What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Mirror Image]

Now:



An old favorite of mine. Giulini lived and breathed this score.

[listener]

an opera for the evening
DONIZETTI    Linda di Chamonix
Antonietta Stella, Cesare Valletti, Giuseppe Taddei
Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, Tullio Serafin, cond.

[Conor71]

Awesome!

[Que]

First listen:



Johann Jakob Froberger - Suites 1649 & 1656
Christophe Rousset, harpsichord
Instrument: Harpsichord Johannes Couchet 1652, Antwerp, extended in 1701 to include a four-foot stop. Collection Musée de la Musique, Paris
Recorded in February 2007 at the Musée de la Musique, Cité de la Musique, Paris
Ambroisie

How is that?  He did a Froberger disc for L'Oiseau Lyre in his early days.
I'm amazed by Rousset's productivity - but now I want that WTC!


Anyway, this morning I'm revisiting this set:



Q

[Conor71]

Faure: Piano Quintets [Disc 1], Piano Quartets [Disc 2] & Cello Sonatas [Disc 4]



I have listened to all of this set now and have been re-visiting it this weekend to get to know the works better - they are all uniformly excellent and I have enjoyed the chamber music in this set as much as any I have heard from Brahms and Beethoven (although time will tell if I grow to like these works as much!).

I now have a couple more of these Brilliant Box sets of complete chamber music lined up in my wish list as potential future purchases - sets by Schumann & Mendelssohn will be next to purchase in the coming months .

[Brian]

Conor, I just love that Faure box - the piano quintets are my favorite, so lyrical and such great interplay between the piano and strings; they are great music to play early in the morning and get you ready for a nice, happy day. 

[George]

Conor, I just love that Faure box - the piano quintets are my favorite, so lyrical and such great interplay between the piano and strings; they are great music to play early in the morning and get you ready for a nice, happy day. 

I have never listened to them in the am, but will do so at the next opportunity.

Morning, Brian! 

[SonicMan46]

 

Boy, Vladimir's hairdoo must have been an inspiration for later blues & soul artists from the 1950s and beyond (e.g. Otis Rush inserted above) -   

[SonicMan46]

Bach, JS - St. John Passion w/ Kuijken & La Petite Bande - from the 5-disc box below (comes as 2 double jewel cases in a box containing separately the booklet on the St. Matthew Passion - so not a space-saver!); reading along in Michael Steinberg's choral book (2005 publication date) - 


 

[Antoine Marchand]

How is that?  He did a Froberger disc for L'Oiseau Lyre in his early days.
I'm amazed by Rousset's productivity - but now I want that WTC!

Hi, Q. In the past my relationship with Rousset has not been easy, especially when he comes to Bach. However, after listening to this disc three times, I can say that it has seemed to me an exceptional recording. I have loved all of it so far: the interpretation, that wonderful Flemish/French harpsichord, the recorded sound, the artwork and those excellent notes written by Rousset himself.

About the performance: I especially liked  that he doesn't try to push the music forward; the music flows rather naturally in that introspective, melancholic way that I feel totally suitable for Froberger. 

[jlaurson]

Tribute on WETA:

Remembering Charles Mackerras
http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=2174

[listener]

Sunday here. so I'll use that as a kind of theme:
SOWERBY   Organ Symphony in G
     David Mulbury,  Aeolian Skinner organ at 2nd Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis
     a somewhat turgid work until the 3rd movement, a 33-variation passacaglia that has more        structural  clarity  and some variety in the solo stops
HAYDN Mass no.12 in B^b "Harmoniemesse"
     Spoorenberg, Watts, Young, Rouleau SATB, St.John's College, Cambridge choir
     Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields,, Marriner
TALLIS:  Mass: Salve Intemerata Virgo       SHEPPARD: Mass: The Western Wind
     St.John's College, Cambridge choir     George Guest, cond.
MARTINU:   Field Mass      JANACEK:  Amarus
      Czech Philharmonic Orch. & Chorus      Mackerras, cond.

[Mirror Image]

Finally got around to listening to this recording:



Spalicek is a very seldom heard ballet written for voices and orchestra. It's quite good, but I wouldn't call it essential Martinu, but regardless this is an enjoyable listen. I have yet to hear the other works on this 2-CD set, but The Spectre's Bride is next.

[not edward]

Mentioning the violin/piano concerto made me go back to this recording:



One of my very favourite Martinu works--and I'm not expecting to hear a finer performance any time soon.

[bhodges]

Stravinsky: Divertimento
Ravel: Sonata in G
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 2

All with Viktoria Mullova (violin) and Bruno Canino (piano).  One of the first discs I ever bought, and still one of my favorite chamber music recordings.

--Bruce

[Sid]

Last few days have heard some interesting things on radio 2mbs-fm sydney (www.2mbs.com)

Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 2

Bruch - Double Piano Concerto

Beethoven - Missa Solemnis - a performance conducted by the late Sir Charles Mackerras, here in Sydney

Borodin - Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor (choral version)

Handel - Zadok the Priest

Works by French Baroque composers - Muffat, Philidor, Couperin, Battistini - from an Australian ABC Classics cd with sopranos Sara Macliver and Taryn Fiebig & Ensemble Battistini.

& others...

[Todd]

Dusted off a couple discs I haven't listened to in a while.  I was reminded anew why I enjoy them so much.

The Boulez Mahler 4 is a bit cool, yes, but it is so precise and wonderfully played that I cannot resist.  Throw in Juliane Banse's beyond superb singing that's as precise as the Cleveland Orchestra and supremely beautiful (though it's very womanly and decidedly un child-like), and it remains one of my favorite recordings of the work.  Only the processed sounding sound is a drawback.

The Karajan recording of Honegger's Third is stupendous.  Man, this is great stuff.  I've only heard Serge Baudo's for comparison, and Karajan blows him into the weeds.  A magnificent recording of a great piece.

[The new erato]

Mentioning the violin/piano concerto made me go back to this recording:



One of my very favourite Martinu works--and I'm not expecting to hear a finer performance any time soon.

And probably the best disc in the series.

[Sid]

Yes, Todd, I also like those works - the Mahler 4th & Honegger 3rd.

Later on in the evening, I will listen to the following program on radio 2mbs-fm Sydney (www.2mbs.com). I haven't heard any of these works, so it will be an interesting evening.

KEYBOARD CONTRASTS with Phil Vendy

Saint-Saëns, C. Six études for the left hand, op 135 (1912).

Alkan, C-V. Fantasy in A flat for left hand, from Trois grandes études, op 76 (c1838).

Mozart, W. Sonata in F, K497 (1786).

Haydn, J. Sonata no 51 in E flat, Hob.XVI:38 (1779).

Korngold, E. Suite for strings and piano left hand, op 23 (1930).

[mc ukrneal]

I bought this disc, Songs My Father Taught Me sung by Thomas Allen, in one of Hyperion's 'Buy me Because No One Else Is' sales. I cannot imagine that these are for everyone, but some of the songs are quite beuatiful, and all are well done By Sir Thomas. If you like this sort of thing, I imagine you would eat this up...