What are you listening to now?

[Mahlerian]

https://www.youtube.com/v/6xmqK8dClrg

The Piano Fantasy may be my favorite Copland work.

[aligreto]

Haydn: Symphony No. 87 [Goodman]....





This is a particularly favoured CD in this series.

[aligreto]

I have not listened to that one in a long time; I must revisit it sometime soon.

[aligreto]

.[asin]B0141OYYOI[/asin]

Organ music by Baroque composer Tarquinio Merula, not to be confused with Claudio Merulo from a generation earlier.
Both music and performance are a nice surprise. Enrico Viccardi plays the organ by Giovanni Chiappani in the Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo at Mezzana Casati.

Q

In my ignorance, I would have been confused 

[aligreto]

Now:



Listening to Orchestral Set No. 2. I always loved the opening of this work. Almost like you've been submerged in a swamp somewhere deep in Southern Mississippi.

I have that recording but I have not listened to it in quite a while. I must revisit it soon to see if I am suitably swamped.

[Que]

.[asin]B000ZXT2M4[/asin]
Q

[Mirror Image]

I have that recording but I have not listened to it in quite a while. I must revisit it soon to see if I am suitably swamped.

Hah! I already owned all the reissues of MTT's Ives on Sony, but this particular recording I only bought for Orchestral Set No. 2 since it was not issued whenever those symphony recordings were released, which I found quite strange. Anyway, this must be the only way one can hear MTT's take on this work. Needless to say, it's superb in every respect.

[aligreto]

Hah! I already owned all the reissues of MTT's Ives on Sony, but this particular recording I only bought for Orchestral Set No. 2 since it was not issued whenever those symphony recordings were released, which I found quite strange. Anyway, this must be the only way one can hear MTT's take on this work. Needless to say, it's superb in every respect.

Cheers; I look forward to a revisit 

[Que]

Morning listening ~

[asin]B001BLP64C[/asin]

There much worse ways of waking up...

Thanks Que.  Recommended, yes? 

If you're into (Italian) organ music, definitely! 
Otherwise recordings of, for instance, the afore mentioned Claudio Merulo should come a bit higher on the shopping list (Stefano Molardi/Divox* or Francesco Tassini/ Tactus).

*My personal favourite.

Q

[Karl Henning]

Great to hear, Karl. Yeah, Delius' Two Pieces for Small Orchestra is exquisite. Be sure to check out Summer Night on the River at some point.

Although . . . Summer Night on the River at Some Point really appeals to me as a title  0:)

[Zeus]

After an extended (two week plus) hiatus, I'm returning to my temporal traversal project – that is, listening to selected discs from my collection in chronological order, from the 12th century forward.  When I took my break, I had listened to discs up through the middle of the 1600s.

To finish up with the baroque period, I'll listen to four discs from the late 1600s, to be followed by four more discs from the first half of the 1700s. I've tried to select discs with reasonable geographic diversity, to sample different musical traditions from the late baroque.

Once I listen through these 8 discs, the plan of attack changes somewhat. I'll start listening to one disc per decade, starting with the 1750s, and continuing to the present. Kinda nerdy, I know, but this project pleases me.

First up, from London in 1689:
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Graham, Bostridge, Tilling, Palmer, Daniels, et al; Le Concert d'Astrée; European Voices; Haim
Virgin Veritas

[HIPster]

If you're into (Italian) organ music, definitely! 
Otherwise recordings of, for instance, the afore mentioned Claudio Merulo should come a bit higher on the shopping list (Stefano Molardi/Divox* or Francesco/ Tactus).

*My personal favourite.

Q

Thanks. 

On your recommendation, I purchased the Divox.

Now playing ~

[asin]B0013XZ35A[/asin]

[Zeus]

TT #26) from Paris, circa 1690

Charpentier: Te Deum, etc
Le Parlement de Musique, Martin Gester
Naive

[Zeus]

TT #27) from Nuremberg, 1695

Giving this new disc its first spin....



Pachelbel: Un orage d'avril
Gli incogniti, Amandine Beyer, Hans Jörg Mammel
Harmonia Mundi

[Turner]

Some vey pleasant CDs in the last couple of days -

- Kuhnau, Zelenka & Bach - Magnificats / Suzuki
- Bach - Magnificat / Christophers
- Bach - Motetten etc./ Amarcord & Lautten Compagney
- Mozart - Flute Quartets / Hall

[HIPster]

Some vey pleasant CDs in the last couple of days -

- Kuhnau, Zelenka & Bach - Magnificats / Suzuki
- Bach - Magnificat / Christophers
- Bach - Motetten etc./ Amarcord & Lautten Compagney
- Mozart - Flute Quartets / Hall

Nice lineup Turner! 

Currently playing ~

[asin]B0012BT1BU[/asin]

[Zeus]

TT #28) South American Baroque

I'm pre-posting this by a half an hour or so, just so I don't have to come back here and fool with it later. Last one of the day, from me.

Fire Burning in Snow
Ex Cathedra & Jeffrey Skidmore
Hyperion



Mostly from Peru and/or Bolivia, I think.

[Todd]

Gielen's Eighth, in its original guise.  Gielen's is a big league take.  First, there's the length: at over 95 minutes, the only longer version I've heard is Celi's Munich take.  (True, a big chunk of the time difference for Gielen is attributed to the version rather than idiosyncratic vision as with Celi, but it is around fourteen minutes longer than Young's version.)  This is similarly grand in conception, but more traditional in execution.  It is hard not to notice that the nearly twenty minute long Scherzo takes over a minute longer than the massive, imposing opening Allegro moderato, but the slowness, especially in the outer sections, is like a massive musical glacier inching inexorably forward, unstoppable and inevitable.  In the trio, one can hear Wagner once more, but in a more etched and formalized way.  There is little in the way of operatic theatricality.  The string playing in the trio is more precise, sounding like an amplified chamber ensemble.  In the nearly half-hour Adagio, Gielen nearly matches Celi in terms of making time melt away, Giulini for depth, and Karajan for power as he lets the music unfold with a potent predictability until the grand climax, though here one might wish that this or any conductor would take the liberty of shedding those extraneous cymbal crashes.  Gielen then winds down the movement with some lovely playing possessed of a sort of resignation.  The Finale then erupts, with Gielen demanding and getting speed and power in equal measure, before backing off to let the music develop nicely.  The march theme is played in an entirely satisfying imposing and aggressive manner.  The rest of the movement prior to the coda more or less proceeds at a pace that allows one to hear every detail, and then the coda stacks all the themes in a satisfying, but, in the context of this performance, somewhat abrupt manner.  Overall, this is a most satisfying recording.  I don't think I'd say it necessarily displaces the three versions mentioned previously, but it may join them.

Sound for the 2007 live recording could use a bit more low frequency heft, but otherwise is excellent.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Mosaics. Love this work, but I really haven't heard a Hanson work I actively dislike, which I suppose either speaks of my failure of being a more astute listener or Hanson's own melodic invention and sumptuous scoring.

[Mirror Image]

Now:

Now playing Hanson's Piano Concerto. It's been quite some time since I've last listened to this work. Beautiful.