What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[Stanfordian]

Gaetano Donizetti
‘Elvida’, Melodramma in one act.
Amur, head of a tribe of Moors, Pietro Spagnoli (bass); Zeidar, his son, Jennifer Larmore (mezzo-soprano); Elvida, a noble Castilian maiden, Annick Massis (soprano); Alfonso, a Castilian prince, Bruce Ford (tenor); Zulma, Amur’s slave, Anne-Marie Gibbons (mezzo-soprano); Ramiro, an officer of Alfonso, Ashley Catling (tenor)
Geoffrey Mitchell Choir,
LPO / Antonello Allemandi
Recorded 2004, Henry Wood Hall, London
Opera Rara, 1 CD

[Barbirollians]

Elgar Violin Concerto - Frang/Ticciati . I don’t resolve from my admiration of this recording especially Vilde Frang’s playing but in my mind’s ear the accompaniment doesn’t quite have the passion of the live account I heard her give with the CBSO and Mirga.

[Stanfordian]

Handel – ‘Enchantresses’ – Sandrine Piau
Arias from Lotario, Rinaldo, Giulio Cesare, Amadigi di Gaula, Alcina & Lucrezia
Sandrine Piau (soprano),
Les Paladins / Jérôme Correas (direction)
Recorded 2020 Théâtre de Poissy, France
Alpha, CD

Hans Werner Henze
Symphony No. 3 for large orchestra (1949/50)
Symphony No. 4 for large orchestra (1955)
Symphony No. 5 for large orchestra (1962)
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Marek Janowski
Recorded 2010 Rundfunk, Berlin-Brandenburg, Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin
Wergo, CD

[AuntDaisy]

Beethoven The Late String Quartets, Alban Berg Quatett - op 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135.

[pastoralguy]

J.S. Bach. The ‘cello Suites.

Anner Bylsma playing the ‘Servais’ Stradivarius Violincello from the collection of the Smithsonian Collection. Recorded January 1992.

I have many recordings of these fascinating works but this one has eluded me. Very fine playing indeed although I’ve yet to find a duff recording of these works. A £1.00 charity shop find!

[Barbirollians]

J.S. Bach. The ‘cello Suites.

Anner Bylsma playing the ‘Servais’ Stradivarius Violincello from the collection of the Smithsonian Collection. Recorded January 1992.

I have many recordings of these fascinating works but this one has eluded me. Very fine playing indeed although I’ve yet to find a duff recording of these works. A £1.00 charity shop find!

Fab record - meanwhile here it’s Martzy/Philharmonia/Kletzki in the Brahms Concerto .

[smittims]

Arnold Cooke: Concerto for small orchestra. The London Studio Players, Christopher Adey.

Helmut Lachenmann: Tableau. The Berlin Philharmonic orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle.

Different composers, different musicians. Both equally enjoyable. Lovely stuff.

[Stanfordian]

Béla Bartók
Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 2
Renaud Capuçon (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra / François-Xavier Roth
Recorded 2017 Jerwood Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, UBS & LSO Music Education Centre, London
Erato, CD

Michael Volle – ‘A Portrait’
Baritone arias from Handel, Mozart, Schubert, Wagner, Verdi, Millöcker & Lehár
Michael Volle (baritone)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Ralf Weikert
Recorded 2012 Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich
BR Klassik, CD

[pastoralguy]

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

Teiko Maehashi, violin. The Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.

A violinist I’ve not heard of before. A very fine player with a lovely sound. This seems to be one of these discs that’s made for the Asian market. The notes are all in, I think, Japanese and seems to be a CBS/SONY affair. I had a Quick Look on Amazon and eBay and her CDs are available albeit very expensive.

This was a £1.00 charity shop find.

[DoctorT]

Vaughan Williams
Symphony no. 9
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
A recent Gramophone Collection recommendation

[Hitch]

Telemann
"Ouvertures à 8" for 3 Oboes, Bassoon, Strings and Basso Continuo, TWV55 (D15, d3, B10)
Zefiro Baroque Orchestra/Bernardini
Arcana

Lovely stuff. This could start a Telemann addiction. I might have to explore more of Arcana's output because their engineers have worked some magic here.

[smittims]

Beethoven : Symphony no. 3 in E flat, op. 55 'Eroica'. The Berlin Philharmonic orchestra, Herbert von Karajan. Philharmonie, January 1984.

Herbert re-recorded so many works so many times that it's easy to lose track of individual ones, but I do think this an outstanding Eroica. Interestingly, Claudio Abbado's 'Italian' recordig with the same orchestra, seventeen years later, is only three seconds different in time, though he takes the first movement exposition repeat which Herbert, I think, never did.

[gurnemanz]

Sometimes Spotify's Songs Recommended For You playlist does get it just right. They have just included the sadly recently deceased Jodie Devos in Gurney's Sleep, as well as Véronique Gens in Chausson, Margaret Price Schumann, Hermann Prey in Hugo Wolf, Schubert Nachthelle among other delights.

[silvestrione]

Handel – ‘Enchantresses’ – Sandrine Piau
Arias from Lotario, Rinaldo, Giulio Cesare, Amadigi di Gaula, Alcina & Lucrezia
Sandrine Piau (soprano),
Les Paladins / Jérôme Correas (direction)
Recorded 2020 Théâtre de Poissy, France
Alpha, CD

Hans Werner Henze
Symphony No. 3 for large orchestra (1949/50)
Symphony No. 4 for large orchestra (1955)
Symphony No. 5 for large orchestra (1962)
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Marek Janowski
Recorded 2010 Rundfunk, Berlin-Brandenburg, Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin
Wergo, CD

I Like all those Henze symphonies, except the 9th, which I heard in a Prom, and which over-reaches itself perhaps. Did you enjoy them?

[smittims]

I still have the DG Lps with Henze conducting the Berkin Phil. Remarkably original music.