New releases

[Bryn]

I look forward to having a listen to those Diotima recordings.

Now, I hope I will be forgiven for drawing attention to this:



It's a double CD and contains three pieces:
life-form for cello and electronics (2012) 56'34"
nacht und träume for cello, piano and electronics (2007) 22'53"
Blattwerk for cello and electronics (2002) 30'51"
played by the amazing Arne Deforce, for whom all of this music was written, with Yutaka Oya on piano in the second piece, and the technical support of the Centre Henri Pousseur in Liège; recorded at the Bruges Concertgebouw mostly last year.

Though listed as an April release on the Aeon site, there is, as yet, no sign of it on any vendor site I can find, not even jcp.

[MickyD]

... the second volume of Christophe Rousset's Well Tempered Clavier (scil. 'Vol 1', 'cos he did Vol 2 earlier... ) is now out

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B7PALKU

Thanks for this, Vints...do you have Volume 2 already, and if so, what do you think? How does it compare to your other favourites?

[Beef Oven!]

Though listed as an April release on the Aeon site, there is, as yet, no sign of it on any vendor site I can find, not even jcp.

What about download?

I want hard copy, but if it's going to be difficult, it might be best to get a download first and get the CD later.

They'll need to get their finger out if it's going to be released, potentially in 12 days time.

P.S. What a great album cover.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It's a double CD and contains three pieces:
life-form for cello and electronics (2012) 56'34"
nacht und träume for cello, piano and electronics (2007) 22'53"
Blattwerk for cello and electronics (2002) 30'51"
played by the amazing Arne Deforce, for whom all of this music was written, with Yutaka Oya on piano in the second piece, and the technical support of the Centre Henri Pousseur in Liège; recorded at the Bruges Concertgebouw mostly last year.

This is an absolute "must-buy"! I have been looking forward to a recording of Blattwerk since the first UK performance in Huddersfield over thirteen years ago, during which two of Arne Deforce's 'cello strings broke - neither interrupting the performance. Not that the work needed such a sideshow: it is an astonishing and great achievement, and I remember the sheer elation I felt at its conclusion - a feeling that "shimmered" around me for weeks afterwards (and the hum of which I can feel now at the memory) - at forty-two, I was made to feel as optimistic and enthusiastic as I'd been at twenty. I felt that it marked the beginning of a new genre - making the traditional "Concerto" redundant (in the same way that Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles marked the end of the "large choral society-type Requiem") - and I haven't heard a 'cello Concerto written subsequently that comes near to the power, flexibility and compulsive invention of Blattwerke.

Apologies to RB in particular for "gushing", but the release of this CD marks the appearance of a recording I've waited over thirteen years for. And it'll be good to hear life-form for (I think) the first time - and nachte und traume, which I did hear at you-know-where about five years ago and was a bit disappointed by

[Bryn]

... the second volume of Christophe Rousset's Well Tempered Clavier (scil. 'Vol 1', 'cos he did Vol 2 earlier... ) is now out

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B7PALKU

What tuning regime does Rousset employ in each book/volume?

[MickyD]

What tuning regime does Rousset employ in each book/volume?

And is he using that wonderful Ruckers instrument in Colmar?

[vinteuil]

What tuning regime does Rousset employ in each book/volume?

The notes to vol 2 are irritatingly silent on this; my copy of vol 1 has not yet arrived here...

And is he using that wonderful Ruckers instrument in Colmar?

... not this time; here it is the 1628 Ruckers, with ravalement by Blanchet in 1706, at the château de Versailles.

[Richard Barrett]

Thanks for your kind words, fg - they mean a great deal.

nacht und träume, which I did hear at you-know-where about five years ago and was a bit disappointed by

Have patience, is what I would say. The performance you attended was problematic in several ways I won't bore everyone by listing.

I remember Blattwerk in Huddersfield most for being involved at the time with a struggle to cope with a slipped disc - taking twenty minutes to get my socks on in the hotel room that morning and being unable to bow after the performance! For me the studio recording is an enormous improvement on the 2002 tour from both technical and musical points of view, so I hope you still like it... The opening solo for example contains some of the most riveting cello-playing I've ever heard, regardless of repertoire.

