One of the problems of this forum for me, in particular the classical music threads, is that when I see something that looks interesting and I don't know it I want to listen to it. E.G. I like what I know of Richard Strauss (the four last songs being some of the most beautiful music ever written IMO) but I don't know this so now I have to find the time to listen to it which would be fine but it joins a long queue and how to I prioritise. Thanks heavens I'm retired. Or maybe you guys you should stop posting stuff I don't know. Obviously I don't mean that but there is so much wonderful music that I really do find it difficult.
An interesting Claudio Arrau release from Challenge Records: https://www.challengerecords.com/products/16256458238205
I have his recording of Concierto De Aranjuez which I thought was wonderful until I heard Julian Bream's recording with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by John Eliot Gardner. Williams is an early digital vinyl version, '83 I think, so maybe the sound quality is influencing me on this.
Originally a Teldec recording, this mostly Fucik disc is excellent, much better than the Neeme Jarvi disc of Fucik compositions. Vaclav Neumann Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Fucik: Entry of the Gladiators; Famous Marches and Waltzes Dvorak: Slavonic Rhapsody Apex, 2002 recorded in 1972,1973
Aah, yes, "The Entry of the Gladiators." The quintessential circus tune. I actually wrote a little piece that briefly discusses it in the larger context of musings about the circus, available here: [Vintage column] On an Overgrown Pathé - [English] The same chestnut is also available on a Mercury recording called "Screamers" (Eastman Wind Ens., Frederick Fennell) to which I refer there as well. I've not been listening to that one of late, but one other thing has really caught my fancy. A chaconne, as I suppose I needn't belabor, is, in essence, a set of variations set over a ground bass, which is to say a short figure that endlessly repeats a la a theatrical vamp. I'll confess, I am an absolute sucker for a ground bass, and hence for a good chaconne--and this album has what must be "the mother of all chaconnes." The album notes attribute it to Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, one of my favorite composers of the era, although it must be said that attribution is speculative. What is not speculative is that the work in question goes on for 17 mesmerizing minutes--a real ground-bass-fest for those of us susceptible to such things. Great performance, too, by a youngish American ensemble called ACRONYM, with the players turning it into something of a Baroque jam fest. It's taken its place right alongside Buxtehude's sonata BuxWV 273 in B-Flat, which, at least as presented by Reinhard Goebel and the Musica Antiqua Koln crew, long was my undisputed favorite ground bass exemplar. That one, at around 7 minutes (I'm talking about the first mvt. here), albeit with a slow interruption midway, is no slouch, but--17 minutes straight of a single pattern! Eat your heart out, Bolero! The rest of the CD is good stuff, well played and sung, too, but that chaconne--well, it's the star of the show. Strongly recommended by me! ACRONYM: The Battle the Bethel & the Ball Music of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704) Olde Focus Recordings FRC913
Just purchased, may have to go in the 'guilty pleasures' box : 5 CDs, I'm buying it mainly for the Puccini and Verdi opera music sans vocals.
Superb playing and sound. Qobuz 24/44.1. He plays a Chris Maene Straight Strung Concert Grand piano--it certainly sounds clear and even. It even has a bonus work: Thoughts on Bach, which Daan Manneke composed for him. I might get the SACD version at some point. For more information about the piano: the Straight Strung Grand Piano (chrismaene.be)
I'm interested in the conductor / composer side of these popular conductors. It's interesting how long it took Mahler's symphonies to be generally accepted; I have Klemperer conducting his own second symphony - will keep the Furtwangler in mind. cpo are an interesting label.
Excellent playing and sound. I think Fisk gave the harpsichord's left hand parts to the cello, he plays the right hand, and left the violin part intact.
Hmmm...her unusually gentle touch robs most of the pieces of some drama. There's some ravishing playing, of course, but I'm a bit disappointed. Great sound. Qobuz 24/192.
Since today is Glenn Gould's birthday, I cannot let these 24 hours slip by without playing his 1955 recording of the Bach Goldberg Variations. This is the first release from January 3, 1956 --a Columbia 6-eye Mono LP -- which I always play annually on September 25th. Original recording took place in the Columbia 30th Street Studio, NYC, June 10/14-16, 1955. Gould supplied the album's extensive liner notes, where he wrote: "We are accustomed to consider at least one of two prerequisites indispensable to an Air for variations, a theme with a melodic curve with veritably entreats ornamentation, or an harmonic basis, stripped to its fundamentals, pregnant with promise and capacity for exhaustive exploitation." You gotta love it... ! As George Szell said of him: "That nut's a genius!" Happy Birthday, Glenn!
I came across a teaser track from a forthcoming album “Bach & Handel” (Apple Music hires) last night. It features the voice of Sabine Devieilhe and is absolutely stunning. Check it out. Bach & Handel | Warner Classics Bach & Handel by Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion & Sabine Devieilhe