What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[bart]

Vivaldi - Concerto RV 403 - Le Quattro Stagioni - "La Follia" RV 63
La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken
via Qobuz




In search of the most touching Four Seasons, I posted, together with some other classical aficionados the version of Gunar Letzbor. Rough and authentic. We found it better than some other smoother versions.

Kuijken here uses the violoncello da spalla, and a minimalist approach, which makes these pieces very transparent.

Bert van der Wolf was the recording engineer on both albums.

I'd like to hear them in 5.1...

[bart]

I just streamed this via Qobuz 24/96.
Lovely album!




Works from Elgar, Strauss, Ravel and Goossens.

[bart]

Robert Schumann - Liederkreis Op. 24 - Kernerlieder
Matthias Goerne
Leif Ove Andsnes
Qobuz 24/96




Lieder, especially from such talented composer and performers, are a joy to hear.
When you know it was written by a man in great pain, it's even more touching.

Justinus Kerner, a poet and a practicing physician fascinated with occultism, somnambulism and magnetism, inspired young Schumann who, at just seventeen, set to music the singular poet’s verses. He would eventually come back to it in 1840 with a strange cycle, “a masterpiece of dereliction” (according to Brigitte François-Sappey) he wrote as an exorcism for his mental illness: through a suite of twelve poems (Zwölf Gedichte Op. 35, better known as “Kerner Lieder”), Schumann projects his own destiny, questioning himself, trying to understand why sadness overwhelms his soul even though he’s in-love and newlywed.
This pain produced a series of masterpieces that are still admired for their musical and philosophical reach. Liederkreis Op. 24 also dates back to 1840, a surprisingly prolific year for Schumann who composed like a mad man; his first cycle of lieder based on poems by Heinrich Heine about love and its inevitable consequences: expectations, hope, disillusionment and farewells.
The result of many years of collaboration between Matthias Goerne and Leif Ove Andsnes, this album, recorded in Berlin in 2018, will undoubtedly be a landmark in Schumannian interpretation. The German baritone’s voice has grown deeper with age, giving a unique intensity rich with doubt and desolation, an impression reinforced by the strength and intensity of the Norwegian pianist’s performance. © François Hudry/Qobuz

[ehoove]

Symphony No. 9
Beethoven
(Choral)
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam
Eugen Jochum Conducting
Very Nice rendition wonderful play and nice open recording.
Phillips 6570 189 (Festivo Series)
Regards,
Jim

[ehoove]

Wonderful LP
Regards,
Jim

[Formerly YB-2]

Just returned home from Ron Howard's "Pavarotti Premiere Screening Event" at our local Regal theater. Well done and good historical perspective, but a bit weak on his career and a fair bit of sugar-coating of the man. All-in-all, worth the time & effort to see.
https://www.fathomevents.com/events/pavarotti

[Toccata]

Superb playing and sound. I haven't bought an SACD in ages!

[bart]

Kaija Saariaho - True Fire - Trans - Ciel d'hiver
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Gerald Finley
Xavier de Maistre
Qobuz 24/48




As always intriguing works from the Finnish composer.
She succeeds every time again in creating a very special atmosphere.
Quite addictive.
She's in my top 5 of contemporary composers.

This programme offers an immersion into Kaija Saariaho’s magical and poetic world, with three works that were recently recorded for the very first time. The Paris-based Finnish composer is among the most prominent names on the music scene today. Born in 1952, Saariaho has successfully crafted her own musical universe, with unique colours and whispers, drawing inspiration from the great spectacle of nature as well as her own mental landscapes, imagined from her dreams, philosophy and international literature.
Although they were all composed within the same era (between 2013 and 2015), these three captivating pieces offer three different perspectives on her orchestral music. Ciel d’hiver is a rearrangement for orchestra only, True Fire is a song cycle, and Trans a harp concerto.
Ciel d’hiver is a transposition for small orchestra of the central movement of Orion, a triptych composed in 2002 for a giant orchestra. Inspired by Greek mythology, it joins a series of works inspired by the infinity and mystery of sky and space.
True Fire was commissioned by four orchestras (Los Angeles, Hamburg, Paris [Orchestre National de France], and London [BBC]) for baritone Gerald Finley. It is a cycle of six songs written from poems of various authors. Saariaho’s goal was to explore the singer’s unique vocal range by allowing him to deploy the full scope of his expressiveness.
And with Trans, the composer first and foremost explores the “depths of the instrument’s soul” − the harp − without sacrificing virtuosity. Written in three movements, this concert uses a relatively small orchestra, with a translucent writing in which the harp converses with an instrument, or an entire section. This way, the harp becomes the driving force of the music, and its main protagonist. © François Hudry/Qobuz

[Toccata]

[jimtranr]

24/352-remastered reissue of a 1959 Decca recording originally engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson in London's Kingsway Hall. Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty" and the ballet "Les Sylphides" based on music of Frederic Chopin.

Nice performance in stunning reach-in-and-touch-the-orchestra sonics.