Classical Music Only | What You're Listening to Now, Or Very Recently | Any Mediums :

[MikeCh]

The Art of Milstein- Capitol PBR-8502 box (FDS rainbow label)

Such a wonderful recording of Milstein...a special box set in mono:

[Bachtoven]

Bach's Lute Suites, or rather, No. 2 today. I love this recording--his 10 string guitar has the range of the lute but with the tonal richness of a modern guitar. His playing is sublime, and the sound is excellent. Shamefully, this set seems to be out of print.

[Bachtoven]

Schoenberg's Op.9 Chamber Symphony in Webern's arrangement for piano and string quartet. Wow, it's an exhausting work to play (and listen to!) with its relentless counterpoint and intensity. This is a super-human performance recorded with great clarity.

[Bachtoven]

This disc is just the balm that I need for my aching soul (my new guitar's arrival has been delayed a day). Beautiful music, playing, and sound.

[Bachtoven]

Sono Luminus issues its recordings in Blu-ray audio and on a standard CD. I chose the highest resolution Blu-ray (DTS MA 24 bit/192 kHz), and the sound is indeed excellent, if a tiny bit dry--could use a bit more "air" around the instrument, but it sounds very realistic. Lewin's playing is excellent, too. He has tremendous technique and a huge dynamic range.

[LL21]

This disc is just the balm that I need for my aching soul (my new guitar's arrival has been delayed a day). Beautiful music, playing, and sound.

Have you hear Linn Recordings Bach Lute music? 4 CDs. Wonderful.

[Bachtoven]

Oh yes, I have it. It is indeed wonderful.

[socfan12]

[NorthStar]

This thread is now my favorite of all the others.

Because it contains the true essence of our hobby; beautiful Music (Classical) well played, tasteful, soothing for the soul and recorded with quality care.

...And the mediums; SACD hybrid, Blu-ray Audio, HDCD, LP. ...And CD too - some of them labels are fantastic; Channel Classics, Reference Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, ECM, Mercury Living Presence, RCA Victor Living Stereo, RCA Red Seal, BIS, Concord Records, Classical Blue Stone Statement, Telarc, Analekta, Three Blind Mice, Dorian, JVC K2, Proprius, Sheffield, Auvidis, Opus 3, Silence, Hyperion, Clarity Recordings, DMP, Linn, Water Lily Acoustics, and many more ...

...And the people; behind the instruments, and in front of their speakers. ...They are from the highest class of them all.

Thank you John for your generosity and inspiration. ...And Mike, Lloyd, and Allen, plus plus plus.

[Bachtoven]

What a lovely and thoughtful post--thank you.

[NorthStar]

What a lovely and thoughtful post--thank you.

You give me great pleasurable pause in discovering more beauty; I want to encourage it.

[Bachtoven]

But, I thought I was costing you a lot of money...

[socfan12]

[Bachtoven]

I have several recordings of various Louis Vierne Organ Symphonies, but this boasts far and away the clearest sound and best playing. Hans-Eberhard Ross (and the engineer) have taken great pains to make sure every strand of Vierne's often dense textures is clearly audible. I look forward to buying the other two volumes.

[NorthStar]

But, I thought I was costing you a lot of money...

Money well spent.

[Bachtoven]

I guess we don't have to like everything we listen to, right? I was going to sell this disc on Amazon, then I thought I'd give it another try since an upcoming disc of her concertos sounded pretty good, but this just isn't working for me. Picture a blend of Debussy and Ligeti. Back on Amazon it goes! (Superb sound, though.)

[MikeCh]

London CS 6006 ESPANA

[MikeCh]

woops

[MikeCh]

one day I will figure out how to post pictures

[MikeCh]

....and this one, a wonderful mono Shaded Dog LM-2378 - Schubert Death and the Maiden:

[MikeCh]

One more before sleep...some Heifetz - RCA LM2129 - Tschaikowsky Violin Concerto Heifetz / Reiner CSO:

[MikeCh]

Some more Heifetz to start the evening....RCA LM-2149

[MikeCh]

Michael Rabin - The Magic Bow

[MikeCh]

Michael Rabin - The Magic Bow



Attachment 5846

Been a while since I listened to this one. Holy MOLY, Mr. Rabin was a super talent. Such fluidity....the term sinuous defines his playing. Add to this a tenderness and at the same time a tactician with the instrument. Just beautiful.

