What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[AuntDaisy]

"Air(s) de Cour" - Jean-Paul Fouchécourt. Music by François Couperin, Etienne Moulinié Jean-Baptiste Lully, Joseph Chabanceau de la Barre, Michel Lambert and Georges Brassens (fitting in very snugly).
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt has an amazing voice, perfectly suited for this music.

The CD featured in a 2010 EMS "French Airs de Cour" - "Catherine Bott explores the background to the Air de Cour or French court song, a hugely influential kind of music with a distinctive and individual atmosphere."

[Petrushka]

Mozart: Symphony in E flat. K543' (the 1963 recording)
J. Haydn: Symphony no.102 in B flat;
Schubert: Symphony no.5 in B flat;
Mozart: Masonic funeral music.

The Philharmonia Orchesra, Otto Klemperer.

Familiar recordings I hadn't listened to for years. This was from a productive late stage of OK's career after his serious injury in a fire in 1959.There's littte doubt that he was 'the old man' as the players called him, but I prefer his wisdom and weight to many a clever modern interpretation.

I played the Haydn 102 earlier this week. The two Klemperer boxes from Warner have swiftly become the backbone of my CD collection, being listened to constantly. There's a very good case for considering Klemperer to be the greatest conductor of them all.

[smittims]

Thanks. I'm not sure even I could praise him that much. Although I remember hearing Klemperer live on the Third and Radio 3 it was reading volume one of Peter Heyworth's wonderful biography that alerted me to rediscover his art . The world would have been a poorer place but for him, and now his recordings.

[Stanfordian]

Anita Cerquetti – ‘Grandi Voci’
Arias by Verdi, Bellini, Spontini, Puccini & Ponchielli
Anita Cerquetti (soprano)
Orchestra e coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino / Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Recorded 1957 Teatro Della Pergola, Florence, Italy
Decca, CD

Little remembered today Cerquetti has a superb voice!

[AuntDaisy]

Wanda Landowska "Golberg Variations", + pieces by Byrd, Bach, Daquin, Couperin, Scarlatti, Rameau, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, Lully... CDs 1 & 2 of "The Well-tempered Musician: Wanda Landowska".
Glorious playing and amazing for its age (& happily competing with the 3D printer.)

[smittims]

I'm a Landowska fan. Only the other day I was listening to one of her last recordings, the three-part sinfonias and Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother (both JS Bach of course). .

[pastoralguy]

Brahms. Op. 79 & Op.116 piano pieces. Schumann. Kreisleriana. Op.16.

Played by Elena Fischer-Dieskau, piano. Delphian. 50p charity shop find.

A guarded welcome from Gramophone magazine who can’t help compare her with the very greatest of pianists who have recorded these wonderful pieces. I have to say they sound pretty good to me. And yes, she’s the granddaughter of a certain singer…

[Stanfordian]

Aleksandra Kurzak – ‘Falcon’
Arias from Mozart, Beethoven, Spontini, Halévy, Meyerbeer, Niedermeyer, Rossini, Berlioz & Weber
Aleksandra Kurzak (soprano),
Morphing Chamber Orchestra / Bassem Akiki
Recorded 2023, Lorely-Saal, Vienna
Aparté, new CD

[pastoralguy]

Pierrot Portraits.

The new cd from Claire Booth and Ensemble 360. Music by Amy Beach, Korngold, Debussy, Max Kowalski, Joseph Marx, Thea Musgrave and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire.

Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire continues to scare the living daylights out of me!

[smittims]

Pierrot Lunaire was the one work of Schoenberg I found most difficult to get to like. I think that's a sign of its originality. I think it is more 'radical' than Le Sacre du Printemps , though I accept that, apart from their simliar overall length the two works are too different for a useful comparison.

I had a pleasant surprise yesterday in my listening :

Delius: Violin Concerto. Robert Gerle, violin, the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, conducted by Robert Zeller. A Westminster recording issued in Britain by the World Record Club as partof their 'Recorded Music Circle' ,a sort of select inner group (maybe you paid more) and dating, I would guess, from the ,late 1950s. I found it in a charity shop. the coupling is the Barber concerto. Both the soloist and conductor were quite unknown to me.

I had thought there was no recording of the Delius between the 1946 HMV Pougnet/Beecham and the 1970s Menuhin . This one may lack the magic of the Sammons or Beecham , but it stands comparison with the later recordings. It's a fine interpretation and recording and deserves to be reissued. I suppose Deutsche Grammophon own it now. It's on YouTube amd copies of both the Westminster and WRC pressings are offered for sale on internet sites.

[AuntDaisy]

I caught Hannah French's choice of "Surrexit pastor bonus", Stile Antico, on Breakfast this morning and fancied a bit more Lhéritier...

"Scattered Ashes" Magnificat directed by Philip Cave.



At ~42mins on both CDs, would 84mins fit on a single CD?

[Stanfordian]

Robert Merrill – ‘Classic Decca Recitals’
Arias from Otello, Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, La forza del destino, Don Carlo, Andrea Chénier & Pagliacci
Robert Merrill (baritone)
New Symphony Orchestra of London / Edward Downes
Recorded 1963, Kingsway Hall, London
Decca, remastered CD

[oliver sudden]

"Air(s) de Cour" - Jean-Paul Fouchécourt. Music by François Couperin, Etienne Moulinié Jean-Baptiste Lully, Joseph Chabanceau de la Barre, Michel Lambert and Georges Brassens (fitting in very snugly).
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt has an amazing voice, perfectly suited for this music.

The CD featured in a 2010 EMS "French Airs de Cour" - "Catherine Bott explores the background to the Air de Cour or French court song, a hugely influential kind of music with a distinctive and individual atmosphere."

Being a bit of a fan of Fouchécourt I went looking for a YouTube preview for this and found that he has recorded a certain Lili Boulanger cycle of which I am also an, ow you say, ventilateur. The opening is very promising.

https://youtu.be/lDThyyFrwvE?feature=shared

[Pulcinella]

Stravinsky
Chamber works

Released today. Already flagged in New releases.
I need to follow up a response from Linn about what I think is a disconcerting wrong note in the last movement of Dumbarton Oaks.
Otherwise, very enjoyable, and with a lively acoustic that helps.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9661048--stravinsky-chamber-works

[Stanfordian]

Ponchielli – ‘La Gioconda’
Opera in four acts
Anita Cerquetti (La Gioconda), Mario Del Monaco (Enzo), Ettore Bastianini (Barnaba), Giulietta Simionato (Laura), Cesare Siepi (Alvise), Franca Sacchi (La Cieca), Giorgio Giorgetti (Zuàne), Athos Cesarini (Isèpo)
Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino / Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Recorded 1957 Teatro Della Pergola, Florence, Italy
Decca ‘Grand Opera series’, 2 CDs