What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Christo]

There's lots of great stuff; I've bought more or less everything I could lay my hands on, but this was the disc that turned me on to him - and as it will give you a perspective of him in non-orchestral mode it may be the smart move:

[asin]B000IY0620[/asin]

Great to learn! My own main focus laying on orchestral music, particularly modern symphonies, I will first continue with them. (Ibought all four DACAPO cd's in the past few years without really playing them - time, you know.  )

[Que]

And which turns out to be a completely different recording than
[asin]B0046IGOAC[/asin]
which is the one I listened to yesterday, and which is Romanesque, several centuries before the music in Que's CD.

Indeed, I didn't know of this other one!

I guess these are easily mixed up: Arkiv prints a review of "mine" (the Baroque version with music by Campra and Delalande to accompany neo-Gallician plain chant) in connection to "yours", the Romanesque!

How is the one above, BTW?  The review at allmusic is only lukewarm...



Starting the morning with the 3rd disc of this glorious set, sheer perfection IMO:

[asin]B0072A4HIW[/asin]

With a nod to Harry for leading the way to this set...

Q

[The new erato]

I need to get on with this big Sweelinck set myself. I was an early purchaser of the 3 CD set of secular works and was slightly disappointed by their quality, finding them somewhat anonymous. Therefore, getting on with the complete collection was delayed. With the 2 disc set of Canciones Sacrae things picked themself considerably up, and now I need to get on with this really big box (I bought all the 3 boxes as they were issued).

Now an early morning listen to disc 1 of the glorious doble set, before I (slightly late) go on to work!

[asin]B0072BYDQC[/asin]

[val]

HAYDN:      Piano Concertos in F, G & D               / Oliver Schnyder, Academy of St Martin in the Fields  (2012)

A very nice interpretation of this Concertos. The third, in D major is the most known but, in my opinion, Haydn was much more original and inspired in his Quartets, Symphonies and Piano Trios.

[Que]

I need to get on with this big Sweelinck set myself. I was an early purchaser of the 3 CD set of secular works and was slightly disappointed by their quality, finding them somewhat anonymous. Therefore, getting on with the complete collection was delayed. With the 2 disc set of Canciones Sacrae things picked themself considerably up, and now I need to get on with this really big box (I bought all the 3 boxes as they were issued).

I guess I started at the lucky end - gorgeous.

Now an early morning listen to disc 1 of the glorious doble set, before I (slightly late) go on to work!

[asin]B0072BYDQC[/asin]

That is on the shopping list. I'm lucky to have the rest of the week off from work, so lots of extra listening time!


Speaking of which:

[asin]B000HD1OAK[/asin]

Act II

Q

[The new erato]

.[asin]B000HD1OAK[/asin]

Act II

Q

I have it in this 10 CD set (unfortunately no libretti IIRC):

[asin]B002KS2HD8[/asin]

but found this set a slight overdose of Lully (however much I love him) so I haven't rellay managed to dig into it deeply yet.

[Octave]

Booyakasha!



Wilhelm Furtwängler Conducts Excerpts from the 1937 Covent Garden Performances of DIE WALKÜRE and GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG (Music & Arts, 2cd)

This edition regrettably seems to be out of print, though Arkiv still produces a "new" CDR-to-order of it.  Virtually nothing in the way of liner notes.  I think the sound is fine, considering; if anyone knows a better, newer transfer, please let me know.  (The A. Rok discog didn't yield any promising leads, though I also wouldn't know what to look for, in the way of labels.)

[Octave]

Starting the morning with the 3rd disc of this glorious set, sheer perfection IMO:

[asin]B0072A4HIW[/asin]

With a nod to Harry for leading the way to this set...

Q

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

Found a relative excellent deal on that at Importcds (for delivery to N. America), esp. during their little 10% off sale.  Also loved the 3cd secular music collection.   

[Florestan]

[Que]

I have it in this 10 CD set (unfortunately no libretti IIRC):

[asin]B002KS2HD8[/asin]

but found this set a slight overdose of Lully (however much I love him) so I haven't rellay managed to dig into it deeply yet.

I did seriously consider getting that set, until I stumbled upon Amadis and Isis at bargain price - I hate opera recording without librettos....

