Jean de Sainte-Colombe - Une sélection de Concerts à deux violes esgales Les Voix Humaines
via Qobuz
You can consider this as a "best of".
These ladies from Québec recorded 8 CDs with works from the composer a bit more than a decade ago.
This album gives us the most well-known pieces.
Fabulous music that never bores me.
If you buy just one album with Sainte-Colombe's music, this could be the one.
I regard them as being on the same level as Bach or Beethoven classics.
Friedrich Gernsheim - String Quartets Vol. 1 Diogenes Quartett
via Qobuz
A newly discovered composer for me.
He was also a talented musician.
On 5 May 1850 he gave his concert début in Frankfurt City Theatre at the age of eleven, playing Hummel’s A-minor Piano Concerto as a pianist and the Mendelssohn Concerto as a violinist, followed by the première of an overture from his own pen.
Yet another version of one of my favourite symphonies, but it seems like a good one.
First listen, this came out today.
Antonín Dvořák - Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, B. 178 "From the New World" & Other Works Concerto Budapest, András Keller Miklós Perényi, violoncello
via Qobuz
Very sweet interpretation.
But it is lacking some highs.
For example the triangle sounds are a bit muffled.
The string section is very present indeed, like the Tacet comments tell us.
While jogging this morning, I heard this on the radio.
The programmer of classical concerts of Gent was raving about it.
The piano player is coming to Belgium this season.
I liked her playing so much that I wanted to hear it over our living room system.
The performance is terrific, but Hewitt's album has the edge on sound quality.
Gustav Mahler - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Des Knaben Wunderhorn Anton Bruckner - Vier Orchesterstücke Orchestre national d'Île de France, Enrique Mazzola Markus Werba, baryton
Qobuz 24/96
Recommendation in "Stereoplay", a German magazine. Classical album of the month there.
It's every bit as good as they described it: performance and sound are really top notch!
Isabel I
Reina de Castilla
La Capella Reial de Catalunya
Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall
This is one of the many fascinating musical journeys Savall undertook.
Listening to the SACD, but liked this comment on Qobuz:
For fans of the pomp and majesty of royalty, here's a collection of music for Isabel I, the Queen of Castilla (1454 -- 1504). Conceived, compiled, and conducted by Jordi Savall and performed by La Capella Reial de Catalunya with Hesperion XXI, the music is an impressive mixture of hymns and marches, songs and dances, strength and sensitivity. Grouped into five sets of works ranging across Isabel's entire reign from the hymn performed at her ascension to the requiem performed at her funeral. Each set is nicely balanced between public and private music and the progression of sets is meaningful and moving. The performances are as magisterial as the music: Savall and his forces have been bringing music to life for decades and the superb quality of their singing and playing is matched by the depth of their affection and enthusiasm. The sound is lush and voluptuous and the packaging is rich and luxuriant. This collection represents the classical music industry at its best.
Jordi comes to Berkeley every year. He is now in his late 70's. He usually varies the cast of musicians he brings with him, depending on the program he has devised. One advantage to his many recordings is that one can hear his late wife soprano Montserrat Figeuras who died in 2011 (after being married to Savall for over 40 years.)