Trivial fact you might enjoy: all Aeon releases of contemporary music feature cover photos by the same photographer, Dolorès Marat. Arne Deforce and I were given about half a dozen to choose from and decided quickly on the one you see here, feeling that the others were somewhat vague and impressionistic in comparison. I subsequently learned that this same image had been rejected by a certain Brian someone-or-other as a cover for his string quartets...

[kea]

I look forward to having a listen to those Diotima recordings.

Now, I hope I will be forgiven for drawing attention to this:



It's a double CD and contains three pieces:
life-form for cello and electronics (2012) 56'34"
nacht und träume for cello, piano and electronics (2007) 22'53"
Blattwerk for cello and electronics (2002) 30'51"
played by the amazing Arne Deforce, for whom all of this music was written, with Yutaka Oya on piano in the second piece, and the technical support of the Centre Henri Pousseur in Liège; recorded at the Bruges Concertgebouw mostly last year.

Great news—congratulations I suppose. I'll definitely be getting this.

(I think I remember hearing nacht und träume via 5:4, and enjoying it, but that would have been a couple of years ago)

The notes to vol 2 are irritatingly silent on this; my copy of vol 1 has not yet arrived here...

Notes to Vol 1 don't say, either.

[HighlandDougie]

Notes to Vol 1 don't say, either.

The Qobuz website, in the notes which accompany Volumes 1 and 2, states in the case of each volume that they were recorded, " ...avec le magnifique clavecin Ruckers du château de Versailles", unlike the Louis Couperin played by CR, also on the Aparté label, which was recorded on a Louis Denis 1658 instrument, loaned by François Badoud (who he?).

[vinteuil]

The Qobuz website, in the notes which accompany Volumes 1 and 2, states in the case of each volume that they were recorded, " ...avec le magnifique clavecin Ruckers du château de Versailles", unlike the Louis Couperin played by CR, also on the Aparté label, which was recorded on a Louis Denis 1658 instrument, loaned by François Badoud (who he?).

... perhaps :

http://www.la-vouivre.ch/hanneton/

http://www.fondationduclavecin.org/liens.html

[vinteuil]

the Louis Couperin played by Christophe Rousset ...

... the effects of ageing, so sad -

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0000007NT

.

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B003EN2SAK

[HighlandDougie]

... the effects of ageing, so sad -

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0000007NT

.
http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B003EN2SAK

Oh I don't know - he has matured rather well - still quite "looké", to use that rather awful modern French phrase (and his playing is still wonderful - I saw him a couple of summers ago in Menton: terrific). And, spot-on on the Louis Couperin instrument - immediately recognisable from CR's recording as the same one which one hears on the audio on the website.

[vinteuil]

Oh I don't know - he has matured rather well - still quite "looké", to use that rather awful modern French phrase (and his playing is still wonderful - I saw him a couple of summers ago in Menton: terrific). And, spot-on on the Louis Couperin instrument - immediately recognisable from CR's recording as the same one which one hears on the audio on the website.

... certainly nothing like the decline of that other interesting claveciniste, Jean-Patrice Brosse, whose Duphly vinyl discs (nla, and the CDs are not the same) were stupendous -

http://www.jeanpatrice-brosse.com/image/clermont-7.jpg

.

http://www.ouest-france.fr/sites/default/files/styles/image-640x360-p/public/2015/08/02/il-cloture-au-clavecin-le-festival-ornais.jpg?itok=kVXBx9IZ

.

http://www.ouest-france.fr/sites/default/files/styles/image-640x360/public/2015/08/02/jean-patrice-brosse-saint-hilaire-des-noyers.jpg?itok=aeqPNHDF

[HighlandDougie]

Oo-err - is that what a life dedicated to playing the organ leads to? Or maybe dedicated to sampling the local liquid produce?