What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Que]

J. S. BACH:      Two and Three Part Inventions          / Glenn Gould  (1964)

To me, this is one of Gould's best performances. The perfection of the articulation doesn't exclude some moments of deep emotion - the Three Part Invention in F minor - and even a beautiful cantabile not very usual in Gould - the Three Part Invention in G minor.
However, the sound is not very good and the "singing" of the pianist is a bit irritating.

And the Steinway Gould plays has a quirky defect, with a particular key that delays/tremors. The instrument had crashed during transport but Gould insisted on using it, they did the best they could to patch it up.

Listening to music by Carl Friedrich Abel, "the last gambist".
I wasn't particularly impressed by the music first time around, in contrast to the performance BTW by the incomparable Paolo Pandolfo. Let's see how it fares now.



Q

[DavidRoss]

Getting ready to give this a go, not having heard it for at least couple of years:

[Coopmv]

The wonderful Van Nevel Box set "The Secret Labyrinth" has guided me further into the secrets of Early Music. I've progressed my way back to music of the Paris School, or Notre Dame School. As with their Dufay album(s) Grueber and his ensemble deliver sterling perfromances.

Good morning!

Q

Great stuffs.   

[Coopmv]

And the Steinway Gould plays has a quirky defect, with a particular key that delays/tremors. The instrument had crashed during transport but Gould insisted on using it, they did the best they could to patch it up.

Listening to music by Carl Friedrich Abel, "the last gambist".
I wasn't particularly impressed by the music first time around, in contrast to the performance BTW by the incomparable Paolo Pandolfo. Let's see how it fares now.



Q

How do you like this CD, Q?  I bought mine last year ...

[Coopmv]

Yet another version of Brandenburg Concertos from MDT by the Collegium Aureum.  Playing CD2 from this set now ...

[Que]

How do you like this CD, Q?  I bought mine last year ...

It proofed as disappointing this time around. Despite Pandolfo's enthusiasm for Abel's music in the liner notes and despite the great performance and recording quality, the music simply fails to convince. Abel tries to built on the foundations of the French baroque gamba tradition music that fits in the newer transitional Baroque-Classical style, and fails. It sounds laborious, unfocused, uninspired and indistinctive.

Q

[Coopmv]

It proofed as disappointing this time around. Despite Pandolfo's enthusiasm for Abel's music in the liner notes and despite the great performance and recording quality, the music simply fails to convince. Abel tries to built on the foundations of the French baroque gamba tradition music that fits in the newer transitional Baroque-Classical style, and fails. It sounds laborious, unfocused, uninspired and indistinctive.

Q

I am quite philosophical when it comes to building a comprehensive classical music libraray - there will be winners and there will be losers and some recordings will be duds but hopefully not too many.  There are many minor composers like Abel whose works I would like to sample.  How do you like Michel Corrette works?  I have a number of his recordings and he composed some organ pieces that are quite similar to the Handel Organ Concertos in style ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from another version of Mass in B, which arrived from MDT earlier in the week ...

[SonicMan46]

Well, on the road in New Orleans but brought along my old Sony Discman and a handful of CDs, including this new twofer that has been lauded in a number of posts:

Recorded more that a quarter of a century ago w/ Zoltan was a much younger man - sound & performance are just excellent - anxious to get back home to listen to the set on some read speakers! 

[Coopmv]

Well, on the road in New Orleans but brought along my old Sony Discman and a handful of CDs, including this new twofer that has been lauded in a number of posts:

Recorded more that a quarter of a century ago w/ Zoltan was a much younger man - sound & performance are just excellent - anxious to get back home to listen to the set on some read speakers! 

Dave,  SFS is a fine orchestra and it was great when Herbert Blomstedt was its principal conductor.  I have many recordings by Edo de Waart on LP.  I bought this twofers last year and enjoyed it ...

[DavidRoss]

Dave,  SFS is a fine orchestra and it was great when Herbert Blomstedt was its principal conductor.  I have many recordings by Edo de Waart on LP.  I bought this twofers last year and enjoyed it ...

