What are you listening 2 now?

[steve ridgway]

Penderecki - Prelude for Solo Clarinet

Sounds like a prelude to one of the symphonies, I could almost hear an orchestral version in my imagination .

[steve ridgway]

Radulescu - Capricorn's Nostalgic Crickets II

Relaxing, somewhat aleatoric sounding, flute music in which a cloud of higher pitches flutter around a slowly moving sequence of mid range notes .

[steve ridgway]

Schnittke - (K)ein Sommernachtstraum (For Large Orchestra)

[Madiel]

Vivaldi: Ottone in villa.

Only Act One so far but I couldn't wait to come enthuse about it...



Vivaldi's first official opera (the liner notes discuss the evidence that he ghost-wrote before this), staged in Vicenza rather than the big city of Venice so that he could establish his credibility. It's smaller scale than many of the later operas, with fewer singers and shorter Acts. The plot is focused on jealousy, so the cover image is very apt.

This performance/recording is superb. It's so musical. Veronica Cangemi opens the opera with a monologue recitative, and I found myself reading the English translation without feeling any need to refer to the Italian, because I knew EXACTLY where she was up to based on the musical expression alone. She and Julia Lezhneva are standouts in this respect, but all of the singers bring the same qualities to a fair degree and the instrumental playing matches them. There's no danger here of the ear being tired out by constant loudness and aggression, it's only loud and aggressive when that matches what a character is singing. Other times it's full of love and dreaminess. In a couple of arias, there are significant changes of tempo and tone. When Ottone refuses to cut his countryside holiday short and sings "Let Rome fret and fume... I'm staying with my love", the way he's besotted comes across clearly in the music for the last part of the sentence.

I suppose it could go sour in Acts Two and Three (maybe the libretto loses its coherence? So far it's doing well) [EDIT: No, there were no mishaps in the other Acts], but right now this is heading for my very top tier of volumes in the series. My only regret is that there aren't more Il Giardino Armonico opera performances to be had.

[steve ridgway]

Messiaen - Turangalîla-symphonie

[Wanderer]

[AnotherSpin]

[AnotherSpin]

Michaël Grébil Liberg's album L'Ymage, devoted to the music of Guillaume de Machaut, carries a strange and luminous connection with India. It feels as if a hidden bridge stretches between medieval Europe and ancient Indian sounds, and on this bridge, two vocal styles begin to merge: Liberg's breath-shaped singing in Le Lay de l'Ymage and the deep, meditative dhrupad of Pandit Pran Nath. Their voices, though born of distant worlds, form the bridge's most radiant arch.

Liberg's singing and the dusky resonance of the сetera oscura reflect the modal depth and spiritual gravity of Pran Nath's timeless ragas. At moments, the сetera begins to echo the Indian sarangi, and the quiet presence of Pandit Ram Narayan flickers through. Voice becomes ritual, time dissolves, and two distant worlds converge in the pursuit of the eternal tone.

[Que]

Earlier, I had some trouble reaching the forum website...

Anyway, I started the day with this:



Two masses by Walter Frye (fl.c. 1450 - 1475) and four motets by Antoine Busnois (c. 1430 – 1492)

Now:

[Florestan]

In other words, the individual is only on the surface; perhaps looming in the distance is the unfathomable realization of being part of something greater

I'd put it this way: Mozart's music is by Mozart, not about Mozart, whereas, say, Schumann's, Berlioz's or Mahler's is mostly, if not entirely, about themselves. This incessant "I, me and myself!" gets tiresome after a while, at least for me.

[hopefullytrusting]

Starting out my morning, almost 6 AM here, with Wang playing Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ref_wknahjM

This is much more in line with what the average person thinks of when they think of Scriabin. Not only is the jump-up in technique significant - you could find many younger folks recording piano sonatas 1 and 2, as well as amateurs - 3, at least on YouTube, is locked away to professional and/or trained pianists. Alongside that jump, is the jump musically, as sonatas 1 and 2 were of the time, or even of a past-time - classed between impressionism and late romanticism - this sonata is clearly modern and is pressing forward and onward into different and new soundscapes - ones only dared dreamed before, but given the conservative bent of classical music that switchover normally doesn't happen until the next "school" arrives, and Scriabin with Medtner leading the way.

