GMG Classical Music Forum

Hopefully something good came musically out of this dreadful year.
My suggestion is for something completely new (like Salmenhaara's 4th symphony in my case) or for an especially fine (not necessarily new) recording of a piece of music with which you are already familiar (like Vajnar's Novak recording on Supraphon). I'm not including a limit - there have been enough rules in 2020:

Also:

VL: Symphony 2/Vladigerov: Symphony 1

Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic for Gelgotas 'Never Ignore the Cosmic Ocean' (great fun and very short) and Kalnins's Symphony 4 'Rock Symphony' (1st Movement only on CD although there are other recordings of the complete work on BIS for example).

These days I was thinking of this idea. I have a bunch to post.

I haven't really discovered any notable composers this year as I've been more concerned with rediscovering what is already in my collection, but what a marvelous journey it's been thus far.

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 28, 2020, 08:43:20 AM
I haven't really discovered any notable composers this year as I've been more concerned with rediscovering what is already in my collection, but what a marvelous journey it's been thus far.

Exactly my project for 2021 - to rediscover and re-appreciate MANY of the discs I already own.......

Quote from: Roasted Swan on November 28, 2020, 09:45:01 AM
Exactly my project for 2021 - to rediscover and re-appreciate MANY of the discs I already own.......

Yes, indeed. I have found, especially nowadays, that I've reached kind of an apex in my collecting and as a result, I've slowed down my buying tremendously.

I took this thread very seriously, so I'll post many different CDs with works I discovered this year and found revelatory or that gave me great pleasure, no matter if the composers are original or 2nd-rate.

Part I


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Part II


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All the volumes of Weingartner's quartets:

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Part III


The 2nd disc is for the Mosolov's String Quartet No. 1

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Final part


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Newbies:

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A superb disc overall. The symphony is a knockout.

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Both works are magnificent.

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An excellent production of this enigmatic opera.

...............................

Oldies:

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The finest operatic recital I've heard in many a moon.

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I bought this one for the symphony by Jan Rääts (and very fine it is) but ended up celebrating one of the best Brahms concerto performances I've heard.

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A searing, monumental performance of this masterpiece in excellent mono sound.

Thanks guys for all the thoughtful replies.
Cesar - I should have posted the Eklund in my original list, it was a fine discovery of this year and so thanks for posting it. I have a CD of Lundquist's First Symphony (I think!) which I recall admiring and so I would like to explore more of his music. As for Soderlind, I wish that his wonderful 8th Symphony (In Memory of Sibelius) was on CD, although I have often listened to the version on You Tube.
André, a big thumbs up for Arthur Benjamin's powerful and brooding Symphony (I have all three recordings on Lyrita, Marco Polo and the Barbirolli Society one) and for Peterson-Berger's 2nd Symphony and Violin Concerto.
I take all the other points about familiarising oneself with one's existing CD/LP collection - maybe that will be my aim for 2021!

I've been focusing on composers I was already familiar with but was very pleased to discover a load of Xenakis's non electroacoustic music on archive.org. I'd only found one or two albums on there a couple of years ago but wasn't ready to appreciate it at the time.

Quote from: steve ridgway on November 29, 2020, 03:42:06 AM
I've been focusing on composers I was already familiar with but was very pleased to discover a load of Xenakis's non electroacoustic music on archive.org. I'd only found one or two albums on there a couple of years ago but wasn't ready to appreciate it at the time.

Interesting. I've never head any music by this composer, so, I just listened to 'Metastasis' on You Tube. I don't know what to say really - although I will say that it held my attention throughout. It reminded me of Ligeti. I read the comments section below the You Tube video with interest. One commentator (a composer) said that he was very moved by the purity of Xenakis's music, although not in a sentimental way. I can, kind of, understand what he means. Although this music is the antithesis of what I normally listen to, I had a strong sense of something worthwhile going on, and I shall listen to Xenakis again.

That's a good result. It is rather alien music but I've just let it wash over me and gradually got sucked in.

Quote from: steve ridgway on November 29, 2020, 09:55:47 AM
That's a good result. It is rather alien music but I've just let it wash over me and gradually got sucked in.

Thanks - you have to surrender to it I think.

Quote from: steve ridgway on November 29, 2020, 09:55:47 AM
That's a good result. It is rather alien music but I've just let it wash over me and gradually got sucked in.

This is exactly what I did with Boulez's music and it paid off tremendously --- what a composer!

Quote from: vandermolen on November 29, 2020, 09:34:19 AM
Interesting. I've never head any music by this composer, so, I just listened to 'Metastasis' on You Tube. I don't know what to say really - although I will say that it held my attention throughout. It reminded me of Ligeti. I read the comments section below the You Tube video with interest. One commentator (a composer) said that he was very moved by the purity of Xenakis's music, although not in a sentimental way. I can, kind of, understand what he means. Although this music is the antithesis of what I normally listen to, I had a strong sense of something worthwhile going on, and I shall listen to Xenakis again.

Wow!  You have some great times coming.  Also, you will have some weird times coming!  It will depend on what you choose!  HAve fun!

My favorite discovery this year...

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Quote from: Cato on November 29, 2020, 10:26:56 AM
Wow!  You have some great times coming.  Also, you will have some weird times coming!  It will depend on what you choose!  HAve fun!

My favorite discovery this year...

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Thanks Leo (and John) - of course I have you to thank for my introduction to Tcherepnin's 'Narcisse et Echo'.

Some new contemporary composers: Steve Elcock, Rob Keeley, Alexandre Brincken (all Toccata Classics),
Tõnu Kõrvits (Ondine), Jonathan Leshnoff (Naxos).

Pleasant discoveries of older music: The early Schubert quartets; Ginastera's Harp Concerto; Cantaloube's Songs of the Auvergne.

Disappointments: Richard Rodney Bennett.  I've sampled widely and nothing appeals to me.

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Quote from: Christo on November 29, 2020, 12:15:16 PM
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I remember enjoying his No. 3 on Bis, but it's been many years.  However, I heard his Piano Concerto No. 2 the other day, and it's a wonderful concerto in the mold of (among others) Prokofiev.

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I'll check out the Chandos Rota series.

One positive "side effect" of the pandemic was having more time to listen to music! I feel like I make more wonderful musical discoveries with each passing year! Looking back over my (extensive!) listening log, these have been my foremost discoveries (and re-discoveries) of the year:


Alnæs: Symphonies nos. 1 and 2
Badings: Symphony no. 4
Barber: Souvenirs (version for orchestra)
Beethoven: Serenade for String Trio in D major, op. 8
Berlioz: Te Deum
Bliss: Meditations on a Theme of John Blow, Adam Zero, Checkmate
Bruch: String Quartets nos. 1 and 2
Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad (rhapsody)
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Cello Sonata
Chadwick: Symphonic Sketches
Coates: London Suite
Damase: Piano Sonata
Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony
Delius: Violin Sonata in B major, op. posth.
Del Tredici: In Memory of a Summer's Day
Dett: The Ordering of Moses
Dubois: Violin Sonata
Dupont: Les heures dolentes for piano
Duruflé: Trois Danses for orchestra
Dvořák: Rusalka, Dimitrij
Dyson: Violin Concerto
Foerster: Cello Sonata no. 1
Foulds: Cello Sonata, April-England
Frumerie: Symphonic Variations
Gade: Symphony no. 1, Echoes of Ossian (overture)
Gipps: Piano Concerto
Glière: Symphony no. 2
Hartmann: Symphony no. 6
Kabalevsky: Symphony no. 4
Martinů: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Melartin: Violin Concerto, String Quartets nos. 2 and 4
Matthews, David: Symphony no. 9
Medtner: Violin Sonata no. 2
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata no. 1
Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 22
Nielsen: Violin Concerto
Nordgren: Symphony no. 8
Novák: Signorina Gioventu (ballet)
Peterson-Berger: Violin Concerto
Pizzetti: Cello Concerto
Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution
Respighi: Metamorphoseon, Concerto a cinque
Saint-Saëns: Piano Trio no. 1
Sauer: Piano Concerto no. 2
Schnittke: String Quartet no. 3
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Stanford: Songs of the Fleet
Stenhammar: Sensommarnätter for piano
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Tveitt: Piano Concerto no. 5
Wetz: Symphony no. 2
Widor: Cello Concerto
Wirén: Symphony no. 2, String Quartet no. 3


WOW! I listened to a ton of wonderful music this year! :) :)

Quote from: kyjo on November 29, 2020, 09:00:31 PM


Alnæs: Symphonies nos. 1 and 2
Bruch: String Quartets nos. 1 and 2
Dyson: Violin Concerto
Foulds: Cello Sonata
Kabalevsky: Symphony no. 4
Martinu: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Matthews, David: Symphony no. 9
Sauer: Piano Concerto no. 2
Wetz: Symphony no. 2

I will just be lazy and use some of the works from your list that's the same as mine...

Year 2020 was too crazy to concentrate on making much musical discoveries, but as I have mentioned a million times already, Haydn's Op. 20 was a revelation to me. Classical music used to be super-exciting for me two decades ago, but life has beaten me down so much over the years I feel too cynical to get excited by a lot of classical music anymore. That's why I try to do things differently. One thing is to be much less active on this forum and also follow US politics much less now that some sanity is being restored to it. I better follow my instincts to find music of my own taste and let others like Kabalevsky or whatever they like. If I find the music of David Maslanka more interesting than Kabalevsky then so be it! Even if nobody else cares about Maslanka. At least I do. Sorry, but I just don't see what's so special about Kabalevsky and I go insane seeing everyone is obsesses over this one composer on this board!

>:D

I have this music style in my head that would intrerests me, but I don't find such music hardly anywhere nor do I know whether someone has made such music. It's kind of Spanish, beautiful, etc. Some 15 years ago I explored Joaquin Rodrigo, but no. Rodrigo isn't that good composer imo. It wasn't what I was after. This inability to find this mystical music has eaten me mentally for years...

Gil Evans? Ennio Morricone? Orchestral Granados? Put these together and we are close... ...I suppose?

Quote from: Cato on November 29, 2020, 10:26:56 AM
Wow!  You have some great times coming.  Also, you will have some weird times coming!  It will depend on what you choose!  HAve fun!

My favorite discovery this year...

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61DzD9vtzgL._SL500_.jpg)

Quote from: vandermolen on November 29, 2020, 10:36:33 AM
Thanks Leo (and John) - of course I have you to thank for my introduction to Tcherepnin's 'Narcisse et Echo'.

You are quite welcome!   8)

For those who might want to discover Nikolai Tcherepnin's excellent music for the ballet Narcisse et Echo:

(The CHANDOS CD)

https://www.youtube.com/v/Kxd7qGyUCfU&t=31s

(https://www.endisc.ro//media/catalog/product/cache/11/thumbnail/300x/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/0/0/0028945409825.jpg)(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71DTVbf68EL._SL1427_.jpg)(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71kwdpjGZiL._AC_SL1200_.jpg)(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZPTX8EK1L._AC_.jpg)(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71trgAJ4KuL._SS500_.jpg)(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41y9Nyl7PEL.jpg)(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61EiRBx8neL._SL1200_.jpg)

There is a new Tcherepnin Narcisse upcoming on Naxos.

As for me, I really discovered Eislers wonderful songs this year (the MDG four discs) and Reynaldo Hahn, both the Bru Zane songs (I have the new opera recording incoming) as well as his charming piano cycle Le rossignol éperdu on Steinway. Eager to hear more.

Of course there is always all the old stuff one rediscovers, but this really hasn't been a year for much listening, so new aquisitions (not many of them either) have been taking a front seat.

