Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[Daverz]

This slightly curious coupling:

Well, they're both 20th Century Eastern European composers.  Please let us know what you think.  I would like to have a good modern recording of the Enescu.

[Mirror Image]

I went on something of a splurge for me, I haven't bought any new CDs in a while but tonight I got the Segerstam & Vanska Sibelius complete symphonies, and the complete Rautavaara symphonies, half of the Sallinen symphonies as well as his string quartets and the Holmboe string quartets. 

[asin]B000CQNVSU[/asin][asin]B00005Q450[/asin][asin]B001OBBSR8[/asin]
[asin]B0000DB4YD[/asin][asin]B0015RWD8E[/asin][asin]B000003784[/asin]
[asin]B003NEQAMC[/asin]

I needed that.

Some excellent choices, but I would have went for the 15-CD Essential Sibelius set on BIS (which includes Vanska's symphony cycle):

[asin]B000K2UF1W[/asin]

You can get this set for $60 from a Marketplace seller right now. I'm not sure how much you paid for just the Vanska set, but last time I looked at that set it was close to the same price as this 15-CD set.

[Mirror Image]

Just bought:

[asin]B0001KL4IG[/asin]

[asin]B000096FU3[/asin]

I may be eating my words now as I heard just moments ago an excerpt from Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra and I was actually standing up dancing! Yes, that's right, I couldn't believe it. But the rhythmic vigor really just hit me like a ton of bricks. I may have found yet another contemporary work I can get behind. I have heard Higdon's blue cathedral a few years ago and remember it being a very ethereal work but quite moving.

[Antoine Marchand]

I am very interested in your opinion of the Mattheson suites. The music as well as the interpretation.

I have just listened to this disc three times, but I consider it highly recommendable.

The music itself is a fine demonstration of the development of keyboard music based on some stylized dances, where Mattheson was both respectful and aware of tradition and also an innovator. He principally recalls me the Bach of the Partitas, even more than the English or the French Suites.

I would say the general pathos of Mattheson's music is a firm feeling of self confidence and confidence in the world as a secure place, with no too much room for sadness or unexplainable melancholy. But even so his music is full of poetry (what a beautiful allemandes, for instance!) and some traces specifically German, like his use of counterpoint.

Cristiano Holtz is beyond any reproach and I would really love if he could record some Bach, especially the aforementioned partitas and suites. Anyway, now I need to get his Inventions & Sinfonias played on clavichord.

The harpsichord is an excellent copy by Bruce Kennedy after Michael Mietke (1702-1704) and its sound is perfectly suitable to this music. The recorded sound is close, but pretty clear and pleasant.

The disc includes seven suites, but just three of them are complete and the remaining are extracts, including from one to four movements.

The liner notes and presentation are excellent, as usual with Ramée.

Do I need to use the adjective "mandatory"? 

[Père Malfait]

The most ambitious surviving work of the Meiningen Bach, Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731), written for the funeral obsequies of Duke Ernst Ludwig of Meiningen in 1724.  The samples on jpc hint at a wonderful performance.  Can't wait to hear it in toto.

[The new erato]

The most ambitious surviving work of the Meiningen Bach, Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731), written for the funeral obsequies of Duke Ernst Ludwig of Meiningen in 1724.  The samples on jpc hint at a wonderful performance.  Can't wait to hear it in toto.

Please report. Very high on my want list.

[not edward]

Well, they're both 20th Century Eastern European composers.  Please let us know what you think.  I would like to have a good modern recording of the Enescu.

I don't know that I can give a particularly thorough review, as this is my first recording of the Enescu. However, if you've heard other Mordkovitch recordings you'll know what to expect--her throaty, big-boned sound and interpretations are thoroughly distinctive to my ears.

The Bacewicz was interesting to me, as I've mostly heard works from her late modernist period. I did find the neo-classical side in these works somewhat less distinctive (though superbly crafted for the instrument); Partita felt like the clear standout piece on a first listening.

[SonicMan46]

 

Recorded in 1988, it is still a benchmark in these works, half performed on the traverso by Janet See and the other half on various recorders by Marion Verbruggen. I have a super little disk by Dorothee Oberlinger on the recorder, I'll be interested to see if this surpasses that mammoth effort.

