What are you listening to now?

[Madiel]

Shostakovich 4th was too much to properly take in all at once. Plus I think I dozed off a couple of times (as I said it was late, plus other factors predisposing me that have nothing to do with the quality of the music).

One thing I will say, though, is I was surprised by how just how much of the music is quiet. After reading about the size of the work, and the size of the orchestra, and Mahler references, I was expecting a full-on blast a heck of a lot more often than I actually got one.

I certainly didn't hate it. And there were some ear-catching sonorities.

[NikF]

Janacek: Piano Music - Firkusny.



Giving this another listen. I'm not really taken with it. And that surprises me, because his string quartets are some of my favourite chamber music.

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

I listened to what I could last night of the Celebrating Strauss Blu-ray.

Irmgaard Seefried does a sprightly and coy Standchen Op. 17 No. 2 with Piero Bellugi and the Orchestra National de l'ORTF from 1965. Perhaps too coy though; and too fast.  Although Seefried's voice exudes a full-toned confidence and brilliance which is supremely attractive to me, her interpretation of the piece is a more unsubtle rendering than Diana Damrau's more recent endeavor. One just can't skate over this music with the greatest of ease like Seefried does. It needs a dramatic and searching emotional commitment; and an attention to textual detail.

So, exeunt Seefried and enter Damrau.

Damrau of course has a bit of a wobble here and there, to be sure- but the enchantment and the sighing-Innigkeit that she brings to the  Friedrich von Schack poem is captivating.   

Ständchen by Adolf Friedrich, Graf von Schack (1855-1894)

Mach auf, mach auf, doch leise mein Kind,
Um keinen vom Schlummer zu wecken.
Kaum murmelt der Bach, kaum zittert im Wind
Ein Blatt an den Büschen und Hecken.
Drum leise, mein Mädchen, daß [nichts sich]1 regt,
Nur leise die Hand auf die Klinke gelegt.

Mit Tritten, wie Tritte der Elfen so sacht,
[Die über die Blumen]2 hüpfen,
Flieg leicht hinaus in die Mondscheinnacht,
[Zu]3 mir in den Garten zu schlüpfen.
Rings schlummern die Blüten am rieselnden Bach
Und duften im Schlaf, nur die Liebe ist wach.

Sitz nieder, hier dämmert's geheimnisvoll
Unter den Lindenbäumen,
Die Nachtigall uns zu Häupten soll
Von unseren Küssen träumen,
Und die Rose, wenn sie am Morgen erwacht,
Hoch glühn von den Wonnenschauern der Nacht..

Ständchen in free translation by Albert Combrink

"Love Song"

Open up, open up, but softly my child,
So as not to wake anyone from their sleep,
The stream is barely murmuring, the wind hardly causes quivers
In a leaf on bush or hedge.
So, softly, my young girl, so that nothing stirs,
Just lay your hand softly on the door-latch.

With steps as soft as the footsteps of elves,
that hop over the flowers,
Fly lightly out into the moonlit night,
Sneak to me in the garden.
Around us sleeps the blossoms along the trickling stream,
Fragrant in sleep, only love is awake.

Sit down, here it darkens mysteriously
Beneath the linden trees,
The nightingale over our heads
Shall dream of our kisses,
And the rose, when it wakes in the morning,
Shall glow from the joyous showers of the night.

And then of course there's Duchess Schwarzkopf on the same Blu-ray- which was the first section that I explored, actually (small wonder). Her closing to the Mackerras/Philharmonia 1961 Act I of Rosenkavalier just rips my 'heart out' with the sighing-Innigkeit (her and Janet Baker really are sans pareil at this). But as exquisite and as bittersweet her sad inflections in front of her vanity mirror are in this performance- and they actually did bring tears to my eyes- her Karajan/Philharmonia rendering is still in a sublime class of its own. 

[Karl Henning]

Mendelssohn
Prelude & Fugue in A^b, Op.35 № 4
Prelude & Fugue in f minor, Op.35 № 5
Frith

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[Karl Henning]

Shostakovich 4th was too much to properly take in all at once. Plus I think I dozed off a couple of times (as I said it was late, plus other factors predisposing me that have nothing to do with the quality of the music).

One thing I will say, though, is I was surprised by how just how much of the music is quiet. After reading about the size of the work, and the size of the orchestra, and Mahler references, I was expecting a full-on blast a heck of a lot more often than I actually got one.

I certainly didn't hate it. And there were some ear-catching sonorities.

It is a lot, and probably more for most to try to absorb in a single hearing.

[NikF]

Smetana: String Quartets - The Smetana Quartet.

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More familiar ground for me after listening to the Janacek.

