What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[gurnemanz]

Just finished listening, so just off topic. Highly recommended for those not alergic to Schuvbert's music being played on the sort of instrument he was familiar with.

Thanks so much for pointing to this which had passed me by and really hits a vein of enthusiasm for me. I've just listened to D958 on Spotify and will get round to the rest. I went to his website out of curiosity. What a lot of really interesting-looking recordings, some of which I will certainly follow up. Eg Schwanegesang and Schöne Müllerin with Markus Schäfer, music from the time of the Völkerschlacht, Leipzig (my wife's home town and we might have seen that instrument in the Music Instrument Museum), and a Schubertiade.

Rambling on a bit at a tangent: apropos Schubertiade, one of my favourite acquisitions of last year was Jos van Immerseel's 4CD set with Anima Eterna (on offer here) on which he plays an 1826 Graf from Antwerp.

Also, of course, Paul Badura-Skoda's remarkable complete Schubert sonatas, a very recommendable box from outhhere Music. A real labour of love with copious notes where he plays 5 different Viennese fortepianos from Schubert's time or a little later from his own personal collection.

[Stanfordian]

Véronique Gens – ‘Nuits’
Mélodies from Berlioz, Chausson, Fauré, Hahn, La Tombelle,
Lekeu, Liszt, Louiguy, Massenet, Messager, Ropartz, Saint-Saëns & Widor
(transcriptions for string quartet & piano by Alexandre Dratwicki)
Véronique Gens (soprano)
I Giardini
Recorded 2019 Salle Philharmonique de Liège, Belgium
Alpha Classics - recent release

Arabella Steinbacher – ‘Fantasies, Rhapsodies and Daydreams’
Saint-Saëns
Havanaise for violin and orchestra, Op. 83
Introduction et Rondo capriccioso for violin and orchestra, Op. 28
Massenet
Médiation from 'Thaïs' for violin and orchestra
Ravel
Tzigane for violin and orchestra
Waxman
Carmen Fantasie for violin and orchestra
Sarasate
Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) for violin and orchestra
Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending romance for violin and orchestra
(1914, orchestrated 1920)
Arabella Steinbacher (violin)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo / Lawrence Foster
Recorded 2014 Salle Yakov Kreizberg of the Auditorium Rainier III, Monte Carlo
Pentatone (SACD)

[Bryn]

I highly recommend this one, too...

Yes. I don't exactly go short on recordings of the late three played on historical instruments. The Staier with D 960 can be hard to find. I recall Richard Barrett singing its praises here. Vermeulen is also well worth hearing in this repertoire. Then there's Paul Badura-Skoda. I got those as they came out, mainly as double CD albums. It's much cheaper to get them as a boxed set, these days. Getting back to the Koch. Listening again in the context of 958, 959 and 960 played a single work, the slower tempo and 'mannerisms' did not come across as off-putting as they did when I first listened to D. 960 alone. Much as I still recommend hearing Koch's recordings, I would not do so as the sole 'library' HIPP performance of the B flat sonata. For that, the Staier remains my first choice. It is long overdue a reissue.

[cloughie]

Véronique Gens – ‘Nuits’
Mélodies from Berlioz, Chausson, Fauré, Hahn, La Tombelle,
Lekeu, Liszt, Louiguy, Massenet, Messager, Ropartz, Saint-Saëns & Widor
(transcriptions for string quartet & piano by Alexandre Dratwicki)
Véronique Gens (soprano)
I Giardini
Recorded 2019 Salle Philharmonique de Liège, Belgium
Alpha Classics - recent release

Arabella Steinbacher – ‘Fantasies, Rhapsodies and Daydreams’
Saint-Saëns
Havanaise for violin and orchestra, Op. 83
Introduction et Rondo capriccioso for violin and orchestra, Op. 28
Massenet
Médiation from 'Thaïs' for violin and orchestra
Ravel
Tzigane for violin and orchestra
Waxman
Carmen Fantasie for violin and orchestra
Sarasate
Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) for violin and orchestra
Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending romance for violin and orchestra
(1914, orchestrated 1920)
Arabella Steinbacher (violin)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo / Lawrence Foster
Recorded 2014 Salle Yakov Kreizberg of the Auditorium Rainier III, Monte Carlo
Pentatone (SACD)

Love Veronique Gens voice!

