What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[pastoralguy]

Beethoven. Violin Sonatas.

Chloé Hanslip, violin. Danny Driver, piano. Rubicon label.

I’ve been listening to the Beethoven violin sonatas a lot recently having heard the wonderful Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien play the Kreutzer Sonata recently at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh. Ms. Hanslip and Mr. Driver play them absolutely beautifully.

[gurnemanz]

Bedtime: Hans Hotter, Gerald Moore. Schubert Wandrers Nachtlied II.

Warte nur,
Balde ruhest du auch ... ...Spooky

[Pulcinella]

HD, I have long had an affection for Job, alongside his Syms 2 3 & 5 as my leading RVW works - the basis of this was the 1950s’ LPO Boult recordings.
Manze’s recordings are good and I think his No4 is outstanding.

Like HD, it seems, I was a little unmoved by the Manze (despite it being my home town orchestra!). I tend to go for the LPO/Handley. But how I envy Sir Adrian: fancy having this work dedicated to you.

[smittims]

I still have my copy of LXT2937 bought new when I was 16, an expensive purchase for a schoolboy on pocket money (38shillings, about £50 intoday's spending power).

It's interesting that the first four recordings of Job were all conducted by Sir Adrian Boult , Vernon Handley doing the first digital version about ten years later. I regret that Constant Lambert wasn't asked to record it , as I think he conducted it more than everyone else put together,as it was in the repertoire of the Sadlers Wells Ballet, often as a double bill with Checkmate. .

[Stanfordian]

Delius
Sea Drift
Songs of Farewell
Songs of Sunset
Sally Burgess (soprano); Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)
Waynflete Singers; Southern Voices,
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus / Richard Hickox
Recorded 1993, Wessex Hall, Poole Arts Centre
Chandos, CD

[smittims]

Delius for me too, but a much older recording.

On Hearing the first cuckoo in Spring; and Intermezzo and Serenade from Hassan. Th Concert Arts Orchestra conducted by Felix Slatkin, an early 1950s Capitol recording that enjoyed a UK reissue in the 1960s on 'Music for Pleasure'. Beautiful playing and phrasing. Slatkin's orchestra was drawn from the Hollywood studios and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

[vinteuil]

Handel "The Rival Queens" - Emma Kirkby vs. Catherine Bott. Roy Goodman & The Brandenburg Consort. Arias & duets from Alessandro, Admeto, Riccardo primo, Siroe & Tolomeo.

This is a joy.

And I love the brief account (all you need of the plot) on the back of the CD :

Lisaura (CB) in love with Alessandro
Rossane (EK) in love with Alessandro

Antigona (CB) once betrothed to Admeto, now courting him again
Alceste (EK) wife of Admeto, recently rescued from death by Hercules

Costanza (CB) betrothed to Riccardo, coveted by Isacio
Pulcheria (EK) daughter of Isacio

Laodice (CB) in love with Siroe but loved by his father Cosroe
Emira (EK) in love with Siroe but hated by his father Cosroe

Seleuce (CB) wife of Tolomeo, loved by Araspe
Elisa (EK) sister of Araspe, in love with Tolomeo

... as Harry Hill would say - "There's only one way to find out: FIGHT!"

.

[AuntDaisy]

This is a joy.

And I love the brief account (all you need of the plot) on the back of the CD :

Lisaura (CB) in love with Alessandro
Rossane (EK) in love with Alessandro

Antigona (CB) once betrothed to Admeto, now courting him again
Alceste (EK) wife of Admeto, recently rescued from death by Hercules

Costanza (CB) betrothed to Riccardo, coveted by Isacio
Pulcheria (EK) daughter of Isacio

Laodice (CB) in love with Siroe but loved by his father Cosroe
Emira (EK) in love with Siroe but hated by his father Cosroe

Seleuce (CB) wife of Tolomeo, loved by Araspe
Elisa (EK) sister of Araspe, in love with Tolomeo

... as Harry Hill would say - "There's only one way to find out: FIGHT!"

.

Sadly that excellent summary is missing from the 3CD set, but it is in "The Rival Queens" PDF booklet.

[pastoralguy]

Petits-Fours: Favourite Encores. Music arranged for string quartet by the Brodsky Quartet.

