What are you listening 2 now?

[vandermolen]

One of my favourite recordings of Kabalevsky's music.

Mine too. The First PC is a much deeper work than I originally tought, especially the slow movement and the end of the finale.

[Harry]

Streaming from Qobuz.
Released June 2021.
92 minutes.

Sigismondo d'India. (ca 1580-1629)
Arie,Lamenti,Duetti.
2 CD'S.

Prima parte
 1. Ardo, lassa, o non ardo? ( JR/ MF) 4 '25
 2. Piangono al pianger mio (MF) 5'17
 3. Mercè! grido piangendo ( JR) 3'40
 4. Chi nudrisce tua speme ( JR/ MF) 3'49
 5. Io viddi in terra angelici costumi ( JR) 3'56
 6. Voi che ascoltate in rime sparse (MF) 3'39
 7. Dialogo della rosa (Mopso: JR / Tirsi: MF) 3'47
 8. Or che 'l ciel e la terra ( JR) 2'05
 9. Canzona cromatica – Giovanni Maria Trabaci (harp & archlute) 2'17
10. Lamentatione d'Olympia (MF) 12'13
Secunda parte
 1. Torna il sereno Zefiro ( JR/MF) 5'11
 2. Odi quel rosignolo ( JR) 9'23
 3. Mentre che 'l cor (MF) 4'22
 4. Pallidetta qual viola ( JR) 2'01
 5. La tra 'l sangue e le morti (MF) 3'31
 6. Sprezzami bionda e fuggimi ( JR) 3'40
 7. Infelice Didone ( JR) 12'10
 8. Su su prendi la cetra o Pastore ( JR / MF) 3:55
 9. Un di soletto ( JR/ MF) 2'44


Mariana Flores: soprano.
Julie Roset: soprano.

CAPPELLA MEDITERRANEA
Margaux Blanchard: bass viol.
Marie Bournisien: harp.
Quito Gato: theorbo & guitar Mónica Pustilnik: archlute.
Leonardo García Alarcón: harpsichord, organ & direction.

This double CD is a vocal marvel. Both sopranos give a impressive performance. I am quite mesmerized by their range, producing almost no vibrato or legato. No screaming either but pure toned voices. The instrumentalists must be mentioned also, for they deliver very sympathetic accompaniments. d'India is next to Monteverdi my most sought after composer for Madrigali. And this double CD is well worth seeking out. It already gave me so much pleasure, through cold, sickness and stress. Music is a great healer.

This is not music that seeks
to entertain or amuse: it is music for
thought and reflection, music to be
savoured in an almost philosophical
way, as an exploration of the depths of human emotion.
State of the Art sound.

[vandermolen]

Shostakovich: Symphony No.13 'Babi Yar'

[Tsaraslondon]

Disc 3 is Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Both her Haydn/Mozart and Schubert/Beethoven discs were worth reissuing in toto, but fortunately Pentatone have released all the items missing from this release. The two Haydn cantatas, Arianna a Naxos and the Scena di Berenice, one with fortepiano, one with orchestra, are absolutely fantastic, alive with drama and contrast. You'd go a long way to hear them done anywhere near so well. Instead of the Mozart arias and songs, which were on the original release, included here are arias for Vitellia and Dorabella from the complete Davis recordings of La Clemenza di Tito and Cosi fan tutte.

We aso get two of the Schubert items, plus Beethoven's Ah, perfido! from the aforementioned Schubert/Beethoven recital. The Schubert items are both absolutely lovely and the Beethoven, though perhaps more Classical in feel than we often here, is nonetheless a superbly musical performance. Callas, recorded in 1963, might be more searingly dramatic, but, but by that time one had to contend with quite a few off centre top notes. Baker, a mezzo, is much more comfortable in the upper reaches of the aria.








 

[Harry]

I haven't found a favourite as yet: they all seem so fresh and adorable!
Anyway...

Composer : Sergei Rachmaninov
Recording : The Bells (Polyansky - 1998)
Performers : Valery Polyansky, Russian State Symphony Orchestra

There is some fairly ear-wincing soprano singing here, which means the thing is a fundamental no-no, but it's such a great piece and the orchestra and chorus are superb. Time to tune-out the wobble and eigth-tone flatness!

I threw it out of the window, did not even dare to give it to someone!

[Brian]

A guilty pleasure, so to speak - a very hustly, bustly, rhythmic, almost techno-influenced piano concerto that doesn't really have "good tunes" so much as catchy energy. One of the Adams pieces I enjoy most. The digital album only has an encore piece, China Gates, which rounds the album up to 31 minutes.

Next I am trying this but based on negative comments so far, I may abandon the concerto fairly quickly:



After that, I am trawling through the Naxos back-catalogue again!

[Linz]

Mozart Symphony No.41 in c major "Jupiter" K 551, Schubert Symphony No. 8 in B minor "Unfinished" D 759, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum

[Traverso]

Chopin

[Karl Henning]

Haha. Thank you so much. Getting there!

We're with you! Even those of us who might twiddle with the radio dial ....

[Florestan]

We're with you! Even those of us who might twiddle with the radio dial ....

Karl, is it you a century ago in your new avatar?   

[Karl Henning]

TD:
First, in curious solidarity with all the earlier love for the Shostakovich Twelfth ... I discovered last night just what fun it can be to shuffle an album of the complete Shostakovich symphonies, and at one point the Stylus of Fate reposed upon the Op. 112 and I enjoyed it just as much as any of the rest.

And this morning:

CD 3 Saison 1909

Adolphe Charles Adam
Giselle, ballet in two acts

Philharmonia Orchestra
Robt Irving

Pleased to share that, while this item would not have been part of the motivation for my reeling in the set, I completely enjoyed it.

[Karl Henning]

Karl, is it you a century ago in your new avatar?   

1978.

[Florestan]

1978.

I was 6 back then. 

It's the eyes that gave you away, at least to me.

[Linz]

Bantock

[Karl Henning]

CD 7

Fantaisie-tableaux, (Suite № 1) for two pianos, Op. 5

Vladimir Ashkenazy & André Previn

Suite № 2 for two pianos, Op. 17
Symphonic Dances for two pianos, Op. 45

Martha Argerich & Nelson Freire

[San Antone]

Widmann: String Quartets



I did not know he had written five, i.e. as of 2008 - maybe he's added to that number by now.  These are well worth checking out for any fan of the genre.

[Traverso]

The Chansonnier Cordiforme

Back to the dark ages....but were they so dark as we believe?

[Lisztianwagner]

The entire set:

Arnold Schönberg
Three Piano Pieces Op. 11
Six Little Piano Pieces Op. 19
Five Piano Pieces Op. 23
Suite For Piano Op. 25
Piano Piece Op. 33a/33b

Pianist: Maurizio Pollini

[Todd]

[Symphonic Addict]

On youtube, first listen to this composition:

Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Symphonic Serenade

Matthias Bamert & BBC Philharmonic

A lovely, endearing, voluptuous work. The opening melody never fails to melt my heart.