What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[audioguy3107]

Qobuz 24/96

[eljr]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

Qobuz 24/96

excellent, listened to it the other day

[bart]

Mozart - The Complete Piano Sonatas
Ronald Brautigam, fortepiano
via Qobuz




I prefer those pieces on the fortepiano, although a Steinway also does justice to Wolfie.
All 6 ½ hours playing gently into the waiting room...

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Ludwig Van Beethoven - Violin Concerto & Romances
Liza Ferschtman, violin
The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Jan Willem de Vriend



Very good interpretation of this lovely violin concerto.
Ferschtman is subtle but powerful at the same time.
The orchestra does a superb job.
The recording is crystal clear.
Highly recommended.

Listening to this wonderful recording in the Beethoven year.

We've just heard Liza Ferschtman live in the Chamber Music Hall in Brugge.
Works from Bartók, Enescu and Brahms.
Sitting less than 3 meters from her and her piano quartet, we were fully immersed in the music.
She's a very skilled and enthusiastic musician!

[bart]

I posted this before.
One of my "deserted island records".

When I listen to this, my whole self is taken back to that fantastic night in Bruges, where this pianist played quite some of these works.
Every time again, I am deeply touched by them.
Long term effects of live concerts, they do exist.
What a great hobby we have...

From SACD-net:

I don't have time for an extensive piece by piece review, but suffice it to say that this recording contains beautiful playing captured in beautiful sound. El Bach's name is new to me, but he has quite an impressive background and has won prestigious competitions.

My test piece by Ravel is "Gaspard de la Nuit." Compared to Ivo Pogorelich, El Bacha does not so consciously/overtly "interpret" the music. He very elegantly (and dramatically when called for) presents the composer's music with stunning accuracy--this piece certainly seems not to hold any technical terrors for him. Pogorelich's "Scarbo" may scamper around a bit more menacingly at times, but El Bacha's still contains plenty of impact and is played with very musical phrasing. He's not from the daredevil "look ma no hands" school where the bravura obscures the music. This is not to say he doesn't add his own interpretive touches; it's just that he seems to want to present the music first rather than showing off his chops, of which he has plenty.

The sound is crystal clear with a medium distance perspective: the mics are not under the lid, nor are they in the rear of the hall. I'd say it's similar to Silverman's Mozart Sonatas on IsoMike--perhaps a bit brighter. The rear channels contain ambient information and virtually no direct sound.

So, if you place musical clarity and structure over throat-grabbing displays of prestidigitation, then this set might just be for you.


It's already too late, but I can't shut the system down.
I'm addicted to these pieces.
Listening in 5.0.

[eljr]

[bart]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

Qobuz 24/96

Buck, also streaming it.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason seems like a very promising new talent!

[bart]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Clara Schumann - Romance
Isata Kanneh-Mason, Piano
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Holly Mathieson conducting
Decca (2019), via Qobuz

This recording covers some ground, with Schumann’s piano concerto, romances for violin and for violin and piano, transcriptions of Robert’s songs, a sonata, and so on. It’s all very nicely played, with good sound, and very enjoyable music.

Staying with the Kanneh-Mason family.

The Kanneh-Mason family has a website covering all seven siblings, plus a piano trio, who are active musically. Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has gotten the headlines with his appearance at the Prince Harry-Meghan Markle wedding, but now comes older sister Isata Kanneh-Mason, elegant indeed in an off-the-shoulder African dress. She deserves credit for choosing an off-the-beaten-path program for her debut: a recital of Clara Schumann's piano music. These pieces are played more often than they used to be, but most of them, especially the concluding Piano Sonata in G minor that was not published until 1991, still qualify as novel. Kanneh-Mason takes the works chronologically, which has the virtue of showing Schumann's compositional development but the disadvantage of leading with the weakest suit, the Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7, which the composer wrote in her teens. It's a precocious and at times clever work, but it is no match for Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, and the performance with Holly Mathieson leading the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is straightforward but no more. Things improve as Kanneh-Mason traverses two sets of Romances, a Scherzo, and two arrangements of music by Robert Schumann. The best is saved for last with the Piano Sonata in G minor. Clara Schumann modestly titled this work a Sonatine and gave it to her husband as a Christmas present. The latter should not disqualify it from consideration in the least, and the Sonatine title was given when the work had only two movements; Schumann returned to the work twice and ended up with a substantial four-movement work that is more sonata than sonatina. Sample its muscular Scherzo, which also shows Kanneh-Mason developing some lively power. She's definitely a pianist to watch, and this is a worthwhile addition to the Clara Schumann discography.

[ehoove]

Some Saturday R2R Tape:
Symphony No. 9
Beethoven
London Symphony Orchestra
Leopold Stokowski Conducting
A wonderful piece of 7.5ips tape!
London Phase 4 L-75043
Regards,
Jim

[ehoove]

R2R tape Saturday:
Symphony No.3 in Eflat Major
Eroica
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Sir George Solti Conducting
Fabulous!
London IRI 6631 7.5ips
Regards,
Jim