What are you listening 2 now?

[Bachtoven]

An excellent new release.

[Cato]

An excellent new release.

Many thanks for the alert!

Some years ago there was a similar Pelleas and Melisande CD which had a third work, the theater music by Sibelius: Zubin Mehta conducted The Israel Philharmonic.

[JBS]

Rachmaninov Symphony 2
Minneapolis Symphony/Mitropolous

[JBS]

What better for a hot (86F at 11:46PM) July night?

Berlioz
Les Nuits d'Ete
La Captive*
Le Jeune Patre Breton*
Zaide*
Eleanor Steber soprano
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Dmitri Mitropolous conductor
*Jean Morel conductor

[steve ridgway]

Boulez: Livre Pour Cordes

[Daverz]

An excellent new release.

Listened to that last night and was rather confused by the performance.  This is a Pelleas und Melisande with much brighter colors than I'm used to.  It seems somehow wrongheaded. I ended up listening to the work complete a second time, the live Dohnanyi recording (in the live Concertgebouw volume 5 box; excellent recording apart from some coughing), and that sounds just right without turning into "sonic sludge" as Hurwitz would say.

[AnotherSpin]

Mahler, Symphony No. 2 from this set:

[Irons]

I would like to add one thing to your list - the Violin Concerto! It has a shockingly beautiful and rhapsodic emotional melody...surely one of the sunniest inspirations of the Victorian era. 

Now it's time for me to try these chamber works, which I don't know. Also not sure if I've heard the second Piano Concerto.

I would be interested in your reaction to 2nd PC. A fine work but I find the resemblance to a much more famous concerto written ten years earlier too much to be accidental.

[Harry]

1917.
Works for Violin and Piano.
See back cover for details.

TAMSIN WALEY-COHEN, VIOLIN.
HUW WATKINS, PIANO.
Recorded in St George's Church, Brandon Hill, Bristol, UK from 25-27 November 2013.

Tamsin Waley Cohen is an impressive violinist. Her poise, and fluent tone, precise and articulate is something I admire greatly. She made quite a deep impression on me. Huw Watkins has deserved all the accolades he gets, thus he is a very able pianist. The combination of both musicians works in the compositions on both discs. The sound is SOTA, clear and detailed without any trace of shrillness. The acoustics are perfect for Chamber music.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier. Jörg Demus.

[Brian]

The back cover of the LP release, as preserved in incredibly tiny lettering on the back of the CD sleeve, features a quotation from the famous composer and music critic "Virgin Thomson"       

[Cato]

The Seventh Symphony needed some attention today: Boulez delivers the Scherzo at times as if Anton Webern had composed it.


Especially in the fragmented middle section!  The affinity of the Seventh to the Ninth Symphony becomes quite clear.

[Harry]

Armenian Miniatures.
Tsovinar Suflyan, Piano.
See back cover for details.
Recorded in 2023.

A very interesting album, Well performed and recorded. Tsovinar Suflyan is a able pianist, who gives Komitas the full measure of attention, as well as an unknown composer Arno Babajanian. Khachaturian is always a welcome guest in my listening room. Well worth investigating.

[VonStupp]

Gustav Mahler
Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen
Rückertlieder
Kindertotenlieder

Janet Baker, mezzo
Hallé & New Philharmonia - John Barbirolli

VS

[Harry]

Anthony Poole. (c.1629–1692)
Sonata, Divisions & Dances
See back cover for details.

TRANSPORTS PUBLICS, Thomas Baeté.
Recording from 30 July to 1 August 2014 AMUZ, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Never heard of this composer, but its a great pleasure hearing works by him. There is nothing to disappoint, and a lot to gain, in terms of musicality, and the sheer pleasure in which these musicians are performing. The music is really interesting. SOTA sound.

Here some info
Anthony Poole (c.1629–1692), the Viol and Exiled English Catholics.
The bass violist and composer Anthony Poole was educated in the network of Catholic Colleges that the English Jesuits kept in Europe. He went on to be ordained a Jesuit priest and to make an outstanding contribution to the musical life of the institutions he lived and taught in, notably the English College at Saint-Omer, in Spanish Flanders. Poole's output will be shown to be of importance in the history of seventeenth-century instrumental music, especially in the context of the development of the sonata in England and division-viol music in Europe. His music has not been collected, catalogued or studied before, and this thesis presents it against the backdrop of several generations of English musicians who spent all or part of their working lives abroad. The significance of migrant musicians is often neglected by comparison with that of native musicians, perhaps because the latter fit our perceptions of national styles better, and this thesis goes some way towards appraising that contribution. The bass viol, or the 'Britannica Chelys' in the words of the expatriate Latin poet Dr John Alban Gibbes, was an instrument with strong Catholic and Royalist resonances in England, and extemporising divisions on it became in post- Thirty- Y ears-War Europe a quintessentially English art, as will be shown in chapter one. Chapter two presents as full a biographical account as is possible at present, and chapter three considers all extant sources of Poole's music, exploring how his works made their way to the exiled court at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the library of Philip Falle, the viol-playing circle of William Noble in Oxford, and elsewhere in England. This thesis contains therefore a significant contribution to our understanding of the history of English Jesuit music, the court of James Il, and the circulation of Continental music in Restoration England. Chapter four is a stylistic discussion of the music, its influences and reception, and the appendix consists of a thematic index of Poole's works.

[Spotted Horses]

Listened to Koechlin's Sonata a 7 in the Oehms release.



Beautiful, but at some point I noticed a harp, and recall that in the Timpani release I recently listened to, it was harpsichord. Huh? How does that work? Koechlin specified either instrument could be used? Listening to the Timpani release I was struck that the harpsichord part didn't seem very idiomatic, and I guess this is why. Both recordings are beautifully done.

Then, returned to the Timpani release and listened to Paysages et Marines. Lovely. I find myself repose tolerant today, which is a mystery, because there is nothing reposeful in my life.



There are a bunch of other pieces on these releases I have to explore, oh, and @Brian reminded me that I've yet to listen to Penelope Crawford's late Beethoven Sonatas...

[DavidW]

Last night:

These symphonies sound like one foot in Brahmsian romanticism and one foot in Vaughan Williams' neoromanticism.  I suppose that fits since he taught Vaughan Williams!

I expected to like Petrenko here, but the performance was just dry and by the numbers.
This morning:
An old favorite, I always love Simpson, and it's a great way to start the day!

[Karl Henning]

I ended up listening to the work complete a second time, the live Dohnanyi recording (in the live Concertgebouw volume 5 box; excellent recording ....

Yes, indeed. Too bad about the Järvi.

TD:

JSB
Das Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079
Gustav Leonhardt & al.

[Harry]

Luzzasco Luzzaschi.
Concerto delle Dame, "Il Concerto Segreto"
Madrigali for three Sopranos.

La Néréide.
Camille Allérat,  soprano.
Julie Roset,  soprano.
Ana Vieira Leite, soprano.

with the participation of:
Yoann Moulin, harpsichord.
Manon Papasergio, bass viol & triple harp.
Gabriel Rignol, archlute.

Recording: église Notre-Dame de Centeilles, August 2022.

Three beautiful Sopranos, and singing as beautiful as they are. Never heard Luzzaschi better performed. All three voices are in perfect balance, never stressed, always open and approachable. Perfectly dozed emotions, fine tuned drama, and sublime elocution. I could not wish for better interpretations as this performance. Sota sound. Without question, a CD to have, and hold, to your heart.

[Lisztianwagner]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5

Herbert von Karajan & Berliner Philharmoniker