Quote from: The new erato on November 30, 2020, 12:48:40 PM
this really hasn't been a year for much listening

On the contrary!  This has been a year for listening and drinking much more than usual.  ;D

Drinking on the other hand has been great.

Quote from: The new erato on November 30, 2020, 01:00:49 PM
Drinking on the other hand has been great.

8)

Quote from: The new erato on November 30, 2020, 01:00:49 PM
Drinking on the other hand has been great.

+1  ;D

Quote from: kyjo on November 29, 2020, 09:00:31 PM
One positive "side effect" of the pandemic was having more time to listen to music! I feel like I make more wonderful musical discoveries with each passing year! Looking back over my (extensive!) listening log, these have been my foremost discoveries (and re-discoveries) of the year:


Alnæs: Symphonies nos. 1 and 2
Badings: Symphony no. 4
Barber: Souvenirs (version for orchestra)
Beethoven: Serenade for String Trio in D major, op. 8
Berlioz: Te Deum
Bliss: Meditations on a Theme of John Blow, Adam Zero, Checkmate
Bruch: String Quartets nos. 1 and 2
Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad (rhapsody)
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Cello Sonata
Chadwick: Symphonic Sketches
Coates: London Suite
Damase: Piano Sonata
Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony
Delius: Violin Sonata in B major, op. posth.
Del Tredici: In Memory of a Summer's Day
Dett: The Ordering of Moses
Dubois: Violin Sonata
Dupont: Les heures dolentes for piano
Duruflé: Trois Danses for orchestra
Dvořák: Rusalka, Dimitrij
Dyson: Violin Concerto
Foerster: Cello Sonata no. 1
Foulds: Cello Sonata, April-England
Frumerie: Symphonic Variations
Gade: Symphony no. 1, Echoes of Ossian (overture)
Gipps: Piano Concerto
Glière: Symphony no. 2
Hartmann: Symphony no. 6
Kabalevsky: Symphony no. 4
Martinů: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Melartin: Violin Concerto, String Quartets nos. 2 and 4
Matthews, David: Symphony no. 9
Medtner: Violin Sonata no. 2
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata no. 1
Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 22
Nielsen: Violin Concerto
Nordgren: Symphony no. 8
Novák: Signorina Gioventu (ballet)
Peterson-Berger: Violin Concerto
Pizzetti: Cello Concerto
Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution
Respighi: Metamorphoseon, Concerto a cinque
Saint-Saëns: Piano Trio no. 1
Sauer: Piano Concerto no. 2
Schnittke: String Quartet no. 3
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Stanford: Songs of the Fleet
Stenhammar: Sensommarnätter for piano
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Tveitt: Piano Concerto no. 5
Wetz: Symphony no. 2
Widor: Cello Concerto
Wirén: Symphony no. 2, String Quartet no. 3


WOW! I listened to a ton of wonderful music this year! :) :)

Interesting list Kyle.
+1 for many of them including the Foulds Cello Sonata, Frumerie, Wiren and many others.
Following Christo's advocacy I think that I shall explore Nino Rota's concert music in 2021, especially symphonies 1 and 2.

Quote from: 71 dB on November 30, 2020, 04:39:05 AM
I better follow my instincts to find music of my own taste and let others like Kabalevsky or whatever they like. If I find the music of David Maslanka more interesting than Kabalevsky then so be it! Even if nobody else cares about Maslanka. At least I do.

Yeah just find something you like and post it up. Maybe someone else likes it, maybe they don't.

Without question my "composer of the year" has been Nikolai Myaskovsky. The complete symphonies, along with the concertos for cello and violin and a disc of works for chamber orchestra. But the symphonies...wow! All twenty-seven of them have merit and value and are wonderful!

After that, my other favourite discoveries of the year have been:

- The eight symphonies of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. I have not heard more exciting music since I first discovered Ginastera, especially in the 3rd and 6th Symphonies.

- The seven symphonies of Ernst Toch. I kinda bought this set blind, and it did not disappoint. Again, wonderful and colourful orchestration.

I was also able to complete another Villa-Lobos cycle, namely the Choros, and add three more Schnittke symphonies (5-7) along with his Viola Concerto and In Memoriam. And I've finally started work on Allan Pettersson's symphony cycle this year.

Quote from: Maestro267 on December 01, 2020, 07:46:29 AM
Without question my "composer of the year" has been Nikolai Myaskovsky. The complete symphonies, along with the concertos for cello and violin and a disc of works for chamber orchestra. But the symphonies...wow! All twenty-seven of them have merit and value and are wonderful!

After that, my other favourite discoveries of the year have been:

- The eight symphonies of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. I have not heard more exciting music since I first discovered Ginastera, especially in the 3rd and 6th Symphonies.

- The seven symphonies of Ernst Toch. I kinda bought this set blind, and it did not disappoint. Again, wonderful and colourful orchestration.

I was also able to complete another Villa-Lobos cycle, namely the Choros, and add three more Schnittke symphonies (5-7) along with his Viola Concerto and In Memoriam. And I've finally started work on Allan Pettersson's symphony cycle this year.

I'm getting to know the Villa-Lobos symphonies better. I'm very pleased that you enjoyed the Myaskovsky set. The Cello Sonata No.2 and SQ No.13 are other favourites of mine, also the Piano Sonata No.5.

A very large bundle of new composers unknown to me were sampled and discovered through a few months of streaming this year and some were even enjoyed in various degrees  ;D

Making my personal cut, in no particular order:

Braga Santos, Goossens, Ethel Smyth, Lalo, Sauguet, Koechlin, Ibert, Braufels, Magnard, Gal (beyond the symphonies), Coleridge Taylor, Hurlstone, Joubert, Holbrooke, Kinsella, Lilburn, Stanford, Parry, Onslow, Ries, Reinecke, Krommer, Casella, Tubin, Holmboe, Weiss, Langgaard, Korngold, Wert, Ariostil, CPE Bach, Myaskovsky, Szymanovski, Bloch, Enescu, Novak, Viren, Tveitt, Gade, Czerny, Reicha, Spohr, Clara Schumann, Massenet, Campra, Escaich...

The high point of my classical year : Unlocking the Vaughan Williams symphonies, at last  0:)

A musically very rewarding year in many ways.

I intend to gradually review them more in depth again in the next year in parallel to my ongoing French exploration project.

Fantastic selection of composers, Olivier. I love most of them. As for VW's symphonies, such a magnificent cycle couldn't go unnoticed for your listening experience. When I heard his symphonies for the first time I was instantly receptive to his idiom.

I guess I do have some composers to add after all: first, and foremost, Hindemith. I know a lot of his music, but I'm in the process of rediscovering and discovering works by him, so he should be mentioned. Elliott Carter and Crumb need to be added as I hardly know their music, but I'm hoping to change this in due time.

My favorite thing about 2020 was finishing, at long last, the ripping of my CDs, which have been stored the whole time in Southern California. Since in my previous passes through them (2012, 2015, 2017), I had previously been selective, the CDs remaining could all be referred to as "the rejects." The delightful thing has been finding, over and over again, hundreds of times, that these CDs were full of simply splendid music, music that for one reason or other I had been unable to appreciate, the main reason, I am sure, being expectations. This time, since I would be stuck here for the duration of my cancer treatment, I determined to rip every remaining disc, regardless.

What a treat. Beethoven, Mozart, Godtphauss, Grippe, and a host of others. The music had not changed, of course, but I had. I had somehow achieved my goal of truly allowing each piece to speak and to be itself. That meant, for one example, that Ragnar Grippe's Shifting Spirits no longer had to sound like Varèse or Dhomont or Xenakis for me to like it. That meant, for another, that Michel Chion did not have to sound like Michèle Bokanowski for me to like his music. I still prefer Bokanowski, but my liking of her music no longer keeps me from liking music of her contemporaries that's not like hers.

It's been a long time in the making, a project I started around the time I first met John Cage, I suppose. It's results have been successful beyond all my expectations. In common with most people, 2020 in most ways was the worst year of my life. In this one way, however, it has been the best. I am now the listener I always wanted to be, and what a wonderful world this is, to be sure.

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on December 02, 2020, 10:01:15 AM
Fantastic selection of composers, Olivier. I love most of them. As for VW's symphonies, such a magnificent cycle couldn't go unnoticed for your listening experience. When I heard his symphonies for the first time I was instantly receptive to his idiom.

+1

 A few favourite discoveries for me this year:


Oleg Marshev playing Prokofiev piano sonatas.

Konstantin Lifschitz's piano recording of Bach's Musical Offering.

De Leeuw recordings of Satie piano music (revelatory to me).


The singing of the early music group La Compagnia del Madrigale has really wowed me.

Takemitsu, Boulez seemed to become even more vividly intense for me than they were before, and Ives has certainly become more important.

And Antoine Brumel's Missa et ecce terrae motus (Huelgas Ensemble, Paul Van Nevel) was a lovely discovery.


I don't know if this counts as a discovery, but I think lockdown has brought me even closer to music, which was a gratefully received experience.

Quote from: Iota on December 03, 2020, 11:40:52 AMTakemitsu, Boulez seemed to become even more vividly intense for me than they were before, and Ives has certainly become more important.

Excellent to read. I love all of these composers.

Quote from: Mirror Image on December 03, 2020, 11:45:06 AM
Excellent to read. I love all of these composers.

Yes a mighty appealing trio. The first two in particular seem like endless Aladdin's Caves, and there's something about Ives attitude to life that shines through in his music that I really like.

Quote from: Iota on December 03, 2020, 11:57:52 AM
Yes a mighty appealing trio. The first two in particular seem like endless Aladdin's Caves, and there's something about Ives attitude to life that shines through in his music that I really like.

Yes, indeed.

Last cds out shrink plastic wrap:

[asin]B006P7WN0C[/asin]
Handel - Complete Italian cantatas for bass - Batzdorfer Hofkapelle - Raimund Nolte

The Quartetto G minor HWV 404 is especially enjoyable.  :)

An easy first choice:

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61eC5GqBgxL._SY425_.jpg)

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71F64I3vAqL._SY425_.jpg)

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71FuRyxMsYL._SY425_.jpg)


Everything about this trio of big boxes is top notch.  Instrumental contributions, singing, sound: all is as good as it gets for early Baroque.  Anyone who doubts the composer's greatness would be converted after this.  Of special note is sound quality, which through speakers is perfect, and then through headphones is even more perfect.  Whoever mastered the recordings did a, well, masterful job.

Some other more than notables:

Schumann - Fantasy, Kreisleriana, Arabeske; Yeol Eum Son (Onyx)
Beethoven - Beethoven Around the World; Quatour Ebene (Warner)
Beethoven - Symphonies 1-5; Savall (Alia Vox)
Beethoven - Symphonies 1-3, etc; Adès (Signum)
Beethoven - Violin Concerto; Patricia Kopatchinskaja (Naive)
Beethoven - Complete Piano Sonatas - Minsoo Sohn (Sony)
Reflecting Beethoven - Herbert Schuch (Cavi)
Italian Inspirations - Alessio Bax (Signum)
Rachmaninoff - Piano Works; Sergei Babayan (DG)
Schubert - Sonatas I; William Youn (Sony)
Cherubini - Masses, etc; Muti (Warner)
The Long 17th Century - Daniel-Ben Pienaar (Avie)
Chopin - The Piano Concertos; Benjamin Grosvenor (Decca)
Entre Orient & Occident - Virgil Boutellis-Taft / Guillaume Vincent (Evidence)

Seeing this thread has reminded me that I've been listening to a lot of new music in the last year: all the discs that stand out for me are primarily focused on the contemporary.

