What are you listening 2 now?

[Mandryka]

Morning listening - via Spotify:

[asin]B07XLQ18XS[/asin]
Q

Let me try an idea about the Missa Mi Mi, probably unfair, see what you think. They sing the mass as if it's dramatic music, not as if it's spiritual music. Rebecca Stewart once said that it's impossible to sing a mass in a shopping mall, the ambience wouldn't be conducive to the right sort of rapport, the right sort of feeling. Well BF could do their stuff in shopping mall alright!

[Que]

Listening now:

[asin]B01MSWBUN8[/asin]

Let me try an idea about the Missa Mi Mi, probably unfair, see what you think. They sing the mass as if it's dramatic music, not as if it's spiritual music. Rebecca Stewart once said that it's impossible to sing a mass in a shopping mall, the ambience wouldn't be conducive to the right sort of rapport, the right sort of feeling. Well BF could do their stuff in shopping mall alright!

The two volumes of Ockeghem masses by Beauty Farm have the same style.
Though I'm not nearly as negative as Gio in his Amazon review, I definitely understand his remark about "brusque" style and "little unity in affect". I also get Mandryka 's comments. The approach is highly individualised, "dramatised" if you will, creating tension between the different voices vocally and emotionally. The result is definitely less reverential than we are used to in performances by the Ensemble Musica Nova, for instance. It does remind me of The Sound and the Fury, though to a to a lesser extent and technically (much) more accomplished.

Personally, I think it's interesting, pretty even, but it doesn't pull me in emotionally.
The music feels "objectified" and individualised, which is basically a very contemporary way of approaching this music.

Q

[San Antone]

Morning listening - via Spotify:

[asin]B07XLQ18XS[/asin]
Q

I am also listening to this right now. 

[Maestro267]

Those album covers legit creep me out.

[Traverso]

Those album covers legit creep me out.

You are not alone in this 

[Mandryka]

Listening now:

[asin]B01MSWBUN8[/asin]

The two volumes of Ockeghem masses by Beauty Farm have the same style.
Though I'm not nearly as negative as Gio in his Amazon review, I definitely understand his remark about "brusque" style and "little unity in affect". I also get Mandryka 's comments. The approach is highly individualised, "dramatised" if you will, creating tension between the different voices vocally and emotionally. The result is definitely less reverential than we are used to in performances by the Ensemble Musica Nova, for instance. It does remind me of The Sound and the Fury, though to a to a lesser extent and technically (much) more accomplished.

Personally, I think it's interesting, pretty even, but it doesn't pull me in emotionally.
The music feels "objectified" and individualised, which is basically a very contemporary way of approaching this music.

Q

They take it fast, with the consequence that the expressive content is less evident. This is presumably what Gio meant by brusque -- I've not seen his review yet. I'm only talking about Missa Mi Mi.

[Mandryka]

a very contemporary way of approaching this music.

Q

well that's a thought which I've never had before, not sure what to make of it.

[Traverso]

Chopin & Liszt

CD 6


Walzer Nr. 2 As-Dur op. 34 Nr. 1 ''Valse brillante''
Walzer Nr. 3 a-moll op. 34 Nr. 2 ''Grande Valse brillante''
Walzer Nr. 4 F-Dur op. 34 Nr. 3
Nocturne Nr. 2 Es-Dur op. 9 Nr. 2
Etüde Nr. 3
Polonaise
Berceuse Des-Dur op. 57
Nocturne Nr. 7 cis-moll op. 27 Nr. 1
Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Ballade Nr. 2 F-Dur op. 38
Mephisto-Walzer Nr. 1 (Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke) (Episode aus Lenaus Faust) (für Klavier)
Liebestraum Nr. 3 As-Dur

[San Antone]

I am also listening to this right now.

Volume 2 of Beauty Farm's Ockeghem Masses is out, it generously includes four masses: "Mi-mi"; "Ecce ancilla Domini"; "Caput" and "Cuiusvis toni." Along with the earlier recording, BF has released six Ockeghem masses (the other two were "L'homme arme" and "Quinti toni."

I don't share the negative comments made by Gio and especailly Mandryka, whose "shopping mall" comment is nonsense, IMO.

Pros:

The small, all-male group perfectly suits the music
The recorded ambiance is not overly reverberant
And the music is sung with precision and clarity

Cons:

The cover art (although this one is an improvement over their others)

[Mandryka]

especailly Mandryka, whose "shopping mall" comment is nonsense, IMO.

You're a bit rude! Try and remember that behind each one of these posts is a human being.

[Traverso]

Sibelius

Symphony No 3 & 4

[Que]

Pros:

The small, all-male group perfectly suits the music
The recorded ambiance is not overly reverberant
And the music is sung with precision and clarity

Cons:

The cover art (although this one is an improvement over their others)

Agreed. Do you know the Ockeghem recordings by TSAF, how do they compare IYO?

Q

[Mandryka]

Agreed. Do you know the Ockeghem recordings by TSAF, how do they compare IYO?

Q

Well in my opinion Sound and Fury are more expressive in Missa Mi Mi.

[Harry]

Volume 2 of Beauty Farm's Ockeghem Masses is out, it generously includes four masses: "Mi-mi"; "Ecce ancilla Domini"; "Caput" and "Cuiusvis toni." Along with the earlier recording, BF has released six Ockeghem masses (the other two were "L'homme arme" and "Quinti toni."


Pros:

The small, all-male group perfectly suits the music
The recorded ambiance is not overly reverberant
And the music is sung with precision and clarity

Cons:

The cover art (although this one is an improvement over their others)

The cover art is okay in this release.
What bothers me more though is the lack of weight in the choir, a counter joined by three tenors no less, and just one baritone and one bass.
The counter with the tenors are dominating the balance, and this makes the music rather thin on the ear.
May I add being a long time choir singer, that I have ample experience with this.

[j winter]

Haven't listened to much Shostakovich in a while, time to remedy that...

[San Antone]

You're a bit rude! Try and remember that behind each one of these posts is a human being.

Sorry, I was a bit rude. 

Do you know the Ockeghem recordings by TSAF, how do they compare IYO?

Q

These?



I have heard the first one, but not the second.  I generally like their versions better than Beauty Farm.

[San Antone]

Ockeghem : Missa Mi-Mi
Cappella Pratensis, Rebecca Stewart

[vers la flamme]

I didn't care about these Beauty Farm/Sound and Fury releases at all until I started seeing them so frequently. I feel like I need to find out what they're all about now. It appears to be people of my generation, raised on the internet as I was, taking on this ancient music, and my interest is piqued. Or at least that is the impression I get from this artwork.

[Traverso]

Shostakovich

Yesterday when I listened to the fifth symphony of this set, I particularly noticed that the third part, the largo, is played  more restrained with a surprising effect, namely more moving in its intimacy than when it is emphasized more. Just my opinion of course.

Today it is "the Leningrad" 's  with the orchestra from St Petersburg.

[Iota]

Bartok: Dance Suite, Romanian Folk Dances


Planes' playing often has a kind of homemade artisan quality to it, which becomes these Bartok pieces remarkably well. Really very, very good indeed.

Volume 2 of Beauty Farm's Ockeghem Masses is out ..

I've heard the Ockeghem Missa Mi mi from the above Beauty Farm cd and Que's 'less reverential' seems very accurate, though I enjoyed it, and the music still manages to take spiritual flight for me as it were.