What are you listening 2 now?

[71 dB]

How do you like them?

This are not new works for me, but on the other hand I haven't listened to this CD for years and years. 

[AnotherSpin]

I see the sonatas here now as a recording where the concept (Schubert groping in the dark etc) is more interesting than the actual performances. I think I prefer his first Schubert CDs , though I'm not totally sold on either any more.

Groping... Just today I came across this passage from Osho:

"Ordinarily, man lives in a dark night, never knowing any dawn, never knowing any sunrise, just stumbling in the darkness, falling here, falling there, getting wounded. If you look at man's life, the whole of his life is simply a groping, and it is of absolute futility because through groping he never finds the door."

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

William Walton: Varii Capricci.

@Roasted Swan There is a guitar concerto version (hybrid of Varii Capricci and Five Bagatelles) and it is very likable.

[SonicMan46]

Spohr, Louis (1784-1859) - String Quartets - over the last few days, I've been listening to his string quartets - he wrote 36 over a period of 50 years or so - quoted below is the Marco Polo offering of all of these works in 17 volumes - I've acquired 11 at the moment but have 4 more used ones (all $10 or less) 'in the mail' - Spohr was a major contributor to this genre in the early 19th century until being overshadowed by upcoming composers such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and others.  The works are worth a listen - I'm liking the later ones more, i.e. I think he improved with age -     Dave  (P.S. just showing 3 of the the later Marco Polo recordings).

Spohr String Quartets - Marco Polo Complete Series

V.  1 - Nos. 27 & 28 (Op. 84, Nos. 1 &2)
V.  2 - Nos. 29 & 30 (Op. 84, No. 3 & Op. 93)
V.  3 - Nos. 1, 2, & 5 (Op. 4, Nos. 1/2; Op. 15, No. 2)
V.  4 - Nos. 3, 4, & 6 (Op. 11; Op. 15, No. 1; Op. 27)
V.  5 - Nos. 7 & 8 (Op. 29, Nos. 1 & 2)
V.  6 - Nos. 15 & 16 (Op. 58, Nos. 1 & 2)
V.  7 - Nos. 11 & 12 (Op. 43; Op. 45, No. 1)
V.  8 - Nos. 13 & 14 (Op. 45, Nos. 2 & 3)
V.  9 - Nos. 20 & 21 (Op. 74, Nos. 1 & 2)
V. 10 - Nos. 24 & 25 (Op. 82, Nos. 2 & 3)
V. 11 - Nos. 32 & 34 (Op. 141 & Op. 152)
V. 12 - Nos. 33 & 35 (Op. 146 & Op. 155)
V. 13 - Nos. 9 & 17 (Op. 29, No. 3 & Op. 58, No. 3)
V. 14 - Nos. 31 & 36 (Op. 132 & Op. 157)
V. 15 - Nos. 19 & 22 (Op. 68 & Op. 74, No. 3)
V. 16 - Nos. 23 & 26 (Op. 82, No. 1 & Op. 83)
V. 17 - Nos. 10 & 18 (Op. 30 & Op. 61)

   

[DavidW]

Mahler 7 I. Fischer:



Lacks the oomph I wanted, but fine. I should have reached for Bernstein or Kubelik.

[Florestan]

Excellent performances of superb music. A sleeper.

[Symphonic Addict]

Enescu: Symphony No. 2 in A major

A rich wallow where one can easily get lost among the sumptuous orchestral sounds. Some parts have a Mahlerian and Straussian vibe, so you can imagine how lush it sounds like. The recording was also great, although some people disliked it.

[Symphonic Addict]

Woyrsch: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat minor

Interesting work that, stylistically speaking, sounds like a cross between Brahms (or Reger?) and Bruckner. The fact that it is in my favorite key adds extra appeal to me.

[Symphonic Addict]

Rosenberg: String Quartet No. 7

Thorny, stern, yet compelling. It shares the kind of severity one hears in some of the string quartets by Bartók.

