What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[PHC1]

[bart]

W.A. Mozart - Flute Quartets
Barthold, Sigiswald, Wieland Kuijken, Lucy van Dael
via Qobuz




Nice music into the practice...

[Antonmb]

Tchaikovsky: The Seasons
Pavel Kolesnikov (piano)
Hyperion (2014), 24/96 files

Kolesnikov is a very talented young pianist, this is lovely music and playing. This was recorded at the 550 seat concert hall on Wyastone Estate, and the sound is present and intimate, with nice hall sound. I couldn’t find this on Qobuz, but it’s well worth the $14 for the hi res download on Presto, or $12 for the cd if you still have a thing for shiney plastic[emoji41]

[Antonmb]

Bach: Goldberg Variations
Pavel Kolesnikov, piano
Hyperion (2020), 24/192 files

Here’s another excellent recording from Kolesnikov. So far he has not been known as a Bach pianist, but on his first Bach recording, he does quite an impressive job with the Goldberg variations. Perhaps not Glenn Gould, but this is top tier. Available as download or shiny plastic from Presto. The 24/192 files have impressive dynamic range.

[Antonmb]

The Schumann Collection, Vol. 1
Nicolas van Poucke, piano
Trptk (2020), via Qobuz

Probably not the definitive Carnaval (my vote goes to Freire or Rubinstein) but very good performance, and of course the Trptk sound is excellent.

[bart]

Alessandro Stradella - Il Trespolo tutore
Mare Nostrum, Andrea De Carlo
Qobuz 24/88.2




We had listened to another Stradella release recently, but do not consider ourselves diehard Stradella fans yet.
This album, over 2 ½ hours long is for diehard Stradellanians.

[bart]

We then listened to this:

Brooklyn Rider - A Walking Fire
Qobuz 24/96




I love their work with Glass compositions, but this was a bit hard to digest.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Marin Marais - Le Secret de Monsieur Marais
Il Suonar Parlante Orchestra, Vittorio Ghielmi
Luca Pianca, archlute & theorbo
Qobuz 24/96




If you're not familiar with Marin Marais, then this could be the ideal introduction to his music.
If you have listened to other Marais albums, you will recognise most pieces. And you will find them well played. But you will also hear some world premiere recordings.


Between 1680 and 1728, Marin Marais brought the 'pièce de viole' to the peak of perfection. An ‘unremitting’ teacher, he was also the publisher of his own music and invented special signs to notate certain ornaments for the viol. In the course of his research at the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Italian gambist Vittorio Ghielmi studied these manuscript codes, in the hand of Marais himself or his direct students. ‘This led me to a new vision of French Baroque music, which applies not only to the viola da gamba, but also to vocal and orchestral music. These signs reveal the technique of playing in action. Contrary to the static descriptions of the treatises of the time, one has the impression of seeing didactic “videos”’.
This album, entirely devoted to the music of Marais, alternates récits for solo viola with orchestral pieces, all of them reinterpreted in the light of the new discovery of Monsieur Marais’s ‘codes’. In addition to Parisian viols of the time, Vittorio Ghielmi owns an instrument by the famous luthier Michel Colichon (a friend of Marais’s teacher Sainte-Colombe), made in Paris in 1688. Only two of the five surviving viols by Colichon are still in playable condition. © Alpha Classics

Listening again to this somehow a bit odd alternation of orchestral pieces and intimate chamber music.
These last ones are to die for.

[bart]

Marin Marais - Pièces Favorites
François Joubert-Caillet
L'Achéron
Qobuz 24/88.2




Kind of greatest hits (he has recorded full sets of Marin Marais also).
He's a very fine viola da gamba player.

This album got a 5 de Diapason.

As a prelude to the vast enterprise represented by the release of Marin Marais’ complete five Books of Pièces de Viole, François Joubert-Caillet proposes this anthology of some of the most famous pieces that the illustrious gambist of La Chambre du Roi wrote for the delight of the Sun King’s private concerts. François Joubert-Caillet studied the viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Paolo Pandolfo, with whom he also studied early improvisation, and also with Rudolf Lutz. Winner of the First and Audience Prizes at the Bruges International Chamber Music Competition, he gives concerts, recitals and master classes in Europe, Asia and Latin America. François Joubert-Caillet also directs L’Achéron, an ensemble with which he appears in various formations, in particular the consort of viols. L’Achéron’s CDs, devoted to Anthony Holborne’s The Fruit of Love and Samuel Scheidt’s Ludi Musici, were released by Ricercar for which François Joubert-Caillet also recorded an album in duo with Wieland Kuijken: Johanes Schenck’s Le Nymphe di Rheno.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Marin Marais - Images
Mieneke van der Velden, viola da gamba
Fred Jacobs, French theorbo
Qobuz 24/88.2




Superb playing and sound!

We stay with Marais.
Soothing music.
Extremely well played.