Absolutely no doubt in my mind about the best new recording I've heard this year: Liza Lim's Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus. Lim has been a fine composer for a long time now, but this work feels to me like the masterpiece that her recent compositions (such as How Forests Think) have been pointing towards. The final movement is one of those extraordinary one-of-a-kind set pieces that show up every now and then in music history, but the whole work has deeply impressed me.

[asin]B083XRCCLG[/asin]

I'd add a couple of recordings that would have been my joint disc of the year but for the competition:

Another composer making huge strides forward in my estimation is Clara Iannotta. Earthing, her disc of string quartets as played by the JACK Quartet, shows this very well: the two earlier quartets are fine essays in sonic exploration in the tradition of the likes of Lachenmann and Schnebel, but the title work and the extraordinary You Crawl over Seas of Granite add something new, a cavernous, doom-laden sound that feels like it's taking up where the best of Nono's late electro-acoustic works left off.

[asin]B08D53GVN1[/asin]

And of course I'm going to include Grisey's Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil, another outing for one of the great 20th century song cycles, with the voice of Barbara Hannigan. And there's a pretty good Haydn symphony reading tacked on to it.

[asin]B0849YL7VT[/asin]

I think this thread has already been created...anyway, I really haven't bought a whole lot this year. I would say that this Mahler set was worth every penny:

(https://img.discogs.com/XaRRW8LmoblSaF4FT3GChYPjV2k=/fit-in/600x543/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-13734800-1560074547-9488.jpeg.jpg)

Another notable purchase was buying all of the George Crumb and Elliott Carter series on Bridge Records. I still have yet to dig into these recordings, but hopefully soon.

Purchases this year that stand out:

(https://www.resmusica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/image-asset.jpeg)
Having all of Berio's Chemins pieces together highlights the unity of this cycle (regardless of the fact that the composition dates span more than 30 years, and each piece derived from—widely differing from each other—Sequenze for solo instruments). The performances by the WDR forces from Cologne (under several conductors, including Peter Eötvös) are exemplary.
———————

Two great Milhaud discs:
(https://cdn.grupoelcorteingles.es/SGFM/dctm/MEDIA03/201709/15/00105110066379____1__640x640.jpg)
Some great chamber music here, in committed performances.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91QXDjq329L._SL1417_.jpg)
Two well-known, and two quite obscure works in the program; of the latter,  Le carnaval de Londres is a blast!
———————

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71eG%2BnkjY7L._SL1200_.jpg)
Michael Gielen in repertoire he excelled in. A treasure trove.
——————

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61MGrgRlsgL._SL1000_.jpg)
Just starting to explore this collection of Peter Serkin's recordings, but so far there's some seriously good stuff in here.
——————

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81IItr5GLrL._SL1425_.jpg)
A stunning performance by Marianne Crebassa and Fazil Say of the unusual piano version of Shéhérazade, in an intelligently constructed program (even if I was not won over by the composition by Say himself that closes it).

Not favourite purchases, but rather, favourite discoveries of 2020:

Franck's Symphony in D minor (via an early 2020 live performance I attended of the WSO with Matthias Bamert conducting)

Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 1 in G minor (via local Classical radio station - Kuchar conducting the Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra)

Both works blew me away upon hearing them!  I guess I'll crosspost this on the "Music that has blown you away recently" thread.  :-*

Bought very few recordings this year but what I have bought these are my favorites:

(https://photos.imageevent.com/sgtrock/june2017/beethovenbernsteinop131.jpg) (https://photos.imageevent.com/sgtrock/june2017/poulencgloria.jpg)

(https://photos.imageevent.com/sgtrock/june2017/SHAPEROSTRINGS.jpg)


Sarge

Damase: Symphony
Andreae: Symphony
Wetz: Symphony 2
Finn Mortensen: Symphony

I have to admit to a bad case of musical indigestion this year.  I sampled widely and greedily but need to spend more time actually absorbing what I discovered.

However, some standouts from the general tidal glut:

Composer Discoveries:  Tonu Korvits and Jonathan Leshnoff.  Korvits is somewhat in the Baltic tradition of Pärt, but unpretentious and unabashedly beautiful.   Leshnoff harks back the mid-20th Century American symphonic tradition.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81OJ9yzJfZL._SX522_.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81j8S6rHGHL._SX522_.jpg)

Also lots of new stuff on Toccata Classics: John Keeley, Herman Galynin, Steve Elcock, Alexander Brincken.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71uQszT0A%2BL._SX522_.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61kwKby2p7L._SX522_.jpg)

In new recordings of "old" music:

Marek Stilec's completion of his Fibich cycle and the start of a Novak cycle. 

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71DoexWWBVL._SX522_.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61QX5Hkw1QL._SX522_.jpg)

Frabrice Bollon's conclusion to his Magnard cycle. 

(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91B-CkQrfML._SS500_.jpg)(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81vujC-Oe7L._SX522_.jpg)

Rafael Wallfisch's new recordings of cello concertos by Ben-Haim and Weinberg. 

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81Vs5iAT0%2BL._SX522_.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71NFfoHw88L._SX522_.jpg)

Paavo Järvi's Schmidt Symphony cycle.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ldVrnoq9L.jpg)

Belated artist discoveres: fabulous CPE Bach symphonies from Riccardo Minasi and Ensemble Resonanz (Wq. 182 & 183); and Cafe Zimmermann in 4 symphonies from Wq. 182.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/814q%2BGBZvdL._SX522_.jpg) (https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81-fRJNuCXL._SS500_.jpg)

(https://img.discogs.com/7_OfXGL3z3yS26JGnfURiY9SCEA=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-9136317-1475405426-4324.jpeg.jpg)
(http://www.arkivmusic.com/graphics/covers/full/03/31415.JPG)
(https://img.discogs.com/ypicP5tDjwXjbkRIEsYDlxII0rc=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-12002982-1528004241-6382.jpeg.jpg)
(https://d1iiivw74516uk.cloudfront.net/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcmVzdG8tY292ZXItaW1hZ2VzIiwia2V5IjoiODM1NzU0OC4xLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6MzAwfSwianBlZyI6eyJxdWFsaXR5Ijo2NX0sInRvRm9ybWF0IjoianBlZyJ9LCJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiOjE1MDEwNzcyOTl9) (https://d1iiivw74516uk.cloudfront.net/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcmVzdG8tY292ZXItaW1hZ2VzIiwia2V5IjoiODQ5NzE5MC4xLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InRvRm9ybWF0IjoianBlZyJ9LCJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiOjE1MzY4MzU1ODF9)  (https://img.discogs.com/pIqUxbwrU3Trzp9nyV-31wVxm0k=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-12376204-1534008536-4765.jpeg.jpg)
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51H45Kjxl%2BL._SX425_.jpg)  (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61xiJ%2BwHSrL._SX425_.jpg)
(http://www.arkivmusic.com/graphics/covers/full/05/54923.jpg)

Hard one because I did not buy a tone of record I would have to go whit the graindelavoix ensemble and there Gesualdo it were quite impressive even If I heard this work zillion of time Tenebrae responsoria always a great listen, quite captivating, quite bold and daring , I like it a lot, but beside Gesualdo I really Like Cristobal de morales by ensemble Capella del ministers, under the direction of Carles Magraner.

Hello QUE     

After skipping last year, I can contribute to this. Just finished my list yesterday.


ionarts : Best Recordings of 2020

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6CE2nzNdplk/X9uS-Xq6dzI/AAAAAAAALw0/4mabQOMlOXgqfbTHOcvuvRdJIoK6eYXNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Best_Recordings_of_2020_laurson_600.jpg)

https://ionarts.blogspot.com/2020/12/best-recordings-of-2020.html (https://ionarts.blogspot.com/2020/12/best-recordings-of-2020.html)

Quote from: deprofundis on December 17, 2020, 07:45:04 PM
[...] but beside Gesualdo I really Like Cristobal de morales by ensemble Capella del ministers, under the direction of Carles Magraner.

Hello QUE   

(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61oBfE90S0L._SS500_.jpg)


Oh yes!  :)

Two nice discoveries for me this year:

These items stand out in my musical year  (Technically the first two were bought in late 2019 but enjoyed thoroughly this year.

(https://img.discogs.com/Ynwlr2AC8NklojsrGer9mW2lceM=/fit-in/500x498/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2722341-1298111273.jpeg.jpg)

[asin]2970065479[/asin]

(https://img.discogs.com/2fee4i8FaR2sU2PB9DkVBM-Q8n0=/fit-in/600x595/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11738122-1521543227-6168.jpeg.jpg)   (https://img.discogs.com/waCftd8cKPKoiYffWiuBWtGz-FE=/fit-in/600x599/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-7337483-1439227335-4262.jpeg.jpg)  (https://img.discogs.com/RzET9LZs-KTSt9KqmzyhfhDu-4E=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-13049619-1547156167-2565.jpeg.jpg)

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41SEDA1ZN8L._SX289_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)


and this very recent arrival to offset this British onslaught  :laugh:

(https://img.discogs.com/Fps9JDEd4OfFf2J51mtqZiXqpb4=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-6102445-1411132419-7047.jpeg.jpg)

Quote from: edward on December 13, 2020, 08:35:40 AM
Absolutely no doubt in my mind about the best new recording I've heard this year: Liza Lim's Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus. Lim has been a fine composer for a long time now, but this work feels to me like the masterpiece that her recent compositions (such as How Forests Think) have been pointing towards. The final movement is one of those extraordinary one-of-a-kind set pieces that show up every now and then in music history, but the whole work has deeply impressed me.

Another composer making huge strides forward in my estimation is Clara Iannotta. Earthing, her disc of string quartets as played by the JACK Quartet, shows this very well: the two earlier quartets are fine essays in sonic exploration in the tradition of the likes of Lachenmann and Schnebel, but the title work and the extraordinary You Crawl over Seas of Granite add something new, a cavernous, doom-laden sound that feels like it's taking up where the best of Nono's late electro-acoustic works left off.

Descriptions of Lim and Iannotta CDs sound extremely interesting. May have to order.

Salmenhaara: Symphony No.4
(//)

In terms of quality, it has been an exceptionally negative year for me. I don't remember a year with this high dud/good ratio. My belief is that this is a streamer effect similar to Netflix. There is a huge pressure from the streaming services to release frequently and quantity did not serve well for quality at all. But then again, after I slowed down I had the chance to complete many holes in my collection with former releases.

This year's focus was, is and will be (for at least another quarter because of the pandemic's interference) Beethoven but I wonder now if the world needed this many par or below par output. The major disappointments that come to my mind first are Kremer's Beethoven & Chopin disk and Helmchen's Beethoven Concertos. Then, there were many releases that didn't satisfy my expectations at all, such as Ebene's average and tampered  Beethoven String Quartets, Bezuidenhout & Heras-Casado's on-going set.

One unusual detail about this year for me was that I chose to and was able to contact a few labels directly (thanks to my weight with a couple of distributors) because of their increasingly faulty (artefacts, drop-outs, etc.) high-resolution releases and thanks to the employees of especially two of them (Alpha and BIS) I got the chance to learn better about their inner workings. In my book, Alpha deserves an enormous respect as opposed to BIS.

In recent years, the bulk of my purchases have been digital downloads so I attempted to create a list of the ones that I liked better among the ones that I've kept according to their creation dates. Cleaning the list and remembering the ones that I've deleted right away, again, a bad year for my norms...

