What are you listening 2 now?

[Todd]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Wim van Beek: J.S. Bach Petruskerk Leens.

[Daverz]

Finzi: Clarinet Concerto - Emma Johnson, Royal Philharmonic, Charles Groves

Sadly the streaming version on Qobuz cuts off abruptly before the last note of the concerto.  Brutal.

[AnotherSpin]

Last night we rewatched the wonderful Japanese film Midnight Diner (Shinya Shokudō / 深夜食堂). In one scene, quite unexpectedly, Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in A major, K.208 begins to play.

That moment sparked my curiosity, and I went searching on Qobuz for recordings of the piece. I eventually settled on Gustav Leonhardt's harpsichord version: crisp, elegant, and filled with a restrained poetry. In the film the sonata is played on the piano, yet Leonhardt's take on the harpsichord feels so incredibly moving.

Now I am listening to the album that includes this Scarlatti piece. It is a perfect way to begin the day: calm, luminous, and gently tinged with melancholy, much like life itself.

[AnotherSpin]

[Papy Oli]

Good morning all,

A First listen to the work.

Mendelssohn - Lobgesang

Christiane Karg, Maria Bernius (sopranos) Werner Güra (tenor) Kammerchor Stuttgart & Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Frieder Bernius

[Que]

Volume IV contains a selection of 19 motets arranged according the liturgical year, including five motets by Clemens non Papa. Disc 1 opens with a terrific piece by Thomas Crequillon.

Review by Stephen Midgley

[Harry]

Anthony Holborne.
"My Selfe"
16th Century Pavans, Galliards, And Almains.
Ensemble – The King's Noyse.
Lute, Cittern – Paul O'Dette plays: 8-course lute by Paul Thomson, Bristol, England, 1991, after Vendelio Venere, 1582 4-course English cittern by Peter Forrester, Norwich, England, 1996
Viol [Bass Violin] – Emily Walhout.
Viola – Margriet Tindemans, Scott Metcalfe..
Violin, Directed By – David Douglass.
Violin, Viola – Robert Mealy.
Recorded, 1998, Florence Gold Auditorium in Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts (USA).
Front cover: George Clifford, Third Earl of Cumberland (1558-1605), Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619).

A delightful disc, well played and recorded. An oldie but still as valid as it was in 1998. We are presently snowed in and life has come to a still stand. No traffic on the street, no plains trains and automobiles. A white picture outside, unheard of in the Netherlands since 1979.

[Florestan]

D 804 in A minor "Rosamunde"

[Que]

A Harry recommendation. 

[Madiel]

Good morning all,

A First listen to the work.

Mendelssohn - Lobgesang

Christiane Karg, Maria Bernius (sopranos) Werner Güra (tenor) Kammerchor Stuttgart & Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Frieder Bernius

I thought you were doing a Mendelssohn symphony listen? Or was that someone else I'm mixing you up with?

[Madiel]

Haydn: Piano concerto no.11



I'm not sure whether I've ever listened to any of these concertos before. Half of the piano concertos probably aren't authentic, but these are the 3 everyone does on the grounds that they're definitely authentic, and number 11 is from around the same time as Mozart's great series. Though on first listen it's not on that level.

[Papy Oli]

I thought you were doing a Mendelssohn symphony listen? Or was that someone else I'm mixing you up with?

I was.

I am.

Stop confusing me. 

I have listened to several versions of No.1 before Christmas.

I am (was, still am, after an errand) listening now to Symphony No.2, a first listen to this work, which I was told (by you    ) that it is not a symphony any more, but appears in symphony boxes but also appears under a choral work, incidentally in the Carus box that is of interest as discussed, hence I am now listening to that symphony that is not one in a box that doesn't contain any.   

Whatever that Schrödinger's symphony is or not, I am enjoying it.

So there.       

(I sound like snypprrrr      )

[Madiel]

(I sound like snypprrrr      )

I mean, I was already laughing before I got to this line, but that made my night.

[Madiel]

Beethoven: Piano Concerto in B flat, op.19



I think I sometimes prefer "no.2" to the slightly more mature "no.1" in C major, just because it's quite a bit shorter (and more in line with a lot of Mozart's concertos). The B flat major is less likely to outstay its welcome.

[Florestan]

Beethoven: Piano Concerto in B flat, op.19



I think I sometimes prefer "no.2" to the slightly more mature "no.1" in C major, just because it's quite a bit shorter (and more in line with a lot of Mozart's concertos). The B flat major is less likely to outstay its welcome.

I concur. "No. 2" is hugely underrated.

[Iota]

Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D958
Mitsuko Uchida (piano)

Once again all Uchida's natural intensity, commitment and sincerity align to benefit this music in myriad wondrous ways, stretching from grandeur to the smallest whispered intimacy and all areas in between.

[Traverso]

Mozart

Yesterday I watched an episode of the new television series "Amadeus" starring Mozart. Miles Forman's film is superior in every way. Mozart is played, of all things, by a Japanese man who makes all sorts of peristaltic movements while conducting, which I can hardly imagine would have been the case with Mozart. Once again, the well-worn feud between Salieri and Mozart. Salieri declares war on both God and Mozart. On God because he is angry that his talents have been wasted on an unvirtuous person. A penny-pinching novel, in other words.
Salieri also turns into a kind of Weinberg when he asks Constanze to "return a favor" to support Mozart's career.

[Harry]

Nancy Dalberg. (1881-1949)

Chamber Music.
The String Quartets.
String Quartet No.1 in D minor (1915), No.2 in G minor, op.14 (1922), No.3, op.20 (1927).
Nordic String Quartet.
Recorded at Koncertsalen, the Royal Danish Academy of Music, 2018, and 2019.

The music by Nancy Dalberg was received with high critical acclaim, and to my ears well deserved. (You can read her bio on Wikipedia) She has her own voice, and displays a wealth of expression, with lovely melodies and a superb discipline in scoring these works. Certainly not simple meanderings, but  expressions of considerable compositorial intellect. She was highly praised by Carl Nielsen, and had a great trust in her capabilities. And so have I. The performances are near perfect. The sound is okay but I expected more of this SACD recording.

[Harry]

A Harry recommendation. 

I hope you did like it as much as I did.