New Releases

[JBS]

Or Sonatas for Piano Four Hands?

And going to look to see what Raff himself called them....he doesn't seem to have titled anything he wrote for Piano Four Hands as a sonata
https://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Joachim_Raff

[Karl Henning]

That's precisely why I asked. Four-Hands Sonatas is not quite correct, is it?

FWIW, I would have said four-hand sonatas.

[Florestan]

Well it depends. If you regard "Piano Four-Hands" as a kind of instrument, then it's right. If you want Four-Hand, then arguably it would be Four-Hand piano sonatas.

That makes sense. Thanks.

[Florestan]

FWIW, I would have said four-hand sonatas.

That's what I thought, yes.

[prémont]

I'm not totally convinced I like the organ, but I may come round.

I think the organ is OK, but Berben uses reed stops (particularly trumpet) too much, and I feel that this relatively fast becomes tiring to the ear. Well, there are some movements where reed stops are obligatory (generally in the first verse of the hymns), but Berben uses reeds for many other movements. Nor do I like his use of the tremulant.

[Roy Bland]

[Operafreak]

Does it contains unreleased dutch music?

See for yourself 
https://classicsdirect.com.au/collections/pre-orders/products/concertgebouworkest-bernard-haitink-complete-studio-recordings-113cd-and-4dvd


It contains all he recordes with the Roayl Concertgebouw Orchestra including the DVD'S from The famous Christmas Matinees

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Well it depends. If you regard "Piano Four-Hands" as a kind of instrument, then it's right. If you want Four-Hand, then arguably it would be Four-Hand piano sonatas.

Right. I would, as a matter of in-house style, opt for the former, because it's neater. Just as "Two Pianos" is a type of instrument (group), if you will. Which is distinct from "Piano Four-Hands", although often used interchangeably... which is often a pity, because P4H does sound different than 2P and was often - well, sometimes - specifically composed for the former and not the latter setup. (Mozart trying to get his pinky into the hands of his female students of nobility, for example. :-))

[Brian]

SECOND HALF OF JANUARY, NAXOS DISTRIBUTED





31, 59, 48



"Town Pipe Music Around 1600"







This is a reissue of Piano Classics discs in a complete set. 1906 Steinway

[Todd]

Intriguing.

[JBS]

Intriguing.

It's already available on Amazon US Marketplace (the vendors all seem to be UK or EU based).
Back cover with track listings


And for the Letzbor CD (which is not yet available there)

[bioluminescentsquid]

Also I find his registrations interesting but a bit overthought and not allways well suited to the music. He may be an acquired taste, I'm not sure.

I reacted like this to the Bull and grew to like it, and in fact I sense the same mindset in the Titelouze as the thinking which guided his Bull. There's something about what he does which makes the music sound particularly interesting contrapuntally.

I'm not totally convinced I like the organ, but I may come round.

I actually like the organ a lot - check out this recording (which you may know already). All sorts of obscure and interesting sounds that all but disappeared a generation later in French Classical organs.

I actually like Berben's registrations a lot, I consider them a redeeming factor of this recording. Much more adventurous than any other Titelouze recording, he probably also took a lot of inspiration in registration instructions provided by Mersenne (which have some really weird registrations, like using 3' 2' flutes as a solo voice - Berben does this in verse II of Exultet caelum).
I like the John Bull recording a lot, I think it is inherently more extrovert music that takes better to Leon Berben's style.

[prémont]

I actually like Berben's registrations a lot, I consider them a redeeming factor of this recording. Much more adventurous than any other Titelouze recording, he probably also took a lot of inspiration in registration instructions provided by Mersenne (which have some really weird registrations, like using 3' 2' flutes as a solo voice - Berben does this in verse II of Exultet caelum).

Do we have any indication that Titelouze approved of Mersenne's theoretical ideas? And whatever the answer is, I don't like Berben's registrations. I think he underplays the majestic nature of this music.

The Eichelberger recording is unknown to me. I shall acquire it in order to hear this organ treated by other hands and feet, even if one entire CD with improvisations may be rather demanding to the attention span.

[Todd]

Alsop for the international market.



Alsop for the Japanese market.

[bioluminescentsquid]

Do we have any indication that Titelouze approved of Mersenne's theoretical ideas? And whatever the answer is, I don't like Berben's registrations. I think he underplays the majestic nature of this music.

Fenner Douglass actually attributes the registration instructions to Titelouze - he was known to have corresponded a lot with Mersenne and to have given advice on L'Harmonie Universelle.

[Symphonic Addict]

The cycle continues:

[Mandryka]

https://static.qobuz.com/goodies/94/000150449.pdf


Hang on to your hat! It's fast.

[Mandryka]

Do we have any indication that Titelouze approved of Mersenne's theoretical ideas? And whatever the answer is, I don't like Berben's registrations. I think he underplays the majestic nature of this music.

I think there is a majestic quality to his Pange Lingue. The reed stops seem to make the music seem lighter, smaller scale, but IMO no less noble.  I think that in this hymn at least, Berben spotlghts the counterpoint, because the sound is so transparent,  and the sweetness of the melodies. What he does sounds beautiful to me.

As you can see, it's growing on me as the Bull did, though I fear that the other hymns seem less successful.

[Mandryka]

I think there is a majestic quality to his Pange Lingue. The reed stops seem to make the music seem lighter, smaller scale, but IMO no less noble.  I think that in this hymn at least, Berben spotlghts the counterpoint, because the sound is so transparent,  and the sweetness of the melodies. What he does sounds beautiful to me.

As you can see, it's growing on me as the Bull did.

By the way, John Baxendale in the booklet essay mentions Charles Guillet as a composer who wrote in the same style. The only Guillet I have is a fantasy played by Isoir on L'orgue française de la renaissance - I think you gave me the recording. Interesting to compare Isoir's registration there with Berben's in Titelouze.

(Asperen played a piece by Guillet on harpsichord, on the Antwerp Museum recording. )

[Todd]

A couple 2023 boxes coming from Eloquence:



From the label:

"Romanticist and classicist, modernist and conservative, the violinist Joseph Szigeti defied classification. His wide repertoire ranged from Bach to Bartók and beyond, and he played it all with skill and understanding, becoming known as 'the thinking man's virtuoso'. These Mercury recordings were made in New York and London during the autumn of Szigeti's career, between 1959 and 1961. The original Mercury tapes have been given new high-definition transfers at Abbey Road Studios, and then remastered by Thomas Fine. They are released internationally for the first time."




From the label:

"This edition brings together the Decca and Deutsche Grammophon recordings of Christian Ferras, supplemented by those he made for these labels' French and Japanese divisions. A 'soulful, intelligent artist who produced a sound that was patrician and elegant, sumptuous and golden' (The American Scholar) this collection presents what Gramophone magazine called 'some of the loveliest violin records of the past 50 years'. Included are the rare 78rpm recordings, the first release on CD and digitally of the stereo versions of the Mozart and Eck concertos with Münchinger, the Bach recordings with George Enescu for French Decca, and the recital of encores with Shuku Iwasaki recorded in Japan."