What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

I was honestly surprised by your question. May I ask you what your findings are of the vocal part of Yoshikazu Mera? It was not easy for me to give an opinion,I heard the man for the first time and can't say anything serious about it. This might be changed when I have listened to more recordings and heard the recordings of the singers who later replaced some Japanese singers.

Yoshikazu Mera is considered one of the best countertenors in the world. He had a unique voice, but after 4 or 5 CD's in the BIS series he decided to go for POP music and leave his education behind. As a countertenor he was famous throughout the world, as a pop singer only in Japan. He was replaced by Robin Blaze who can not even stand in the shadow of Mera. I had a long email conversation with Robert von Bahr, about Mera's defection, but like me he was flabbergasted by Mera's choice. For me he is still the best countertenor I ever heard.

[Traverso]

Yoshikazu Mera is considered one of the best countertenors in the world. He had a unique voice, but after 4 or 5 CD's in the BIS series he decided to go for POP music and leave his education behind. As a countertenor he was famous throughout the world, as a pop singer only in Japan. He was replaced by Robin Blaze who can not even stand in the shadow of Mera. I had a long email conversation with Robert von Bahr, about Mera's defection, but like me he was flabbergasted by Mera's choice. For me he is still the best countertenor I ever heard.

Thanks for your response Harry, so it is clear that he has been replaced but not for the same reason as other Japanese vocalists.
As I have said before he has a pleasant timbre and it all sounds easy while some other counter tenors sometimes start to scream and have to force themselves.
So I think he only  contributed on only six CD's recordings.Robin Blaze is unfamiliar to me until now.

[Traverso]

Bach

[Harry]

Thanks for your response Harry, so it is clear that he has been replaced but not for the same reason as other Japanese vocalists.
As I have said before he has a pleasant timbre and it all sounds easy while some other counter tenors sometimes start to scream and have to force themselves.
So I think he only  contributed on only six CD's recordings.Robin Blaze is unfamiliar to me until now.

Robin Blaze is merely okay, while Mera is surpassing every measure I ever heard. But he's gone, so we have to do with Blaze. Often the Sopranos are taken from the Choir, and are very constant in the whole series, like Yukari Nonoshita, Hana Blazikova, Midori Suzuki, (much liked by me), Yoshie Hida, and that goes for the Tenors and Basses too, also variation but less drastic.

[Madiel]

Shostakovich: Piano Trio no.1 (1923)
Faure: Piano Trio (1923)

[Que]

[Harry]

Dag WIRÉN (1905–1986)
String Quartets Nos. 2–5.
Wirén Quartet.
Recorded: 13–16 December 2016 at Hardemo Church, Örebro, Sweden.

The playing is wonderfully balanced and singing, yet intense, carried by tangible empathy and guided by an unerring sense of timbre and effect. And despite the history of these SQ I am happy that these musicians found it worthwhile to record. The whole thing is embedded in a warm and transparent room acoustic that fits the quartets like a tailor-made dress.

[Harry]

New release.

Karl Weigl.
Symphony No. 3.
See for details back cover.
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Jürgen Bruns.

First listen, superb, goes straight to my favourite recordings of Weigl's music. SOTA recording

[vandermolen]

Respighi: Pines of Rome
Marriner - a very fine performance

[Traverso]

Bach

[ando]

Sometimes it's what you find on the way to discovery that proves most interesting...



HANDEL Masterworks: Acis & Galatea Ama Deus Ensemble, Valentin Radu (1996, Vox/BC)

Random Saturday morning CD pick: it's not a particularly outstanding oratorio or performance but I love the informative review I stumbled on and look forward to the William Christie version. I attended a live Christie led version of Handel's Triumph of Time and Disillusion at Juilliard, which I found enthralling. A box set of his recorded oratorio work would indeed be a treasure.