Bach Redemption - Prohaska
Bach Viola da gamba Sonatas - Perl
Baset Symphonies - Forma Antiqva
Beethoven & His Contemporaries Music For Mandolin And Fortepiano - Crosetto & Ragione
Beethoven Cantatas - Segerstam
Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos - Bavouzet
Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos - Goodyear
Beethoven Complete Piano Trio Works - Van Baerle Trio
Beethoven Connection Vol 1 - Bavouzet
Beethoven Piano Quartets - Van Swieten Society
Beethoven Piano Trio No 5 & Triple Concerto - Beethoven Trio Bonn
Beethoven Septet - Chauvin & Le Concert de la Loge
Beethoven Serenade For Ludwig Flute Works - Sello
Beethoven Symphony No 1-5 - Savall
Beethoven Symphony No 5 - Currentzis
Beethoven Symphony No 5 & 7 - Manze NDRR
Beethoven Violin Concerto - Lozakovich
Beethoven Violin Concerto - Neudauer
Beethoven Violin Concerto & Romances - Midori
Beethoven Violin Sonata No 9 - St John
Beethoven Works for Piano Four Hands - Hill & Frith
Biber Rosenkranzsonaten - Letzbor II
Bizet Les Pecheurs de Perles - Bloch
Boccherini Stabat Mater - Rial
Brahms Piano Concerto No 1 - Kim Chung
Charpentier Orphee Aux Enfers - Meunier
Chopin Piano Concertos - Grosvenor
CPE Bach Oboe Concertos - Loffler
Desprez Stabat Mater - Ensemble Jachet de Mantoue
Double - Meyer & Portal
Dvorak Violin Concerto - Hadelich & Hrusa
Eberl Dussek Concertos for 2 Pianos - Tal & Groethuysen
Firenze 1350: A Medieval Florentine Garden - Sollazzo Ensemble
Handel Concerti Grossi Op 6 - Kallweit & Forck
Haydn Cello Concertos - Clein & Hofstetter
Haydn String Quartets Op 76 1-3 - Chiaroscuro Quartet
Haydn Symphony No.100 & Nelson Mass - Handel and Haydn Society
Haydn The Creation - Antonini
Italian Guitar Concertos - Boccadoro
Jommelli Requiem - Piau Ghislieri
Jommelli Requiem & Miserere - Heyghen Il Gardellino
Lamento - Guillon
Lassus Inferno - Reuss
Magic Mozart - Equilbey
Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Vergine - Bestion
Mozart Violin Sonatas Vol 2 - Faust & Melnikov
Mozart Weber Du Puy Bassoon Concertos - Ogrintchouk
Ockeghem Les chansons - Cut Circle
Pergolesi Stabat Mater - Piau
Salieri Hummel Vorisek Orchestral Works - Goebel
Schubert Music for Piano Four-Hands - Duo Pleyel
Schubert Music for Violin Vol 2 - Daskalakis
Schubert Notturno & Piano Trio No 2 - Hamlet Piano Trio
Schubert Symphony No 9 - Emelyanychev
Schubert Symphony No 9 - Welser-Möst CO
Tartini Violin Concertos - Siranossian
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4 - Honeck
Venice's Fragrance - Rial
Vivaldi Argippo Naïve - Biondi
Vivaldi Concerti per Violino Vol 8 Naive - Chauvin
Vivaldi Flute Concertos - Antonini
Weber Krommer Clarinet Quintet - Hoeprich & London Haydn Quartet

Quote from: T. D. on December 17, 2020, 04:05:17 PM
(https://img.discogs.com/7_OfXGL3z3yS26JGnfURiY9SCEA=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-9136317-1475405426-4324.jpeg.jpg)

Good to see you rate this so highly. I think for any one with a remote interest in Poulenc it is a must-buy, IMHO. Have you made your way through the whole set?

Quote from: Daverz on December 17, 2020, 04:00:53 PM
I have to admit to a bad case of musical indigestion this year.  I sampled widely and greedily but need to spend more time actually absorbing what I discovered.

However, some standouts from the general tidal glut:

Composer Discoveries:  Tonu Korvits and Jonathan Leshnoff.  Korvits is somewhat in the Baltic tradition of Pärt, but unpretentious and unabashedly beautiful.   Leshnoff harks back the mid-20th Century American symphonic tradition.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81OJ9yzJfZL._SX522_.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81j8S6rHGHL._SX522_.jpg)

Also lots of new stuff on Toccata Classics: John Keeley, Herman Galynin, Steve Elcock, Alexander Brincken.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71uQszT0A%2BL._SX522_.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61kwKby2p7L._SX522_.jpg)

In new recordings of "old" music:

Marek Stilec's completion of his Fibich cycle and the start of a Novak cycle. 

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71DoexWWBVL._SX522_.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61QX5Hkw1QL._SX522_.jpg)

Frabrice Bollon's conclusion to his Magnard cycle. 

(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91B-CkQrfML._SS500_.jpg)(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81vujC-Oe7L._SX522_.jpg)

Rafael Wallfisch's new recordings of cello concertos by Ben-Haim and Weinberg. 

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81Vs5iAT0%2BL._SX522_.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71NFfoHw88L._SX522_.jpg)

Paavo Järvi's Schmidt Symphony cycle.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ldVrnoq9L.jpg)

Belated artist discoveres: fabulous CPE Bach symphonies from Riccardo Minasi and Ensemble Resonanz (Wq. 182 & 183); and Cafe Zimmermann in 4 symphonies from Wq. 182.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/814q%2BGBZvdL._SX522_.jpg) (https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81-fRJNuCXL._SS500_.jpg)

What a great looking selection! I only have the Brincken and Ben-Haim disc which were marvellous discoveries. Just bought the Leshnoff. The online samples sounded terrific. Reminded me a bit of Copland's 'Statements for Orchestra'.

Quote from: Mirror Image on December 18, 2020, 07:51:02 AM
Good to see you rate this so highly. I think for any one with a remote interest in Poulenc it is a must-buy, IMHO. Have you made your way through the whole set?

Oh yeah, I generally listen to new acquisitions in full ASAP upon arrival (my buying volume's not that high  ;)).
I was apprehensive about the high percentage of content dedicated to songs (which I rarely listen to), but found them excellent. Granted I've only listened to some of the song discs once, while the rest of the box has been played multiple times.

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 18, 2020, 07:00:47 AM
In terms of quality, it has been an exceptionally negative year for me. I don't remember a year with this high dud/good ratio. My belief is that this is a streamer effect similar to Netflix. There is a huge pressure from the streaming services to release frequently and quantity did not serve well for quality at all. But then again, after I slowed down I had the chance to complete many holes in my collection with former releases.

This year's focus was, is and will be (for at least another quarter because of the pandemic's interference) Beethoven but I wonder now if the world needed this many par or below par output. The major disappointments that come to my mind first are Kremer's Beethoven & Chopin disk and Helmchen's Beethoven Concertos. Then, there were many releases that didn't satisfy my expectations at all, such as Ebene's average and tampered  Beethoven String Quartets, Bezuidenhout & Heras-Casado's on-going set.

One unusual detail about this year for me was that I chose to and was able to contact a few labels directly (thanks to my weight with a couple of distributors) because of their increasingly faulty (artefacts, drop-outs, etc.) high-resolution releases and thanks to the employees of especially two of them (Alpha and BIS) I got the chance to learn better about their inner workings. In my book, Alpha deserves an enormous respect as opposed to BIS.

In recent years, the bulk of my purchases have been digital downloads so I attempted to create a list of the ones that I liked better among the ones that I've kept according to their creation dates. Cleaning the list and remembering the ones that I've deleted right away, again, a bad year for my norms...

Bach Redemption - Prohaska
Bach Viola da gamba Sonatas - Perl
Baset Symphonies - Forma Antiqva
Beethoven & His Contemporaries Music For Mandolin And Fortepiano - Crosetto & Ragione
Beethoven Cantatas - Segerstam
Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos - Bavouzet
Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos - Goodyear
Beethoven Complete Piano Trio Works - Van Baerle Trio
Beethoven Connection Vol 1 - Bavouzet
Beethoven Piano Quartets - Van Swieten Society
Beethoven Piano Trio No 5 & Triple Concerto - Beethoven Trio Bonn
Beethoven Septet - Chauvin & Le Concert de la Loge
Beethoven Serenade For Ludwig Flute Works - Sello
Beethoven Symphony No 1-5 - Savall
Beethoven Symphony No 5 - Currentzis
Beethoven Symphony No 5 & 7 - Manze NDRR
Beethoven Violin Concerto - Lozakovich
Beethoven Violin Concerto - Neudauer
Beethoven Violin Concerto & Romances - Midori
Beethoven Violin Sonata No 9 - St John
Beethoven Works for Piano Four Hands - Hill & Frith
Biber Rosenkranzsonaten - Letzbor II
Bizet Les Pecheurs de Perles - Bloch
Boccherini Stabat Mater - Rial
Brahms Piano Concerto No 1 - Kim Chung
Charpentier Orphee Aux Enfers - Meunier
Chopin Piano Concertos - Grosvenor
CPE Bach Oboe Concertos - Loffler
Desprez Stabat Mater - Ensemble Jachet de Mantoue
Double - Meyer & Portal
Dvorak Violin Concerto - Hadelich & Hrusa
Eberl Dussek Concertos for 2 Pianos - Tal & Groethuysen
Firenze 1350: A Medieval Florentine Garden - Sollazzo Ensemble
Handel Concerti Grossi Op 6 - Kallweit & Forck
Haydn Cello Concertos - Clein & Hofstetter
Haydn String Quartets Op 76 1-3 - Chiaroscuro Quartet
Haydn Symphony No.100 & Nelson Mass - Handel and Haydn Society
Haydn The Creation - Antonini
Italian Guitar Concertos - Boccadoro
Jommelli Requiem - Piau Ghislieri
Jommelli Requiem & Miserere - Heyghen Il Gardellino
Lamento - Guillon
Lassus Inferno - Reuss
Magic Mozart - Equilbey
Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Vergine - Bestion
Mozart Violin Sonatas Vol 2 - Faust & Melnikov
Mozart Weber Du Puy Bassoon Concertos - Ogrintchouk
Ockeghem Les chansons - Cut Circle
Pergolesi Stabat Mater - Piau
Salieri Hummel Vorisek Orchestral Works - Goebel
Schubert Music for Piano Four-Hands - Duo Pleyel
Schubert Music for Violin Vol 2 - Daskalakis
Schubert Notturno & Piano Trio No 2 - Hamlet Piano Trio
Schubert Symphony No 9 - Emelyanychev
Schubert Symphony No 9 - Welser-Möst CO
Tartini Violin Concertos - Siranossian
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4 - Honeck
Venice's Fragrance - Rial
Vivaldi Argippo Naïve - Biondi
Vivaldi Concerti per Violino Vol 8 Naive - Chauvin
Vivaldi Flute Concertos - Antonini
Weber Krommer Clarinet Quintet - Hoeprich & London Haydn Quartet

Why is Ébène's Beethoven tampered? I should say I've only heard a couple of the quartets, an op 59 and op 131,  so I may be missing something really obvious.

That Josquin disc used to be quite hard to find, I like it very much.

Quote from: Mandryka on December 18, 2020, 09:36:47 AM
Why is Ébène's Beethoven tampered? I should say I've only heard a couple of the quartets, an op 59 and op 131,  so I may be missing something really obvious.

