What are you listening 2 now?

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

NP: Pettersson Concerto No. 2 for Strings

[steve ridgway]

Now playing some of the Ligeti adaptations for barrel organ and quite enjoying them.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Last work for the night --- Ravel Jeux d'eau

[AnotherSpin]

CD 2, 3, 4

[steve ridgway]

Richard Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder

[Que]

Never really gave Blue Heron's Dufay recording proper attention.
Variety seems to be the keyword here: performances of motets, hymns, and chansons are by mixed choir (rather top heavy), all male choir, one voice per part, extended choir, a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment. The singing is certainly beautiful. All in all, this is perhaps a little bit light & bright for my taste in Dufay.

[steve ridgway]

Xenakis - Pithoprakta, Pesko 1992

[Wanderer]

I'm a fan of Kubelik's Bruckner. Didn't know this live recording!

It's a favourite!

[Wanderer]

[AnotherSpin]

Reger Day continues with discs 5, 6, 7, 8

[SimonNZ]

[Traverso]

Bach

Vol.7  CD 6

[Traverso]

Vivaldi


The trio Sonatas Op. 1 that I listened to yesterday I had not heard before, it was a very pleasant surprise. The performances are very different from what is customary today, first you have to reconcile yourself with the vibrato present but once that step was taken I was delighted with these works, a really very pleasant experience. Many so-called HIP performances are too stripped down and lack the often present cantabile which in my perception is a huge loss. So-called authenticity is no guarantee for conveying a musical message.


Admiration for a performance is often not based on artistic grounds. Like I was once present at a recital where some pieces by Paganini were played as an encore. I was completely surprised when I noticed that the listening audience let out sighs of admiration as if from one  body. Forgotten were the pieces of Brahms, this was what mattered. I was once in Chartres Cathedral where I heard a guide leading tourists around a large marble baroque statue of the Assumption of Mary who were more impressed by its enormous weight than by the beautiful windows.


There is a certain fashion in performing music  that I have always regarded it with suspicion. In my view is the scenery more important than the most suitable walking shoes if you see  my meaning.


Sonatas Op.2  1-6

[Cato]

The Second Piano Concerto of Tchaikovsky: I have always wondered, as have others, why it is not performed more!


Yuja Wang slam dunks the piece:

[AnotherSpin]

Thanks to a mention by @Mandryka in another thread, I came across an album of music by Toshio Hosokawa and found it deeply engaging. It's gentle, exquisitely subtle, in a way that feels profoundly rooted in Japanese culture.

The soprano, Eiko Hiramatsu, left such a distinct impression that I began seeking out more of her recordings. And there, another quiet surprise awaited me: Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

This cycle is rarely associated with fragility or delicacy, even in piano-only arrangements. Yet Eiko Hiramatsu brings exactly that—an effortless, fragile clarity that feels both unexpected and entirely natural.

[Madiel]

After 2 weeks off I decided my way back in was Beethoven.

Piano sonata no.30 in E



Apparently I haven't listened to this exact recording since January 2011. So, you know, effectively a new entry into my library.

[Brian]

Guess whose big box arrived recently to fuel today's listening.



From the Liszt, I am only doing the disc with the non-concerto stuff (Malediction, Totentanz, Grand fantasy on Berlioz themes, etc.). First ever listen to the Berlioz and Beethoven fantasies.

[Wanderer]

[Harry]

Jean Francaix.
Ballet Music.
See back cover for details.
Ulster Orchestra, Thierry Fischer.
Recorded in Ulster Hall, Belfast, on 22 and 23 March 2004.
Front illustration: Witch on a Black Cat by Wayne Anderson.

To me Fischer seems totally attuned to Françaix's idiom, so much is clear by such gorgeous performances under his baton. This orchestra plays with wit, point and vitality, and unbounded energy. The playing throughout is sensitive and fully attentive to the varied rhythms, while the sound is clear and bright, bringing out Françaix's imaginative writing for individual instruments, especially the woodwind. Polished and idiomatic, sums it up. SOTA sound.

[Madiel]

Beethoven: Violin sonata no.4 in A minor