causing a kind of tingling in the ear and heart. Marianne Ronez and Ludwig Hampe of the ensemble 'Affetti musicali' create a dialog with fire and passion, but nonetheless achieve a fine tonal fusion. Clear and bright,  Monika Mauch's boyish soprano dances around the arpeggios of the accompanying viola d'amore, and that is a treat in itself. I seem to have a lucky streak in finding CD's that cheer me up, apart from  French monastery beer, with some French cheese, which also helps tremendously   A fine recording and super performance.

[Que]

^^^

A personal favourite! 

[Harry]

^^^

A personal favourite! 

See this makes me happy too, to share an enthusiasm for this music and performance. Thank you for telling me!
Have a nice weekend my friend.

[Todd]

Op 101.

[Harry]

Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687–1750)
Lute music.
Sonata No. 39 in C major, Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy, Sonata No. 50 in B flat major.
Jakob Lindberg Lute. (13-course lute by Michael Lowe, Oxfordshire, 1982).

This CD includes works from a later part of Weiss career. On it Lindberg gives us a Sonata in C major in Weiss's grandest style and an extrovert Sonata in B flat major.Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte de Logy is a highly expressive piece which pays homage to the finest of the many excellent aristocratic lutenists from Bohemia, Count Jan Antonin Losy von Losintha. These works are well known and well loved. Lindberg gives a fine interpretation, although I prefer Volume one in which he is using a finer sounding instrument, a unique 16th-century lute, built by Sixtus Rauwolf. The Michael Lowe lute he is using on volume two, is an instrument with a somewhat harder edged tone. Not much warmth in it.

[Wanderer]

[ritter]

First listen to Franz Schmidt's two String Quartets...

[Spotted Horses]

Martinu, Piano Music Volume 6, Koukl



Nocturne and Chanson Trists strike me as inspired by Early Scriabin, sort of Chopin on steroids, very impressive. The Evening at the Seashore suite strikes me as having been influenced by French expressionism.

[AnotherSpin]

[andolink]

First listen to Franz Schmidt's two String Quartets...

A treasured disc in my collection!

[ritter]

A treasured disc in my collection!

I enjoyed the CD very much, but am sure these works require repeated listening to appreciate them as they seem to deserve...

[Todd]

[Daverz]

Ginastera: String Quartet No. 2 - Miro Quartet

Wow!

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Mass No. 1 in D Minor
Frederick Guthrie; Patricia Brinton; William Blankenship; Sonja Dracksler
Wiener Symphoniker, F. Charles Adler

[ritter]

Ginastera: String Quartet No. 2 - Miro Quartet

Wow!

I should revisit the Ginastera SQs!

[Linz]

Johann Sebastian Bach Prelude & Fugue in G minor, BWV 535
Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr', BWV 711
Choral "Jesus Christus unser Heiland", BWV 666
Choral "Jesus Christus unser Heiland", BWV 665
Fantasia in G major, BWV 572
Trio sonata No. 4 in E minor, BWV 528
Toccata & Fugue in D major "Dorian", BWV 538

[Linz]

Felix Mendelssohn Symphony no. 5 "Reformation"
Heidelberger Sinfoniker. Thomas Fey