I don't know if it would be obvious for you or not. It depends on the quality of your stereo and knowledge about digital mastering. It's released after a simple mastering technique called brick-walling. There are many of these recently though...becoming a common practice as it is in popular music for many years

Quote from: T. D. on December 18, 2020, 09:23:08 AM
Oh yeah, I generally listen to new acquisitions in full ASAP upon arrival (my buying volume's not that high  ;)).
I was apprehensive about the high percentage of content dedicated to songs (which I rarely listen to), but found them excellent. Granted I've only listened to some of the song discs once, while the rest of the box has been played multiple times.

Very nice, indeed. It's good to see you've enjoyed it as much as I have. 8)

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 18, 2020, 09:49:11 AM
I don't know if it would be obvious for you or not. It depends on the quality of your stereo and knowledge about digital mastering. It's released after a simple mastering technique called brick-walling. There are many of these recently though...becoming a common practice as it is in popular music for many years

Oh yes I see what you mean now, and that is obvious. There was a lot of discussion here about it.

Quote from: Mandryka on December 18, 2020, 09:36:47 AM
That Josquin disc used to be quite hard to find, I like it very much.

I purchased it this June but I should not have listed it as I tried to post only last year's releases. By the way, there is a great Nymphes des bois / Requiem for 5 on Cut Circle recording, too.

Really making me exercise the brain here, this year I forgot to make note of the best recordings and way too many CD/SACDs came in!

Sorabji - Sequentia Cyclica (Jonathan Powell)
Chopin - 21 Nocturnes (Pascal Amoyel - definitively now in my top 5 of all recordings ever made after playing it some more times)
Feldman - Morton Feldman Piano (Philip Thomas)
Schubert - Vol 3 (Andrea Lucchesini)
Schubert - Late Sonatas (Francesco Piemontesi)
Schubert - Edwin Fischer Plays Schubert (Pearl) - not new to me, but Pearl's outstanding transfer replacing a poor sounding one with noise reduction
Debussy/Stravinsky/Faure - String Quartets and other pieces (Ysaye Quartet, Wigmore Hall)
JS Bach - Cello Suites (Colin Carr, GM Recordings)
JS Bach - Toccatas (Rubsam)
JS Bach - Organ Works (Marie Claire-Alain, 3rd cycle) Finally found the first edition of this box that has all the information on the organs and stops used, and not Warner's garbage tier reissue that removed all that information from the booklet and told you to download it online, only to have the download link be taken down.
Schoenberg/Berg/Webern - Sinopolli box (Warner)
Schoenberg - Piano Music (Pi-Hsien Chen)
Joseph Bengraf - Six String Quartets (Festetics)
Beethoven - Late Sonatas re-recorded live (only for Op. 109) (Pollini)
Beethoven - Late Quartets on 3 Biddulph CDs (Busch Quartet) - upgraded the sound quality of some of my favorite late quartet performances
Julliard Quartet - Complete Epic Recordings box
Debussy - Complete Piano Works (Michel Beroff)
Bartok - Complete String Quartets (Takacs I)
Radu Lupu Complete Decca Recordings
Shostakovich - Op. 87 (Craig Sheppard)
Peter Serkin - Complete RCA Recordings
Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven - Op. 65/4, String Quartet K465, Op. 18/5 respectively (Capet Quartet, Biddulph)
Wilhelm Backhaus - Complete Decca Recordings (might have bought this in late 2019, feels like 2020). Fabulous transfers, pretty much sound the same as the Japan first pressing box that had the best sound for the mono Beethoven cycle.
Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde (Eiji Oue)

Not new to me but wins an award for best reissue - Paul-Badura Skoda Astree cycle reissue on Arcana for having an incredibly detailed booklet (~ 70 pages just for the English part) with wonderful photos of the pianos used. This reissue really treated you to a "journey". And secondly not touching the sound of the 1980s Astree CDs so the sound quality was still transparent and detailed.

The ONE:
JS Bach - Complete Cantatas (Ton Koopman).  My wife and I have had a great time listening to the Ton Koopman recordings. This is now her favorite cycle, I might just have it knocking out Gardiner's for my top pick.

The ONE (if the one could get another)
Auryn Quartet - 17 volumes of Haydn's String Quartets (Tacet)

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 18, 2020, 07:00:47 AM
Helmchen's Beethoven Concertos. Then, there were many releases that didn't satisfy my expectations at all, such as Ebene's average and tampered  Beethoven String Quartets, Bezuidenhout & Heras-Casado's on-going set.

One unusual detail about this year for me was that I chose to and was able to contact a few labels directly (thanks to my weight with a couple of distributors) because of their increasingly faulty (artefacts, drop-outs, etc.) high-resolution releases and thanks to the employees of especially two of them (Alpha and BIS) I got the chance to learn better about their inner workings. In my book, Alpha deserves an enormous respect as opposed to BIS.

I agree at the disappointment of the Bezuidenhout and Heras-Casado. Haven't listened to the Helmchen yet, and (in recordings you liked better) the Hamlet Trio albums are on their way to me now.

Curious, would you want to talk any more about faulty high-res releases from those labels? Those are two of my favorite labels for the attention they put into the product and long-term relationships with artists; I purchase a number of their new physical discs but not high-res download files.

Quote from: Brian on December 18, 2020, 10:49:40 AM
I agree at the disappointment of the Bezuidenhout and Heras-Casado. Haven't listened to the Helmchen yet, and (in recordings you liked better) the Hamlet Trio albums are on their way to me now.

Curious, would you want to talk any more about faulty high-res releases from those labels? Those are two of my favorite labels for the attention they put into the product and long-term relationships with artists; I purchase a number of their new physical discs but not high-res download files.

I have three Hamlet recordings: Beethoven Piano Trio 5 with Kakadus, Schubert Piano Trio 2 with Notturno and Mendelssohn and I can't find a fault in any of them which is rare. I always liked Giacometti though and Candida Thompson is really a heavy-weight. I hope you'll like them, too.

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 18, 2020, 07:00:47 AM
increasingly faulty (artefacts, drop-outs, etc.) high-resolution

Can you mention some examples of downloads with artefacts?  An annoying one I encountered recently was the download/streaming files of the Bliss Meditations on Naxos.  The beginning of movements get slightly clipped off.   Makes it hard to meditate on the Meditations.

Quote
releases and thanks to the employees of especially two of them (Alpha and BIS) I got the chance to learn better about their inner workings. In my book, Alpha deserves an enormous respect as opposed to BIS.

Oh, no, what did Bis do now?

Quote
Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos - Bavouzet
Beethoven Symphony No 1-5 - Savall
Eberl Dussek Concertos for 2 Pianos - Tal & Groethuysen
Salieri Hummel Vorisek Orchestral Works - Goebel

Quite a list for a disappointing year.  Those above are the few I sampled from and enjoyed.  What a lovely sound Bavouzet has here.  I've been enjoying the whole Goebel series of all the unfortunate composers who had to live in "Beethoven's World."

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 18, 2020, 09:49:11 AM
I don't know if it would be obvious for you or not. It depends on the quality of your stereo and knowledge about digital mastering. It's released after a simple mastering technique called brick-walling. There are many of these recently though...becoming a common practice as it is in popular music for many years

Should be pretty obvious if you load the file up into Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/).  Archimago showed this example of a 24/96 download from Erato (Warner Classics).  Note the waveform getting clipped off on top and bottom:

(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uCQ97hKG6ds/XHVq6Rktw2I/AAAAAAAASpQ/51WAE0YY0tQGu32ssQN0Z_ojh2hPqP_TwCLcBGAs/s1600/Grand_Concerto_for_Cello.png)

This is what is meant by "brick walling", which should be distinguished from brick wall filtering in digital playback.

In my experience, this clipping off of the waveform is still pretty rare for classical music downloads, and if it happens it's a few samples at most, which is probably not audible.

Rest of article here: http://archimago.blogspot.com/2019/03/musings-lets-talk-about-roon-16-and-dsp.html

IMO the reduced dynamic range on that Ebene Beethoven cycle is a rarity. I do not come across it too often on reissues or new recordings of classical music.

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 18, 2020, 11:22:49 AM
I have three Hamlet recordings: Beethoven Piano Trio 5 with Kakadus, Schubert Piano Trio 2 with Notturno and Mendelssohn and I can't find a fault in any of them which is rare. I always liked Giacometti though and Candida Thompson is really a heavy-weight. I hope you'll like them, too.

Thanks! These will be my first Hamlet but I have almost every Thompson/Amsterdam Sinfonietta album. I also read and appreciated what you said about Alpha before you edited the post to remove it.

Quote from: Daverz on December 18, 2020, 12:40:17 PM
Can you mention some examples of downloads with artefacts?

The first ones that come to my mind are Beethoven Piano Concerto 3 Track 3 - Helmchen (dropout), Biber Rosary Sonatas Tracks 8, 14, 20 - Letzbor II (noise), Bach Flute Sonatas Tracks 3, 4, 10 - Petri, Esfehani, Perl (premature ending), etc. I guess all are fixed now.

Quote from: Daverz on December 18, 2020, 12:40:17 PM
Quite a list for a disappointing year.

:) I wrote "high dud/good ratio". In order to make that comment shouldn't you know the total number of purchases? :) ...and I specifically said "the ones I liked better"

Quote from: Daverz on December 18, 2020, 12:52:49 PM
Should be pretty obvious if you load the file up into Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/).  Archimago showed this example of a 24/96 download from Erato (Warner Classics).  Note the waveform getting clipped off on top and bottom:

(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uCQ97hKG6ds/XHVq6Rktw2I/AAAAAAAASpQ/51WAE0YY0tQGu32ssQN0Z_ojh2hPqP_TwCLcBGAs/s1600/Grand_Concerto_for_Cello.png)

This is what is meant by "brick walling", which should be distinguished from brick wall filtering in digital playback.

In my experience, this clipping off of the waveform is still pretty rare for classical music downloads, and if it happens it's a few samples at most, which is probably not audible.

Rest of article here: http://archimago.blogspot.com/2019/03/musings-lets-talk-about-roon-16-and-dsp.html

Your/archimago's example is a very lightly edited one. Some that I came by really earns the name that comes from the brick shape. I find this practice vile.

Quote from: Brian on December 18, 2020, 01:06:10 PM
I also read and appreciated what you said about Alpha before you edited the post to remove it.

Yes, I did it with that awareness. I felt uncomfortable posting. BIS' first response to a very similar incident was "So?"... but he paid for that response :)

Quote from: Daverz on December 18, 2020, 12:52:49 PM
Should be pretty obvious if you load the file up into Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/).  Archimago showed this example of a 24/96 download from Erato (Warner Classics).  Note the waveform getting clipped off on top and bottom:

For comparison, here's the 16/44.1 Quatuor Ébène Grosse Fuge. Looks almost like a pop song. (I wasn't going to bother with the 24/96 in these circumstances.)

This is for me one of the worst aspects of their cycle, but I can generally overlook it because I really like the sound of their ensemble in general. For those who aren't in love with their sound, the Beethoven 250 cycle to buy is probably the Cuarteto Casals or the Miró (released last year).

(And for comparison, here's the Auryn Quartet's 1994 recording)

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 18, 2020, 01:12:39 PM
The first ones that come to my mind are Beethoven Piano Concerto 3 Track 3 - Helmchen (dropout)

Thanks for the examples.  The dropout in the Helmchen is obvious in Audacity at about 3:30 in and is nearly 0.8 seconds long.  I'll try to check what's on Qobuz now if I get a chance.

UPDATE: I don't hear the dropout on Qobuz, so probably safe to get their downloads of this.  Did Alpha say anything about how this might have happened?

Thanks. I was at one time very close to purchasing the Ébène Beethoven cycle, but held off for various reasons including reports about the audio "engineering". After seeing those graphs, I'm glad I didn't buy it.