[Harry]

An essential set to have, so therefore I recommend this most urgently! Organ works pur sang.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/02/walther-johann-gottfried-1684-1748.html?spref=tw

[Karl Henning]

LvB
Septet in E^b, Op.20
Melos Ensemble

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[Harry]

For those that like Haydn, this composer is a must in my opinion.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/02/von-schacht-theodor-1748-1823.html?spref=tw

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

Working my way through this mammoth box (though I actually already have quite a bit of the music on here.

Disc 1 . Monteverdi, A & D Scarlatti + Schutz, Schein and Lillius Duets (with Fischer-Dieskau).

Leppard's lush, romanticised accompaniments for the Monteverdi are not fashionable these days, but singing of this quality never goes out of fashion. Dame Janet's intensity and emotional range is wonderfully vivid.

I had it originally in this sleeve.

I love the original cover art of the Baker/Monteverdi LP.

That Baker box set is pure desert island.

[Brahmsian]

Shostakovich 4th was too much to properly take in all at once. Plus I think I dozed off a couple of times (as I said it was late, plus other factors predisposing me that have nothing to do with the quality of the music).

One thing I will say, though, is I was surprised by how just how much of the music is quiet. After reading about the size of the work, and the size of the orchestra, and Mahler references, I was expecting a full-on blast a heck of a lot more often than I actually got one.

I certainly didn't hate it. And there were some ear-catching sonorities.

It certainly is!  The final 4 or 5 minutes are very quiet.

[Brahmsian]

It is a lot, and probably more for most to try to absorb in a single hearing.

Well said, Karl!

[Harry]

A reference recording in every way! This one came along with another bunch of CD'S this morning. Along with this pile 3 CD''S by the same composer on the same label.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/02/raff-joseph-joachim-1822-1882-cello.html?spref=tw

[aligreto]

I don't know that particular recording,  but that is one wonderful composition,  isn't it? It's been a favourite of mine since my early teens.....

Yes indeed. The music has great presence.

[Que]

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A blast from the past.... symphony nr. 7.

Q

[HIPster]

Fantasticus - Quicksilver

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Caught this group live a month ago - playing mainly this program.

Very nice.   

Quicksilver's recording, FANTASTICUS, features extraordinary 17th century German music in the Stilus Fantasticus, 'instituted to display genius,' in the words of mathematician Athanasius Kirchner. The recording explores one of the cultural revolutions of the time, the development of the sonata, a purely instrumental work with no agenda but the imagination of the composer and no standard formal shape except the passionate give-and-take of friends in conversation. This 'new music' is virtuosic, experimental, unexpected, and deeply moving: the closest we come to wordless rhetoric.
Review
enlightening..the audience was on its feet cheering and hooting as if it were at a rock show --New York Times

Quicksilver does nothing by halves: the ensemble balance...is impeccable and the musical scholarship deep, and the group willingly matches the extravagance of its repertoire with enchantingly engaged playing --The Vancouver Sun

all virtuoso soloists in their own right, and together their playing is drop dead gorgeous with a wonderful interplay of timbres --Early Music America

[prémont]

An essential set to have, so therefore I recommend this most urgently! Organ works pur sang.

http://walboi.blogspot.nl/2016/02/walther-johann-gottfried-1684-1748.html?spref=tw

Having listened to only five of the CDs of this set so far I dare already say that Stella's interpretation approaches the congenial. I was afraid to meet a desert of trivial choral preludes, but my fears were completely unfounded. Stella tells us, that Walter is a great master, at the level of Pachelbel, and even more stunning, Stella recorded all this music in less than three weeks. The five CDs I have listened to are pure pleasure, and I very much second Harrys recommendation. This set is a must for lovers of baroque organ music.

[prémont]

I don't know that particular recording,  but that is one wonderful composition,  isn't it? It's been a favourite of mine since my early teens.....

Yes, one of Telemann's greatest works (despite its modest form).

[SonicMan46]

Today, some more French Baroque flute music:

Boismortier, Joseph (1689-1755) - Sonatas, Op. 91 w/ Douglas Worthen on a Richard Potter flute (London, c. 1755) & Ursula Dütschler on harpsichord (Bruce Kennedy, 1988 after Taskin, 1769).

Leclair, Jean-Marie (1697-1764) - Flute Sonatas - Complete w/ Barthold Kuijken on flute (G.A. Rottenburg, Brussels c. 1745), Wieland Kuijken on viola da gamba (N. Bertrand, c. 1690), & Robert Kohnen on harpsichord (Alain Anselm, Villemandeur, 1984).  Dave

 

[Harry]

Having listened to only five of the CDs of this set so far I dare already say that Stella's interpretation approaches the congenial. I was afraid to meet a desert of trivial choral preludes, but my fears were completely unfounded. Stella tells us, that Walter is a great master, at the level of Pachelbel, and even more stunning, Stella recorded all this music in less than three weeks. The five CDs I have listened to are pure pleasure, and I very much second Harrys recommendation. This set is a must for lovers of baroque organ music.

I am very glad to read this.