What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Mirror Image]

Are there two Mirror Images on GMG? 

I should have reiterated what I had previously wrote: I liked the very beginning of the performance, but felt it lost a lot of steam throughout and couldn't retain the same sense of excitement I got from other performances most notably the recent Sir Andrew Davis performance with the Philharmonia.

[kishnevi]

Do you mean that I want a performer to "stick to the score" always? Not in the least. I'm very much in favour of artists taking flights of fancy (appropriate ones) with their interpretations, more so with baroque keyboard music and the virtuoso stuff from later periods; it's just this particular performance, for now, doesn't quite captivate me.

If you want an eccentric recording of BV 988, try Blandine Rannou.  The best  comparison I can make is to tell you to think of HJ Lim playing 1)harpsichord and 2)with the technical proficiency to actually execute her ideas.   The sharing of first name was in fact  enough to confuse me for a moment, and sent me off thinking the Youtube was from Rannou's recording and not Verlet.  (Is it perhaps possible whoever uploaded it to Youtube got his Blandines mixed up?)

It's my almost least favorite recording of the GVs.   Yet I like her other Bach recordings....

I have one recording by Blandine Verlet, her Partitas on Philips (she recorded them a second time on Naive; I'm not sure how many times she's recorded the GVs).   I like that one, at least.

Perhaps 988 brings out the worst in some performers.  My least favorite recording is that of Richard Egarr--a cure for insomnia, that one--and it's the only Egarr recording I have that I don't like.

Thread duty:
Bruggen does Beethoven: the new set of symphonies that was recorded live in Rotterdam in 2011.
Amazon US does not seem to have an image, the link is:
http://www.amazon.com/Live-Rotterdam-2011-Beethoven/dp/B009L4J4O4/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1357074405&sr=1-1&keywords=Bruggen+Beethoven


Listened to the Ninth last night to usher in the New Year, and listening to the rest this afternoon.  Currently on the first movement of the Fifth--extremely fiery at the moment!--with 8 and 7 to go. 
There's (so far) two really bad flaws in this set, which comes close to ruining the Ninth (but not quite).  One flaw is a tenor who just can't get the notes in his solo and the other flaw is a bass who apparently could not keep on pitch during the recitative, and although he got into the swing of it a few moments later,  that was enough to decisively mar the whole performance.

Symphonies 1-6 are turning out fine, and the sonics is excellent even on my little player (this is a hybrid SACD issue),  but be prepared for the crash and burn in the Ode to Joy if you get this one.

[The new erato]

Are there two Mirror Images on GMG? 

I thought that was what mirror images was all about.

[North Star]

Oh my, how I love this set, and lately, the 6th is my favourite Sibelius symphony.  I think I'll make this my first listen of music in 2013! 

I've only listened to the 4th, 6th & 7th, but it sure is a great set. The 6th and 7th are my favourites, and took the longest for me to 'get'.

[Coopmv]

Just finished watching the Neujahrskonzert of the Wiener Philharmoniker again, after still seeing it in the afternoon. Such a wonderful concert it was, it expresses a very joyous, powerful atmosphere!! All the pieces were beautifully played by the orchestra, with great elegance, brilliance and intensity! And I'm also very happy they decided to include Lohengrin's Prelude to celebrate Wagner (although timpani and bass drum were slightly too dull in the first theme).

Now:

Edward Elgar
Overture Cockaigne

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I hope you are enjoying this twofer, it is in my Elgar collection as well ...

[SonicMan46]

Happy New Year Q.

I like Biondi and have many of his recordings and even attended one of his concerts in NY a number of years ago.  He is a real virtuoso.  Unfortunately, mandolin is not exactly my favorite music instrument ...

Stuart - maybe you need another genre of music, such as below?       Dave

[Coopmv]

Now playing the following CD - a very early recording by the English Baroque Soloists with John Eliot Gardner, which probably has not been played in over 20 years ...

[SonicMan46]

Well, finishing up some 'first listens' to recently received boxes from Santa - again, most of these were 'fillers' to defray shipping charges - Weyse is new to me; an early Danish composer (1774-1842) (although born in present day northern Germany); despite his extension into the early Romantic era, these compositions are pretty much classical in form. 

 

 

[Mirror Image]

Now:

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Listening to The Spirit of England. A moving work.

[TheGSMoeller]

Stuart - maybe you need another genre of music, such as below?       Dave

Amen to that. The mandolin is one of the sweetest instruments I hear.

[Lisztianwagner]

I hope you are enjoying this twofer, it is in my Elgar collection as well ...

Certainly, Solti's performances are very enchanting and beautifully played. Among the works included, I especially love Symphony No.2 and Overture Cockaigne, such passionate, elegant music; absolutely brilliant!

[Lisz]

As LvB goes, though, that's chewier-than-average ; )

Agreed! 

[Coopmv]

Certainly, Solti's performances are very enchanting and beautifully played. Among the works included, I especially love Symphony No.2 and Overture Cockaigne, such passionate, elegant music; absolutely brilliant!

Solti was known for his very impulsive approach on the podium early in his career ...   

[Sammy]

Apart from the obviously eccentric aria, she rushes a bit much for my liking. She's fast where she needs to be, but also fast where I would have preferred a bit of 'clarity', some breathing space, so to say. There's also this...um, 'weird' way she plays. And anyone who spoils the ethereal quality of variation 15 is a no-no in my book. Perhaps it's just a case of getting used to a different style, since this is the first time I hearing a recording of hers (well, apart from the E minor toccata which was featured in a Blind Comparison some months ago).

Concerning Verlet's Goldbergs on the Naive label, I'm surprised you would consider her performance on the fast side.  I've heard hundreds of Goldbergs, and Verlet is not faster than the norm in any of the variations.  At 80 minutes, she's actually a little on the slow side.  I understand you thinking that her aria is eccentric, but she's just using a staggering of the musical lines.  As for variation 15, I feel the ethereal quality in her reading.  So listen some more; you just might end up liking it.

[North Star]

Berlioz
Béatrice & Bénédict
Davis
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[Brahmsian]

'Tis the month (again)!

Shostakovich

String Quartet No. 6 in G major, Op. 101

*What a sublime 'Lento' 3rd movement.  So beautiful. 

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[TheGSMoeller]

Brahms SQs this evening.

[Brahmsian]

Brahms SQs this evening.

Did you see my post earlier.    RE:  Brahms' Violin Sonatas.    Happy New Year! 

[TheGSMoeller]

I didn't....

Happy New Year all at GMG. 

Greg (sock dude), this one's for you! 

Brahms

Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major
Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor
*F.A.E. sonata movement in C minor

Gyorgy Pauk, violin
Roger Vignoles, piano

Tasmin Little, violin *
John Lenehan, piano *

Brilliant Classics Brahms monolith!

...until now! Great, I'll have to check these out, I have the Cello sonatas but not Violin.

And, Happy New Year, my friend.

[Brahmsian]

I didn't....



...until now! Great, I'll have to check these out, I have the Cello sonatas but not Violin.

And, Happy New Year, my friend.

I know I sound like a broken record, but the Brahms' violin sonatas are must haves.  As goes with every single one of his chamber works. 

Well, I am only lukewarm about one piece in Brahms' entire chamber oeuvre - his 2nd Piano Quartet, Op. 26.  For me, lukewarm for Brahms is red hot for others, so that's not saying much.