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 18, 2020, 01:12:39 PM
:) I wrote "high dud/good ratio". In order to make that comment shouldn't you know the total number of purchases? :) ...and I specifically said "the ones I liked better"

I wasn't denying that it was a disappointing year -- how could it not be? -- but it's still an impressive list to me.  Part of my problem is that I just can't remember a lot of things I listened to, even if I can go back and see enthusiastic comments I made here on GMG [no, this does not mean it's bad music].

One great great , one of greatest achievement in Monteverdi would be this year the excellent live of La Venexiana ensemble, splendid , charming, passionate...

One is bound if he love the great Claudio to heard this 2020 album  ;D

What about this releases folks , I mean gosh even someone whom does not appreciated Claudio Monteverdi would dig this.

I vow and cherish La Venexiana they have a smooth , harmonic , sound or it 's my opinion?

Quote from: Daverz on December 18, 2020, 01:53:27 PM

UPDATE: I don't hear the dropout on Qobuz, so probably safe to get their downloads of this.  Did Alpha say anything about how this might have happened?

Yes, that their master was good but concluded that a transmission problem on their side to a distributor pool caused it. They fixed it for me that very night and afterwards first they assured me that they took steps to never let it happen again, second they let me know that it was fixed for the distributors after a few days.

Quote from: T. D. on December 18, 2020, 02:39:33 PM
Thanks. I was at one time very close to purchasing the Ébène Beethoven cycle, but held off for various reasons including reports about the audio "engineering". After seeing those graphs, I'm glad I didn't buy it.

That causes a better listening on the phones and other less advanced configurations or as background music. But the lack of that space in classical music on hi-fi effects the perception...tires you easily, prevents you concentrating on and detecting the details of the performance. It was an average cycle anyway...if you know your quartets you didn't miss anything.  :)

Quote from: Daverz on December 18, 2020, 03:10:05 PM
I wasn't denying that it was a disappointing year -- how could it not be? -- but it's still an impressive list to me.  Part of my problem is that I just can't remember a lot of things I listened to, even if I can go back and see enthusiastic comments I made here on GMG [no, this does not mean it's bad music].

I'm not writing with full awareness :). But I have a simple system with 4 storages and many shoebox sized boxes. I keep everything on computer folders, I rip the disc right away if it's not a digital download, then I carefully listen to it twice. The first time, if I don't like it I delete it right away and make a small hand written note of what's wrong, if I like it I move it to another HD on which I keep what I keep. The second time, I attempt to analyze it and produce better notes. If I like it after the second time I move it to another HD on which I keep the better ones. So other than the staging area ("Master") I have one huge library HD ("Main") and one HD with the ones that I deem better ("MeLikey"). I keep the physical notes organized in shoeboxes. There is the 4th which involves the results of my surveys for my favorites but that's quite analytical and I rarely do it anymore as I'm almost done with all. But yes there is a final disk full of my favorites. I had and have the time, means and education anyway...

The discussion of Art of Fugue jogged my memory on this disc from Celimene Daudet that I somehow forgot about. One of the best, uneccentric, laid bare performances of AoF on piano.

I would like to see Trifonov record them since he toured them a bit last year, though my suspicion is they'll be quite romanticized and not for me.

(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/7106PM1uZXL._SS500_.jpg)

Quote from: edward on December 13, 2020, 08:35:40 AM

I'd add a couple of recordings that would have been my joint disc of the year but for the competition:

Another composer making huge strides forward in my estimation is Clara Iannotta. Earthing, her disc of string quartets as played by the JACK Quartet, shows this very well: the two earlier quartets are fine essays in sonic exploration in the tradition of the likes of Lachenmann and Schnebel, but the title work and the extraordinary You Crawl over Seas of Granite add something new, a cavernous, doom-laden sound that feels like it's taking up where the best of Nono's late electro-acoustic works left off.

[asin]B08D53GVN1[/asin]

I checked it out, and what I saw in doing so is that there's a lot of stuff from The Jack Quartet which I didn't know about, so I envisage some good fun exploring it all, I'm listening to a rather nice CD of music by Hannah Lash (who she?) now.

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 19, 2020, 12:18:54 AM
That causes a better listening on the phones and other less advanced configurations or as background music. But the lack of that space in classical music on hi-fi effects the perception...tires you easily, prevents you concentrating on and detecting the details of the performance. It was an average cycle anyway...if you know your quartets you didn't miss anything.  :)

Those graphs were really scary. The extreme boosting of loudness bothered me more than the clipping of waveforms. That sort of thing's been common for decades in pop music, but I'm surprised* to see it in classical.
There's a short Youtube video that gives a good explanation of "brickwalling": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

*Maybe not that surprising considering the prevalence of phones and lower-fi playback.

Surely one of the greatest Brian CDs
(//)

As 2020 is now actually over, here's my list:

Recording of the year: most contemporary music fans on here seem to disagree, but for me it can't get much better than Liza Lim - Extinction Events & Dawn Chorus (https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0015020kai)
runner-up: Yeol Eum Son - Schumann: Fantasy / Kreisleriana / Arabeske (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8732416--schumann-fantasy-in-c-kreisleriana-arabesque) - perfectly judged and controlled performances that can match any in the catalogue

Also:
Adam Laloum - Schubert: Piano Sonatas 18 & 19 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8719635--schubert-piano-sonatas-d894-d958)
Andrea Lucchesini - Schubert: Piano Sonatas 4 & 20 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8617621--schubert-late-piano-works), Piano Sonata 21 / 3 Klavierstücke (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8733737--franz-schubert-late-piano-works-vol-2), Piano Sonatas 18 & 19 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8844373--schubert-late-piano-works-vol-iii)
Anna Kijanowska - Szymanowski: Mazurkas (complete) (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7972285--szymanowski-mazurkas)
Anna Vinnitskaya - Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit / Miroirs / Pavane (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8007062--anna-vinnitskaya-plays-ravel)
Beatrice Rana - Stravinsky: Firebird Suite / Three Movements from Petrushka / Ravel: Miroirs / La Valse (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8680444--stravinsky-petrushka-the-firebird-ravel-miroirs-la-valse) - a bit overhyped, but still holds up
Bob van Asperen - Scarlatti: 16 Sonatas (https://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/sonates-pour-clavier-domenico-scarlatti/5099926678054)
Bruce Hungerford - Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 24, 30, 31, 32 (https://www.europadisc.co.uk/classical/102508/Bruce_Hungerford:_The_Beethoven_Legacy.htm) - currently available in three separate double albums from Vanguard Classics along with some other works, but I decline to send any traffic to Amazon
Catherine Collard - Schumann: Papillons, Arabeske, Kinderszenen, Sonata 1, Carnaval & Davidsbündlertänze [Lyrinx recordings] (https://www.ledisquaire.com/accueil/15356-robert-schumann-1810-1856-catherine-collard-3700232202247.html)
Charles Curtis - Performances & Recordings 1998-2018 (https://charlescurtis.bandcamp.com/album/performances-recordings-1998-2018)
Chiaroscuro Quartet - Haydn: String Quartets Op. 76 nos. 1-3 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8777472--haydn-string-quartets-op-76-nos-1-3)
Clara Iannotta - Earthing (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8806872--clara-iannotta-earthing)
Daan Vandewalle - Skalkottas: Piano Concerto No. 3 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8718153--skalkottas-piano-concerto-no-3-live)
Daniel Kawka - Boulez: Le Marteau sans Maître / Manoury: B-Partita (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8736773--boulez-le-marteau-sans-maitre-philippe-manoury-b-partita)
Daniel-Ben Pienaar - The Long 17th Century (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8728912--the-long-17th-century-a-cornucopia-of-early-keyboard-music)
Edwin Fischer - Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 30, 32, Fantasia (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8022244--edwin-fischer-plays-beethoven-piano-sonatas-1948-1954) - should have bought this a long time ago
ELISION Ensemble - Barrett: world-line / McCormack: subsidence / Lim: Roda (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8697657--world-line)
Enno Poppe - Fett / Ich kann mich an nichts errinern (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8815639--poppe-fett-ich-kann-mich-an-nichts-erinnern-i-cannot-remember-anything)
Ethel Smyth - The Prison (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8795046--smyth-the-prison)
Evan Johnson - Forms of Complaint (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8736958--forms-of-complaint)
Francesco Piemontesi - Schubert: Piano Sonatas 19, 20 & 21 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8655942--schubert-last-piano-sonatas)
Haydn Trio Eisenstadt - Haydn: Piano Trios 1-45 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7976428--haydn-piano-trios)
Jennifer Walshe - A Late Anthology of Early Music vol. 1 (https://jenniferwalshe.bandcamp.com/album/a-late-anthology-of-early-music-vol-1-ancient-to-renaissance)
Kandinsky Trio - Beethoven: String Trios Op. 9 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7928831--beethoven-string-trios-op-9-nos-1-2-3) - based on a non-exhaustive survey, possibly the best recordings of these pieces in the catalogue; certainly my favourites
Kotaro Fukuma - Albéniz: Ibéria & other works (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8548212--albeniz-iberia-deluxe-edition)
Leipzig String Quartet - Halffter: String Quartets 1, 2 & 7 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7995438--halffter-string-quartets-nos-1-2-7)
Linda Buckley - From Ocean's Floor (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8815773--linda-buckley-from-oceans-floor)
Luc Beauséjour - Scarlatti, Vol. 2 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8046860--scarlatti-sonatas-for-harpsichord-vol-2) - I already had Vol. 1 but it's just as good
Michel Block - Albéniz: Ibéria / Navarra (https://classicvinyl.com/romantic/albeniz-iberia-complete-michel-block) - unclear why this has rarely if ever appeared on CD or digitally
Mozart Piano Quartet - Beethoven/Ries: Symphony 3 / Beethoven: Piano Quartet Op. 16 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7956214--beethoven-eroica-symphony)
Patrick Cohen - Chopin: Mazurkas Vol. 1 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8794349--chopin-mazurkas-vol-1) and Vol. 2 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8797226--chopin-mazurkas-vol-2)
Paul Badura-Skoda - Mozart: Piano Sonatas 1-18 (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Paul-Badura-Skoda-Mozart-Complete-Piano-Sonatas-Sonates-Pour-Pianoforte-6-CD/233550968825?hash=item3660b8f7f9:g:~6gAAOSwI49ei~wL) - easiest availability at the moment is through six separate volumes sold as digital downloads, but I'm too committed to one url per line (or maybe three at most)
Pavel Kolesnikov - Bach: Goldberg Variations (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8813803--bach-goldberg-variations) - one of those recordings that's worth hearing just for the piano technique
Peter Sheppard Skærved - Schubert: 3 Violin Sonatas (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8784974--schubert-3-violin-sonatas-1816-op-137)
Pieter-Jan Belder - Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (complete) (https://www.cede.com/en/music/?view=detail&aid=17230287)
Rebecca Saunders - Still / Aether / Alba (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8815638--rebecca-saunders-still-aether-alba)
Richard Egarr - Sweelinck: Fantasias, Toccatas & Variations (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8697471--sweelinck-fantasias-toccatas-variations)
Roger Woodward - A Concerto Collection (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8781507--a-concerto-collection)
Spektral Quartet - Experiments in Living (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8815785--experiments-in-living)
Thomas Adès - Janáček: On an Overgrown Path I & II / Sonata / In the Mists (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8771001--jana-ek-solo-piano)
Timothy McCormack - Karst (https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0018003kai)
William Youn - Schubert: Piano Sonatas 1, 8, 13, 14, 21 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8813929--schubert-piano-sonatas-i)
Yasuyo Yano - Schubert: Piano Sonatas 16 & 18 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8826703--franz-schubert-piano-sonatas-vol-1)
Zeynep Gedizlioğlu - Verbinden und Abwenden (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8767936--zeynep-gedizlio-lu-verbinden-und-abwenden)

I spent most of this year consolidating my collection & tracking down already-released music that I wanted for it, so I didn't listen to a ton of new releases. That said overall this Beethoven anniversary year seems to have been a very good year for Schubert, pretty unimpressive for Beethoven himself, and better than usual for contemporary music.

