What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

J.S. Bach.
Organ works, Volume I.
See for details back cover.
Piet Kee, plays on the Christian Müller Organ, (1738) at the St. Bavo Church Haarlem.
Recorded in 1988.

Somewhat older recordings by Piet Kee. Fast and furious in the Fantasia & Fugue in G minor. The Chorale Preludes from the Orgelbüchlein are really very impressive. And the recording is to my ears perfect.

[Harry]

AHO, Kalevi (b. 1949).
String Quartets 1-3.
Stenhammar Quartet
Peter Olofsson & Per Öman violins, Tony Bauer viola. Mats Olofsson cello.
Recording: 3rd—5th June 2023 at Petruskyrkan, Danderyd, Sweden (No.1) 26th—28th April 2021 at Österåker Church, Sweden (No. 2 23rd—25th May 2022 at Duvbo Church, Sweden (No. 3).

This is a real Gem, such captivating music and so well performed in SOTA sound. I love most of Aho's works, but this one is a notch or two higher in my estimation.

[Lisztianwagner]

Arnold Schönberg
Piano Concerto

Mitsuko Uchida (piano)
Pierre Boulez & Cleveland Orchestra

[Karl Henning]

[Traverso]

This is really a fine one....

[Traverso]

Schnittke

String Quartet 2 & 4

[Number Six]

Mozart Piano Concertos 17, 21, 6
Geza Anda, Camerata Salzburg

I realized I've been listening to the Grateful Dead for about 90 minutes; that's enough for now. There's always room for Mozart...

[Karl Henning]

Mozart Piano Concertos 17, 21, 6
Geza Anda, Camerata Salzburg

I realized I've been listening to the Grateful Dead for about 90 minutes; that's enough for now. There's always room for Mozart...

Sweet!

[Florestan]

[ritter]

Matthias Goerne and Christoph Eschenbach perform Schubert's Schwanengesang.

CD 7 of this recently purchased 11-CD set:

[Maestro267]

2024 Year in Review, Part 4
Orchestral II

Lloyd: Symphony No. 3
BBC PO/Lloyd

Lloyd: Piano Concerto No. 3
Stott (piano)/London SO/Lloyd

Ives: The Unanswered Question
Chicago SO/Tilson Thomas

Rubbra: Symphony No. 1
BBC NOW/Hickox

[Cato]

Mozart Piano Concertos 17, 21, 6
Geza Anda, Camerata Salzburg

I realized I've been listening to the Grateful Dead for about 90 minutes; that's enough for now. There's always room for Mozart...

Sweet!

Oh my!

Elvira Madigan was an international hit in the mid-1960's, and Geza Anda's DGG performance of the Andante from the Piano Concerto #21 was used in the movie.

DGG, a known capitalist operation, re-issued the album using the movie poster as a reference, and just to be sure, a special diagonal strip across the cellophane told the potential customer that the album contained the music from Elvira Madigan !



Sales rose of course! 

[Number Six]

Mozart: Piano Concertos 23, 27
Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra

[Daverz]

Oh my!

Elvira Madigan was an international hit in the mid-1960's, and Geza Anda's DGG performance of the Andante from the Piano Concerto #21 was used in the movie.

DGG, a known capitalist operation, re-issued the album using the movie poster as a reference, and just to be sure, a special diagonal strip across the cellophane told the potential customer that the album contained the music from Elvira Madigan !



Sales rose of course! 

Amusing that it's sometimes still called the "Elvira Madigan" long after the film has been forgotten.

Now Playing:

Cipriani Potter: Concertante for Piano, Violin, Violoncello, Double Bass and Orchestra in D Minor

It's a set of variations on the Folia.

Previously:

D'Indy: Clarinet Trio - Bawandi Trio

A substantial piece of French Late Romanticism at over 35 minutes long, and a lovely combination of instruments.

I'll note that there's a "Clarinet Trio Anthology" on Decca with Daniel Ottensamer with this d'Indy trio and the Robert Kahn trio and much else besides.  I haven't compared the performances.

[Cato]

Amusing that it's sometimes still called the "Elvira Madigan" long after the film has been forgotten.

The star was hailed as the next Ingrid Bergman and the director as the next Ingmar Bergman.


The actress crashed and burned, so to speak, during the 1970's, ending up in prison in her later years.

The director had a better fate, but I do not believe he became the next Ingmar Bergman.

Anyway, also heard recently:

[Madiel]

Indeed I grew up with a cassette including the "Elvira Madigan" music. And I think other classical film music. I'm not sure. I wonder if Dad still has it somewhere...

[Bachtoven]

Great playing and very good sound.

[Karl Henning]

Amusing that it's sometimes still called the "Elvira Madigan" long after the film has been forgotten.

Verily.

TD:

CD 9
Il Distratto, La Roxelane and Laudon.

[André]

Live recording from the Felsenreitschule, Salzburg. Those with a tolerance for  older sound recordings (1957 mono) will discover a terrific performance of this sublime work. It took me a decade or two to 'get' Brahms' German Requiem, a couple more decades to actually enjoy it and a few more years to put it in the same tier as the Mozart Requiem or Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. So, if you're young and dislike it, there's hope for you !

An old favourite of Karajan's, he recorded it many times with the WP (1948, 1957 and 1983) and the BP (1964 and 1976) and I'm sure there are unofficial recordings from various occasions. I don't know the first WP but overall his approach was pretty consistent. Between the 1957 and 1983 WP efforts and the 1964 and 1976 BP ones however, I feel there is a distinct difference, Karajan communing with the orchestra substantially more in Vienna than in Berlin. As if the BP were on autopilot while the WP do their WP thing with all their heart. There's no difference in the singing of the chorus: it's the Wiener Singverein in all 5 recordings ! I don't know how this came to be, as I suppose there is no dearth of choral societies in Berlin. The soloists - especially the soprano - may be a deciding factor. While I love Janowitz' pure, creamy soprano tones, I find her slightly chilly. Tomowa-Sintow is very fine, while Barbara Hendricks is positively seraphic in her solo. However, much to my surprise, it's Lisa Della Casa that moved me the most. She negotiates the high tessitura perfectly, but even more important, there is a humanity to her singing that gave me goose bumps, her solo sung as if she was Mozart's Countess, flesh and soul, the bringer of hope and consolation. Priceless.

Not an only or even second or third recording then, but definitely up there among the best. 

[Karl Henning]

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