[MikeCh]

Here's an interesting and exceptionally rare Rabin & Pommers....a bit scattered with short segments but sounds great and showcases Rabin's playing. Pommers is equally present with his playing. A super pair.

[Bachtoven]

Thought I'd sustain the violin theme here (sort of!)

Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Violin certainly take on a different vibe when played on the guitar. It can clarify the counterpoint and play the chords unbroken, but it can't sustain the slower passages or play with as much legato compared to the violin. Yamashita turns in some very passionate and dramatic performances on these discs. I don't think I've heard any violinists play the Allegro movements in Sonatas as fast as he does, which isn't necessarily a good thing! Still, they are a technical marvel, if lacking some musicality. Excellent SACD sound.

[socfan12]

[LL21]

Great stuff! Just got this recording this week!

[socfan12]

It's a great sounding disc, Lloyd! I really enjoyed it!

[MikeCh]

Byron Janis plays Chopin - RCA LM2091:

[Bachtoven]

It's amazing what could be accomplished with three mics and one recording session back in 1960.

[ILUVAUDIO]

It's amazing what could be accomplished with three mics and one recording session back in 1960.

Amen.....compare that to a picture I saw from a mid 1980's recording session of the Berlin Philharmonic in the Philharmonie....with an absolute forest of microphones hanging over the orchestra.....many thanks, DG, for making some of the most messed with recordings ever made....

Cheers,

[MikeCh]

This Gould is a Columbia Masterworks 6-eye WLP:

[A.S.]

Anner Bylsma Bach cello suites.

Slowest version ever;

[A.S.]

The story behind "Devil's Trill" starts with a dream. Tartini allegedly told the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande that he dreamed that The Devil appeared to him and asked to be his servant. At the end of their lessons Tartini handed the devil his violin to test his skill—the devil immediately began to play with such virtuosity that Tartini felt his breath taken away. The complete story is told by Tartini himself in Lalande's Voyage d'un François en Italie (1765 - 66):
"One night, in the year 1713 I dreamed I had made a pact with the devil for my soul. Everything went as I wished: my new servant anticipated my every desire. Among other things, I gave him my violin to see if he could play. How great was my astonishment on hearing a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and - I awoke. I immediately grasped my violin in order to retain, in part at least, the impression of my dream. In vain! The music which I at this time composed is indeed the best that I ever wrote, and I still call it the "Devil's Trill", but the difference between it and that which so moved me is so great that I would have destroyed my instrument and have said farewell to music forever if it had been possible for me to live without the enjoyment it affords me."

[Feanor]

Tonight's listening ...

Thomas Adès: Asyla ~ Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 ~ Vasily Petrenko / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

John Tavener: The Protecting Veil, for cello & orchestra ~ Steven Isserlis (cello); Gennadi Rozhdestvensky / London Symphony

[Bachtoven]

Handel's Op. 4 Concertos for Organ and strings...transcribed for piano. I think I prefer this piano version--it sounds more incisive. Everyone plays beautifully, and CPO has provided superb SACD audio.

[LL21]

Great stuff...thanks. will check it out. Have you heard the handel Organ Concertos by Academy of Ancient Music/Andrew Manze? I really like those in particular,

Handel's Op. 4 Concertos for Organ and strings...transcribed for piano. I think I prefer this piano version--it's sounds more incisive. Everyone plays beautifully, and CPO has provided superb SACD audio.

[Bachtoven]

^^ No, but I also have the version by Richard Egarr and Academy of Ancient Music.

[Feanor]

This evening a couple of great standards:

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in A minor, Opus 132 ~ Takacs Quartet

Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Opus 110 ~ Fitzwilliam String Quartet

[Feanor]

This evening's listening: more string quartets ...

Elliott Carter: String Quartet No. 1 ~ Arditti String Quartet

Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 3 in C sharp major, and String Quartet No. 4 in C major ~ Takács Quartet

Regarding Carter's Quartet No. 1 by Blair Johnston on Allmusic.com...

Elliott Carter was already in his forties when he achieved renown with his First String Quartet. After its premiere in 1953, the work received a great deal of attention (primarily in Europe), and led to the assessment of its creator as one of the most gifted of the new American composers -- an assessment that has been supported by the four String Quartets which have followed in the ensuing four decades. The First String Quartet was Carter's first truly successful attempt at composing a large-scale piece employing the ideas of "metric modulation" he was then developing. (Metric modulation refers to the continual change of metric speeds, composed into the music at every level. In a piece employing metric modulation, the various melodic strands of the music rarely line up, for they are undergoing "modulation" at different rates--this leads to the impression that several different, independent musical layers are existing simultaneously.) At the time of its creation, the First String Quartet was a truly revolutionary work, and was considered nearly impossible to perform by existing quartets of the day.

