What are you listening to now?

[André]

My, oh my! More good stuff from the complete symphonies set of Eduard Tubin. Even when he ends a work quietly (symph no 8 ) the journey is eventful. When he ends triumphantly (no 3) there's no mistaking the proudly cathartic purpose behind the cascading torrents of music.

[vandermolen]

Wild Swans from this disc:



What a nice surprise. I was hooked by its magical sonorities. The music sounds so fresh and engaging despite it's rather conservative in style with some slight minimalistic touches. There is a female voice who sings without words, like an instrument else, an interesting feature in my view.


Symphony No. 2 from this disc:



This is the first work I listen to by this composer and turned out revelatory to say the least. All his symphonies are written for concert band. I like the hopeful and epic sounds Maslanka gets from this work. The orchestration is so variated that you don't miss the stringed instruments. The work was very good except for the very last notes, which closed the work in a rather unsatisfactory way.

Two very interesting looking releases - neither of which I've heard of.

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams's late, craggy Violin Sonata - possibly my favourite of his chamber works, much as I like the early, withdrawn Piano Quintet and the Second SQ. I'm listening to a CD version but this LP was a revelation to me in the 1970s:

[vandermolen]

It wasn't bad but I expected something else. It's like a minimalistic work in a dark way. I enjoyed the scary and tense atmosphere throughout, but I also felt the music meandered a lot with no direction. More climaxes were needed to give more action.

I like the Symphony very much - it has a hypnotic slow movement (although I'm not listening to it now):

[Harry]

Good morning all, early listening pleasure.

Michelangelo Rossi.
Toccate e Correnti parte prima.

Francesco Cera, Harpsichord, by Barthelemy Formentelli, Verona 1989, after Bartolomeo Firenze, 1690, ca.

It is still a CD full of surprises, in terms of music, unusual harmonies, coupled with a bare bones approach, it sets you right back into the early 17th century.
Fascinating stuff.

[Que]

Morning listening:

[asin]B00WAZHSP8[/asin]

It may be too Vartoloesque for you, maybe better judgements about how long to pause between sections than Vartolo, but nevertheless expansive and expressive. I like it like that of course, anyway it may help you to crystallise your opinions.

I've started to listen to some Bk 2 toccatas, it's well recorded and well played, I like it very much. A madrigalesque conception of the music, lyrical polyphony and very expressive and sexy sensual, with lots of time to let the gestures have their effect.

[Re: Frescobaldi set by Cera]

We'll see -thanks for the comments!

Sofar I've had positive experiences with Francesco Cera, hence my optimism. 

Q

[Que]

Good morning all, early listening pleasure.

Michelangelo Rossi.
Toccate e Correnti parte prima.

Francesco Cera, Harpsichord, by Barthelemy Formentelli, Verona 1989, after Bartolomeo Firenze, 1690, ca.

It is still a CD full of surprises, in terms of music, unusual harmonies, coupled with a bare bones approach, it sets you right back into the early 17th century.
Fascinating stuff.

One of the Francesco Cera recordings I love! 

Wonderful music that deserves more exposure.

Q

[Harry]

Tarquinio Merula, Complete Organ Music.

Enrico Viccardi on a organ by Giovanni Chiappani,  1647.
Pitch= a 440 Hz at a temperature of 20 degrees celsius.
Temperament with regular 1/6 comma.
WW = 50 mm.

Recommended by Que, and rightly so. A good performance on a wonderful instrument, and captured into a excellent recording. Enrico Viccardi was a new name to me, but by what I heard he presents a solid but warmly committed interpretation of these by no means easy works. The acoustics of this church makes it difficult to make good recordings, but this one comes very close to the ideal.

[Papy Oli]

Two very interesting looking releases - neither of which I've heard of.