Gurn - hope you enjoy; I've had the See disk for a long time!  The cover art is different on my CD (above, right) - curious if the recording has been re-mastered?  Dave 

[SonicMan46]

 

The most ambitious surviving work of the Meiningen Bach, Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731), written for the funeral obsequies of Duke Ernst Ludwig of Meiningen in 1724.  The samples on jpc hint at a wonderful performance.  Can't wait to hear it in toto.

Well, that disc peaked my interest also!    I have no music by this older JS Bach relative - in looking on Amazon, a well rated Capriccio disc popped up at about the same price - will be curious if anyone out there might have heard both and can provide some comments?  Thanks - 

[Antoine Marchand]

I'm definitely suffering these days from a severe attack of CDCDCD:

 

[Gurn Blanston]

Gurn - hope you enjoy; I've had the See disk for a long time!  The cover art is different on my CD (above, right) - curious if the recording has been re-mastered?  Dave 

No, you have only disk 1 of my 2 disk set. The other disk is Verbruggen doing the balance of the concertos on recorders (alto and sopranino). Glad you like that, I'm sure I will too.

[SonicMan46]

No, you have only disk 1 of my 2 disk set. The other disk is Verbruggen doing the balance of the concertos on recorders (alto and sopranino). Glad you like that, I'm sure I will too.

Gurn - sorry, did not notice in my too brief perusal that yours was a 2-disc offering - checked my collection and did not have the recorder works, so became desperately in need! 

Since I already had the Janet See flute works, I decided to purchase the Naxos CD below; as always, a great price, plus just 5* reviews on Amazon, plus an excellent recommendation on MusicWeb HERE - suspect to be happy w/ this recording - Dave 

[Daverz]

Picked up cheaply on Amazon:

[asin]B000027QVL[/asin]

[12tone.]

Picked up cheaply on Amazon:

[asin]B000027QVL[/asin]

Ugh...math music.  I don't get it. 

[Opus106]

Ugh...math music.  I don't get it. 

[Elaboration needed]

[Que]

I'm definitely suffering these days from a severe attack of CDCDCD:



 

Oh my, my. Aren't you lucky! This might sounds terribly unmodest, but I'd really appreciate feedback on all of them! Especially the Palestrina, seen Masolino (or whatever his forum name is nowadays..) recommending it. But Bruno Giordano doesn't think well of it - one of the very few Amazonians (at the US site) whose opinion I value - especially in Early Music. On the other hand the many recorings roaming about by the British ensemble do not appeal to me... (Bruno favours the Tallis)

Q

[The new erato]

[Elaboration needed]

Definitely. Rubbra's music is some of the most humane, and least cerebral, made.

[FideLeo]

Especially the Palestrina, seen Masolino (or whatever his forum name is nowadays..) recommending it. But Bruno Giordano doesn't think well of it - one of the very few Amazonians (at the US site) whose opinion I value - especially in Early Music. On the other hand the many recorings roaming about by the British ensemble do not appeal to me... (Bruno favours the Tallis)

Q

Tallis Scholars invariably sound more analytical to me compared to most other a cappella groups.  I read BG's review too but decided to give the Adhecaton disc a try, at least for the sake of the gorgeous album art    It's a warm bath (refer to the sound example if you please) so to speak but Rome has plenty of that too.   Palestrina is not best served cold (clear is fine)!

[Que]

Tallis Scholars invariably sound more analytical to me compared to most other a cappella groups.  I read BG's review too but decided to give the Adhecaton disc a try, at least for the sake of the gorgeous album art    It's a warm bath (refer to the sound example if you please) so to speak but Rome has plenty of that too.   Palestrina is not best served cold (clear is fine)!

I agree, I like a bit of temperament as well. It is no secret to members here that I generally can't square the British Early Music ensemble's style with Franco-Flemish, Italian or Iberian composers. (But give me their Tallis or Byrd any day. ) The British really pioneered in choral Early Music and much credit for that is their due, but luckily there is now also a lot of choice in Dutch/Flemish, French, German, Italian an Spanish Early Music ensembles.

Q

[prémont]

Do I need to use the adjective "mandatory"? 

Taken ad notam. Thanks for your elaborate review.