Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

[french frank]

I presume FF knows the reason for Thropplenoggin's departure. There was a bit of unpleasantness on a recent thread on serial music which may have hastened his leave taking. Not sure what the views on privacy are here, but maybe an email to the effect that the views expressed on that thread are by no means representative of the forum as a whole might induce him to reconsider.

The decision, of course, was his and he was assured that he would be welcomed back any time he wished (I'm just not sure whether he read my PM as he'd already logged out - I left it for the best part of a day before I deleted his account in the hope he would see it). I was unaware of any 'unpleasantness'.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There was a bit of unpleasantness on a recent thread on serial music which may have hastened his leave taking.

I don't think so: Thropple's last post on that Thread (on 28th Feb) was to thank (with a "peacedove" emoticon) someone for their apology for any peceived unpleasantness of tone in their previous comment to him.

[Nick Armstrong]

Just catching up with this thread, starting with this interesting selection from a week ago (9th March):


10.20am

NIELSEN: Symphony No. 2 Op. 16 'The Four temperaments'; Symphony No. 3 Op. 27 'Sinfonia espansiva'
Lucy Hall (soprano), Marcus Farnsworth (baritone), London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis (conductor)
LSO LIVE LSO0722 (Hybrid SACD)


SUTER: Symphony in D minor
WEHRLI: Chilbizite
Aargau Symphony Orchestra, Douglas Bostock (conductor)
MUSIQUES SUISSE MGBCD6274 (CD)

https://www.musiques-suisses.ch

RACHMANINOV: The Isle of the Dead Op. 29; The Rock Op. 7; Symphonic Dances Op. 45
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton (conductor)
BIS BIS1751 (Hybrid SACD)


MADETOJA: Kullervo Op.15; Symphony No. 2 Op.35; Elegy Op. 4
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgards (conductor)
ONDINE ODE12122 (CD)


Kurt Atterberg Vol. 1
ATTERBERG: Symphony No. 6 in C major Op. 31 'Dollar Symphony'; En varmlandsrapsodi Op. 36; Suite No. 3 Op. 19 No. 1; Symphony No. 4 Op. 14 'Sinfonia piccola'
Sara Troback Hesselink (violin), Per Högberg (viola), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi (conductor)
CHANDOS CHSA5116 (Hybrid SACD)


I recorded this segment and have listened a few times during the week - some discoveries (sounds like an extract from suffolkcoastal's symphonic journey...)... above all the Atterberg 6th Symphony, a really ear-catching slow movement extract played, tempting me to find out more about this composer whose music I had never heard

[amateur51]

[COLOR="#0000FF"]

I recorded this segment and have listened a few times during the week - some discoveries (sounds like an extract from suffolkcoastal's symphonic journey...)... above all the Atterberg 6th Symphony, a really ear-catching slow movement extract played, tempting me to find out more about this composer whose music I had never heard

[Nick Armstrong]

And a great sequence of music this morning (16 March):

10.23am New Releases
Iain Burnside joins Andrew live in the studio to discuss new recordings from pianists including Howard Shelley, Maria-Joao Pires and Boris Giltburg

MENDELSSOHN: The Complete Solo Piano Music Vol,1
Capriccio in F# minor, Op.5
Piano sonata in E major, Op.6
Sieben Charakterstucke, Op.7
Lieder ohne Worte I, Op.19b
Howard Shelley (piano)
HYPERION CDA 67935 (CD)

SCHUBERT
Piano Sonata no.16 in A minor D 845; Piano Sonata no.21 in B flat major D 960
Maria Joao Pires (piano)
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 8107 (CD)

BEETHOVEN
Piano sonata no.8 in C minor, Op.13 ‘Pathetique’; Piano sonata no.14 in C# minor, Op.27 no.2 ‘Moonlight’; Piano sonata no.23 in F minor, Op.57 ‘Appassionata’
Yundi (piano)
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 476 5059 (CD)