It's still great and even greater now under MTT. 

[Coopmv]

It's still great and even greater now under MTT.

MTT does not do anything for me.  I have only 2 of his recordings among my 8000+ collection.  Hey, this is classical music and tastes are never universal ...

[DavidRoss]

MTT does not do anything for me.  I have only 2 of his recordings among my 8000+ collection.  Hey, this is classical music and tastes are never universal ...

It has nothing to do with your taste.  The San Francisco Symphony is a great orchestra and better under MTT than ever before, thanks to his leadership and attraction of great players like Alexander Barantschick, Peter Wyrick, Tim Day, and others. 

[Harry]

Hard as Steel, the composer said the Symphony No. 2 must sound. He as others as myself found the work to be quite a muddle. To me its utter chaos, and I feel little sympathy for it, still it fascinates me in a odd way. Its relentlessness, square rhythms, austereness, being devoid of any recognizable emotions, other than the mechanical murmurings of a composer, it makes me want to reject and at the same time to accept, although its a pain to my ears anytime, and the work "an sich" sticks out like a sore thumb in the total output of Prokoviev, it keeps a strong hold on me. Kitajenko is slower and softer in his approach as Jarvi, the next set I will sample, but it pays its dividends in a clearer image over all, although I miss some urgency in the various movements. The recording is state of the Art, it must be said, a strong point in the quality of the set. So far I am very content with it. A pity that the first Symphony is always the weak link in the chain, this complete set no exception. In this Marriner old Decca recording is still the winner.

[Antoine Marchand]

Well, on the road in New Orleans but brought along my old Sony Discman and a handful of CDs, including this new twofer that has been lauded in a number of posts:

Recorded more that a quarter of a century ago w/ Zoltan was a much younger man - sound & performance are just excellent - anxious to get back home to listen to the set on some read speakers! 

Hi, Dave. I love Edo de Waart in the piano concertos too, but coupled with Rafael Orozco. They have been my favorites in this repertoire during 20 years, since I knew the concertos numbers two and three performed by them.    

[Harry]

This disc is in many respects a mixed blessing. As with many of the Detroit recordings, the sound is heavy, labored, congested, and muddled, and leaves little insight in the many details Smetana wrote in the score. The second strings, celli, and basses are barely to be heard, and that makes it difficult to assess the total image of the work itself. And whats more, this orchestra is controlling the conductor, instead of the other way around, and that makes this performance even worse. The playing is loud, abrasive even, and whats worse, vulgar. If you look for nuances in this beautiful work, than pass on this. Its like a bunch of Hillbillies is hewing away lustily, without any sense of what they are doing. Funny enough, in the last two movements, Tabor & Blanik, the engineers suddenly decided to change some of the settings, resulting in a much more open picture, and fabulous sounding brass, and some of the String playing in Blanik sounds magical, would you believe that. It may be not a complete catastrophy, but its close.

[Harry]

Giovanni Battista Sammartini is dubbed as the father of the Symphony. He was  a key figure in the classical style, yet he is almost not recorded! He wrote at least 68 symphonies of which the authenticity is sure, and another 74 of which it is not sure. I am glad Brilliant records is picking this up, and aims to record all his known works. Needless to say that all these works are World premiere recordings, performed by a authentic ensemble, being their second disc already. Fine works they are, worthwhile your time and money. It is well recorded too.

Accademia d'Arcadia, Alessandro Rossi Lurig.
Pitch A=430.

[Opus106]

Harry, how fast have you set the audio speed in your player?


Thread duty: Imogen Cooper's Schubert recital.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD2 from another version of Mass in B, a new CD set for my Bach collection ...

[drogulus]

     

      Rubbra: Symphonies 5 & 8/Ode to the Queen

      BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Richard Hickox rec. 1998

      I'm really liking the symphonies so far. After the recent immersion in the Bax cycle I'll say Rubbra has a wider range of expression. The music has a little more figure/less ground than Bax. That's how I hear it now, but we shall see. I'm going to home in on the 5th Symphony.