What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

Zemlinsky: String Quartet No. 2

I have an obsession with music that tends to be dramatic and spicy (without being devoid of lyricism), and this scintillating quartet fits like a glove. I cannot be but astounded by the high quality of this composition, chiefly featured by a strong harmonic language. These Praga Digitals recordings are a reliable source of excellent playing and top-shelf sound quality.

[Wanderer]

[steve ridgway]

Boulez - Livre Pour Quatuor

[Madiel]

Beethoven: Piano sonata for 4 hands, op.6



I'd forgotten how short this is, in comparison to the other opuses around it.

[steve ridgway]

Xenakis - Horos

Loud and dramatic leading into an awesome immensity .

[Irons]

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.

My daughters house is bedecked inside and out with Halloween stuff, and has been for over a week. Directly that comes down, Christmas takes over and on it goes. 

[Madiel]

Vivaldi



Bassoon concertos in G minor, RV 496 (sinister and mournful) and in B flat major, RV 504 (a late work, and quite complex in its expression).

Chamber concertos in C major (RV 88), D major (RV 94) and G minor (RV 107, ending with a set of variations over a ground bass).

[Roasted Swan]

Zemlinsky: String Quartet No. 2

I have an obsession with music that tends to be dramatic and spicy (without being devoid of lyricism), and this scintillating quartet fits like a glove. I cannot be but astounded by the high quality of this composition, chiefly featured by a strong harmonic language. These Praga Digitals recordings are a reliable source of excellent playing and top-shelf sound quality.

Yup! Great music.

[Que]

Morning listening from the shelves:

Walter Frye's three surviving masses have by now been captured in some excellent recordings.



Like this recording in the Early English Polyphony series by the Binchois Consort. Grouped around the surviving parts of Walter Frye's Missa Flos Regalis are single pieces with Marian themes by several English Late Medieval composers.

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68228

http://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/Hyperion_CDA68170_68228.html

[AnotherSpin]

Christophe Rousset's Goldberg Variations feel like Bach talking across the table, quietly amused and endlessly alert. The harpsichord sounds dry yet luminous, sunlight on old glass, and Rousset plays it as a living voice rather than a relic. Each variation turns like a thought, a raised eyebrow, a pause before the next phrase.

No pointless acrobatics, no ignorant eccentricity, no lack of stylistic understanding passed off as boldness or innovation. His playing is conversational but never casual, disciplined yet never stiff. Nothing feels inflated; the tempi breathe, the ornaments sparkle and fade naturally. By the end, it feels less like a performance than like overhearing someone think aloud, and think beautifully.

[Madiel]

Elgar: Piano Quintet in A minor

His best chamber work and the best English piano quintet (forgive me, Bax). Period. The slow movement is to die for (Elgar was a specialist in that matter), so eloquent, soulful, yet somewhat stormy in the middle.

Is this your recommended recording?

Presto classical has a sale on Hyperion at the moment, and they have three different albums with the Elgar quintet on them.

[Que]

Hat tip Harry. 

[Roasted Swan]

My daughters house is bedecked inside and out with Halloween stuff, and has been for over a week. Directly that comes down, Christmas takes over and on it goes. 

Promise me she has young(ish) children!

[Harry]

Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)
Concertos & Ouvertures
L'arpa festante.


As court conductor in Darmstadt for many years, Christoph Graupner left behind an extensive oeuvre that has only recently been comprehensively explored on disc. Like his contemporary Telemann, Graupner repeatedly and creatively modified the Baroque suite and concerto forms, placing particular emphasis on tonal variety. The suites and concertos recorded here are exemplary of Graupner's outstanding position as a composer of the German late Baroque. The quality of all compositions is without question exemplary, as are the performances and sound. (recorded in 2017)

[Traverso]

Mozart

Further with Serenade KV 100 and Divertimenti

[Todd]

[Wanderer]

[Harry]

I have played this set complete 5 times now, to get a good grip on what Telemann has to offer, well great value we get, absolute marvelous compositions for wind instruments and superb performances and sound throughout.

[Harry]

Telemann the Virtuoso Godfather.
Sonatas, Concertos and Trios.
Charivari Agreable. (On Period Instruments)

Although I read a lot of hyp about this recording and performance, I could not go with that flow. I think it's performed well enough, and the combinations of instruments very interested, it is also very English in performing style, which I think a bit out of place with Telemann. This said it is pleasant enough and all the soloist play fluently and there is a real sense of togetherness, or balance one could say. Certainly a fine addition to the catalogue once one is used to the sound of the Charivari Agreable. Telemann with some extra color from foreign shores. Relaxed and a sweet recording, warm and inviting.

[Madiel]

Vivaldi

Filiae maestae Jersualem (Introduction for a Miserere)
Deus tuorum militum
Violin Concerto in D "Per la Santissima Assuzione di Maria Vergine", RV 582



Hmm. I'm not quite sure what to think of this on a first listen. Delphine Galou's timbre strikes me as rather unusual, and she milks the recitatives of Filiae maestae Jersualem for all they're worth. The effect is a little odd... but not inappropriate given the nature of the piece.

But there's also something a little odd about the violin concerto - not entirely surprising given its liturgical nature, and for one thing it's one of the longest concertos**, but still. I think one factor is the recording. This is one of a few more recent albums done in a convent, and while it's not super resonant there is a touch of echo that is... well it's different.

I can't say I dislike what I'm hearing. It's more that I don't quite know what to make of it. I think additional listens will be required.

**Partly because the soloist does a REALLY long cadenza-type thing in the final movement. I know from other volumes that there's evidence for Vivaldi himself doing that sort of thing, but it actually gets a bit overbearing here.