What are you listening 2 now?

[Que]

Morning listening:

[Madiel]

Repeat Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges



With more of a focus on the music. Honestly, how exactly did Ravel get stuck with the label of 'impressionist' composer? This is hard-edged and modern.

[Harry]

The Lion's ear.
A Tribute to Leo X, Musician among Popes.
La Morra, Corina Marti, Michał Gondko.
Recorded in February, 2015 at Beuggen Castle, Rheinfelden, Germany.

Works by.
Mantovano, Lirum bililirum. Piacenza, Gioioso. Bruhier, Vivite felices. Milano: Ricercare Ness 4 & 10, De mon triste desplaisir (after Richafort) Fantasia "De mon triste. Pesenti, Che farala, che dirala. Anonymous (Pope Leo X?), Spem in alium, Se mai per maraveglia, Fortuna disperata. Pisano, O vos omnes.
Craen, Ecce video celos apertos. Genet, Jerusalem, convertere. Cavazzoni: Recercada, Lautre yor per un matin, O stella maris. Isaac, Fortuna disperata / Sancte Petre; Quid retribuam tibi, Leo, Pope Leo X: Cela sans plus; Canon di papa Lione X a 3 voci.  Desprez, Salve, Regina.  Mouton, In omni tribulatione.

Fresh sounds from old times! Yet another wonderful release by La Morra. One can hardly find fault with any of these recordings. In this case a small one. The first track, Lirum Bililirum by Montovano has the voices all muddled up, it sounds a bit like sand paper. After that superb recording and performances. There is so much beauty in what is happening here. A fine rutsch in the morning.

[Que]

For me the big prize of this recording is the inclusion of Clemens non Papa's Christmas mass Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis. Which suffers from neglect... the only other recording available is by the Tallis Scholars.

PS the entire programme consists of German & Franco-Flemish repertoire and for a British ensemble it comes off rather well.
Stile Antico also did recordings with English and a Spanish Christmas music,

[Harry]

For me the big prize of this recording is the inclusion of Clemens non Papa's Christmas mass Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis. Which suffers from neglect... the only other recording available is by the Tallis Scholars.

Wonderful recording indeed!

[Harry]

Jean-Baptiste Loeillet, de Gant (1688 - ca 1720)
Sonatas & Triosonatas.
And works by: Jean Baptiste Loeillet de Londres (1680-1730) , Jacques Loeillet (1685-1748)
La Caccia.
Recorded: 2006 l'église Saint-Remy de Franc-Waret (Belgique).


To be sure the 15th and 16th centuries were the golden age of Flemish polyphony, with such luminaries like Dufay, Josquin, Isaac and many others. What is clear in an instance is the complex counterpoint and a sense of musical quality in his works, like great architecture, not expected from this composer. Almost 500 years after his death, much of his output remains consigned to music history and is completely unknown. And that is a bloody shame, for I found so much to enjoy, and discover another layer of composing, which delighted me no end. Superb sound and performance.

[71 dB]

Rodrigo - Piano Music
Artur Pizarro
Naxos 8.557272

I like Spanish piano music. It's a pleasure to revisit this CD. 

[Harry]

Bellissimo Splendore.
Music at the Brussels court of the 17th century.
La Caccia, Patrick Denecker.
Recorded in 2005. No PDF file attached.

The music is indeed Bellissimo Splendore!
The list of composers is a treasure trove of discoveries, known and unknown. You are dipping into the musical reality of that time, and so get a sense of the musical history and performance practice, well at least a vision of how it might have sounded. So the title of the CD is apt. The musicians play in a precise and balanced way, with attention to details, and tempi that embrace all of that. Superb sound, one can make a distinction between al the different instruments, couched in a perfect ambiance. 

[Traverso]

Arcadelt  Motetti

[Harry]

George Lloyd.
Complete Symphonies-Box I.
CD IV.
No.5 & 6

What greater bliss is there as listening to the second movement of the 6th Symphony?
Marvelous performances and sound.

[Harry]

Malcolm Arnold.
Complete Symphonies.
CD IV.
Symphony No.7, Op.113 (1973).
Symphony No.8, Op.121 (1979).
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ Vernon Handley.

I love the madness in the first movement of the 7th, there is purpose and a determination that verges on the brink of chaos, but it's actually far from that.. Everything is carefully worked out, every note stands firm and clear. Even the eerie second movement is carefully melted together, and Handley brings it out with the vehemence it needs.  Nothing but praise for the 8th,. Understanding the way, is too understand the meaning. Superb sound and performance.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Goedicke trumpet concerto.

[Cato]

This morning...

Too many years have passed since I last heard this!


And so, I thought that it must also be high time to hear this overture by Kalliwoda!

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, 1872/77 Mixed Versions. Ed. Robert Haas
Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, Günter Wand

[arpeggio]

[Linz]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 28 in C major K200 (189k)
Symphony No. 29 in A major K201 (186a)
Symphony No. 35 in D major K385 "Haffner"
Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado

[Brian]

The last full day of music listening I'll have before visiting family who favor more traditional Christmas music...so I am indulging in my two favorites (in new-to-me performances)...

[ritter]

The preludes to two operas by Ildebrando Pizzetti based on Greek antiquity. The early  Fedra (from 1915) and his last opera, from fifty years later, Clitennestra (1965).

[Florestan]

The Nutcracker (first listen to this recording)

The very moment I learned it fits into one single disc I saw a red flag raising --- and rightly so.

Whys is it that some people feel the need to fit it into one single disc? (Gergiev, I'm talking to you as well) For God's sake, this is ballet, ie music for dance --- do Jarvi and Gergiev really think that their insanely fast tempi can be danced to? And if they don't, and just treat the music as purely symphonic, they could have just recorded the suites, not the entire thing (and they'd have still been as wrong as it gets).

Meh.

[Linz]

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker, Op. 71
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov