What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

New Release.

Giuseppe Torelli.
And additional works by: Giovanni Paolo Colonna & Giulio Cesare Arresti.
Trio Sonatas.
No back cover to be found.
La Chapelle Saint-Marc, Vincent Bernhardt.
Recorded 2020.
WPR

The first time I am confronted with this label, (Indesens) and there is little enough info about it. There is no PDF file. so the individual musicians are not known to me neither the recording venue. Let alone info about this music. Not a great way promoting Torelli's music. These manuscript trio sonatas reflect Torelli's baroque fantasy and inventiveness. They present a little-known facet of the work of the Bolognese master, who is increasingly recognized as a precursor who played a leading role in the development of instrumental music. Which is understandable it you listen to these works, that he was indeed a formidable composer in his own right and time. As to the performance I have to say that it is a little unpolished, and raw at times. Uninspired even in a few pieces. The recording is okay but not very good. Still I never heard these works before, I take therefore the sour with the sweet.

[Roasted Swan]

Last work for the night:

Novák
The Storm, Op. 42
Various soloists
Czech PO & Chorus
Zdeněk Košler

what a piece!!  - I wonder why it hasn't been recorded more often?

[AnotherSpin]

In the early months of the war, we stayed with German friends in the southern part of the Black Forest, near the Swiss border. Each day, we walked along mountain trails, where the snowy Alpine peaks were visible on clear days. Often, the themes from the Andante of the 6th Symphony would arise in my mind, as if naturally intertwined with the stillness of those days.

[Harry]

Edvard Grieg.
The Complete Piano Works.
Volume 1.
Eva Knardahl, Piano. Bösendorfer 275.
Recorded: 1977, at the Nacka Aula, Nacka, Norway..

I agree with John, this is also for me the best integral recordings of Grieg's fabulous solo Piano works. I bought this set when the CD remasterings came on the market. Now I am in the process of playing this set again, thus when the first notes came out of my speakers I knew right away why this performance is so special. It is a pity that Knardahl's genius is never full recognized, for she was one of the best Norway had to offer. The recording sounds still amazingly well. A gentle flow of Grieg's awesomeness. Absolute bliss this is. And what a beautiful instrument this Bösendorfer 275  is, a Piano I prefer for most of the solo piano music in my collection.

[Florestan]

It is a pity that Knardahl's genius is never full recognized, for she was one of the best Sweden had to offer.

Ahem... Norway. 

[Harry]

Ahem... Norway. 

Yep, you're right, corrected!

[Madiel]

Samuel Barber
  String Quartet, op. 11
  Serenade, op. 1
  Dover Beach, op. 3
Howard Hanson
  String Quartet, op. 23
  Concerto da Camera, op. 7
Randall Thompson
  Alleluia

Randall Scarlata, baritone (Dover)
Adam Neiman, piano (Concerto)
Ying Quartet

Really, the Ying Quartet are terrific up and down this program. They certainly make me a believer that Hanson's rather personal-sounding String Quartet could be an Americana masterpiece.

Have never heard Barber's original third movement to his String Quartet, which is provided here alongside its normal conclusion. Odd to hear a happy, rustic ending to Barber's rather pensive quartet.
VS

Some time ago I was interested in this album, then rejected it on the ground that they have conspired to force people to buy it twice. It's one thing to offer a recording in different audio formats (CD and Blu-Ray), it's quite another to package them together so that every purchaser has no choice but to buy a product where 50% of it isn't what they actually wanted.

[Harry]

Francesco Geminiani.
Sonatas for Cello & Bc op.5 Nr.1-6.
Anthony Pleeth, Richard Webb, Christopher Hogwood.
Recorded: 1975, at the All Saints Church, Petersham, Surrey.


Well again, absolute bliss, this old recording from 1975. Still a reference recording, and beautifully recorded.

[Que]

It seems to be a hot topic at Roon versus Qobuz. The software connection is updated and compromised, and they are working on it, but that does not mean automatically that my library will be restored to the full. Needless to say I am somewhat grumpy. I have 55 recording left to listen too, so I make the best of it, while the IT blockheads will try their utmost    

I'm very ignorant in these matters, but I presume that this is your database with downloads and the data ripped from your CDs. Quite the predicament!    Best of luck and I hope that they can fix it...

[Que]

I tried to listen to this yesterday, and posted it on the wrong (Purchases) thread, my bad.. . But left it since my internet connection produced drop outs.

[Harry]

I'm very ignorant in these matters, but I presume that this is your database with downloads and the data tiptoed from your CDs. Quite the predicament!    Best of luck and I hope that they can fix it...

Correct. They are working on it, and I can see on their forum that some members of Roon already got all back, but I am still waiting. I cannot backup Roon for the count from 3574 CD will immediately deleted to 55, and that is precisely the BUG in the API of Qobuz, which they must fix. The problem started with the last update.

[Harry]

Komitas.
See back cover for details.
Lusine Grigoryan, Piano.
Recorded: 2015, Auditorio Stelio, Molo, RSI, Lugano.

This is a very good performance and recording. I have always been an admirer of the music Komitas composed, and this CD is no exception. Serene deeply spiritual, it gives peace of mind.

[Traverso]

Bach

[Madiel]

Haydn: Keyboard sonata no.34 in D major



Publication wasn't authorised by Haydn - the speculation is that it was too similar to another sonata that made one of the published sets - but there were already copies of it circulating. And it's worth hearing of course. I particularly enjoyed the first movement, where the steady progress of the Allegro occasionally gets interrupted by a slow down and pause. It's so very Haydnesque, as is the finale which is one of his famous double-variation movements.

[Harry]

Paul Ben-Haim.
Chamber Music.
See back cover for details.
Shuli Waterman, Carmel Quartet.
Recorded: 2013 at the Auditorium of the Department of Music, Bar ilan University. Tel Aviv.

Every bit as beautiful as his Orchestral works, deeply moving and at the same hugely serene and balanced. The spiritual element is also a dominant factor. All mixed together this music makes me happy. Fine performances and excellent sound.

[Iota]

Britten: Lachrymae Op.48a, "Reflections on a song of John Dowland"
Maxim Rysanov (viola), BBCSO, Gardner (conductor)

Superb performance of this intense, haunting piece for viola and string orchestra, that takes us at times to a very strange land, a sketching from the subconscious almost, and at others briefly blossoms into a passionate outpouring. The statement of the Dowland song in the closing bars is a very poignant moment.

[Madiel]

Nielsen: Violin sonata no.2



This is exactly the kind of work that's led me to try to have a systematic listen to Nielsen. Unorthodox form with movements ending in different keys to how they began, sudden eruptions... it's somewhat hard to grasp and yet it's also undeniably powerful music and enjoyable. I shall probably have another listen tomorrow.

[vandermolen]

Last work for the night:

Novák
The Storm, Op. 42
Various soloists
Czech PO & Chorus
Zdeněk Košler

An absolute masterpiece and deeply moving.

[Traverso]

Mozart

Posthorn Serenade

[Harry]

My Lute Awake!
Lute Music.
Works by: Frances Cutting, John Johnson, John Dowland, Thomas Robinson, Peter Philips, John Danyel.
Greensleeves/Gaillard, Fancy, A Merry Moode, Jigge/ Master Piper's Pavan - Semper Dowland Semper Dolens - Lord Willoughbie's Welcome Home/A Toy: Bo Peep - Fantasia - A Plainesong/Phillips' Pavan & Gaillard/A Fancy - Rosamunde Pavan - Passymeasures Gaillard/Rogero - The Delight Pavan & Gaillard - Dump No. 3.
Anthony Rooley, and James Tyler, Lutes.
Recorded: 1974.

A classic, and beautifully performed and recorded. They do not make them like that anymore!