While ostensibly in four movements, the motion of the First Quartet pauses only twice (in both cases in the middle of a movement, not in between movements). The first movement has been described by the composer as a kind of contrapuntal fantasy. There are four main linear ideas in the movement, supported by a number of secondary motives, all of with exist in different metrical worlds, at different speeds. These ideas are combined in various ways, rhythmically and harmonically, over the course of the movement, and eventually give way (without break of any kind) into the second movement, a rapid scherzo, marked allegro scorrevole (a favorite indication of the composer). After the trio section of the scherzo there is a pause in the activity. After continuing, the scherzo plunges almost immediately into a dramatic Adagio. Two separate musical ideas are developed in the Adagio. First there is a recitative-like thing involving the viola and cello. This is commented on by a duet between the two violins, now being played with mutes. As the movement progresses the two ideas are heard simultaneously. The final movement is a set of variations, though not of the kind one would expect of, say, Beethoven. The movement is built on a number of ideas which increase in speed upon each repetition. Some of the music becomes so fast that the players are forced to present the ideas in the form of rapid tremolo, while other ideas evaporate as the movement progresses, allowing new music to force its way into the texture.

[Bachtoven]

I tried listening to this disc today in honor of Vinyl Day, but I had to turn it off after a few minutes due to its unbearable shrillness! (I bought it at an LP sale for $1 last week...got my money's worth.)



I then turned to my other purchase from that day...better but still a little harsh. Maybe the SACD sounds better. Quite an intense performance.

[Feanor]

In observation of Good Friday and Easter Sunday ...

Arvo Pärt: Passio (St. John Passion) ~ Antony Pitts / Tonus Peregrinus

George Frederic Handel: Messiah, (Parts 2 & 3) ~ Christopher Hogwood with Simon Preston

[NorthStar]

[LL21]

In observation of Good Friday and Easter Sunday ...

Arvo Pärt: Passio (St. John Passion) ~ Antony Pitts / Tonus Peregrinus

George Frederic Handel: Messiah, (Parts 2 & 3) ~ Christopher Hogwood with Simon Preston

I have that Messiah and it is wonderful. I also have Ohrwall/Swedish Radio Symphony which is an FIM Remaster and a newer Stephen Layton Britten Symphonia which is nice. I tend to listen to the Hogwood and Ohrwall the most.

[NorthStar]

Arvo Part music - good stuff, good for the soul.

* I'm listening to Classical music right now; on the r.a.d.i.o. - chamber with hautbois and clarinette. ...Violin, ...various.

[Feanor]

Arvo Part music - good stuff, good for the soul.

* I'm listening to Classical music right now; on the r.a.d.i.o. - chamber with hautbois and clarinette. ...Violin, ...various.

I like Pärt in general, though the Passio is a minimalist's minimalism; basically it's a hour of recitative in Latin.

[Feanor]

I have that Messiah {Hogwood/AAM} and it is wonderful. I also have Ohrwall/Swedish Radio Symphony which is an FIM Remaster and a newer Stephen Layton Britten Symphonia which is nice. I tend to listen to the Hogwood and Ohrwall the most.

I also have versions by Charles Mackerras/English Chamber and John Eliot Gardner/English Baroque Soloists. I can't really say that I strongly prefer one over the others. In general I prefer versions with smaller ensembles.

[NorthStar]

I like Pärt in general, though the Passio is a minimalist's minimalism; basically it's a hour of recitative in Latin.

I'm a big fan; not all his stuff but many of it.

* How did you put those two dots in top of the "a" from Part?

[Feanor]

* How did you put those two dots in top of the "a" from Part?

Bob, my text processor program has the facility to type "special characters" such as é, â, ø. I copy and paste them from there into AS' text processor. 'Word' and other word processors also usually have the facility to type special characters.



To night's listening, Bruckner whose music has beautiful elements though it is long and can seem ponderous and repetitive if you're not in the mood.

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E major, WAB 107 ~ Daniel Barenboim / Berlin Philharmonic