Music by Sarasate, de Falla, Elgar, Dvorak, Schumann, Kreisler, Mendelssohn, Godowsky, Ravel, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Debussy.

I picked this up this afternoon from a British Heart Foundation charity shop for a pound. The cd looks like it’s been scrubbed by a Brillo Pad but it plays just fine. Just a wash under a tepid tap with some washing up liquid and it’s plays well.

Lovely playing from the Quartet and their guests.

[Ian Thumwood]

Quite intrigued by CPE Bach's keyboard music performed on a modern piano. I have really enjoyed Francois Chaplins Naxos cd of this work. There is now a new Keith Jarrett double cd of his work.

For my money he is seriously underrated. I am new to 18th century classical piano and find it a bit mixed. Hadyn is delightful but I cannot abide Mozart whose music is annoying and dislike Beethoven. However, I love the clarity of CPEs music which is exactly the same reasoning have been impressed by Haydn. Clementi is great fun to play but a bit basic and lacks the gravitas of CPE. I think that there is alot of very ordinary piano music prior to Chopin yet I just feel that CPE would have beenmore widely appreciated of it wasbt for his father.

Does anyone have the Jarrett disc ?

Probably would add CPE to underrated piano composers alongside Enescu and Syzmanowski.

[smittims]

The plots of many Opera Seria can be summed up by ' A loves B who is in love with C who is faced with a dilemma choosing between honour and desire (cue for an aria). Finally the king forgives all and they praise his wisdom'.

'I find there is a lot of very ordinary piano music prior to Chopin'.

...and a lot more after!

I've started re-hearing Maria Joao Pires' first set of the Mozart Sonatas , made in Japan in 1974 and find it endlessly rewarding to listen to. Her insight and attention to detail are wonderful.

[Pulcinella]

Charles Ives: The Anniversary Edition

Released today.
Contents not at all what I'd expected.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9663079--charles-ives-the-anniversary-edition

[Mandryka]

Quite intrigued by CPE Bach's keyboard music performed on a modern piano. I have really enjoyed Francois Chaplins Naxos cd of this work. There is now a new Keith Jarrett double cd of his work.

For my money he is seriously underrated. I am new to 18th century classical piano and find it a bit mixed. Hadyn is delightful but I cannot abide Mozart whose music is annoying and dislike Beethoven. However, I love the clarity of CPEs music which is exactly the same reasoning have been impressed by Haydn. Clementi is great fun to play but a bit basic and lacks the gravitas of CPE. I think that there is alot of very ordinary piano music prior to Chopin yet I just feel that CPE would have beenmore widely appreciated of it wasbt for his father.

Does anyone have the Jarrett disc ?

Probably would add CPE to underrated piano composers alongside Enescu and Syzmanowski.

I've heard the Jarrett disc, but wasn't impressed, it feels very unnuanced to me. I can see why he was unwilling to release it.

[Stanfordian]

Giacomo Meyerbeer – ‘Robert le Diable’
Grand opéra in five acts (1831)
John Osborn, Nicolas Courjal, Amina Edris, Erin Morley, Nico Darmanin, Joel Allison, Paco Garcia
Chœur de l'Opéra de Bordeaux,
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine / Marc Minkowski
Recorded 2021 Live semi-staged production, Opéra National de Bordeaux, France
'French opera' CD-book series, Vol. 33
Bru Zane, 3 CD-Book

[smittims]

Hans Gal: Symphony no.2. The BBC Symphony Orchestra, Otto Tausk. Early 2015 I think.

I would not describe Gal as 'one of the most important composers and pianists of (his) time' as next week's COTW has been described, though he was both , and an eminent musicologist too. But this 48-minute symphony is to my mind a strong and original work which never puts a foot wrong and has no longeurs. I suppose its roots, a long way back are in Brahms and Bruckner, but there's more than a hint of Franz Schmidt, who Gal woud probably have known in Vienna before the Anschluss. There's also a celo concerto and some solo piano works, and he taught in Edinburgh for many years. Dea released a Festival recordoing of him and Clifford Curzon in the Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer with some fine singers including Kathleen Ferrier and Julius Patzak.