What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[vinteuil]

Pergolesi ..Sabatier Mater

Les TalLes Lyriques


Not jazz but very enjoyable. It was being played at Castle Howard back in June when we visited.

... ah, "Mother with the kitchen knives"! I'd better watch out...

"Enjoyable", the depiction of the mother grieving her son the Christ during his crucifixion? - ah well. Other adjectives are available...

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[LMcD]

Das Lied von der Erde (Klemperer/Ludwig/Wunderlich)

[Stanfordian]

Donizetti
‘Les Martyrs’ opera in four acts (1840)
Polyeucte - Michael Spyres (tenor); Pauline - Joyce El-Khoury (soprano); Sévère - David Kempster (baritone);
Felix - Brindley Sherratt (bass); Callisthenes - Clive Bayley (bass); Néarque - Wynne ‘Go- compare’ Evans (tenor)
Opera Rara Chorus,
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / Sir Mark Elder
Recorded 2014 St. Clement Church, London
Opera Rara, 3 CD set

[smittims]

Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610. The 1953 Oiseau-Lyre recording conducted by Anthony Lewis.

I retain an affection for this old recording, possiby the first complete one made. It was brave attempt , at a time when few musicians had mastered the technique to perform this music: the singers are more used to lyrical English 20th-century style than Moneteverdi . It uses Leo Schrade's orchestration. Some of it goes very well: Lauda Jerusalem has a tremendous swing to it, the soloists apparently joining in. There's a sort of pioneering spirit about the performance which gets it through the limitations.

It's also one of the Decca 'electronic stereo ' remasterings where the effect works well. The antiphonal passages sound quite convincing.

[vinteuil]

Dagnelies: Fantaisie variée for ophicleide and piano (Nick Byrne, David Miller)

from yle, to whom I remain loyal

[HighlandDougie]

Chopin: Piano Concerto No 2 in f minor/ Prokofiev: Suites from 'Romeo and Juliet', Op 64

Alexandre Kantorow (Piano)/Orchestre Nationale de France/Christian Mǎcelaru - on Arte

Watching as much as listening, wonderful to be able to watch Kantorow, who, even in this age of stellar pianists, is "super-stellar" (as they would say here in France). Very expressive player (no Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, he) but without it in any way becoming mannered or annoying. The sound from Arte is of a high quality so my new (smallish) amp hooked up to the TV was able to do it full justice. Excellent Prokofiev, too, from Mǎcelaru whose new Ravel set has also been giving me much pleasure (the 2025 equivalent of André Cluytens and the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra from the early 1960s).

[Stanfordian]

British Sacred Choral Music – ‘A New Heaven’
In the Anglican church tradition by Parry, Wood, Harris, Stanford, Bairstow, Balfour Gardiner, Goodall, Bainton, Stainer, Howells & Rutter
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers
with Robert Quinney (organ)
Recorded 2008, St Peter’s Italian Church, Clerkenwell, London
Universal Classics, CD

Hallé – ‘English Spring’ – Sir Mark Elder
Arnold Bax
Spring Fire – Symphony
Frederick Delius
Idylle de Printemps
The March of Spring from North Country Sketches
Frank Bridge
Enter Spring
Hallé / Sir Mark Elder
Recorded 2010 Bridgewater Hall & BBC Studio 7, New Broadcasting House, Manchester
Hallé, CD

[vinteuil]

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... Nicolas Gombert [1495-1560] - Motets volume 3, a 2 CD set in extraordinary performances by the Austrian ensemble Beauty Farm

I find the unexpected and yet inevitable force of the lines here tremendous - it's a gorgeous performance (to add to the two previous 2 CD sets of Motets and one of the Masses). Gombert is one of my favourite composers, and these are addictive...

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... now Motets volume 1

[frankbridge]

Philip Glass and his Ensemble

Dance Nos 1-5

Riesmann

MC2 47785

Not to everybody taste to be sure, but I love it anyway, and bought it cheaply at Smugs, so there you are

[DoctorT]

Chopin
Mazurkas volume 1
Ingrid Fliter
Lebrecht’s Recording of the Week in The Critic, if that means anything!
Lovely playing

[vinteuil]

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... from yle (to whom I remain loyal) -

Hummel Serenades, Consortium Classicum. A delight

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000AOESRM

I love the eccentric line-up of musicians

Enjoyed it so much I'm getting the CD...

[smittims]

Mozart : Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, K364. The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner. An Argo recording from 1971.

This work is often played as a 'double-concerto' with celebrity guests, but in this case the two soloists , Alan Loveday and Stephen Shingles , have been carefully balanced within the texture so that , although they are quite audible, one hears more of Mozart's rich and wonderful orchestration . This is a memorable record, especially with the lovely reproduction of Pater's 'Fete Galante ' .

I've never been able to agree that Marriner and the Academy were bland . His tempi, especially in Mozart, seem faultless to me. Maybe his experience playing in the Philharmonia under Furtwangler and Toscanini helped .

[Barbirollians]

I know that version but much prefer the ASMF's later effort with Iona Brown and Josef Suk . Marriner's Mozart is rather bland for my taste . It'sno surprise to me that Brendel appeared to prefer his own remakes of the Piano Concertos that he made with Mackerras . Far more vitality and interest to my ears in those accompaniments.

[Stanfordian]

Schubert – Sacred Music
Offertory: Intende voci, D.963
Salve Regina, D.386
Magnificat, D.486
Psalm 23 ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’, D.706
Salve Regina, D.106
Tantum ergo, D.962
Offertory: ‘Totus in corde langueo’, D.136
Christ ist Erstanden, D.440
Salve Regina ‘Mater Misericordiae’, D.223
‘Gott in der nature’, D.757
Stabat Mater, D.175
Zum Sanctus ‘Heilig, Heilig’: from Deutsche Masse, D.872
Rias-Kammerchor
Radio-Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin / Marcus Creed
Rundfunkchor Berlin,
Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchestra, Berlin / Dietrich Knothe
Celina Lindsley (soprano), Magdalena Hajossyov (soprano), Gabriele Schreckenbach, (alto/contralto), Peter Schreier (tenor), Werner Hollweg (tenor), Walton Gronroos (bass),
Karin Pohl (soprano), Brigitte Domhardt (soprano), Claudia Graswurm (alto), Astrid Pilzecker (contralto), Ekkehard Wagner (tenor), Gisela Fetting (soprano), Karl-Heinz Schmieder (bass)
Bernd Casper (piano)
Recorded 1986 & 1988 Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin
Capriccio SACD

Théodore Gouvy – Chamber Music for Winds
Nonet
Serenade for Octet
Septet
Ensemble arabesques
Recorded 2024 Immanuelskirche, Wuppertal, Germany
Farao Classics, CD
A superb new album!

[Ian Thumwood]

I was hoping for more feedback on the Schumann edition of Composer of the week. I quite liked some of the orchestral music but found the account of his mental struggles really fascinating.

It was brilliant to see a different view to that expressed in Anna Beer's rather biased assessment in her book about female composers. Have to say that I thought this book had an agenda and good that Radio 3 took the time to explain Robert's mental health problems and reaction to his role directing orchestras. This gave a more equitable account.

The Beer's account purely looks at how Robert sabotaged his wife's career . Considering his own struggles makes, Beer's account of Clara very unsatisfactory despite whatever merits there are with her own music.

Susan Tomes's assessment of Robert Schumann is more balanced and sympathetic although noting the long windedness of his compositions. She looks at his achievements and failings.

CofW nailed it as the bigger picture was Schumann's poor mental health and not the neglect of his wife as a composer. I think Schumann would have been treated much better in 2025.