What are you listening 2 now?

[arpeggio]

I use to play bassoon in a woodwind quintet.

One of our favorites were the quintets of Reicha.  I am familiar with the music and for me his quintets were some of the best compositions.

[Traverso]

A classic! Ravel for me too.



A composer of the highest quality.

Indeed a great recording. I thought yesterday, let me listen to Yuja Wang. Well in the beautiful middle section she had little to say and it paled in comparison to the nuanced touch of Michelangeli.

[Madiel]

Tonight's chamber pairing which I'm about to start:

Nielsen: String Quartet No.4 (1906, rev.1919)
Bartok: String Quartet No.1 (1908-9)



It's a long enough time since I've listened to either of these that I have only vague notions of what I'm getting in to!


EDIT: That proved to be a most engaging and rewarding pairing.

[Traverso]

Bach

[Traverso]

Pachelbel





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Cecilia_(Stefano_Maderno)

[Harry]

Dietrich Buxtehude.
Complete Organ Works.
Volume I.
Harald Vogel, Organs.
Recorded: September 1986.
Lübeck, St. Jacobi/ Stellwagen Small Organ.
A=1 Ganzton über 440 Hz. Temperament, Werckmeister.
St. Ludgeri, Norden, Arp Schnitger Organ.
Pitch: a= 5/8 ton über 440 Hz.  Midifiziert Mitteltönige Stimmung.

Still reference recordings and interpretations. It should be your first set to go to, if it comes to Buxtehude's Organ works. Harald Vogel, is not likely to be bettered in this repertoire. Despite this I have quite a few sets, so I have some reference towards interpretations.

[Traverso]

Bach

[Iota]

Britten: String Quartet No 1, Op 25

A staggering quartet in a brilliant performance. The first and third movements in particular I find uniquely expressive. Not that it matters, but it's always been a bit of a mystery to me that it isn't more widely enthused about.

[Spotted Horses]

Next up in my randomized Haydn Piano Sonata playlist, Sonata No 55.

Pienaar, then Brautigam





Brautigam was a delight. Pienaar's quirky rhythmic accents are getting on my nerves, I think I will drop him from my Haydn survey and rely on others, Bavouzet, Brendel, Buchbinder, to represent the modern piano.

It is a small piece in two movements, and Allegro and an Allegro di molto, with Haydn's subtle wit on display.

[Brian]

Symphony 2 was nice, but far too light for me - the more I listen to Dvorak, the more I find myself saying nice but not much more. The music is just there, backgrounding itself, and it is nice. Like, Dvorak's music feels like what I imagine an orchestra plays when it doesn't want to offend anyone, but has a last name that doesn't sound "European".

...Again, the YouTube orchestra makes him sound so meek, while Sinopoli brought muscle to the recording, so I highly recommend this piece, just not the YouTube version.

I remember roughly thinking this about Dvorak as an 11-year-old, but liking that because I was 11 and not yet ready for worldly angst. So I asked for the Seventh Symphony as a Christmas present and that really disturbed me. (With Lenny/NYPO.) It was more dissonant and bleak and grindy and in-your-face than just about any music I had heard at the time and left me thinking "maybe Dvorak isn't all Slavonic Dances and fun and cheer." I think at one point I went a year between listens to try to work myself back up to it. So...that might work for you! (Kubelik is a fast and brutal reading, but Lenny is much slower and really mashes your face into the music like an action baddie. Interesting that two opposite approaches can be so powerful.)

[Traverso]

Schubert

There is a sadness in Schubert that I immediately identified with at a young age.

Die Schöne Müllerin

[Florestan]

There is a sadness in Schubert that I immediately identified with at a young age.

Ditto here. And I find his sadness gentle, bittersweet and melancholy, ie humane, rather than painful, gloomy and hopeless, ie demonic. Even in his saddest mode, Schubert's music makes my heart leap with joy.

[Traverso]

Ditto here. And I find his sadness gentle, bittersweet and melancholy, ie humane, rather than painful, gloomy and hopeless, ie demonic. Even in his saddest mode, Schubert's music makes my heart leap with joy.

True words Andrei,exactly my thoughts.Schubert is a "companion" whom I love a thousand times more than Mahler, although I love his songs which are dear to me.

A Biblical Exaggeration

[Florestan]

True words Andrei,exactly my thoughts.Schubert is a "companion" whom I love a thousand times more than Mahler, although I love his songs which are dear to me.

A Biblical Exaggeration

Schubert is a man on his way to the gallows, unable to stop telling his friends how incomparably beautiful life is -- and how simple. - Anner Bylsma

[Traverso]

Schubert is a man on his way to the gallows, unable to stop telling his friends how incomparably beautiful life is -- and how simple. - Anner Bylsma

Words after my heart, the world would look different if life in all its manifestations were worshipped instead of the overexploitation that takes place for our well-being and plunders the nature.

These are, by the way, thoughts (in essence) that can already be found in ancient Chinese philosophy.

[Cato]

Ditto here. And I find his sadness gentle, bittersweet and melancholy, ie humane, rather than painful, gloomy and hopeless, ie demonic. Even in his saddest mode, Schubert's music makes my heart leap with joy.

This popped up on YouTube yesterday: it may interest you and others.


 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Biography Masato Suzuki

Masato Suzuki was born on April 8, 1981 in The Hague.(the Netherlands )He is a versatile Japanese composer, conductor, harpsichordist, organist and pianist.

Suzuki comes from a musical family and received his first music lessons from his father Masaaki Suzuki, a harpsichordist, organist and conductor of the "Bach Collegium Japan", and from his mother Tamaki, a well-known singer. He studied composition at the Tokyo University of the Arts in Tokyo with Atsutada Otaka. At the same institute he obtained his master's degree in early music, with his dissertation dealing with the Dutch Calvinists. During his studies in Tokyo he gained experience as a conductor of the choir Bach Kantate Club and was inspired by pianist Michio Kobayashi. Later he studied organ with Jos van der Kooy at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he obtained his master's degree cum laude.  In September 2007, he began studying organ improvisation and harpsichord at the same conservatory with Bob van Asperen. He also followed masterclasses for piano, hammer keyboard and song accompaniment with various renowned teachers.

Suzuki has been a continuous member of the Bach Collegium Japan since 2002 and regularly performs as a harpsichordist and organist, both live and on CD recordings, with this ensemble. Together with Japanese violinist Yukie Yamaguchi, he founded the "Ensemble Genesis", which uses both historical and modern instruments during performances. He is also the conductor of this ensemble. Suzuki has been invited to perform at various international festivals, including the Lake District Summer Festival (England), the Miyazaki Festival for Contemporary Music (Japan) and the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival (Germany).

In addition to his work as a performing musician, Suzuki is also active as a composer.  His motet Apokalipsis II, written for the ensemble "Setti Voci", was successfully premiered in 2006 at the Melos Logos festival in Weimar.

Wonderful vita, especially the dissertation about Dutch Calvinists!

[hopefullytrusting]

Interrupting my Dvorak, for a disc that just arrived from Poland: Boguslaw Schaeffer's Piano Concerto No. 4



Comes with an awesome booklet as well.

[Mandryka]

I must say I much prefer the lighter, more austere, sound of Orlando Consort and Sound and Fury in De La Rue to Beauty Farm. De La Rue has a distinctive vibe, a slight tinge of melancholy and seriousness, which touches the spot this evening.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Zoltan Kodaly. Dorati.