Now playing: Ludwig van Beethoven – The Early String Quartets - Op.18/5 & Op.18/6 — Takacs Quartet (Decca Music / BMG) from:
This recording, on my i-Pod, helped me to tune out the horrors of flying! (from CA to Santa Fe for the Chamber Music Festival.) He plays with crystal clarity and is very well recorded.
This is a very good Dichterliebe by Schumann, Christian Gerhaher with Gerold Huber, disc 5. Glad I have it, but I wouldn't want to be without the Fischer-Dieskau with Eschenbach.
Now playing: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Concertos No.13 K415, No.14 K449, No.23 K488 — Maria João Pires – Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra of Lisbon – Theodor Guschlbauer (Erato / Warner Classics)
For those who are curious, I found out today that there are at least 4 different CD masterings of Arrau's Chopin nocturnes: 1. Original Philips fatboy 2. Two Fer on Philips (second best mastering) 3. Black Philips Chopin Box 4. Arrau Heritage - Philips (best mastering)
No recorded music today while on my trip to Santa Fe, so I settled for a noon-time recital by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin! He played Yehudi Wyner's "Toward the Center" and Schubert's D.960 Sonata. Sublime.
It's interesting how certain instruments can be particularly suited to depicting aspects of the non-musical world. The clarinet, for instance, has a particular affinity for cuckoos. It also, as demonstrated by Prokofiev, makes a fine cat, as does the violin (Biber). The oboe? Ducks. Snare drums make fine simulators of gunshots; bass drums effectively evoke heavy artillery. Celestas give us stars and sparkling water. Where would a procession of nobles be without trumpets, or a foxhunt without horns? And then there's the bassoon. Just played: Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Sonata a 5 per Camera (1648) for two violins, two violas, bassoon, and continuo, "Der Tag des Furzes." Berliner Barock Compagney on Capriccio 10 502.
