What are you listening 2 now?

[pjme]

C'est possible, bien sûr!

EMI France issued this great disc in ca. 1979. For me the highlight is the suite from Mârouf, fun and light exoticism à la française.
But I confess...haven't listened to it in ages...

Rabaud/Bru zane

[aligreto]

JS Bach: Organ Works played by Kooiman [From CD 3]





Trio Sonatas Nos. 4-6, BWV 528-530

The music stands on its own merits and I like these interpretations. I like Kooiman's playing. The organ is also well recorded here. It has a fine delicacy to it.

[Traverso]

Bach

Komm, Jesu, Komm
Trauer Ode "Lass Fürstin,Lass noch einen Strahl"
"Jesu meine Freude"

In my opinion one of the most beautiful cantatas and the motets are  in the same category. The performance is as can be expected from Andrew Parrott.
The motet "Jesu meine Freude" is of an overwhelming beauty that is very moving, at least for me. The genius that Bach was can clearly be heard here, gripping with the effect of a spiritual washing machine.

[Roasted Swan]

A pity that I am not allowed to read this article unless I take a free subscription, but I take your word for it that the reviewer finds it to be good in all the aspects I wrote about. Thank you for the effort though!

Nothing a little cut & paste won't solve...... (nice to read an intelligent and detailed review of unusual repertoire in a paper as well....!)

"These days it can seem as if every week there's a new recording of music by a neglected woman composer, who's been rescued from oblivion by feistily feminist musical scholars or enthusiastic performers. Trying to judge the results is hard, and not just because the advocates for these composers always insist they are undiscovered geniuses. It takes time and practice to grasp the idiom of an unfamiliar composer (male or female), and time is what we're always short of. If the much-hyped concerto or symphony seems patchy or obscure and inspired only in parts, I always wonder – is it me? Do I just need more time to get into this composer's world?

With a new CD of the 3rd and 4th symphonies of Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), I never once had to ask that question. The blazing talent and originality is evident from the first bar, but more importantly those dazzling first impressions are sustained across the entire piece. Every movement has an irresistible onward sweep and a feeling of being exactly as long as it needs to be, and yet the energising conciseness of the music doesn't come at the expense of open-handed generosity.

It comes as no surprise to learn that Grażyna Bacewicz was a virtuoso performer on the violin and piano, because her music has that ease and fluency of invention which performer-composers always have. She needed it, because she lived through a difficult period of Polish history, which was also confused in musical style. The neo-classicism of Stravinsky, the folk-influenced style of Bartók and the stirrings of post-war modernism were all plucking at her sleeve as she wrote, and a less confident and intuitively musical personality could have been derailed by these conflicting influences.

At times you can hear them rising to the surface; for instance the 4th symphony, written in 1953, has some extraordinary sonic inventions, such as glistening high string sounds in the 1st movement, which sound like a foreshadowing of the modernist music Bacewicz would write a decade later. Beneath those sounds is a conventionally pathetic oboe melody, but so exact is Bacewicz's ear that rather than seeming like oil and water these two things cohere into a unity, with a particular expressive colour which is hers alone. On this superb new recording the WDR symphony orchestra and conductor Łukasz Borowicz give the music just the combination of aural finesse and impetuous expressivity it needs. Bacewicz is clearly a major figure of mid 20th-century music, obscured for too long by gender and Cold War politics. This new recording is a hopeful sign that her moment has finally arrived.

Grażyna Bacewicz: Complete Orchestral Works vol. 1, performed by the WDR Sinfonieorchester, conducted by Łukasz Borowicz, is released by CPO"

[Traverso]

Same.

I recently bought the box containing her Bach recordings for Harmonia Mundi. I regularly saw recordings of her passing by and made the purchase without listening to fragments myself. I only listened to several pieces and was not enthusiastic. It is too idiosyncratic  stylized and could not appeal to me.

[Todd]

[Florestan]

This is the very first opera Decca ever released on LP. The mono sound has aged quite well and it's actually surprisingly good. The line up, while not stellar (except for Krips), features mostly Viennese born and bred artists and it shows: impeccable diction and tasteful singing. A very enjoyable recording.

[Florestan]

Keeping it vocal and Viennese.