[VonStupp]

WA Mozart
Piano Concerto 1 in F Major, K37
Piano Concerto 2 in B-flat Major, K 39
Piano Concerto 3 in D Major, K40
Piano Concerto 4 in G Major, K41
Philharmonia - Vladimir Ashkenazy

I don't think I have ever given any attention to these first four concertos from Mozart. They certainly have their delights, even if they aren't Mozart himself.
VS

[hopefullytrusting]

More Dvorak today:

Poetic Tone Pictures played by Primakov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttfRcjVej64

Suite in A Major played by Poroshina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nAheCGxu6Y

Legends played by Sulkhanishvili & Sulkhanishvili
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSGZDkvv0q0

From the Bohemian Forest played by Matthies & Kohn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy93SQMzIzQ

Czech Suite played by Academic Chamber Soloists Pragued led by Lukas Pohunek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-BfYeeoJ3U

[Traverso]

Yoshikazu Mera is considered one of the best countertenors in the world. He had a unique voice, but after 4 or 5 CD's in the BIS series he decided to go for POP music and leave his education behind. As a countertenor he was famous throughout the world, as a pop singer only in Japan. He was replaced by Robin Blaze who can not even stand in the shadow of Mera. I had a long email conversation with Robert von Bahr, about Mera's defection, but like me he was flabbergasted by Mera's choice. For me he is still the best countertenor I ever heard.

 It seems that the information you can find on Wikipedia is outdated because it says that he chose a career in classical music.

[Mandryka]

I was honestly surprised by your question. May I ask you what your findings are of the vocal part of Yoshikazu Mera? It was not easy for me to give an opinion,I heard the man for the first time and can't say anything serious about it. This might be changed when I have listened to more recordings and heard the recordings of the singers who later replaced some Japanese singers.

I saw your earlier post actually and I was going to say something but had to rush out to catch the tube. I find his voice really characterful, maybe too characterful and unusual, However I think it's also very expressive -- he sounds to me as though he "means" the music, and for that reason his recordings are favourites of mine in Suzuki's set. I saw you said almost the opposite, but we know that this is all so subjective!

I just typed this in before seeing @Harry 's posts -- and you can see I agree with him here!  And with what he says about Robin Blaze. Listen to this!

 

Basically, this chap is spot on when he says on youtube      米良美一さんは唯一無二の存在。

[Traverso]

I saw your earlier post actually and I was going to say something but had to rush out to catch the tube. I find his voice really characterful, maybe too characterful and unusual, However I think it's also very expressive -- he sounds to me as though he "means" the music, and for that reason his recordings are favourites of mine in Suzuki's set. I saw you said almost the opposite, but we know that this is all so subjective!

I just typed this in before seeing @Harry 's posts -- and you can see I agree with him here!  And with what he says about Robin Blaze. Listen to this!

Basically, this chap is spot on when he says on youtube      米良美一さんは唯一無二の存在。

You changed the video...

The cantata in your video is part of the third recording that I will listen to later today. If my assessment comes across as tending towards the negative, that is a misunderstanding. I simply have to listen to more recordings from this box. Your question came too soon and you are listening much too tensely. As I said, he sings with the greatest of ease and with a warm timbre that never seems forced, these are nevertheless positive qualifications.

 

[Mandryka]

You changed the video...

 
 

Yes, with Widerstehe doch der Sünde I have a bit of personal problem -- my imprint on Deller is so strong (I still remember how he made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up) that not even Mera can replace him. My first reaction when I heard Suzuki just now was that it's too bloody fast!

[ando]

Sometimes it's what you find on the way to discovery that proves most interesting...



HANDEL Masterworks: Acis & Galatea Ama Deus Ensemble, Valentin Radu (1996, Vox/BC)

Random Saturday morning CD pick: it's not a particularly outstanding oratorio or performance but I love the informative review I stumbled on and look forward to the William Christie version. I attended a live Christie led version of Handel's Triumph of Time and Disillusion at Juilliard, which I found enthralling. A box set of his recorded oratorio work would indeed be a treasure.

Oh wow.



This 61 CD box set was released on Nov. 15, 2024. Not many floating about. Better get it soon. A laudable review.

[Traverso]

Yes, with Widerstehe doch der Sünde I have a bit of personal problem -- my imprint on Deller is so strong (I still remember how he made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up) that not even Mera can replace him. My first reaction when I heard Suzuki just now was that it's too bloody fast!

So you listen with a bias, very understandable and often unavoidable. I had that very strongly with the performances of Café Zimmermann with their Bach recordings. It is all very skillful but a lot  gets lost. 

In my opinion, that does not apply to the Bach cantata "Widerstehe doch der Sünde" which does not feel fast, but yes, sometimes you are like a dog that wants to sniff everything first, and then it often goes too fast.

[DavidW]

@ando Christie is my favorite Handel conductor, especially for the operas.