[Linz]

A Baroque Christmas
Australian Chamber Choir, Douglas Lawrence

[JBS]

TD

Rudolf Buchbinder
Beethoven
Variations for piano WoO 63-66, 68

9 Variations on a March by Dressler in c minor
6 Variations on a Swiss Song in F major
24 Variations on Righini's Aria "Venni amore" in D major
13 Variations on the Arietta "Es war einmal ein alter Mann" from Dittersdorf's Das Rote Käppchen in A major
12 Variations on the "Menuet a la Vigano" from Haibel's Le nozze disturbate in C major.

So three composers and three stage works whose only claim to enduring fame derives from Beethoven deciding to play around with a bit of their music.

Continuing on with WoO 69-73 and 75-77.  This time I've at least heard of all the composers save one (Winter).

9 Variations on the aria "Quant' e piu bello" from Paisello's La Molinara in A major

6 Variations on the duet "Nel cor piu mon mi sento" from [Paisello's] La Molinara in G major

12 Variations on a Russian dance from Wranitzky's Das Waldmädchen in A major

8 Variations on the romance "Une fiêvre brûlante" from Gretry's Richard Cœur de Lion in C major

10 Variations on the duet "La stessa, la stessissima" from Salieri's Falstaff in B major

7 Variations on the quartet "Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen" from Winter's Das unterbrochene Opferfest in F major

8 Variations on the trio "Tändeln und Scherzen" from Süßmayr's Soliman II in F major

6 Variations on an original theme in G major

[AnotherSpin]

Italian Concerto in F Major & Partitas Nos. 1 & 2

[Que]

An excellent Medieval Christmas recording:

 

The picture does the actual black & silver cover of this reissue in the special 2011 HM Christmas series no justice... Picture of the regular issue on the right

https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-13251/

[Toni Bernet]

Marc-Antoine Charpentier: In nativitatem Domini Nostri Jesu Christi canticum H.414 (1684)

One of the shortest but also most beautiful Christmas oratorios for the festive season!

More about Charpentier H.414 see

https://www.discoveringsacredmusic.ch/16th-17th-century/charpentier

[Harry]

Konrad Junghänel.
The Lutenist.
The Accent Recordings 1978-1980.
Italian Lute Music-German Lute Music-Silvius Leopold Weiss.
Kapsberger · Piccinini
Bach · Weiss.

10-course Lute (Jacob van der Geest, 1973)
13-course Chitarrone (Jacob van der Geest, 1973)
14-course Liuto attiorbato (Jacob van der Geest, 1974)
Nico van der Waals, 1976.
CD 1: Recorded in June 1980.
CD 2: Recorded at Sint-Stephanuskerk, Melsen (Belgium), in September 1978.
CD 3: Recorded at Sint-Stephanuskerk, Melsen (Belgium), in September 1979.

Its nice to return to these recordings of yore. Brings back memories, and the quick fleeting of time. Fine performances and sound!

[Mandryka]

This piano AoF is definitely worth hearing, he uses the piano to produce some novel effects, tasteful and fresh.

[Mandryka]

For decades I took little interest in organ music. The reasons hardly matter now. At the same time, for just as long, I habitually listened to Bach's works, like the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, the French and English Suites, The Well-Tempered Clavier, and others, almost exclusively in performances on the modern piano.

This year, everything changed. Now I rarely listen to Bach on the piano, if at all. And at just the right moment, I arrived at the Trio Sonatas, since unlike the cycles mentioned above, the Trio Sonatas, BWV 525 to 530, are not performed on the piano. Or are they?

Bartok transcribed at least the 6th. There's a performance on Petronel Malan's recording called "Bach Transcribed" on Haensler. Unfortunately neither Sandor nor Kocsis nor Ranki  recorded it as far as I know.

The interview here, with Sandor, suggests that Bartok transcribed all 6. But that's not confirmed in the New Grove.

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.music.classical.recordings/c/YmN6R2OSLpY

[Traverso]

Bernd Alois Zimmermann

[DavidW]

Beethoven's 9th

[Traverso]

 Stravinsky