What are you listening 2 now?

[Mister Sharpe]

...two of Dvorak's most inspired pieces. I never tire of them.

Me neither.  But I would add his Carnival Overture to the list. (I have a thing for carnival music, inc. esp. Schumann's, Berlioz's, Ernst's, Stravinsky's (in Petrushka), Milhaud, et al) 

[VonStupp]

Jean Sibelius
Rakastava, op. 14
Scènes Historiques: Suite 1, op. 25
Scènes Historiques: Suite 2, op. 66
Valse Lyrique, op. 96a
Scottish NO - Alexander Gibson

I don't know Sir Alexander's Sibelius symphony cycle, but I have a good number of orchestral recordings of Sibelius from the conductor.

Can't say I remember these Historic Scenes either, but I do recall hearing a choral version of Rakastava (this is the string orchestra one).
VS



Great Black Woodpecker by Akseli Gallen-Kallela

[Daverz]

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe - Pappano/London Symphony Orchestra in the Barbican, in Dolby Atmos.

A chaste Daphnis?  The end is very exciting, though.

[Karl Henning]

[Daverz]

A classic of the gramophone as they say in Gramophone.

Now this is magnificent:

Eleanor Alberga (b. 1949): Tower and Symphony No. 1 "Strata".  This first symphony was written in 2022. There's a craggy grandeur here that brings to mind Bax, Bruckner and Sibelius.

[Symphonic Addict]

Martinu: Échec au Roi and Serenade for chamber orchestra, H. 199

Is it legal to be so consistently brilliant?

[AnotherSpin]

[Symphonic Addict]

Pfitzner: Violin Concerto
Akutagawa: Rhapsody for orchestra

[AnotherSpin]

Those La Bottega Discantica albums with small Italian organs, each singing in its own voice, with a natural grace and an ineffably Italian air. I simply can't get enough of them.

[Harry]

Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703-1771)
Trio sonatas, W.24,63,84,109,141.
Les amis de Philippe.
Recorded: 1998, at the Sendesaal, Radio Bremen.
44.1/16 BIT recording.

As always with this most underrated of composers, the musical content is immediately inviting — an open door to curiosity. One wonders, not idly, how Graun managed to keep his creative drive alive and flourishing with such elegant consistency. It's no mean feat to score again and again small masterworks like these trio sonatas, each one alive with invention and structural clarity. There's a sort of Dresden orchestral discipline at work — for lack of a better phrase — or perhaps I simply haven't found the right one yet, which is always a possibility.
Here, in the trio sonata form, Graun is entirely in his element. A son of the North German baroque, and later a court composer in Berlin under Frederick the Great, Graun imbued his chamber music with the forward-thinking energy of the empfindsamer Stil (the sensitive style), balanced delicately with baroque formalism. These sonatas — written for two melodic instruments and continuo — carry all the hallmarks of his deft hand: violin parts brimming with technical finesse, rhythmically agile formulations, and a kind of conversational counterpoint between voices that one might almost call chamber rhetoric.
Les Amis de Philippe are ideal advocates for this music. The playing is focused and stylish, with a shared breath between the musicians that suggests both precision and pleasure. The violin does sit a touch forward in the recording — not egregiously so — but one notices. Still, the overall balance preserves enough of the basso's grounding to keep the ensemble sound intact and flowing.
Graun constantly surprises, a composer with an ear for the unexpected. Just when you think you know where the line is headed, he takes a turn, not for the sake of novelty, but out of a genuine melodic imagination. "C'est extrêmement bien fait, mes amis". One listens with that alertness that only true craft inspires — not for bombast, but for intricacy and charm.
A rewarding traversal of music that continues to breathe centuries after its first utterance.
As noted in a Dresden court diary, "Graun writes with a quill dipped in fire — and yet his notes fall with the elegance of lace upon the ear."

[Harry]

Those La Bottega Discantica albums with small Italian organs, each singing in its own voice, with a natural grace and an ineffably Italian air. I simply can't get enough of them.

Yes, I agree with you wholeheartedly. These recordings are right in my alley too.

[Harry]

Joy – Chansons de Troubadours & Danses de Jongleurs
Works by: Anonymous, Bernart de Ventadorn, Berenguier de Palol, Gaucelm Faidit, Thibaut de Champagne
Ensemble Millenarium
Recorded: 2000, Église Notre-Dame, Centeilles, France
44.1/16 BIT recording. SOTA sound.

This disc is a small marvel, a fragrant breeze from a time when song and poetry held court in the hearts of noble and common alike. Ensemble Millenarium brings to life a selection of troubadour chansons and jongleur dances — expressions of courtly love, spiritual yearning, and rustic joy — with grace, poise, and rare inwardness. Their reading is historically alert, but never stiff; it is the poetry of the past sung with breath and blood.
Here you'll find Bernart de Ventadorn's famous "Can vei la lauzeta mover" — "When I see the lark beat his wings for joy / I lose my grip on my heart and reason" — rendered not with theatrical show, but with gentle intensity. These are no museum pieces, but human utterances, still trembling with feeling after eight hundred years.
Likewise, Thibaut de Champagne's "Amour me fait commencier" ("Love compels me to begin") rings out with courtly fire, and the anonymous dances — La nova estampida real and Comminiciamento di goia among them — bubble with rustic exuberance, all framed with elegant instrumentation: the silvery harp, the sighing organetto, the whispering frame drum.
Yet the real miracle lies in Carole Matras's voice — airy yet earthy, tender and luminous — weaving like golden thread through the whole. Her singing, supported by the soft pulse of percussion and harp, gently suspends time. Add to this a recording of striking clarity — set against a deep-black acoustic canvas — and you have something that reaches not just the ears but the soul.
A balm, truly, for the modern spirit: stress dissolves, thought slows, the heart tunes itself to an older rhythm.
Chansons de Troubadours is like standing beneath an old cypress in a Provençal dusk, where the wind carries not only scent but memory. These songs — fragile, fragrant, finely spun — drift through the listening room like motes in amber light.