[gurnemanz]

Love Veronique Gens voice!

So do I ... such that a couple of years ago I trekked off from deepest Wiltshire on a little day trip to the smoke for a Wigmore lunchtime recital - this one . Worth the effort,

[jayne lee wilson]

Thanks so much for pointing to this which had passed me by and really hits a vein of enthusiasm for me. I've just listened to D958 on Spotify and will get round to the rest. I went to his website out of curiosity. What a lot of really interesting-looking recordings, some of which I will certainly follow up. Eg Schwanegesang and Schöne Müllerin with Markus Schäfer, music from the time of the Völkerschlacht, Leipzig (my wife's home town and we might have seen that instrument in the Music Instrument Museum), and a Schubertiade.

Rambling on a bit at a tangent: apropos Schubertiade, one of my favourite acquisitions of last year was Jos van Immerseel's 4CD set with Anima Eterna (on offer here) on which he plays an 1826 Graf from Antwerp.

Also, of course, Paul Badura-Skoda's remarkable complete Schubert sonatas, a very recommendable box from outhhere Music. A real labour of love with copious notes where he plays 5 different Viennese fortepianos from Schubert's time or a little later from his own personal collection.

See #13009 above and

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?22616-Records-of-the-year-2020

These are outstanding....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/schumann-r-violin-and-piano-music-complete-landgraf-koch-robert-schumann-johannes-brahms-albert-dietrich/4260036250435

(Koch - pianist here)

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/trios-pour-piano-felix-mendelssohn/4260052380598

[vinteuil]

Yes. I don't exactly go short on recordings of the late three played on historical instruments. The Staier with D 960 can be hard to find. I recall Richard Barrett singing its praises here. Vermeulen is also well worth hearing in this repertoire. Then there's Paul Badura-Skoda. I got those as they came out, mainly as double CD albums. It's much cheaper to get them as a boxed set, these days. Getting back to the Koch. Listening again in the context of 958, 959 and 960 played a single work, the slower tempo and 'mannerisms' did not come across as off-putting as they did when I first listened to D. 960 alone. Much as I still recommend hearing Koch's recordings, I would not do so as the sole 'library' HIPP performance of the B flat sonata. For that, the Staier remains my first choice. It is long overdue a reissue.

... interesting that you find Vermeulen so rewarding here - I find his Schubert on etcetera very thin gruel indeed.

I much prefer Bilson on hungaroton.

But yes, the Staier is my 'go to' for Schubert - and I still have a soft spot for the Badura-Skoda.


.

[gurnemanz]

See #13009 above and

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?22616-Records-of-the-year-2020

These are outstanding....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/schumann-r-violin-and-piano-music-complete-landgraf-koch-robert-schumann-johannes-brahms-albert-dietrich/4260036250435

(Koch - pianist here)

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/tr.../4260052380598

Thanks for those tips

[Bryn]

... interesting that you find Vermeulen so rewarding here - I find his Schubert on etcetera very thin gruel indeed.

I much prefer Bilson on hungaraton.

But yes, the Staier is my 'go to' for Schubert - and I still have a soft spot for the Badura-Skoda.

The Bilson had passed me by. Good to see it's on QOBUZ.

[kea]

Just finished listening, so just off topic. Highly recommended for those not alergic to Schuvbert's music being played on the sort of instrument he was familiar with.

I know & like almost every recording of Schubert on historical pianos, but not this one, so far. The tempi in all the outer movements (most notably 958/i, 959/i, 960/i and iv) are much more of a distortion of the composer's intentions than a performance on a modern piano would be, and I see no possible justification for them. Of course my preferred Schubert interpreter is Schnabel so I would be the kind of person to say that I guess.

