Records of the Year 2021

[edashtav]

One from Jayne Lee Wilson’s Cornucopia:

Petrassi: Monologhi. Various Soloists. Tactus.

[Parry1912]

Schmidt: Complete Symphonies (Paavo Jarvi)

Brian: Faust (Martyn Brabbins)

[silvestrione]

I have a Kit Armstrong Blu Ray featuring Vaiation works by Byrd and Bull paired with the Goldberg Variations. Is that the same recording?

I think that's a live recording? With just a couple of pieces by Bull? I don't have it. The 2CD version is studio, and wide-ranging, and often just spell-binding. I prefer a 17th century kind of instrument in this music really, but nevertheless he does illuminate the music in all sorts of ways, particularly when using the modern piano's ability to bring out different elements in the texture. He needs to let his playing do the talking however: some of the accompanying prose is cringe-making.

[Jonathan]

I'll have to give this some thought...

[cloughie]

Anna Lapwood - Organ, Ely Cathedral - Images which includes transcription of Britten’s Sea Interludes fro P Grimes.

[silvestrione]

Igor Levitt On DSCH
Kit Armstrong 2CD set of Byrd and Bull DG
Sueye Park violin, Journey Through a Century, Bis.

Oh dear, dear, of course my list should have started with

Benjamin Grosvenor Liszt on Decca

and should have included

Sonatas for Three Violins Ensemble Diderot WDR

[Barbirollians]

All the years seem to merge into one as far as records are concerned .

Mozart and contemporaries - Olafsson magical record
Britten VC - Holmes/Barbirolli
Elgar in Moscow ,Sibelius VC - du Pre /Campoli/Barbirolli
Mozart Concert arias - Lisette Oropesa
Buxtehude Trio Sonatas Arcangelo


New to me

Brahms 2 Horenstein
Massenet Esclarmonde - Sutherland/Bonynge
Haitink's Concertgebouw Brahms symphonies
Tchaikovsky PC 1 Wild/Fistoulari
Chopin PC 2 Cherkassky. RPO/Kempe
Reiner's Richard Strauss recordings
Haydn Stabat Mater ECO/Pinnock

[Alison]

Mozart: Violin Concertos 3-4
Francesca Dego/SNO/Norrington

Schubert: Impromptus
Alexandre Tharaud

Stephen Hough: La Vida Breve

New Year Concert: VPO/Muti

Happy to endorse Jaynes 3 Bruckner selections and Cloughmeister’s Anna Lapwood recital.

[jayne lee wilson]

Oh dear, dear, of course my list should have started with

Benjamin Grosvenor Liszt on Decca

and should have included

Sonatas for Three Violins Ensemble Diderot WDR

I do love the Ensemble Diderot, so very adventurous in their Baroque Anthologies. I had this very disc playing sotto voce as an aubade this morning, easing my heart & soul into their challenging day...

[Barbirollians]

Oh dear, dear, of course my list should have started with

Benjamin Grosvenor Liszt on Decca

and should have included

Sonatas for Three Violins Ensemble Diderot WDR

That Liszt recital is magnificent - probably my favourite performance now of the sonata.

[Joseph K]

That Liszt recital is magnificent - probably my favourite performance now of the sonata.

It looks tempting. I would download it except the B minor sonata is broken up, so I wouldn't be able to listen seamlessly - will get the CD some time soon.

[Bryn]

It looks tempting. I would download it except the B minor sonata is broken up, so I wouldn't be able to listen seamlessly - will get the CD some time soon.

I'm having difficulty grasping what you mean by "broken up, so I wouldn't be able to listen seamlessly". Do you not have access to a basic audio editor such as Audacity? Just copy and paste the four movements together. That said, some players have no problem playing FLACs, etc. seamlessly. Then there are those CD players which, contrary to the Philips/Sony spec., do not support gapless playback.

[gurnemanz]

A couple of interesting new song discs:

The ever intriguing and beguiling Anna Prohaska with her Paradise Lost with Julius Drake, in an eclectic recital on Alpha. Cheating a little because it was issued last year but Gramophone Award shortlisted and acquired by me in 2021.

Joachim Raff: Lieder - another very worthwhile song discovery for me on 2CDs and a chance to get to know five new young singers. (MusicWeb review)

[Joseph K]

I'm having difficulty grasping what you mean by "broken up, so I wouldn't be able to listen seamlessly". Do you not have access to a basic audio editor such as Audacity?

What I mean is that if something appears as a separate file in a download, I have to then click on that other file to make the music continue. All my attempts to make a playlist on Groove Music (which is what a file plays from on my computer) have failed and I opened a thread some time back on this topic but IIRC, no one replied.

I haven't investigated it on my laptop, but I am not aware of having any such basic audio editor. My hifi plays CDs seamlessly (if indeed that is now it appears on the CD) no problem.

[Cockney Sparrow]

What I mean is that if something appears as a separate file in a download, I have to then click on that other file to make the music continue. All my attempts to make a playlist on Groove Music (which is what a file plays from on my computer) have failed and I opened a thread some time back on this topic but IIRC, no one replied.

I haven't investigated it on my laptop, but I am not aware of having any such basic audio editor. My hifi plays CDs seamlessly (if indeed that is now it appears on the CD) no problem.

If you go to the Microsoft Store, you'll find VLC media player - although I haven't used it myself to any great degree its a standard recommendation for a media player capable of playing many formats - so it should provide what you need and there must be plenty of help availablle if you hit a problem.

You probably know you can change the default "app" (as Microsoft calls programs these days) for playing FLAC or mp3 files.