Wang, of course, might be the leading pianist of the day, and this recording was for her celebrated DG Vienna disc, so it has the highest marks on all categories of production. I do like her seriousness at the piano - I am not a fan of contrivance, and I find that Scriabin, in particular, seems to draw out contrived pianism.

This is probably the recording of this work - the so-called reference recording, so I have just my voice to add to all that clamoring. An extraordinary recording of an extraordinary work by an extraordinary pianist - can't think of a better combo.

[Madiel]

Haydn

Keyboard sonata no.1 in G, and no.61 in D



It's not surprising that no.1 is a short little thing, and to be honest it wouldn't be that notable if not for the career that came after it. It's a little surprising that no.61 is so small scale, but the increase in musical sophistication across several decades is very apparent.

It's now just over a year since I first started listening to this box, as I begin the 11th and final. Do I remember the 1st disc? Not a chance. Clearly, I'll have to do something like listen to the sonatas in numerical order. After revisiting the symphonies. And the piano trios. And most of the quartets. And my revisit of the late Masses hasn't quite finished actually...

[Traverso]

Mozart

Serenades and Divertimenti

I've always had a soft spot for this box  with delightful treasures. Played with an alluring intimacy that's perfect for daydreaming.  Which gloomy spirit muttered that dreams are always deceptive.

[Traverso]

I'd put it this way: Mozart's music is by Mozart, not about Mozart, whereas, say, Schumann's, Berlioz's or Mahler's is mostly, if not entirely, about themselves. This incessant "I, me and myself!" gets tiresome after a while, at least for me.

Oh dear........and I always thought you were a true romantic at heart.

[Madiel]

Mozart: German dances, K.567 and minuets, K.568

[Irons]

Hurlstone: Piano trio.



William Hurlstone belongs to the 'only if they had lived longer club'. RVW once described him as "the English Schubert" which listening to Hurlstone's Trio I can concur. Died aged 30 from asthma and there he is on the cover with pipe in hand!

[Mister Sharpe]

Some more anticipatory Hallowe'en listening: La Ronde des lutins by Bazzini and Der Erlkönig by everyone knows. "The hoedown of the hobgoblins" is more frenetic than frightening but well played here by Repin, easily one of my most esteemed contemporary violinists. Losing a child is horrific enough but to lose it to the Alder King, not the Elf-King as is often dumbly, perhaps libelously, translated (elves were indeed thought to steal children, usually babies, but don't generally kill them), a super-natural being who seems distinctly pervy adds to the terror. 

[Madiel]

Some more anticipatory Hallowe'en listening

A house on the next street already has its decorations up. On the first weekend of the month.

Not something I ever expected to see in Australia. I mean, okay, decorations. But decorations all month? Pumpkins aren't even in season.

[Harry]

Giovanni Mossi (1680–1742)
Sonate a Violino, e Violone, o Cimbalo Opera Prima, op.1 Nr.1,2,5,9,10,12.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Roman musical life had far more to offer than the sometimes somewhat streamlined classicism of Arcangelo Corelli. One of the most sought-after violinists in the city, for example, was Giovanni Mossi (ca. 1680-1742), who could apparently even afford never to accept a permanent position. Little is known about him, but his music was appreciated throughout Europe. Although the solo sonatas are influenced by Corelli (whose pupil he is said to have been), they have numerous individual characteristics. Leila Schayegh has a sweet tone, no harshness, screeching or otherwise something destructive for one ears. She is not perse a virtuosic in these works, but take a leisurely approach, which works well. Ilze Grudule (Cello), Jörg Halubek (Harpsichord) add their contribution in the same way, so to my ears perfect. SOTA sound.

[Que]

I guess it's all the Mozart talk!