LISZT: Transcriptions
Saint-Saens, Paganini, Schubert, Wagner
Liszt: Liebestraume no.3; Grand Galop chromatique
Niu Niu (piano)
EMI CLASSICS 725 332 2 (CD)

PROKOFIEV: The War sonatas 6-7-8
Piano sonata no.6 in A, Op.82
Piano sonata no.7 in B flat, Op.83
Piano sonata no.8 in B flat, Op.84
Denis Kuzhukin (piano)
ONYX 4111 (CD)

PROKOFIEV: War Sonatas
Piano sonata no.6 in A, Op.82
Piano sonata no.7 in B flat, Op.83
Piano sonata no.8 in B flat, Op.84
Boris Giltburg (piano)
ORCHID CLASSICS ORC 100023 (CD)

11.25am

J S BACH: Violin concertos, BWV.1041-1043, Concerto for three violins, BWV.1064R
Petra Mullejans (violin), Gottfried von der Goltz (violin), Anna Katharina Schreiber (violin), Freiburger Barockorchester
HARMONIA MUNDI HMC 902145 (CD)

STEFANO SCODANIBBIO – Re-inventions for string quartet (from Bach’s Art of Fugue and popular Mexican songs and Spanish guitar music)
Quartetto Prometeo
ECM NEW SERIES 476 4850 (CD)

HANDEL: Dixit Dominus, HWV.232
J S BACH: Magnificat, BWV.243
Christina Landshamer (soprano), Diana Haller (mezzo-soprano), Maarten Engeltjes (counter tenor), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Konstantin Wolff (bass-baritone), Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Concerto Koln, Peter Dijkstra (conductor)
BR KLASSIK 900504 (CD)

11.44am Disc of the Week

J S BACH: The English Suites BWV.806-811
Richard Egarr (harpsichord - Katzman - Amsterdam 1991, after Ruckers - Antwerp, 1638)
HARMONIA MUNDI HMU 907591.92 (2CD)

I enjoyed the piano music segment above all - especially the Shelley, Pires and Giltburg discs I must track down the Schumann song from Liederkreis quoted in the Prokofiev 7th Sonata - I had no idea that the ear-catching romantic melody that one remembers from the piece was drawn from Schumann.

Interesting to hear the Infant Phenomenon Niu-Niu .... and agree with everything Ian Burnside said about his recording...

When the team had their techo-shocker and played the opening of the 'Magnificat' simultaneously with Egarr's English Suites it says something for one's acceptance that any old rubbish might be recorded, that I assumed it was some sort of post-modern 'rendering' - one of Mr Scodanibbio's 'Re-inventions' perhaps...

[Sir Velo]

Interesting to hear the Infant Phenomenon Niu-Niu .... and agree with everything Ian Burnside said about his recording...

Looks just up your street Caliban....

[Nick Armstrong]

Looks just up your street Caliban....

... the name of the street being Nightmare Alley, you mean?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Listening on Freesat, I notice the radio text which reads: "Coming up: Andrew with some new baroque vocal discs".
I know to whom they are referring, but it's all rather like an unsolicited phone call ("Hi, I'm Sarah...)

Andrew McGregor is a man who deserves respect, but I'm not his mate.

[Thropplenoggin]

BRAHMS: Symphony no.1 in C minor, Op.68; Liebeslieder-Walzer from Op.52 & Op.65 (orch Brahms) ; Hungarian Dances no.1, 3 & 10 (orch Brahms)
Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard (conductor)
BIS-1756 (Hybrid SACD)


BEETHOVEN: String quartet in F major, Op.18 no.1; Fugue in D major, Op.137; Quintet in C major, Op.29
Delian Quartett, Gerard Causse (viola)
OEHMS CLASSICS OC 796 (CD)


Con Intimissimo Sentimento
BEETHOVEN: String quartet in B flat major, Op.188 no.6 in B flat major; String quartet in A minor, Op.132
Quatuor Terpsycordes
AMBRONAY AMY037 (CD)

The Dausgaard Brahms sounded very appealing. I know Brahms has been given the Chamber Orchestra treatment before - Berglund, I believe, which I recall JLW admiring.

