What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Schubert - Berwald - Chamber Music
Anima Eterna Brugge
via Qobuz




I liked this very much!

This recording is Anima’s very first to be completely devoted to instrumental ensemble music. A group of musicians headed by violinist Jakob Lehmann breathes new life into two 19th-century masterpieces. Schubert's Octet in F is a crown jewel from the repertoire, taking its cue from Beethoven’s celebrated Septet yet at the same time paving the way toward the "Grosse Sinfonie". Roughly 20 years after its iconic recording of the complete Schubert symphonies, Anima brings its signature approach to the composer’s chamber music to explore it with the insights and “language skills” developed back then and from thereon. In contrast to Schubert, Franz Berwald has been largely forgotten – undeservedly, as this gifted Swede left behind an oeuvre that is both surprisingly modern and delightfully original. Performed on period instruments, using authoritative sources and contemporary playing techniques, these brilliant pages of large ensemble music are now ready to be rediscovered and enjoyed once again. © Alpha Classics

The missus requested chamber music.
I found her this gem, well played and recorded.

[bart]

Originally Posted by DVass13

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons with František Jiránek and the Ars Antiqua Austria [24-352 FLAC]

It might not be the most elegant presentation, but I love this version for what I'll call its darkness and body. I find this arrangement much more engaging than some of the more 'dainty' arrangements which end up being more background music than the focus of my attention.

Streaming this excellent, rough version of the Quattro Stagione again.
For me probably the most attractive and exciting performance of it.

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by bart

Streaming this excellent, rough version of the Quattro Stagione again.

For me probably the most attractive and exciting performance of it.

That’s quite a recommendation, I’ll have to try it.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

J.S. Bach - Double & Triple Concertos
Brecon Baroque, Rachel Podger
Qobuz 24/192




Fantastic sound, great playing.
These old warhorses never tire!

.

Maybe not the greatest version of all times, but still good to accompany some work.

[bart]

Bach - Brandenburg Concertos - Orchestral Suites
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
Qobuz 24/44.1




Very consistent, the Bach performances of this top ensemble.
3 hours and 20 minutes of bliss...

Listening to this irresistibly joyful and magnificently musical set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites, one is immediately struck by two thoughts. First, Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan have been wasting their time concentrating on Bach's dour cantatas, and second, Bach himself was wasting his time writing his melancholy church music when he could have been composing infinitely more cheerful secular music. While Suzuki and his crew have turned in superlatively performed, if spectacularly severe recording of the cantatas, they sound just as virtuosic and vastly more comfortable here. The performances are just as musical; from top to bottom, the Bach Collegium Japan is an outstanding period instrument chamber orchestra. The sound is rich but bright, the ensemble tight but relaxed, and the intonation virtually flawless. One can point out any number of felicities: Shigeharu Yamaoka's warm-toned flute in the Second Brandenburg, Natsumi Wakamatsu's keen-edged violin in the Fourth Brandenburg, and Masaaki Suzuki's airborne harpsichord in the Fifth Brandenburg. Recorded in BIS' characteristically vivid super audio digital sound, this three-disc set begs to be heard by anyone who likes the works.

© TiVo

[ehoove]

Violin Concerto
Elgar
The Lark Ascending
Vaughn Williams
Hilary Hahn - Violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis Conducting
Deutsche Grammophon B0003026-02
Regards,
Jim

[ehoove]

Petit Musique de Nuit
Divertmenti K.136 &138
Quatuors K.80 et 173
Mozart
Le Quatuor Talich
Excellent play and a stellar recording!
Approche Cal 5248
Regards,
Jim

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Antoine Forqueray - Charles Dollé - Late French Viol Music
Wieland Kuijken - Sigiswald Kuijken, viola da gamba
Robert Kohnen, harpsichord
via Qobuz




Recorded in '78.
For lovers of viola da gamba music, a good find (I love Qobuz! )

This was playing gently into the practice earlier today...

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Ligeti - String Quartets 1 & 2
Barber - Adagio
Keller Quartett
Qobuz 24/44.1




The Barber piece is of course so well known, and universally loved.
The Ligeti pieces are atonal, and less accessible, but even on my first listening session, I can appreciate them already a lot.

Ligeti's more cerebral works nicely balanced by Barber's Adagio for strings.

[bart]

Joseph Haydn - Piano Sonatas Nos. 32, 40, 49, 50
Paul Lewis
Qobuz 24/96




Solid performance of these very beautiful pieces.

The vagaries of the market have led a French pianist to record all his albums in England (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet for Chandos) whereas an English pianist, Paul Lewis, recorded all of his for the French label Harmonia Mundi. They both share a real love of Haydn. While the Frenchman has been recording sonatas by the Austrian composer from the start, Paul Lewis waited until he had assimilated Beethoven's 32 Sonatas and Schubert's as well, so as to be able to get to the root of the repertoire. For his first album dedicated solely to Haydn, he has chosen four sonatas, 32, 40, 49, and 50, allowing him to deploy his whole expressive range, dispelling once and for all the "Papa Haydn" tag that has for so long dogged the great musical innovator. In Paul Lewis's hands, Haydn's music is not that of an ancestor, however good, but of a Viennese classicist, performed with great nuance, a fluid sound and a wonderful, plastic beauty which makes the keyboard sing, underlining Haydn's joyful and puckish side as well as his passing melancholy. © François Hudry/Qobuz