Best of 2024

[Mandryka]

Jennifer Walshe -- with the great Tony Conrad performing In The Merry Month of May, his last recording. Doesn't sound very merry to me, but she has a lovely Irish accent - listen to the rolled r's and the vowel in "month." Tremendous harmonies in the music. One of the comments on youtube says "Dionysian" and that's right I think. Try it on youtube if you dare. @steve ridgway 

[steve ridgway]

Jennifer Walshe -- with the great Tony Conrad performing In The Merry Month of May, his last recording. Doesn't sound very merry to me, but she has a lovely Irish accent - listen to the rolled r's and the vowel in "month." Tremendous harmonies in the music. One of the comments on youtube says "Dionysian" and that's right I think. Try it on youtube if you dare. @steve ridgway 

Thanks for posting that @Mandryka . Reminiscent of Scelsi with the slight variations around a single pitch, the electric distortion added interesting harmonics and the unexpected bass notes gave a nice sense of expanding space .

[vandermolen]

I've ordered the Lorenzo Fernandez CD which sounds excellent (Symphony No.2)
This was a recent great discovery - Steinberg Symphony No.3

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Mine.

[Mandryka]

This is Missa Chiare doclci et fresche acqua by Jachet de Mantua, and his motet Surge Petre, performed by Dionysos Now. I think it's a gem of a mass, a lovely performance, never before on record before, by a composer who is infrequently performed.




This is two Josquin masses and some of his motets by Ensemble Jerycho. What makes it special is the style - utterly intense and prayerful, they mean it. It's like a combination of the best of Pérès and Cappella Pratensis - I mean before Stratton Bull. For me, it was a revelation about what's possible with the music.



This third instalment from The Leuven Chansonnier may be Sollazzo Ensemble's best - or at least equal to their best. Sensual, sultry, voluptuous singing. Good music too, and a recording which brings back for me the feeling of seeing them for the first time five years ago.

[vandermolen]

Mine.

The top picture reminded me of an amusing conversation with an old school friend who commented, after returning from a trip to the USSR, that he was surprised to find there was such an interest in the music of Sir Arnold Bax in the Soviet Union 

[AnotherSpin]

The top picture reminded me of an amusing conversation with an old school friend who commented, after returning from a trip to the USSR, that he was surprised to find there was such an interest in the music of Sir Arnold Bax in the Soviet Union 

Funny. On a more serious note, I'll point out that 20th-century British music was almost never performed or recorded in the USSR. It seems only Britten appeared occasionally. Perhaps, as an exception, something by Elgar. I remember the single performance of Holst's The Planets at the Odessa Philharmonic in the 80s being quite an event.

[vandermolen]

Funny. On a more serious note, I'll point out that 20th-century British music was almost never performed or recorded in the USSR. It seems only Britten appeared occasionally. Perhaps, as an exception, something by Elgar. I remember the single performance of Holst's The Planets at the Odessa Philharmonic in the 80s being quite an event.

That's true although amazingly there's a Melodiya set of the VW symphonies and Svetlanov's recording of Elgar's 2nd Symphony.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The top picture reminded me of an amusing conversation with an old school friend who commented, after returning from a trip to the USSR, that he was surprised to find there was such an interest in the music of Sir Arnold Bax in the Soviet Union 

I love the Cyrillic alphabet! Inversely, decades ago, my Russian friend in the USA told me that the logo of Toysrus looked like Cyrillic/Russian to her.

[AnotherSpin]

That's true although amazingly there's a Melodiya set of the VW symphonies and Svetlanov's recording of Elgar's 2nd Symphony.

You are probably referring to the cycle of all symphonies by Ralph Vaughan Williams, recorded by Gennady Rozhdestvensky in the very late 1980s, the release of which coincided with the collapse of the USSR. In any case, I've never seen it in stores in Ukraine.

Besides the Second Symphony, Svetlanov also recorded The Dream of Gerontius.

[AnotherSpin]

I love the Cyrillic alphabet! Inversely, decades ago, my Russian friend in the USA told me that the logo of Toysrus looked like Cyrillic/Russian to her.

The reversed "R" in the logo (resembling the Cyrillic letter "Я") is often thought to mimic a child's handwriting. However, it strikes me more as an example of dysgraphia, curiously perpetuated in the logo.

[Daverz]

Musicweb's best of 2024:

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/12/2024-mwi-recordings-of-the-year/

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Musicweb's best of 2024:

https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/12/2024-mwi-recordings-of-the-year/

Same old composers and music. This thread is more interesting. Just a personal opinion.

[André]

Same old composers and music. This thread is more interesting. Just a personal opinion.

Well, there are some interesting finds, and I'm definitely interested in the Britten concertos disc, the Delius Mass of Life and Isang Yun's Exemplum in memoriam Kwangju  (bizarrely coupled with yet another Emperor Concerto - so, yes in this case there's an old composer/old music case nobody needs, but it takes up only half of the disc).

[Daverz]

Same old composers and music. This thread is more interesting. Just a personal opinion.

Looking at their list, perhaps I should have included the Macelaru Enescu set, though I would like to live with it longer, and the Maria Herz disc, which I had forgotten I listened to and enjoyed (which says nothing about the music, only my poor memory).

A couple things were on my list last year (Collon's Lutoslawski and Jan Novak concertos).

Also listened to the Inoue's live Shostakovich 10 with the NHK symphony last night, and thought it was fantastic.

[Roy Bland]

Both these composers were haunted by Nazi madness and however their work deserves the highest attention HOPING FOR MORE (i've written to jpc(cpo) they said that vol 2 isn't scheduled yet)

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Well, there are some interesting finds, and I'm definitely interested in the Britten concertos disc, the Delius Mass of Life and Isang Yun's Exemplum in memoriam Kwangju  (bizarrely coupled with yet another Emperor Concerto - so, yes in this case there's an old composer/old music case nobody needs, but it takes up only half of the disc).

That's true. There are some interesting recordings, ie. Dorothy Howell, Paul Lacombe, Albert Dietrich, etc..

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Both these composers were haunted by Nazi madness and however their work deserves the highest attention HOPING FOR MORE (i've written to jpc(cpo) they said that vol 2 isn't scheduled yet)

I will check both the discs!

[hopefullytrusting]

This was easy: Mean Steel's It Is

[Mandryka]

Same old composers and music. This thread is more interesting. Just a personal opinion.

I think it's right to mention the Giovanni Maria Da Crema, the Takacs Schubert 15 remake and Victor Nicoara's improved one piano Busoni Fantasia.

I'll check the Hasselhorn Mahler because his Schöne Müllerin was innovative, thoughtful and supple. He's a singer with ideas of his own.  Sturdy confident barytone -- dark.