Alas, I missed the bit on the Delian::Quartett [sic]. What was the verdict?

As for the excerpt on the Terpsycordes, I tended to agree with them. It also sounded like it had been recorded in a massive cave. Very distant, I thought. A shame because, on paper, a period-performance of Beethoven's SQs appeals to me. I still live in hope that Quatuor Mosaïques will record more.

p.s. My money's on either Calibosh or Vinteuil being the one to write in and correct their appalling pronunciation of 'Augustin Dumay' by McGregor and Smith. It can't have been Rob Cowan, that's for sure.

EDIT:

I've been listening to Delian::Quartett's [sic] Haydn op.76 No. 4 'Sunrise' on Qobuz. It is utterly mesmerising playing. Exquisite balance, nuance, dynamics, tone. Judicious vibrato. Lovely. This is the disc.

[Nick Armstrong]

p.s. My money's on either Calibosh or Vinteuil being the one to write in and correct their appalling pronunciation of 'Augustin Dumay' by McGregor and Smith. It can't have been Rob Cowan, that's for sure.

Pas coupable !

Haven't heard the first half-hour of CDR yet nor the chamber music segment - recorded on the bedside SD card for a Sunday lie-in

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Steven Osborne: Pictures from an Exhibition

I was very excited (for once!) by the chosen "Disc of the Week". For years, Richter's Live recording of Mussorgsky's piano masterpiece has been my favourite CD of the work, but spoilt by the noisy audience. I also much admire aspects of Brendel's recording, but that is ruined by the pianist's rewriting of passages he found difficult to play! What I heard on Saturday suggests that at last we have a recording of the work that is both astonishingly well played and beautifully recorded. For years I've been saying that the best "orchestration" of these pieces were those by the composer himself - in this original piano version. Osborne's recording demonstrates this conclusively, I thought.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Bach: St John Passion

If neither got me reaching for my debit card, these two new recordings both struck me as excellent. If Layton had used Butt's choir of soloists, I rather think I would have bought it by now: I know Andrew wanted us to think that Butt's was the better, but I thought Layton's reading beat his at almost every point (including the two recorders that AMcG thought weren't as well in tune with each other as Butt's).

[ostuni]

Flutes, not recorders!! (Mind you, AMcG is only a violinist, so I wouldn't expect him to know the difference ) Both pairs were pretty well in tune, I thought - but (much as I enjoy Carolyn Sampson as a soprano) I thought Joanne Lunn was especially lovely on the Butt version. I would have liked to have heard a bit more from both evangelists - but the standout evangelist at the moment for me is James Gilchrist, who is recording the piece this month with AAM. I've played in three SJPs in the last few weeks, and his evangelist was the most memorable ingredient of any of them - absolutely wonderful.

[Nick Armstrong]

Great selection of works covered in CD Review yesterday - Handel, Argerich et al in Lugano, Mozart Piano Concertos and Bach. Haven't yet listened to the Concertos segment yet, but there is also one in the Argerich box and it sounded an absolute treat (last movement of No 25 was played by AMcG)

One question - after the very first piece in the whole programme, the performance of the Handel 'Water Music' Bourrée, AMcG made a comment which I just can't decipher:

"Pity about the [?????????] that's made its way onto the recording".... it's about 6'20" into the iPlayer programme. It sounds like "main sum"....

Whatever can he be saying??? Can anyone tell me?

[amateur51]

Great selection of works covered in CD Review yesterday - Handel, Argerich et al in Lugano, Mozart Piano Concertos and Bach. Haven't yet listened to the Concertos segment yet, but there is also one in the Argerich box and it sounded an absolute treat (last movement of No 25 was played by AMcG)

One question - after the very first piece in the whole programme, the performance of the Handel 'Water Music' Bourrée, AMcG made a comment which I just can't decipher:

"Pity about the [?????????] that's made it's way onto the recording".... it's about 6'20" into the iPlayer programme. It sounds like "main sum"....

Whatever can he be saying??? Can anyone tell me?

"mains hum" peut-etre?