[Mandryka]

Those La Bottega Discantica albums with small Italian organs, each singing in its own voice, with a natural grace and an ineffably Italian air. I simply can't get enough of them.

Yes, some of them are wonderfully sour.

Plus douce qu'aux enfants la chair des pommes sures,
L'eau verte pénétra ma coque de sapin

There's lots of old discussion of this here

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?msg=874066

(Let me know if you want the Tasini Merula at Parma -- it seems to be hard to find.)

[AnotherSpin]

Was listening in the car, driving through the morning streets.

Strangely enough, the music seemed to be in a kind of deep, peculiar harmony with the air raid sirens and the smoke rising after the ballistic strikes on the city.

The energy of joy and fear, in the end, is one and the same, equally known to me.

[AnotherSpin]

Yes, some of them are wonderfully sour.

Plus douce qu'aux enfants la chair des pommes sures,
L'eau verte pénétra ma coque de sapin

There's lots of old discussion of this here

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?msg=874066

(Let me know if you want the Tasini Merula at Parma -- it seems to be hard to find.)

Yes, please.

[prémont]

(Let me know if you want the Tasini Merula at Parma -- it seems to be hard to find.)

Merulo (toccatas book I), I suppose.

[Mandryka]

Merulo (toccatas book I), I suppose.

I always make that mistake!

[Harry]

Organi storici della città di Urbino – Historical Organs of Urbino.
Music by: J.S. Bach, Cavazzoni, Frescobaldi, Pasquini, Zipoli, Marcello, Sweelinck.
Performer: Gianfranco Bonaventura
Recorded: Most likely 2020–2021

Organs featured.

Church of San Domenico, Urbino – Anonymous builder, late 17th century. One manual, 45-note compass with short octave. Likely tuned to modified meantone temperament, at a pitch of approximately A = 415 Hz.
Oratory of San Giuseppe, Urbino* – Built by Stefano Vici in 1782; restored by Riccardo Lorenzini in 1993. One manual with pedal pull-downs. The pitch is also likely around A = 415 Hz, though the tuning may lean toward a later variant of meantone or an early well-tempered system.

These two historical organs, nestled in the heart of Urbino's sacred architecture, offer glimpses into the tonal ideals of two different epochs—one more modest and delicately voiced, the other a touch bolder and brighter. The information about them is remarkably elusive, so piecing it together was its own miniature pilgrimage.


Now, as for the music—I came to this recording by way of an enthusiastic review from Sergei, and I'm glad I followed his lead. This release proved in many ways a pleasant surprise. While the recorded sound does vary (as one might expect from two different locations and organs), both instruments are captured with care, and for the most part are in excellent voice. The tuning sounds historically appropriate to my ears, neither jarringly dry nor over-tempered.

I will say, the Bach left me a little underwhelmed—not because of poor playing, but simply because his towering architecture craves an instrument of broader compass and greater gravitas. I've heard these works on more suitable organs and, truth be told, in more persuasive interpretations.
But from Cavazzoni to Sweelinck, the disc shines. Bonaventura delivers the repertoire I admire most here with flair and lightness—his playing sparkles with enthusiasm and rhythmic vitality. Particularly on the anonymous 17th-century organ, I found his phrasing natural and pleasingly articulate, with a subtle rhetorical shape that suits these early works beautifully. That organ, with its gentle breath and restrained colour palette, lends itself to intimacy, detail, and filigree elegance.

The Vici organ, later and somewhat brasher in tone, felt less suited to some of the pieces, at times bordering on the overbearing. But that is, of course, my own impression—others might find its clarity invigorating.
All in all, this is a valuable release, especially for those drawn to the textures and temperaments of early Italian organ craftsmanship. And perhaps my fellow organ aficionado Poul might weigh in here—no doubt with a keener ear for registrations and pipe voicing than mine?

Addendum

For those interested in the subtleties of registration and mechanical behaviour: the San Domenico organ, likely employing a form of modified meantone, brings out the sweetness and purity of thirds and sixths, especially noticeable in the Frescobaldi Canzona and Cavazzoni's Ricercar. The short octave in the bass requires some creative fingering, but rewards with a robust and earthy foundational voice—ideal for early repertoire where clarity of line trumps harmonic complexity.

The Vici instrument, from 1782, straddles the stylistic worlds of late Baroque and early Classical. Its voicing is more direct, and it speaks quickly, with a brighter, forward timbre in the principals and mixtures. That brilliance lends itself well to Sweelinck's Toccata and Zipoli's extroverted gestures, but in more introspective works—like Marcello's Psalm paraphrase—it can border on the theatrical.

Both organs lack pedal stops as we'd expect today, relying instead on pull-downs, which naturally limits polyphonic independence in the bass, but when handled tastefully (as Bonaventura largely does), this constraint becomes part of the stylistic charm.

[Traverso]

Bach

[Mister Sharpe]

I favor Handley's performances here compared to Thomson's, but not overwhelmingly. Both conductors are well aware that you want, you need atmosphere in these tone poems. BTW, the cover of this disc is thought to be offensive on Discogs and is deleted on all but thumbnail views. Good to have my innocence looked after so scrupulously, I guess... They will need to work overtime to bowdlerize Bax's biography!