Morning Jeffrey,

You most likely will have heard Elena Kats-Chernin in this UK ad :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3xe9dSY7zM

thank me later when this tune is stuck in your head all day 

[Irons]

Vaughan Williams's late, craggy Violin Sonata - possibly my favourite of his chamber works, much as I like the early, withdrawn Piano Quintet and the Second SQ. I'm listening to a CD version but this LP was a revelation to me in the 1970s:

I am a big admirer of Hugh Bean. His understated playing is perfectly suited to English music and in particular Vaughan Williams and Elgar - Bean's Elgar Violin Concerto is my favourite recording. The two RVW recordings the Music Group of London made for EMI are definitive IMO. I also like the early 1st SQ which the composer described in typical fashion - "I came home with a bad attack of French fever and wrote a string quartet which caused a friend to say that I must have been having tea with Debussy".

[Mandryka]

Morning listening:

[asin]B00WAZHSP8[/asin]


[Re: Frescobaldi set by Cera]

We'll see -thanks for the comments!

Sofar I've had positive experiences with Francesco Cera, hence my optimism. 

Q

Yes and me mixed experiences!

Has anyone here explored his three Scarlatti CDs?

[vandermolen]

I am a big admirer of Hugh Bean. His understated playing is perfectly suited to English music and in particular Vaughan Williams and Elgar - Bean's Elgar Violin Concerto is my favourite recording. The two RVW recordings the Music Group of London made for EMI are definitive IMO. I also like the early 1st SQ which the composer described in typical fashion - "I came home with a bad attack of French fever and wrote a string quartet which caused a friend to say that I must have been having tea with Debussy".

Yes, me too Lol. I also think that the Hugh Bean/Boult version is my favourite 'Lark Ascending'.

[Que]

One more time: 

[asin]B00CANGFXG[/asin]
Music by Jean Nicolas Geoffroy (1633 - 1694).
Aurélien Delage plays a Louis XIV style harpsichord marked D.F. in the Château of Bény-sur-Mer (Normandy).

Q

[Harry]

Prae Bachtorius.
Michael Pretorius, Chorale settings.

Huelgas Ensemble, Paul van Nevel.

After several listenings, I can safely recommend these Choral settings. They are beautifully presented by the Huelgas Ensemble. The choir is well balanced, all evenly sung, no solo explosions, but singers that listen carefully to each other, which is still quite rare these days. The settings are real reformation stuff, gorgeously done. Sound is excellent too.

[Traverso]

Chopin

Finally I come to the nocturnes

CD 1

[Que]

Prae Bachtorius.
Michael Pretorius, Chorale settings.

Huelgas Ensemble, Paul van Nevel.

After several listenings, I can safely recommend these Choral settings. They are beautifully presented by the Huelgas Ensemble. The choir is well balanced, all evenly sung, no solo explosions, but singers that listen carefully to each other, which is still quite rare these days. The settings are real reformation stuff, gorgeously done. Sound is excellent too.

Absolutely! 

Q

[Harry]

D. Gio. Antonio Pandolfi Mealli.

Sonata a Violino, solo. Opera terza (1660)

Gunar Letzbor, Violin.
Are Antiqua Austria.

I can be very brief about this recording, which I have played many times already...tis very well done. Letzbor seems to have lost a few of his wild feathers, thus producing fine recordings and this is one of them. Sound is first rate too.

[Mandryka]

Chopin

Finally I come to the nocturnes

CD 1

It's the waltzes which are the high point for me in that. I mean I think there are plenty of people who play the nocturnes in a way which is more or less like what Arrau does there, for better or for worse. But NO ONE plays the waltzes in a way that remotely resembles Arrau!

Funeral waltzes.

[Que]

D. Gio. Antonio Pandolfi Mealli.

Sonata a Violino, solo. Opera terza (1660)

Gunar Letzbor, Violin.
Are Antiqua Austria.

I can be very brief about this recording, which I have played many times already...tis very well done. Letzbor seems to have lost a few of his wild feathers, thus producing fine recordings and this is one of them. Sound is first rate too.

This is good news! 
He is an excellent musician but my general problem the last couple of years with him was that he pushed too hard, to the detriment of poise & balance.in the music.

Q

[Florestan]

This is good news! 
He is an excellent musician but my general problem the last couple of years with him was that he pushed too hard, to the detriment of poise & balance.in the music.

Poise and balance are just fine in Classical era music, but are they appropriate for Baroque as well? I'm not that sure, honestly.