What are you listening 2 now?

[JBS]

Re Nutcrackers

I find that I would rather watch than listen to the complete Nutcracker.  I used to watch the ABT performance with Baryshnikov when PBS broadcast it every year. Now I usually go with this DVD, although there's more than a few interesting looking alternatives.
Anyone have a favorite DVD version?


TD
CD 3
Hillier Variations
Ballet Suite
Bamberger Symphoniker
Horst Stein conductor

[(poco) Sforzando]

Re Nutcrackers

I find that I would rather watch than listen to the complete Nutcracker.  I used to watch the ABT performance with Baryshnikov when PBS broadcast it every year. Now I usually go with this DVD, although there's more than a few interesting looking alternatives.
Anyone have a favorite DVD version?

Unquestionably the Balanchine with the NYC Ballet! I've also seen it live a number of times!

[Brian]

The complete Nutcracker would be a Desert Island work for me - I love it to an almost irrational degree.

Any favorite performances, or a favorite tier of them, or performances you like for different reasons (most danceable, most exciting, etc.)? I have Previn, Bonynge, Ozawa, and Tilson Thomas.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

William Walton: Varii Capricci.

[AnotherSpin]

Woke up to the thud of explosions and the hum of a drone passing nearby. It's still a bit early to get out of bed, but sleep feels far away now. I'll put on some music.

[Madiel]

Vivaldi

Concerto in G minor, La Notte (chamber version)
Elvira, anima mia



I believe I've now heard all the different variations of the 'La Notte' idea, and they're just as pictorial as the (in)famous Four Seasons. And more unconventionally structured.

The track listing claims Elvira as a cantata for contralto, but the RV catalogue and the liner notes give away that it's actually one of the ones for soprano. Laura Polverelli does occasionally strain, but it's not nearly as bad as the one she did on a later volume. Either she had better range in this slightly earlier recording or the work just doesn't sit as high in her voice. Perfectly acceptable - though the liner notes acknowledge that you don't come to these Vivaldi cantatas for the quality of the poetry.

[Madiel]

Vivaldi: Trio sonatas op.1, numbers 12, 9 and 1.



The music is good, the performances are good. The 2 violins dance around each other in appealing ways.

It's an odd duck of an album, though. First up, it's only three-quarters of op.1 which is bound to be frustrating for people like me who want sets.

Secondly, it's not anything to do with the Vivaldi archive in Turin. This does get acknowledged in the liner notes in one part, and it's a sign of how the series started moving away from that original idea. But unlike the "New Discoveries" albums, this one gets erroneously listed as a volume in the "Treasures of Piedmont" series. This is before they completely changed the numbering system and retrospectively renumbered all the previous volumes.

Thirdly, what doesn't seem to be acknowledged anywhere is that this is Naive's reissue of a recording from a small Italian label. And for reasons best known to themselves they've rearranged the order of the sonatas.

[AnotherSpin]

Johann Sebastian Bach: Orgelmesse - Dritter Teil der Clavierübung

Ullrich Böhme

[Que]

[...]Breathtakingly beautiful, really quite a surprise, that Arianna Savall could sing so well and on pitch. I heard other things of her that were to say it mildly, not pleasant. [...]

I always thought she was the better singer compared to her mother.

Woke up to the thud of explosions and the hum of a drone passing nearby. It's still a bit early to get out of bed, but sleep feels far away now. I'll put on some music.

Hope you are safe and things quiet down soon.

[Que]

Once I start this series, it often immediately pulls me in...

So this morning the 2nd disc, which has the mass "Je prens en grets" by Thomas Crecquillon no less.

Amazon review

[AnotherSpin]

I always thought she was the better singer compared to her mother.

Hope you are safe and things quiet down soon.

What is, simply is. Without alternative, without opposite, without the possibility of being otherwise. I hold no images in my mind; they merely pass through.

Thank you.

[AnotherSpin]

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
Gächinger Kantorei

Helmuth Rilling

[Roasted Swan]

William Walton: Varii Capricci.





Bizarre that this remains the only recorded version of this attractive work.......

[Madiel]

Poulenc: Chansons Villageoises

Starting off with the orchestral version (the one Poulenc intended), which I might not have heard before. Idagio only has this one recording of it from (I think) the 1960s.

[Harry]

Hina & Fiona Khuong-Huu.
"Dear to us" (Debut recording)
Fiona Khuong-Huu, Hina Khuong-Huu, Rohan de Silva, Piano.
Recorded at Bowes Center for the Performing Arts Studio G, in San Francisco,
2024 and at Elmwood Road Studios, South Salem, in New York. 2025.

An interesting program, well performed and in stunning SOTA sound. Both Hina and Fiona are well trained and accomplished violinists, and set a standard here in the works they play. Their tone is immaculate, and perfectly on pitch. Rohan de silva fits like a glove into their sound. The compositions are varied, from Halvorsen to Manuel Ponce, all played with warmth and commitment. The sisters' extraordinary synchronicity creates a musical experience that is both intimate and exhilarating.  Their playing together reveals a deep bond characterized by lifelong collaboration, honest artistic dialogue and complementary interpretations.  A balm for one's senses, and a great start in the early afternoon.

[Madiel]

Cantique de Jean Racine



This choir really does make an absolutely gorgeous sound. I don't know how much of that is due to the recording being a little soft-focused. But gosh it's nice to wallow in.

[Que]

   

[Madiel]

Ravel: L'Enfant et les Sortileges



It's many years since I last listened to Ravel's incredibly inventive score. I might have to give it another spin tomorrow to make up for it.

The stage directions seem incredibly complex, I wonder if it isn't staged often because it's difficult.

[Papy Oli]

Spohr - Clarinet Concerto No.4 (Hyperion)

Bach - Cantatas Vol.41, BWV 56, 82, 158, 84 (Suzuki)

Malcolm Arnold: violin sonata - Chamber Music, Vol. 1 (Hyperion)

Bacewicz - SQ no.1, SQ No.6 (Chandos)

[Papy Oli]

Mozart - Sonatas for Violin and piano

Continuing.