(As far as we know about tempo practice in early 19th century Vienna, an appropriate tempo for e.g. 959/i would be about crotchet = 152, so the movement should last around 13 minutes with the repeat; for 960/i, assuming a "Molto moderato" alla breve* to be slower than an Allegretto [69-88] but quicker than an Andante [50-58], a minim pulse of 60 to 63, so the movement should last 16-17 (!) minutes with the repeat; 960/iv should be around crotchet = 120 to 132, so anywhere from 8-9 minutes, etc.)

I complain about tempo constantly because tempo and character are inseparable. Playing the Molto moderato from 960/i too slowly turns it into a dirge. It seems like something pianists only do to make the music seem more profound, which it's not meant to be; they've been listening to too much Winterreise.

But obviously, everyone likes what they like, and has reasons for it, and I probably shouldn't devote myself so much to the idea that there is a correct way to interpret any piece of music, especially these days when in most other respects aesthetic relativism is a much more defensible ideology than aesthetic absolutism.

* I've seen the argument that "Molto moderato" should always be read as "Allegro molto moderato" but given that the music is clearly in two, even if Schubert forgot to put the cross through the time signature, this doesn't make sense in context. An Allegro molto moderato in alla breve time would be just faster than an Allegretto—something like minim = 90 to 100—at which speed the passages in semiquavers would be nearly unplayable. And Schubert was perfectly capable of writing "Allegro molto moderato" when he wanted it (e.g. in D887/i which indeed can most effectively be taken at 90-100 to the crotchet).

[BBMmk2]

What a disappointment that perfromacne was, after the superb one he recorded for Erato/CBS (or Warner/Sony in today's money). Do seek out that earlier recording if you can. It's much much more in the spirit of Messiaen. With the Clevelanders he just presses on regardless of Messiaen's instructions regarding hearing out the decay of the tam-tam strokes, for instance.

Really, I find this one really good.


Conductors & Orchestras Claudio Abbado Chicago Symphony Orchestra
CD 5
Mahler
Symphony No.5 in C# minor
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Claudio Abbado

[Suffolkcoastal]

Score following - Days 224-227

Mendelssohn:
Elijah op70
Violin Concerto in E minor op64
Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream op21
Hebrides Overture op26
Overture to Ruy Blas op95
Symphony No 2 in B flat major 'Lobgesang' op52
Symphony No 3 in A minor 'Scottish' op56
Symphony No 4 in A major op90 'Italian'
Symphony No 5 in D minor op107 'Reformation'

[Richard Barrett]

What a disappointment that perfromacne was, after the superb one he recorded for Erato/CBS (or Warner/Sony in today's money). Do seek out that earlier recording if you can. It's much much more in the spirit of Messiaen. With the Clevelanders he just presses on regardless of Messiaen's instructions regarding hearing out the decay of the tam-tam strokes, for instance.

Gosh yes, the Cleveland recording is so smooth and lifeless in comparison. These days I favour Cambreling however.

[Bryn]

Gosh yes, the Cleveland recording is so smooth and lifeless in comparison. These days I favour Cambreling however.

I first heard Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum in a Third Programme concert broadcast with members of the BBCSO conducted by Antal Dorati. I was smitten. As soon as I read of the forthcoming release of a recording with Boulez at the helm I placed an order. This was the CBS branded LP release. That has possibly coloured my affection for it. In that performance, Boulez more closely observed Messiaen's instruction "jusqu'a l'extinction du son" re the isolated triple tam-tam strokes. Can anyone here recall when it was that a Prom performance of the work was hit by a cloudburst beating down loudly on the RAH roof? I might give the Cambrelling a spin. Am I right in thinking it's the only work by Messiaen recorded by Haitink?

[jayne lee wilson]

Dimensional Explorations.........


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Ensemble Recherche
Released on 23/10/2020 by Winter & Winter
QOBUZ 24/96

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/mason-zwischen-den-sternen-ensemble-recherche/ujekgoxv5nbsb