What are you listening to now?

[ritter]

First listen:

[asin]B013CPTZAA[/asin]
This is turning out to be quite extraordinary!  Piemontesi favours a certain restraint in his playing, and a dryish tone at some moments (something I much prefer to any sort of "fuzzyness" in Debussy), but then he'll allow his fancy free reign. The result is a dazzling ricness of nuances. For instance, Le vent dans la plaine is a wonder in its handling of the different sections of the music, and of the contrast of the underlying ripple effect with the melodic material. I'm just in the middle of Book I, but am already won over...

[Que]

.[asin]B003EG8XVU[/asin]
Q

PS Great music, terrible performances - particularly the singing....

[Papy Oli]

Finishing this set :

[asin]B005JWX8C6[/asin]

CD4 - Tchaikovsky - Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 41
CD5 - Gretchaninov - Vespers Liturgy, Op. 59

[GuybrushThreepwood]

Narciso Yepes... Wonderful Saturday's morning.

[Mirror Image]

Now:



Listening to Appalachia. Such an amazing work.

[Brian]

Second listen-through to this.



This time I'm listening along with booklet in hand. Manfred Honeck's 12-page essay sets a new standard in booklet notes, and that is saying something. Record labels have been putting their absolute best foot forward since the 1960s when it comes time to write the notes for Beethoven symphonies. I've always noticed that Beethoven symphony notes are (on average) more lucid, explanatory, helpful, and interestingly written than your average booklet for, say, Hoffmeister quartets or Copland ballets.

But this really is a new standard. For 12 pages, Honeck himself personally leads you through the symphonies, and explains every single interpretive decision he makes. As soon as you put the CD in, you notice the Fifth's famous Dun-Dun-Dun-DUUUUN is way slower than the rest of the movement. Why, Manfred, why?! Well, he has a whole page telling you.

He also calls your attention to specific moments - mentioning the bar # and the precise minute/second on the CD - which he wants you to hear with special attention. For example, there's a whole litany of places to spot the Fifth's legendary motif, one of which I hadn't noticed before. (The list is not complete, just illustrative.)

In sum, this CD is like a Criterion Collection DVD/Blu-Ray with a director commentary track. You follow along the commentary and hear the director interpret his/her movie and explain the artistic decisions within it, moment by moment.

Oh, also, the performances are stupendous.

Highly, highly recommended to those with musicological knowledge, for whom the booklet will be a star attraction, like amw and (poco) Sforzando.

[TheGSMoeller]

Second listen-through to this.



This time I'm listening along with booklet in hand. Manfred Honeck's 12-page essay sets a new standard in booklet notes, and that is saying something. Record labels have been putting their absolute best foot forward since the 1960s when it comes time to write the notes for Beethoven symphonies. I've always noticed that Beethoven symphony notes are (on average) more lucid, explanatory, helpful, and interestingly written than your average booklet for, say, Hoffmeister quartets or Copland ballets.

But this really is a new standard. For 12 pages, Honeck himself personally leads you through the symphonies, and explains every single interpretive decision he makes. As soon as you put the CD in, you notice the Fifth's famous Dun-Dun-Dun-DUUUUN is way slower than the rest of the movement. Why, Manfred, why?! Well, he has a whole page telling you.

He also calls your attention to specific moments - mentioning the bar # and the precise minute/second on the CD - which he wants you to hear with special attention. For example, there's a whole litany of places to spot the Fifth's legendary motif, one of which I hadn't noticed before. (The list is not complete, just illustrative.)

In sum, this CD is like a Criterion Collection DVD/Blu-Ray with a director commentary track. You follow along the commentary and hear the director interpret his/her movie and explain the artistic decisions within it, moment by moment.

Oh, also, the performances are stupendous.

Highly, highly recommended to those with musicological knowledge, for whom the booklet will be a star attraction, like amw and (poco) Sforzando.

Great news, Brian. Thanks a bunch for the report!

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Still there'll be more Saint-Saëns.  Whatta saint!

[asin]B006ZV6VSI[/asin]

Got to order up the other two vols. of his solo piano work

[Wakefield]

Second listen-through to this.



... this really is a new standard. For 12 pages, Honeck himself personally leads you through the symphonies, and explains every single interpretive decision he makes. As soon as you put the CD in, you notice the Fifth's famous Dun-Dun-Dun-DUUUUN is way slower than the rest of the movement. Why, Manfred, why?! Well, he has a whole page telling you.

It's good to know, thanks. I think your message sets two interesting issues:

- A booklet like this is another good reason to buy the physical disk and don't stay, for example, with a mere listen via streaming.

- What's the right place for the interpreter's reasons or decisions when you listen to a disk or a live performance? Is it a good thing if you need to know those reasons before to fully enjoy? I recall this question arose for the first time in my mind some years ago, when I read the liner notes written by Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr to their Bach recordings. Those notes are usually very well written and I noticed back then that they were a clear plus to the enjoyment of the performance itself.
   

[Sadko]

Chopin

Preludes, Ballads

Benno Moiseiwitsch

[asin]B001716J1U[/asin]

[Que]

.[asin]B001LKLKIY[/asin]
Q

[Que]

From the big box set:

[asin]B003AOG4RQ[/asin]
I am a bit surprised that a Russian piano virtuoso would do so well on a 1848 Pleyel, but Demidenko definitely does an excellent performance.

Q

[kishnevi]

Still there'll be more Saint-Saëns.  Whatta saint!

[asin]B006ZV6VSI[/asin]

Got to order up the other two vols. of his solo piano work

The other four, you mean.  (I am presuming the series is ongoing.)
Or get it all at one time.

[Todd]

Prepping for the new Michael Endres set.

[Wanderer]

.[asin]B00AOO5O1W[/asin]

[Brian]

The other four, you mean.  (I am presuming the series is ongoing.)
Or get it all at one time.

FWIW I am not a fan of the Geoffrey Burleson series - very good playing, but not very imaginative, and the acoustic sounds tiny.

[Drasko]

Dreadfully boring.

[Sadko]

Dreadfully boring.

I don't like it THAT bad, but I also thought he quite misses many points of the music :-)

[Lisztianwagner]

Camille Saint-Saens
Danse Macabre

https://www.youtube.com/v/YyknBTm_YyM

[North Star]

Scelsi
Uaxuctum
Tristan Murail (ondes)
Orchestre de la Radio-Télévision polonaise de Cracovie & Choeur de la Philharmonie de Cracovie
Jürg Wyttenbach
[asin]B0000AKPNX[/asin]