What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

From this inexpensive box, but artistically rich content, CD II. It is well sung, and recorded, and not for a moment disappoints. The instrumental parts sound clear as a bell. One is transported back in those times, the feel is there, oozing out of the music itself. The timbre of the voices is in my ears very fitting. Wonderful journey.

Llibre Vermell de Montserrat.
A 14th century pilgrimage.

Hesperion XX.
Montserrat Figueras, Soprano.

[Lethevich]

.[asin]B00006644H[/asin]

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

.[asin]B00006644H[/asin]

Beautiful disc!

[Opus106]

Another box which is re released in 2011, in a different guise are the complete organ works by the mighty Dietrich Buxtehude. Somehow this performance did not well, in terms of sales, and quickly was discharged into the budget abyss. Let me tell you, that this is not deserved, not artistically, or in any other way. For here we have more than excellent performances, well played and recorded on excellent organs. Ulrik Spang Hanssen is a musician of great renown, and deserves his rightful place among other performers. He plays fluently, lively, and has a great ear for the finer details, and adapts to the possibilities of the organs he plays on, never stretching the instruments to corners it can not master. Six CD'S for 8 euro's is without doubt good news for collectors, but it does not reflect the quality of what's on the CD'S. So I urge you to take the plunge, it is highly rewarding, and it doesn't get much cheaper.

CD II. played on the Schnittger Organ in Noordbroek, The Netherlands, Oktober 1990, a beautiful sounding instrument.

I have this as well!

So you see....we do as we are told.

I bought it over a year ago, thanks to a thread started by -- wait for it -- Harry!

[Lethevich]

Beautiful disc!

Yis! It's one of my favourites, and I obsess over it more than a little. It has the perfect combination of:

1. Great music
2. An old favourite
3. New discoveries
4. Interesting small pieces
5. All the works programmed in a highly intelligent sequence
6. Distinctive recorded sound (different to many of the other recordings of these pieces)

Not many discs set me to making lists in an effort to describe how neat they are

[karlhenning]

I need to catch up on my Beethoven acquisitions listening . . . so, maybe a one-a-day program?

Now:

LVB

Violin Sonata № 9 in A, Op.47 « Kreutzer »
Gidon Kremer & Martha Argerich

Piano Sonata № 31 in A^b, Op.110
Wm Kempff

String Quartet № 15 in a minor, Op.132
Vermeer Quartet

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

I bought it over a year ago, thanks to a thread started by -- wait for it -- Harry!

Really, I forgot all about that.

[Opus106]

Really, I forgot all about that.

Memories... I wasn't even a member of this board then. I came across it while searching for what GMGers thought about the cycles available.

[Antoine Marchand]

Memories... I wasn't even a member of this board then. I came across it while searching for what GMGers thought about the cycles available.

It's fun to read these old posts. I found this one (about the Spang-Hanssen set) which recalled me the previous list of Lethe:

Input data:

+ 5 CDs for 7 euros is a bargain
+ Buxtehude rules
- I don't have shelf space
- I don't have too much money
- I have 4 volumes of Buxtehude organ works on Naxos
- I might want to try Vogel one day

=> Result after prosessing the input data: Do nothing.

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

It's fun to read these old posts. I found this one (about the Spang-Hanssen set) which recalled me the previous list of Lethe:

Yes great fun indeed...

[karlhenning]

It's fun to read these old posts. I found this one (about the Spang-Hanssen set) which recalled me the previous list of Lethe:

Input data:

+ 5 CDs for 7 euros is a bargain
+ Buxtehude rules
- I don't have shelf space
- I don't have too much money
- I have 4 volumes of Buxtehude organ works on Naxos
- I might want to try Vogel one day

=> Result after prosessing the input data: Do nothing.

Pity he'd cluttered the shelf space with the Naxos recordings, eh? : )

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Another box which was released in 2009, is probably for me one of the best I ever bought. 20 CD's, every one filled with  virtual all the glories in music one can imagine. Also played and sung by the best in the trade, wonderfully recorded, and a artistic success, that will not have many follow ups. Every time when I return to it, if fills me with joy beyond words. Not a blemish to be found, any where. I return to this box for a second time, and my love increased a thousandfold in every respect. I have CD 6 in my player and Patricia Petitbon, & Sophie Daneman, charm the hell out of me, with their sweet voices seducing me to marvel without end. Its like honey dripping from the spoon, geez, what great joy this affords a old man. Les Arts Florissants, led by William Christie do so at their own peril, but such a sweet fear , who will resist that!

Francois Couperin.
Troisieme lecon de Tenebres pour le Mercredi Saint a deux Voix.

Marc Antoine Charpentier.
Litanies de la Vierge.
Miserere.

Ensemble Jacques Moderne. Joel Suhubiette.

Equally beautifully sung, with great conviction. Female/Male voices have all solo qualities, the warmth and emotion is dripping of the disc, without becoming tacky. The music is again a charmer too. It must have made great impression in its time, as it still does. The recording is excellent. If you are inclined this way, buy this box, its the best investment you can make this year, and listen to it during Christmas.

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Pity he'd cluttered the shelf space with the Naxos recordings, eh? : )

That is not necessarily a bad thing, after all a great part of the Naxos catalogue is on my shelf, and most of them carry great performances.

[Brian]

Brian, just a curious question, how often do you step out of your comfort zone as a listener?

Hmm, that is a curious question, it's in reply to a post where I state interest in Weiner, Dohnanyi and Bloch CDs, none of which have any music I've heard before (and I've never heard any Weiner before)... and after I put on the Riisager I'd never heard before... according to my listening log, so far this year I've given 113 listens to living composers and I've heard 488 things I've never heard before. (That's a pace for exactly 2 "new" pieces per day!) Of course, that count includes everything from early Beethoven to Nielsen's Third to pop songs by Adele [those three examples plucked from the last two days alone].

Really, really outside-of-my-comfort-zone music is restricted to two categories:
1. Medieval/Renaissance choral music
2. Serialism
3. Ambient and/or electronic music
With regard to No 2 I stick with stuff I already know I like (such as Hartmann); of No 1 I did attend a live concert with the Tallis Scholars, because a friend invited me, but that's really the only early-vocal dabbling I've done in a very long time. I steer clear of No 3. What I don't know I can't miss

[Brian]

"Comfort" music 

[asin]B003TUG3UO[/asin]

So, so, so, so good!

[Drasko]

[prémont]

It must be nearly fifteen years since I got this set in its original release on the Danish label Paula (cost by then ca. 120 EU), and I have always considered it one of the best. Spang-Hanssen is a master of stylus phantasticus, and the organs are among the most interesting of their kind. The Membran release must be a new mastering, as it sonically is far superior to the original.

[Antoine Marchand]

Pity he'd cluttered the shelf space with the Naxos recordings, eh? : )

I recall that Craig Cramer (vol. 4) did a very good job there. 

[DavidW]

This PI Mozart recording blew me away!

[asin]B000F1HR8W[/asin]

[Antoine Marchand]

Franz Schubert - Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat D898
Oistrakh Trio
David Oistrakh, violin
Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, cello
Lev Oborin, piano
Rec.: 11 September 1947

[asin]B002JH8ISI[/asin]

CD2

Old recording, but absolutely listenable (just the violin is a bit distorted). Top notch interpretation.