What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[cma29]

Now this...

Boulez: Piano Sonata No. 2
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B flat major, Op. 83
Stravinsky:
Danse Russe (from Pétrouchka)
Chez Pétrouchka (from Pétrouchka)
La semaine grasse
Webern: Variations, Op. 27
Maurizio Pollini (piano)



I've had it for a while, but just got to listen to it for the first time. An excellent disc and the reproduced piano sounds very realistic.

Here is what Gramophone says:

Perfection needs to be pursued so that you can forget about it. Pollini's Petrushka movements are almost inhumanly accurate and fast; but what comes across is an exhilarating sense of abandon, plus an extraordinary cumulative excitement. The Prokofiev Seventh Sonata remains a benchmark recording not only for the athleticism of its outer movements but for the epic remorselessness of the central Andante. The Webern Variations are a magical fusion of intellectual passion and poetry, and the Boulez Sonata vividly reminds us why the European avant-garde was such a powerful force in the 1950s. These recordings are a monument to what it's possible for two hands to achieve on one musical instrument.

The 'original-image bit-processing' has given a bit more brilliance and presence, as claimed, and another gain is the retention of atmosphere between movements.

[cma29]

Perla Barocca, Early Italian Masterpieces
Rachel Podger (violin), Marcin Świątkiewicz (harpsichord & organ) & Daniele Caminiti (theorbo)



Interesting 17th-century Italian violin chamber music including the use of of a theorbo, a rather unusual instrument. My only complaint is that the recorded sound quality from this Channel Classics SACD is less than stellar.

[Toccata]

Originally Posted by cma29

Now this...

Boulez: Piano Sonata No. 2
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B flat major, Op. 83
Stravinsky:
Danse Russe (from Pétrouchka)
Chez Pétrouchka (from Pétrouchka)
La semaine grasse
Webern: Variations, Op. 27
Maurizio Pollini (piano)



I've had it for a while, but just got to listen to it for the first time. An excellent disc and the reproduced piano sounds very realistic.

That CD contains a staggering display of technique. Not always easy listening, especially the Boulez, but what a pianist!

[Antonmb]

Purcell: Ten Sonatas in Four Parts
Vivat Music (2014)

Very pleasant listening, a nice recording by King's Consort.

[Antonmb]

Britten: Cello Symphony Op.68; Haydn: Cello Concerto in C
English Chamber Orchestra
Benjamin Britten conducting
Mstislav Rostropovich cello
Decca 1964, from the box Decca Sound: The Analogue Years

What a wonderful recording. The Britten concerto is interesting and a bit challenging, after which the Haydn is like a pleasant palate cleanser.

[bart]

Michel-Richard de Lalande - Tenebrae
Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre
Claire Lefilliâtre, soprano



Wonderful pieces, excellently brought by one my favourite ensembles of French baroque.
If you like Couperin's Leçons de Ténèbres, you'll like this.
Well done booklet.

CD 2 is a sermon by Bossuet, in old French. A curiosity.

[bart]

Leos Janácek - String Quartets
Panocha Quartet



Wow!
Great chamber music.
Romantic but with enough edge to keep it very attractive.
Outstanding performance by this quartet. I have other albums of them, and they're always good.

[eljr]

BBC Symphony Orchestra / Edward Gardner / Paul Watkins
Walton: Symphony No. 2; Cello Concerto; Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten

well done yet unsettling music

[eljr]

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hannu Lintu
Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Legends; Pohjola's Daughter

Well recorded SACD, new release.... also a bit unsettling.

[eljr]

Garrick Ohlsson
Debussy, Bartók, Prokofiev: Études

well recorded and "interesting" another 2015 relaese