I keep playlists of releases which are new in 2020, or late 2019 and I only got to find out late. These are taken from those lists, and consist of the recordings which I registered as being interesting. The ones with a star are the ones which caught my imagination, and the ones with two stars caught my imagination big time -- I mean, I listened several times over a few weeks. Nothing follows about quality, obvs. Some of them appeared too late for me to really get to know well (Like the Asperen Louis Coup.) In fact, over the past six months most of my listening has been dominated by old stuff -- Stockhausen operas mostly.

Capella de Ministrers, A Circle in the Water
Ben-Pienaar, The Long 17th century
** Bach cello suites, Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann
* Yoshiko Yeki, Pavana Lachrimae
* Ensemble fur Fruhe Musik, Die Weisheit des Alters
L'archeron, A Consort's Monument
* Graindelavoix, Gesualdo
** Sollazzo Ensemble, Un jardin medieval florentin
Peter Waldner, Francisci magnus amor
Bruno Cocsis, Diego Ortiz
* Cappella Romana, Lost voices of Hagia Sophia
Sergey Malov, Bach suites
David Ponsford/David Hill, Bach trio sonatas
* Sokolov, Brahms intermezzi
* La Quintina, Ludford masses
Alla Francesca, Variations Amoureuses
Ensemble Biscantores, A LAte Medieval Organ
** Bor Zuljan, Dowland
* Peter Sheppard Skaevred and Julian Perkins, Schubert sonatas
* Paolo Cherici, El siglo de Oro
** Jonathan Dunford, Thomas Morley fantasias
Jorg Halubek, CU3
** Paloma Guttierez del Arroyo, Chantador de joi d'amour
* Colin Tilney, Bach Partitas
Wieland Kuijken, Live in Rio
Jennifer Walshe, The wasistas of Thereswhere
Terence Charlston, Froberger
Daniel Kawka, Boulez's Marteau and Manoury's B Partita
** Enselble Peregrina, Wizlav von Rugen
Cantica Symphonia, Josquin
Schola Heidelberg, Sciarrino and Nono
*Marcin Swiatkiewicz, Goldberg Variations
** Johannes Otzbrugger, Robert de Visee
Jonathan Dunford, John Merro's Book
Jonathan Dunford, Demachy 1685
**Anton Lukoszevieze, Word Origins
Jean Marc Aymes, Froberger
*Asperen, Louis Couperin
Hough, Brahms intermezzi

Quote from: amw on December 30, 2020, 04:49:39 AM
Daniel-Ben Pienaar - The Long 17th Century (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8728912--the-long-17th-century-a-cornucopia-of-early-keyboard-music)

I should have listed this one, too.

Quote from: amw
Kandinsky Trio - Beethoven: String Trios Op. 9 (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7928831--beethoven-string-trios-op-9-nos-1-2-3) - based on a non-exhaustive survey, possibly the best recordings of these pieces in the catalogue; certainly

Was Leopold Trio included?

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 30, 2020, 05:56:34 AM
Was Leopold Trio included?

No. I used only streaming services in making that determination. I'll check them out as well, though.

Quote from: Mandryka on December 30, 2020, 05:47:12 AM
Jennifer Walshe, The wasistas of Thereswhere

Should have remembered this one as well. Knew I'd forget something.

Quote from: amw on December 30, 2020, 06:09:11 AM
No. I used only streaming services in making that determination. I'll check them out as well, though.

Yours is a strong statement to me where Grumiaux, Leopold and L'Archibudelli reign supreme so I'm downloading yours right now.

L'Archibudelli remains my second choice. I did not like the Grumiaux Trio much. (Nor do I like them in the Mozart quintets, or the Schubert quintet, etc. In all technical aspects, which the expressive aspects necessarily spring from, they seem to have been long since surpassed. It's probably my loss though.)

Quote from: amw on December 30, 2020, 06:21:50 AM
L'Archibudelli remains my second choice. I did not like the Grumiaux Trio much. (Nor do I like them in the Mozart quintets, or the Schubert quintet, etc. In all technical aspects, which the expressive aspects necessarily spring from, they seem to have been long since surpassed. It's probably my loss though.)

I generally dislike period instrument HIP performances, but there are a few exceptions.  One of them is L'Archibudelli's performance of the Schubert Quintet.  I find it so moving, particularly the trio to the 3rd movement scherzo.  However, I disliked their performance of Haydn's Op. 77 so much, I gave it away to someone.

Quote from: amw on December 30, 2020, 06:21:50 AM
L'Archibudelli remains my second choice. I did not like the Grumiaux Trio much. (Nor do I like them in the Mozart quintets, or the Schubert quintet, etc. In all technical aspects, which the expressive aspects necessarily spring from, they seem to have been long since surpassed. It's probably my loss though.)

It's a great set in terms of Citizen Kane. When it was out there was nothing like it so it's encoded. I try to keep alternatives along the time spectrum when possible. I wouldn't agree with Mozart but I do not keep anything else from them...so more than 10 from Grumiaux thoug

Quote from: OrchestralNut on December 30, 2020, 06:27:58 AM
I generally dislike period instrument HIP performances, but there are a few exceptions. 

I urge you to not to generalize and urge yourself to listen to them more in the name of progress, especially up to Schubert  :). The scene and the quality has changed drastically. I try to keep up both but the scale is tipping.

Am not generally into HIP either, but regarding Schubert in that field, Gura/Berner's Winterreise has the pianist playing a piano from around 1870, and it works very well, with just a discreet difference from the modern instruments in its sound. It's a marvelous release. I got it this year, but it's older than that.

Quote from: OrchestralNut on December 30, 2020, 06:27:58 AM
I generally dislike period instrument HIP performances, but there are a few exceptions.  One of them is L'Archibudelli's performance of the Schubert Quintet.  I find it so moving, particularly the trio to the 3rd movement scherzo.  However, I disliked their performance of Haydn's Op. 77 so much, I gave it away to someone.

I was referring to the Grumiaux Trio's version of the Schubert—not L'Archibudelli's which is also a top choice for me (along with Taneyev/Rostropovich & Arcanto/Marron)

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 30, 2020, 06:31:10 AM
It's a great set in terms of Citizen Kane. When it was out there was nothing like it so it's encoded.

That's fair enough & probably where a lot of standard recommendations come from. I'm sure it was the best available recording upon its release, at least compared to the other historical recordings I listened to, but modern standards of playing & performance practice knowledge make it difficult for a lot of earlier recordings to compete across the entire standard repertoire, though there are always exceptions (usually from the 1930s or 50s for some reason)

Quote from: MusicTurner on December 30, 2020, 06:46:54 AM
Am not generally into HIP either, but regarding Schubert in that field, Gura/Berner's Winterreise has the pianist playing a piano from around 1870, and it works very well, with just a discreet difference from the modern instruments in its sound. It's a marvelous release. I got it this year, but it's older than that.

Piano timbre during its developmental years is harder to wrap your head around if you are accustomed to the modern. It might be easier with string instruments to get along with at first. Unfortunately, in context of Historically Informed Practice (rather than mere period instruments) there is a "better" stylistic approach in performance, too, which you can hardly find in modern instrument counterparts

Quote from: MusicTurner on December 30, 2020, 06:46:54 AM
Gura/Berner's Winterreise

...and that is an exceptional recording.

Quote from: amw on December 30, 2020, 06:58:51 AM
but modern standards of playing & performance practice knowledge make it difficult for a lot of earlier recordings to compete across the entire standard repertoire

We know better now. The more I'm informed the less I listen to earlier ones. But then again, some of them are encoded during my brain development which beats appreciation.

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 30, 2020, 07:00:56 AM
Piano timbre during its developmental years is harder to wrap your head around if you are accustomed to the modern. It might be easier with string instruments to get along with at first. Unfortunately, in context of Historically Informed Practice (rather than mere period instruments) there is a "better" stylistic approach in performance, too, which you can hardly find in modern instrument counterparts

In that Winterreise, there's just a discreet, but interesting difference.
Taste varies; in the case of Baroque and Classicism, I've personally found a flattening out and homogenizing of the expression, in many HIP releases.

Quote from: MusicTurner on December 30, 2020, 07:10:15 AM
Taste varies

That is superficial. If the subject is "taste" you can acquire it, can't you?

Based on say Viviana Sofronitsky's or Bilson's Mozart concertos, that won't happen. I'd rather be forced into exile then, with what I own already ... :)

It is worth noting though, how the concept of the allegedly definitive, historically 'correct' also has changed through the recent decades.

Quote from: MusicTurner on December 30, 2020, 07:20:17 AM
It is worth noting though, how the concept of the allegedly definitive, historically 'correct' also has changed through the recent decades.

Yes, that's because I can fly from Berlin to London and visit 3 different libraries full of manuscripts in both cities while listening to 6 different recordings of the same work and skimming 3 different reference books on the flight on the same day in order to cross check infer knowledge that same night...instead of months or years

Quote from: amw on December 30, 2020, 04:49:39 AM
Michel Block - Albéniz: Ibéria / Navarra (https://classicvinyl.com/romantic/albeniz-iberia-complete-michel-block) - unclear why this has rarely if ever appeared on CD or digitally

He never recorded much commercially until late career for OM Records, Guild, and Pro Piano (which also initially released a couple Sergei Babayan discs).  It is unlikely that there's enough money to be made from multiple reissues.  Since OM Records is gone, and it looks like Pro Piano is, too, one must wait for other labels to reissue in some form.  I have been able to track down a copy of the Beethoven sonatas he recorded.  The nearest copy is available at a library only 1700 miles away.  (Apparently, BRO had it briefly, but I haven't shopped there for years.)

Also, on Block and Iberia specifically, you can listen to him discuss it with Studs Terkel in 1978 here: https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/michel-block-discusses-his-career

Quote from: vandermolen on December 17, 2020, 11:26:03 PM
Two nice discoveries for me this year:

I remember those were very good, I was a great fan of Mackerras Telarc.

My two big discoveries were David Toop -- both as composer and curator -- and the Stockhausen of Licht and Klang.  It was Richard Barrett who put me on to Stockhausen, in a passing comment about totally serial composition. I'm glad he did.  I found Toop just by investigating active British composers, and found he was a serious point of inspiration for many of the composers I enjoyed.

Toop and Stockhausen have started to shift my attention to improvisation and to world folk music, so who knows what the future holds.

Not a discovery, but a rediscovery --- I have really enjoyed getting back into English composers like Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Bax, Walton, Britten, Tippett, Arnold and Rubbra, but it's also been nice to dig back into Strauss' oeuvre. I've also been getting back into Mahler, Bruckner, Glazunov, Grieg, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, etc. Sibelius and Nielsen are never too far off either. There's so much music out there and so little time. There are many days where I simply don't know what to listen to and not because I'm confused, but rather that I have so much to choose from.

Quote from: Mirror Image on December 30, 2020, 11:40:34 AM
Not a discovery, but a rediscovery --- I have really enjoyed getting back into English composers like Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Bax, Walton, Britten, Tippett, Arnold and Rubbra, but it's also been nice to dig back into Strauss' oeuvre. I've also been getting back into Mahler, Bruckner, Glazunov, Grieg, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, etc. Sibelius and Nielsen are never too far off either. There's so much music out there and so little time. There are many days where I simply don't know what to listen to and not because I'm confused, but rather that I have so much to choose from.

