What are you listening 2 now?

[Traverso]

Messiaen

L'Ascension
Livre D'Orgue

[Tsaraslondon]

Is that MDC in South Kensington? A regular escape from work, you may have served me!. If I recall there was another shop opposite Charring Cross Station in the Strand. Funnily enough I was reading just the other day an amusing anecdote concerning this store  http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/

Edit: Previn.

I worked there at various times over a longish period (I'm an actor and used to work there when inbetween jobs), first at their original store in Rathbone Place, then subsequently at the ones in the Strand and next to the Colisseum. I didn't ever work in South Kensington.

Incidentally, we used to get quite a few famous faces popping into both the Strand and Colisseum stores. I'm pretty sure I remember Previn popping in from time to time, and Anthony Hopkins too.

[Tsaraslondon]

Claude Debussy: Sonata for violin and piano in G minor. Kyung Wha Chung, Radu Lupu. What an amazing disc this is... four of the greatest chamber works in the entire French classical music repertoire, in damn near definitive performances. I just got it last month, but I'm tempted to call it desert island material. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

One of the first CDs I owned, and still a favourite of mine.

[SonicMan46]

Holiday Recordings - have about 20 or so CDs 'isolated' for this time of year - eclectic mix of old and recent traditions (have more but these ended up together) - will give the collection a listen over the next few days - Dave

     

[HIPster]

12th Century Christmas Mass, Notre Dame
Marcel Peres/Ensemble Organum

[asin]https://www.amazon.com/Ecole-Notre-Dame-Messe-Jour-Christmas/dp/B0000007N3/ref=sr_1_2?crid=22U9OCTBJW2A4&keywords=messe+de+noel&qid=1577207892&s=music&sprefix=Messe+%2Caps%2C237&sr=1-2[/asin]

Just superb. 

Amazon continues to be confused with the listings for this excellent release, unfortunately.  Great GIO review on Amazon too!

Cheers to all at GMG! 

[Mirror Image]

Claude Debussy: Sonata for violin and piano in G minor. Kyung Wha Chung, Radu Lupu. What an amazing disc this is... four of the greatest chamber works in the entire French classical music repertoire, in damn near definitive performances. I just got it last month, but I'm tempted to call it desert island material. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

That's a good recording, but I have to say the new(er) recording of these chamber works on Harmonia Mundi gets my vote over this recording. Have you heard any  this recording?



Then there's recording from The Nash Ensemble on Virgin Classics that has remained my reference:

[Mirror Image]

Disc 1 from this set:



Probably not the most appropriate music to play on Christmas Eve, but I'm really enjoying this performance (thanks in part to the superb audio quality).

[Symphonic Addict]

I don't know his quartets yet, but a couple days ago I was listening to Juon's Piano Quintet (his 2nd, I believe; also recorded by CPO) and was also struck by the complexity and forward-lookingness of the music. I've sometimes seen Juon compared to Brahms and Rachmaninoff, but IMO he is much more "advanced" than either, sometimes sounding like Prokofiev before Prokofiev had really developed his style (Juon's Piano Quintet was composed in 1912). There some exotic, even spicy-sounding harmonies and odd time signatures that Juon throws in the mix. His earlier works, such as the lovely Piano Trio no. 1 in A minor, are more straightforward but still wholly original-sounding. A most remarkable composer, for sure!

I do intend to explore his chamber music more deeply, the complexity and 'eccentricities' he stamps on the music is something to get delighted. I was really impressed by his 1st SQ, it's a finely crafted, sophisticated, elegant, consistent and eventually memorable work. The 2nd sounds more traditional, albeit it keeps the craftsmanship.

[Symphonic Addict]

I only want to say Merry Christmas to everybody. My best wishes for you all.

[vandermolen]

I only want to say Merry Christmas to everybody. My best wishes for you all.

And to you Cesar.

[Mirror Image]

I only want to say Merry Christmas to everybody. My best wishes for you all.

Thank you, Cesar! The same to you and yours.

[kyjo]

I do intend to explore his chamber music more deeply, the complexity and 'eccentricities' he stamps on the music is something to get delighted. I was really impressed by his 1st SQ, it's a finely crafted, sophisticated, elegant, consistent and eventually memorable work. The 2nd sounds more traditional, albeit it keeps the craftsmanship.

Juon was certainly a master of ingeniously crafted, original, and memorable chamber music. I'm not familiar with his orchestral works yet.

[kyjo]

I only want to say Merry Christmas to everybody. My best wishes for you all.

Thank you, Cesar! My best wishes to you as well.

[André]

Is it crossover? Is it parody? Sting sings mostly softly, has tuning problems aplenty, but as a whole the project is a success because he never cheapens the music and articulates Dowland's lines meaningfully. The lute/archlute accompaniment is excellent.

[Symphonic Addict]

And to you Cesar.

Thank you, Cesar! The same to you and yours.

Thank you, Cesar! My best wishes to you as well.

[Karl Henning]

I only want to say Merry Christmas to everybody. My best wishes for you all.

And to you!

[San Antone]

Revolutionary Drawing Room!

[Mirror Image]

Disc 1 from this set:



Probably not the most appropriate music to play on Christmas Eve, but I'm really enjoying this performance (thanks in part to the superb audio quality).

I have to say this is an absolute ingenious piece of music. I always try to read a synopsis of the opera I'm about to listen to and I found this particular narrative quite fascinating. I haven't finished The Turn of the Screw yet, but I'm not sure why I was resisting when I first listened to it years ago. I guess I needed to live with Britten's music longer. So far, I'd rank this opera up there with Peter Grimes and Death in Venice.

[Madiel]

I think downloads have changed for ever the way we experience and listen to music, and not just classical music. I was watching a documentary about the Beatles the other day and it occurred to me that an album like Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band would be inconceivable now. I don't think young people today even buy albums anymore, just the odd track. I wonder if this has an effect on classical music listening too. Do some people just buy one movement from a symphony, rather than the whole thing?

People used to quite happily take a movement from one symphony and shove it into another one.

Or swap arias in and out of different operas.

So basically the answer to your question is yes even before the recorded music era.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Thanks to Mandryka discovery, he made so far about ancient Caucasus music. Ensemble Basiani  , the album Georgia: Sacred & Secular Vocal Polyphony.

This album is startling interesting, from a foreign perspective, so it's captivating & alive and entertaining.