What are you listening 2 now?

[steve ridgway]

Schnittke - Violin Sonata No. 2, 'Quasi Una Sonata'

[steve ridgway]

Finishing off a pleasant morning's listening with

Scelsi - Natura Renovatur

[Wanderer]

[Que]

Morning listening from the shelves:



https://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/MusiqueEnWallonie_MEW1577-1578_LinnRecords_CKD568.html

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Jun/Dufay_masses_MEW1577.htm

PS This set was the beginning of the end of my love affair with this ensemble... These performances are wonderful, but rather hard pressed... This feature, that Jesse Rodin reportedly picked up from his mentor Alejandro Planchart, became even more apparent in later recordings. And that was it for me.

[71 dB]

Franz Liszt - Symphonic Poems Tasso, Les Préludes, Mazeppa and Prometheus
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (Katowice)
Michael Halász
Naxos 8.550487

[San Antone]

Bach - The Art of Fugue BWV 1080
Sato | Netherlands Bach Society

Very enjoyable for me:

Shunske Sato made his own instrumentation for the Netherlands Bach Society. "I wanted to bring out the many colours of the work and of my ensemble. Every fugue has its own character. On the basis of the rhythm, time and chromatic lines, etc., you can determine which instrument is most suitable. I've studied each part very carefully, in order to decide which instruments are best to use. I wanted the whole Netherlands Bach Society to be heard, so the singers are taking part as well. They sing without words, to vowel sounds. When you introduce singers to the Art of Fugue, you can hardly ignore the example of the Swingle Singers. The sung Contrapunctus 9 is intended as a tribute to their great recording."

[Madiel]

Stravinsky: Apollo



Currently confirming I find this a more engaging listen than Pulcinella.

[Que]

Exploring the trio sonata, a popular chamber music form in the Baroque:




PS Rather odd cover art....

PS II Music is entertaining and the performances are energetic and uplifting but this does not really stand out amongst trio sonatas. Good for a single/occassional run...

[Traverso]

Mozart

pianoconcertos 5 & 6 + Concerto for three pianos

[Madiel]

Chopin Mazurkas, opp. 24, 30, 33 and 41.



With allowances for the German publisher probably mucking up the order of op.33, and definitely mucking up the order of op.41.

[Todd]

Op 109.

[Wanderer]

[Todd]

Op 110.

[ritter]

The three String Quartets of Alberto Ginastera, with the Lyric Quartet (and soprano Olivia Blackburn in No. 3, op. 40).



Hat tip to @Daverz .

[Que]

Another recording by Simone Pierini, and again in excellent performances. This time with harpsichord music by Charles De Mars (Demars) (1702-1774) on a harpsichord after Michael Mietke. Commentators are IMO right in pointing out the influence of Händel's harpsichord suites. This might have influenced the choice of the (German style) instrument.

[Todd]

Op 111.

Working through the cycle in something close to one sonata per pianist is fun.  I wonder what going through Mozart's sonatas in a similar fashion might yield.  Perhaps I will find out.

[Toni Bernet]

As a half-Jew (her father was Catholic, her mother Jewish), Dutch composer Henriette Bosmans had to give up composing and performing during the Nazi occupation. She was only able to work as a pianist and artist in small circles and earn a living. In a courageous initiative and thanks to her contacts with conductor Willem Mengelberg, she managed to secure the release of her mother, who had already been arrested, and save her from deportation to a concentration camp.

After this dark and difficult period, Henriette Bosmans began composing again towards the end of the Second World War and, among other things, set John Henry Newman's poem 'Lead, kindly Light' to music as an art song. First for soprano and piano, later also for soprano and orchestra. The premiere took place after the end of the war on 3 November 1945, performed by Jo Vincent, soprano, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult.

You will find more informations and a Listening companion here:

https://www.discoveringsacredmusic.ch/20th-century/bosmans-henriette

[Spotted Horses]

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No 16 (Op 31, No 1) Annie Fischer, then (on a lark) Pollini





A reminder that not all Beethoven is a "storming the heavens" affair. The outer movements are lively and enthusiastic, the central slow movement is often described as a parody of Italian opera, a bit bombastic with exaggerated ornamentation and showy cadenza-like passages. Pollini is rather quicker in the slow movement. Another thing I noticed is that the audio that DG provided Pollini changed dramatically over the years. His early recordings were very dry, and this one has lots of reverberation. (Personally, I think the ideal is somewhere in between.)

It might be interesting to listen to a version with a really slow middle movement, like Arrau.

But, according to my recent custom, I will follow up with a recording on forte-piano, Badura-Skoda.

[André]

An absorbing release. Schubert's 2-movement torso of a sonata has been completed here by Brian Newbould (who 'completed' the Unfinished symphony in the Marriner cycle).

Schubert had written most of the scherzo and part of the trio and had started the finale. What we get is a complete sonata whose last two movements owe as much to the skill of Newbould as to the composer's known intentions. The Reliquie portion (as it's been known ever since its publication in its two-movement form) is of course a formidable work in its own right.

Just like in the Wanderer-Fantasie and the first movement of D959, Schubert is shown here at his most assertive, indeed percussive self. Pianist Todd Crow is both sensitive and determined. The work moves inexorably from movement to movement. After the searching, disquieting Andante the scherzo reverts to the opening movement's staccato, typewriter kind of writing. It's labeled Menuetto. Allegretto, but there is little relaxation. The finale is an allegro Rondo (Schubert's own indication).

One is bound to be sceptical about the reconstructed parts, but since Schubert at least started and developed some of their material, we can assume the result is not just an approximation, but a legitimate work of music. So far my favourite version of this work has been from Brendel (he recorded it twice), who manages to be both brittle, slightly angry and yet convey a lyricism that clearly lurks in the background throughout. Crow is both clear-sounding and clear-headed, never unsure of where things are going.

The disc is completed by Schubert's 15min Thirteen Variations on a Theme of Anselm Hüttenbrenner, D576 and by Hüttenbrenner's own fine piano sonata in E major. Excellent piano sound, immediate yet clearly set in a warm acoustical space.

[Todd]

K279.