What are you listening to now?

[Wanderer]

.[asin]B002V9P90O[/asin]

[prémont]

Léon Berben, who was only 29 at the time of recordings (1999), plays The Well Tempered Clavier on a harpsichord after Couchet.

Looking forward to your opinion of this.

[TheGSMoeller]

The Jerusalem 4 display great passion for Schubert's music, and an excellent instrumental balance. Even the Klimt cover art is perfect.

[asin]B0012Y1I4U[/asin]

[Kontrapunctus]

A towering performance of the Sonata, captured in quite good, if not audiophile, sound.

[Madiel]

Bridge, Novelletten.

[asin]B0000014AD[/asin]

I'd forgotten how good the 1st one of these is, in particular. I mean, they're all nice to listen to, but the 1st one is quite special.

https://www.youtube.com/v/NCDK7pkIYCo

[Dee Sharp]

Mozart: Symphony Np. 36 Linz. Harnoncort/Royal Concertgebouw. Really energetic  and fun performance. Recommended.

[Kontrapunctus]

More masterful playing and decent sound.

[Que]

Disc 2 of this 3CD set with miscellaneous Bach juvenelia by Christiane Wuyts, playing a harpsichord by Henri Hemsch, 1754, and one by Jacques Goermans, 1774.

 

Looking forward to your opinion of this.

Plan to do some short impressions of both sets on the Bach on the harpsichord thread.

Q

[amw]

I wasn't expecting this quintet to be good, just potentially interesting, but I was surprised: it's both. Felt shorter than its 55 minutes.



K415 probably should not be quite this large-scale in sound... or at least not comparable to K503 in weight. No complaints with the performances though.



This is nice. I'm honestly not sure I think very much of the music, but the album is quite pleasant to listen to.



Both Fauré sonatas are Faust or Amoyal quality. I may skip the Franck today.

[Marc]

Disc 2 of this 3CD set with miscellaneous Bach juvenelia by Christiane Wuyts, playing a harpsichord by Henri Hemsch, 1754, and one by Jacques Goermans, 1774.

 

Plan to do some short impressions of both sets on the Bach on the harpsichord thread.

Me curious too.

[Spineur]

[eljr]

Jordi Savall / Le Concert des Nations
Bach: Les Quatre Ouvertures

Release DateMay 7, 2012
01:45:00
Genre
Classical
Styles
Orchestral
Submit Corrections
Recording Location
Grande Salle de l'Arsenal à Metz
LabelAlia Vox
FormatSuper Audio Hybrid CD
Duration01:45:14

[Mister Sharpe]

Remembering Lycia :

[asin]B000004CWN[/asin]

[eljr]

Dan Laurin / Paradiso Musicale / Anna Paradiso
J.H. Roman: The 12 Flute Sonatas, Nos. 1-5

Release Date January, 2015
Duration01:09:51
Genre
Classical
Styles
Chamber Music
Recording Location
Petruskyrkan, Stocksund, Sweden

[Mandryka]

Claudio Arrau D960. The performance reminds me of the Sistine chapel ceiling. Every little gesture is full of meaning. Listening to it I feel overwhelmed almost, intellectually (there's a lot of nuance to take in, you can't let your mind wonder for fear of missing something), but also "spiritually" (Arrau's psychologically deep, as they say.)

It's as if Arrau is saying that Schubert took the humble piano sonata, domestic art form par excellence, and reconceived it as an an abstract, complex,multilayered epic poem.

Part of Arrau's technique involves voicing, honestly the voicing here is like no one else, the voices  balance to produce music which almost sounds as though it's working mainly through polyphony, through polyphonic tension. Maybe I have seriously underestimated this aspect of 19th century music.

A reviewer for the BBC said he sounds  "uncomfortable." That's because the price to pay for all this meaningfulness is that you lose the spontaneous and the visceral. Arrau does not want to dazzle you by sounding as though he's been possessed and driven by a spirit, or by demonstrating his virtuosity. To me that seems not a high price to pay - this isn't entertainment after all!

He takes the first movement repeat, and his way of doing it is extraordinary for its poise, as if the music breaks down beautifully and delicately. At the moment of the big cacophonic chord, you sense that he's holding his nose in disgust, keen to get  the moment out of the way. Maybe this is why the reviewer said he sounded uncomfortable.

This is quite a contrast from the nervous breakdown approach of (e.g.) Richter -  and I don't know quite what to make of it. But I do think that Brendel was right to argue that the repeat is very problematic, and I'm not sure that anyone's found a good way of doing it - not Arrau, not Richter, not Staier, not Afanassiev . . . Probably best omitted!

[eljr]

Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Magne Amdahl: Astrognosia & Æsop

Release Date June 30, 2015
Duration51:14
Genre
Classical
Styles
Orchestral
Recording DateMay, 2014
Recording Location
Jar Church, Norway
Label2L
FormatBlu-Ray Audio
Duration51:14
Release Info
Studio Recording

[eljr]

John Storgårds / Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Per Nørgård: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 6

Release Date June 10, 2016
Duration54:21
Genre
Classical
Styles
Symphony
Recording DateMay 25, 2015 - May 28, 2015
Recording Location
Oslo Konserthus
Oslo Opera House, the Orchestra Rehearsal Room

FormatSuper Audio Hybrid CD

[Madiel]

A weird mix, mostly of first listens...

1. Beethoven, 12 Contredanses WoO 14 (Maazel, Berlin Philharmonic)
2. Holmboe, Notturno for wind quintet, op.19 (Royal Danish Winds)
3. Scriabin, 4 Preludes, op.31 (Lettberg)
4. Dvorak, String Quartet No.4, B.19 (Prague Quartet)


The 4th Dvorak quartet is a bit of a wild mess, but it's far more interesting mess than the 2nd and 3rd quartets.

[eljr]

Edward Gardner / City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus / Great Britain National Youth Orchestra
Holst: The Planets; Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra


Release Date January 27, 2017
Duration01:19:44
Genre
Classical
Styles
Orchestral
Choral
Recording DateAugust 8, 2016 & August 9, 2016
Recording Location
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Label
Chandos
Format
Super Audio Hybrid CD
Release Info
Studio Recording

[Karl Henning]

http://www.youtube.com/v/yXLbPL0lnus