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

Found a relative excellent deal on that at Importcds (for delivery to N. America), esp. during their little 10% off sale.  Also loved the 3cd secular music collection.   

Happy to see so many Sweelinck admirors on the forum!

Q

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

I guess I started at the lucky end - gorgeous.

Q

Then I must have a non critical attitude towards the Sweelinck box, for I cannot hear one flaw in it, let alone monotony.
From beginning to end this set is top notch. 

[Lisztianwagner]

*faints*

What? I don't believe it. You dislike a Karajan recording?

Same speech for Strauss' Ägyptischer Marsch.

Maybe now will I be accused not of fawning on Karajan?

[Karl Henning]

Some Boxing Day Liszt: two of his most visionary works; the Via crucis from the DG big box, and Die nachtliche Zug from Ilan Volkov's outstanding recording on Hyperion. Remarkable stuff, and like much of his best work, practically unknown to the general concertgoing public (which certainly knows Die nachtliche Zug's rather less extraordinary counterpart).

Don't know the latter, but in entire agreement as to the merits of Via crucis!

[Florestan]

[Opus106]

'First Listens' of the Glazunov pieces

Glazunov: Elegie in Memoriam Franz Liszt, Op. 17

Rachmaninoff: Vocalise

Glazunov: String Quintet, Op. 39

Rachmaninoff: Trio élégiaque in D minor, Op.9


Alessio Baz - piano | Erin Keefe, Elmar Oliveira - violin | Paul Neubauer - viola | Nicholas Canellakis, Paul Watkins - cello

Alice Tully Hall, New York City
01 Apr 2012

[Wakefield]

.[asin]B000L43MXC[/asin]

Top-notch, as all the remaining books of this series. 

[Florestan]

It's a funny thing, the way reputations rise and fall and fade. Nowadays, Antonio Vivaldi is about as well-known as a Baroque composer can be, while his contemporary Benedetto Marcello is familiar to only a few (so far). Yet in early 18th-century Venice, both composers were equally respected--in fact, Marcello's music was performed regularly as late as 1790, while Vivaldi's music was considered passé 50 years earlier. Benedetto Marcello, as the scion of a prominent and wealthy Venetian family, didn't have to please the music-buying public (as Vivaldi did) to make a living--and he took advantage of the freedom to follow his own muse. Where Vivaldi stuck closely to established, recognizable forms (such as the ABA da capo aria and the slow-fast-slow-fast church sonata), Marcello subordinated his musical setting to the text in much the way Monteverdi, Cavalli, and Schütz did a century earlier.

In Estro poetico-armonico, a collection of Italian-language Psalm-settings for one to four solo voices, this means that the scoring, meter and/or key may change--sometimes quite abruptly--whenever there's a new idea in the text. The result sometimes seems disjointed or even downright weird, but the music is often quite lovely--and arguably very appropriate for the Psalms, whose sudden changes of mood and imagery have confounded more than one reader. Members of Cantus Cölln--here, just four singers and continuo--give a sensitive and skillful performance of five selections from the Estro. On first hearing, one might wish for more Italian-style extroversion, but the more you listen, the more subtlety, intelligence, and feeling you'll find. It's always that way with Cantus Cölln--the better you know them, the more admirable they seem.

[Florestan]

Excellent.

[SonicMan46]

Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Vol. 1 w/ Pieter-Jan Belder on a variety of harpsichords; also purchased Vol. 2; both are 2-CD offerings packaged in single sized jewel boxes - these were highly recommended by Harry earlier this month.  This is a fascinating collection of Elizabethan & Jacobean keyboard music - see that attachment from a post in this thread back in 2009 for a more thorough description.

Back then, I had acquired the 2-CD set of some of these works (there are nearly 300 works in the book!) w/ Martin Souter on different instruments also (harpsichord, clavichord, virginals, & organ) and thoroughly enjoyed; SO, if interested in this genre, the Souter set is a good introduction, while the Belder delves more deeply into the book - both offer excellent performances & sound -

 

[Que]

Interesting repertoire! But Cantus Cöln would indeed not be the fisrt ensemble to come to mind.

Excellent.

Intriguing as well, any elaboration in due time would be most welcome.


Listening now:

[asin]B0085U0GY2[/asin]

Johan Bapist Cramer & Franz Schubert - I quite like the Cramer!

Q