Yes， a year of rediscoveries for me as well. This is partly because this year, my daughter Kimi started middle school. I started driving to and from work because I had to drive her to school first (leaving home at 6:40) and then pick her up after school, getting home rather late (as I occasionally have late class so we actually get home after 8pm). This means I am driving tow hours a day.
The great benefit of this is: Yes! I am listening to music in the car! I have had the opportunity to listen to the hundreds of CDs that I have not listened to for ages. It helped me to rediscover composers I had neglected, such as Albeniz, Ludolf Nielsen, Poot, Irving Fine, Della Joio, Arthur Foot, Dargomyzhsky, Raid, Egge, Fuchs, Goetze, Rontgen, Gade, Luis Glass, Ginastera, Chavez, D'Indy, Godard, Arnell, Butterworth, Beach, Marx, Fricker, Parry, Lajtha, Weiner, Rosza, Rota, just to name a few.

Quote from: springrite on December 30, 2020, 04:34:52 PM
Yes， a year of rediscoveries for me as well. This is partly because this year, my daughter Kimi started middle school. I started driving to and from work because I had to drive her to school first (leaving home at 6:40) and then pick her up after school, getting home rather late (as I occasionally have late class so we actually get home after 8pm). This means I am driving tow hours a day.
The great benefit of this is: Yes! I am listening to music in the car! I have had the opportunity to listen to the hundreds of CDs that I have not listened to for ages. It helped me to rediscover composers I had neglected, such as Albeniz, Ludolf Nielsen, Poot, Irving Fine, Della Joio, Arthur Foot, Dargomyzhsky, Raid, Egge, Fuchs, Goetze, Rontgen, Gade, Luis Glass, Ginastera, Chavez, D'Indy, Godard, Arnell, Butterworth, Beach, Marx, Fricker, Parry, Lajtha, Weiner, Rosza, Rota, just to name a few.

Very nice, Paul except for the driving part as I've never been one for driving, but it's crucial around here since we have to drive everywhere as we don't live within walking distance of any stores.

Better late than never - my standouts - these are a mix of 2020 or near-2020 releases and some that were just 'new to me', and almost all acquired after learning of them via GMG:

Ockeghem, Missa L'homme arme; Ensemble Nusmido
Messes de Barcelone et d'Apt; Ensemble Gilles Binchois

Bach, WTC I & II; Dina Ugorskaja
Scarlatti, Sonatas 'Duende'; Skip Sempe

Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique; Francois-Xavier Roth
Chopin, Mazurkas; Janusz Olejniczak
Honegger, Symphonies 3 & 5; Mario Venzago
Messiaen, Livre du Saint-Sacrememt; Paul Jacobs (organ)
Satie, Gnossiennes etc; de Leeuw
Schonberg, Verklarte Nacht (sextet); Faust, Queyras, etc.
Shostakovich, Violin Concertos; Alina Ibragimova
RVW, Symphonies 3 & 4; Martyn Brabbins

Then there's Beethoven:
I'm over 70 now and I have to confess I've never really got on with Beethoven's music - apart maybe from some of his earlier Piano Sonatas.  His orchestral music has always been especially problematic and to this day I've never listened to Beeethoven's 9th Symphony in its entirety.  In hindsight this 'Beethoven block' is probably because in my formative years the Gold Standard for Beethoven was Klemperer - and believe it or not I clung to him for nearly 50 years.

So I thank Todd for his tireless survey of Beethoven recordings over the last year, which has opened my ears to some very fine music.  And how tastes have changed!
Thankyou, Todd !! - the following five outstanding Beethoven acquisitions are down to your advocacy:
(I should add that I buy mainly downloads and selected tracks where I can - not the complete compilations as illustrated below.)

Hunt Sonata; Yusuke Kikuchi
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71Xh8RMtRLL._SS425_.jpg)
This is music I simply didn't know at all.  After reading Todd's thread and sampling a couple of them, I settled on this one.  Very nice addition to my music library.

Late Quartets; Quatuor Ebene
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61LXCJHdL9L._SY600_.jpg)
I've always up to now struggled with the late quartets.  These recordings, despite their too-obvious flaw of being over-produced, have really opened this music up for me.

Piano Concetos 3 & 4 Oliver Schnyder and James Gaffigan
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/918SpMEXq7L._SS425_.jpg)
These two concertos are probably my favourite orchestral music by Beethoven.  I've long relied on Perahia with Haitink, but these newer recordings are a revelation, I've listened to the 3rd in particular several times this year.

Symphony 3 Eroica; Thomas Adès
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/612cc5fc4gL._SS425_.jpg)
I really wanted to like Toscanini as well but I just found the NBC SO tympanist too distracting.  For every tymp hit (and there are a lot of them, in the Eroica) it was a lottery just how far behind the beat he would be.  (Or maybe, just maybe, the tympanist was getting it right and the entire rest of the orchestra was pressing on too hard?)

Violin Concerto; Patricia Kopatchinskaja  with Herreweghe
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41apZ8cr5OL._SY425_.jpg)
This is just wonderful - possibly my top choice of the year.

then, apart from the above here are my three other Beethoven standouts of 2020:

Piano Concerto 5 'Emperor'; Kristian Bezuidenhout on fortepiano and Heras-Casado conducting the Freiburger Barockorster.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61h0R-6vfSL._SS500_.jpg)
This is music that I really have never liked much - it's just too bludgeoning, the music of a deaf composer.  In this recording the fortepiano is light and crystalline while the accompaniment from the Freiburgers - who I always find a bit too lush and heavy in their core repertoire - here that warm sound is a plus.  There is a terrific separation between soloist and orchestra, which in this particular music works really well.  The first time I've ever really enjoyed this concerto.
The coupling is the 2nd Concerto which is completely new to me.  I've had a listen, and will certainly be playing it again.

Symphony 6 'Pastoral'; AAM Berlin
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71xNaq81ohL._SS500_.jpg)
From the same stable as above, the AAM self-drive through this familiar landscape.  They are predictably quick, textures are light and gossamer-thin, but the storm when it arrives has terrific impact, a real throwback to the music of Sturm und Drang.  What a contrast to Klemperer!

Symphony 5; Teodor Currentzis
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61WJtTlxmJL._SS500_.jpg)
Raising this tired old warhorse to a whole new level.  And I see Currentzis has a 7th coming out later this year as well.

This was one of not too many discoveries, in 2020. I tried some more Rota afterwards, my favourite Italian composer now after Respighi:
(https://www.chandos.net/artwork/CH10546.jpg)

I should give Rota a go, really. I know it's a broad comparison to make, but after I utterly fell in love with Korngold's wonderful Symphony in F sharp, I'm interested in hearing the "serious" music of other composers better known for film scores.

I've yet to post a list in this thread, but agree with aukhawk particularly on the Schnyder Beethoven concertos. They have absolutely renewed my interest in those works. Gotta do some A/B testing with Bronfman/Zinman, not sure any other concerto cycle I know comes close. Gotta find more Schnyder Schtuff.

Quote from: amw on December 30, 2020, 04:49:39 AM
Zeynep Gedizlioğlu - Verbinden und Abwenden (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8767936--zeynep-gedizlio-lu-verbinden-und-abwenden)

Thanks, I knew it existed but had forgotten to listen.

Quote from: Maestro267 on January 01, 2021, 11:43:43 AM
I should give Rota a go, really. I know it's a broad comparison to make, but after I utterly fell in love with Korngold's wonderful Symphony in F sharp, I'm interested in hearing the "serious" music of other composers better known for film scores.

Korngold's symphony is still waiting to be tried by me, will do so now.

Here's a challenging one that shouldn't be forgotten about - though I forgot about it.

(https://i.imgur.com/ufDZClI.jpg)

Quote from: Brass Hole on December 30, 2020, 07:12:28 AM
That is superficial. If the subject is "taste" you can acquire it, can't you?

Sure you can! But you don't have to - specially if you don't want to! :D

I joke - but this takes us back to the initial idea. Taste. I have nothing I can really support against HIP performances in general - I mean performance analysis aside, just the initial hit of that sound... well.. not to MY taste... so prefer non-HIP even if some of my favourite performances are HIP performances! :D

v

Quote from: Maestro267 on January 01, 2021, 11:43:43 AM
I should give Rota a go, really. I know it's a broad comparison to make, but after I utterly fell in love with Korngold's wonderful Symphony in F sharp, I'm interested in hearing the "serious" music of other composers better known for film scores.

Me too - like Bernard Herrmann's Symphony and 'Moby Dick' and Waxman's 'Song of Terezin'.

Quote from: vandermolen on January 05, 2021, 12:17:55 PM
Me too - like Bernard Herrmann's Symphony and 'Moby Dick' and Waxman's 'Song of Terezin'.

His four symphonies show that Nino Rota was a symphonic composer first, and a film composer second - not what I at first expected. Will play Bernard Hermann's Symphony again (never tried really hard enough).  :)

Quote from: Christo on January 06, 2021, 05:13:25 AM
His four symphonies show that Nino Rota was a symphonic composer first, and a film composer second - not what I at first expected. Will play Bernard Hermann's Symphony again (never tried really hard enough).  :)

That Rota CD of symphonies 1 and 2 is on my 'Priority List'. My brother doesn't think much of Herrmann's Symphony but I like it very much (have recordings on Unicorn and Koch - both are good but Unicorn is best IMO).

Quote from: vandermolen on January 06, 2021, 05:24:45 AM
That Rota CD of symphonies 1 and 2 is on my 'Priority List'. My brother doesn't think much of Herrmann's Symphony but I like it very much (have recordings on Unicorn and Koch - both are good but Unicorn is best IMO).

The Unicorn seems to be still (or newly) available from Presto:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8151595--herrmann-symphony-the-fantasticks

I've also seen some digital versions streaming on Qobuz that look rather dubious in origin.

Quote from: Daverz on January 06, 2021, 05:29:05 AM
The Unicorn seems to be still (or newly) available from Presto:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8151595--herrmann-symphony-the-fantasticks

I've also seen some digital versions streaming on Qobuz that look rather dubious in origin.

That's good to know - it's a fine CD. Its original appearance on LP made a big impression on me:
(//)

Vladigerov, Tsintsadze, etc.

Jeffrey, thank you for recommending many albums, especially those of W. Walton works, last year. I enjoyed all of them.

Quote from: edward on December 13, 2020, 08:35:40 AM


Another composer making huge strides forward in my estimation is Clara Iannotta. Earthing, her disc of string quartets as played by the JACK Quartet, shows this very well: the two earlier quartets are fine essays in sonic exploration in the tradition of the likes of Lachenmann and Schnebel, but the title work and the extraordinary You Crawl over Seas of Granite add something new, a cavernous, doom-laden sound that feels like it's taking up where the best of Nono's late electro-acoustic works left off.

[asin]B08D53GVN1[/asin]

Yes. The quiet sounds give the impression of music far away, space, and that is somehow evocative, as if she's creating vast structures in sound. I much prefer music you can hardly hear to music that's in your face.

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on January 08, 2021, 03:33:26 PM
Vladigerov, Tsintsadze, etc.

Jeffrey, thank you for recommending many albums, especially those of W. Walton works, last year. I enjoyed all of them.

You're most welcome DBK. I'm delighted that you enjoyed them.
:)

This is a wonderfully informative thread.

Thank you all!