[aligreto]

Barber: Violin Concerto [Buswell/Alsop]





I find, from the opening bars, that the first movement is effusive in its lyricism. Ultimately there is wonderful drama and tension sporadically introduced into the work. Lyricism, however, ultimately prevails here despite the introduced passages of intensity and drama. 
The second, slow movement is wonderfully, and sometimes also effusively lyrical and yet somewhat restrained and reticent. This, I find, is a wonderful aspect of this music. There is also, however, a considerable element of drama and tension here. The balance between these two elements is very well affected here.
The final movement is wonderfully energetic and agitated. There is a great sense of forward momentum in the music and it is very well driven here. The movement concludes very positively and definitively.
This is a very fine work which is given a very fine performance here.

[ritter]

This is the very first opera Decca ever released on LP. The mono sound has aged quite well and it's actually surprisingly good. The line up, while not stellar (except for Krips), features mostly Viennese born and bred artists and it shows: impeccable diction and tasteful singing. A very enjoyable recording.

Nice, Andrei! Looks like a very interesting recording (and Krips was great at this kind of thing, wasn't he?). Good day to you.

TD:

First listen to this recently purchased CD of late(ish) concertante works by Giorgio Federico Ghedini. Sonata de concerto (for flute and orchestra, from 1958), Concerto "L'Alderina" (for flute, violin, and orchestra, from 1950), and Concerto "Il belprato" (for violin and orchestra, from 1947).



So far, the Sonata da concerto is sounding quite fantastic. The first movement, lentamente, has obvious Hindemithian influences, but also a vague connection to Petrassi. The adagio that follows offers a stark contrast, and I find it more difficult to identify affinities (as is the case with the closing vivace e leggero). The balance of the work is slightly "off", as the first movement on its own is longer than the other two combined (the vivace goes by in a flash).

Let's see how the other tow works are, but this seems to be top-notch Ghedini.

[Florestan]

Nice, Andrei! Looks like a very interesting recording (and Krips was great at this kind of thing, wasn't he?). Good day to you.

Hello, Rafael. indeed, in this repertoire Krips' only competition came from Willi Boskovsky and Clemens Krauss. And indeed, a most interesting, highly recommended recording. As of late I've been enjoying the Decca Elqquence reissues immensely.

[Spotted Horses]

Found some dynamite recordings (that apparently the rest of the board dislikes!) of Martinu's symphonies:



Just really transparent and vibrant.

My favorite cycle, along with Neumann/Czech Phil. I don't know why it is so often disparaged.

[Florestan]

The Strauss above is one Isaac Strauss. 

[DavidW]

I like that set.

Nice!  I'm shocked by how much I like it.  I think I'll order it on cd (I streamed it yesterday).

[DavidW]

My favorite cycle, along with Neumann/Czech Phil. I don't know why it is so often disparaged.

Yeah when I looked up what posters thought you were the only I found praising it!

[Lisztianwagner]

The third and final disc from Karajan's New Viennese School box set is all Webern. Sound and performances are just as superb as the Berg and Schoenberg discs.

That's great you loved it, the whole set is stunning, in my opinion, one of the best recordings of the Second Viennese School! Out of curiosity, may I ask you who is the composer, or what are the works, you appreciated most, if there is?

[j winter]

[Tsaraslondon]

That's great you loved it, the whole set is stunning, in my opinion, one of the best recordings of the Second Viennese School! Out of curiosity, may I ask you who is the composer, or what are the works, you appreciated most, if there is?

I think I liked the middle disc best, both the Berg and Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande.

[Linz]

Brahms Symphony No. 4 in e minor op. 98, Tragic Overture Op. 81 and Variations on a theme by Haydn, London Philharmonic Orchestra Wolfgang Sawallisch

[prémont]

I recently bought the box containing her [Isabelle Faust's] Bach recordings for Harmonia Mundi. I regularly saw recordings of her passing by and made the purchase without listening to fragments myself. I only listened to several pieces and was not enthusiastic. It is too idiosyncratic  stylized and could not appeal to me.

I tend to agree. Couldn't stand her solo S&P, culled them and haven't acquired her violin/harpsichord sonatas.

Fortunately her participation in the Brandenburg concerto set is limited (even if they make a big deal out of it). And yes, the other concertos are heard worse - BTW the AAM,Berlin has some fine musicians to draw upon.