What are you listening 2 now?

[AnotherSpin]

An album of pieces by Stéphane Orlando brought the Belgian music day to its close, though works by composers from other countries were also heard.

[Harry]

NOTKER BALBULUS.(c. 840–912)
Liber ymnorum.
Schola Antiqua of Chicago, Michael Alan Anderson.

A huge blast from the past.

[Harry]

Reges Terrae.
Music from the time of Charles V.
Nordic Voices.

The women's voices are often quite exposed in the works on this CD. To hear their impeccable intonation is quite a stunning experience! But there is more, the ensemble sound is intimate and close yet individual voices exhibit an airiness and spaciousness one does not often hear. Clear timbres and an impressive expression, so, intonation is impeccable, this ensemble displays unfailing precision in phrasing, dynamics, and color, everything finely tuned into a succession of bright sprinklings, that washes over one in SOTA sound. You have to hear this in order to believe it. Does it need more recommendation?

[Todd]

[André]

Silvestrov: Symphony No. 5

It's hard not to be moved by this immensely sorrowful music. However, around the min. 30 onwards it can't sustain its material, it gets a little monotonous in my view.

My favourite Silvestrov symphony. I don't know this particular performance. I have two others and there's not a trace of sameness or monotony in them. In the 6th symphony however I find bits where these faults can be found. As if he had tried to continue in the vein of the 5th but not with the same degree of consistency.

[Karl Henning]

Léon Boëlmann, Menuet gothique

[Lisztianwagner]

Franz Joseph Haydn
Stabat Mater

Barbara Bonney, Elisabeth von Magnus, Herbert Lippert, Alastair Miles
Arnold Schoenberg Chor
Nikolaus Harnoncourt & Concentus musicus Wien

[brewski]

From a Sep. 16 livestream, Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Gürzenich-Orchester Köln. In the final movement, there's a slight editing bobble, a few seconds missing from the opening, but doesn't detract from the overall excellence.

[brewski]

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra (Kondrashin / Concertgebouw, live recording from 1977). The finale really is too fast for me (YMMV), and the orchestra sounds pushed to their limits but overall, a performance well worth hearing.

[Mandryka]

It's very very good. I don't know why, but I know it is.  Somehow he turns it into music.

[Linz]

Carl Nielsen Symphony No. 5 op. 50
Helios Overture Op, 17
Jean Sibelius Spring Song Op 16
Night Ride and Sunrise Op, 55
Royal Scottish Orchestra, Alexander Gibson