What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[bart]

Further exploring the catalogue of this string quartet.
This was playing today in the practice.

Schubert - String Quartets No. 14 in D minor 'Der Tod und das Mädchen' - No. 9 in G mnor
Chiascuro Quartet
Qobuz 24/88.2




Another splendid performance!

[bart]

Nathalie Stutzmann - Contralto
Orfeo 55
Qobuz 24/96




Good sound, very special voice, world premiere recordings in this interesting new release.


Händel, Porpora, Vivaldi, Bononcini, Lotti, Caldara, GaspariniNathalie Stutzmann's Contralto is one of those albums where everything seems to go wrong until you realize that it's actually going very right. Conducting an ensemble and singing with it at the same time is just not done because it's well-nigh impossible, but Stutzmann makes her Orfeo 55 ensemble into an extension of herself. Stutzmann's interpretations are personal, which is not supposed to be part of the early music ethos, though she seems to put something of herself into every aria. With readings as subjective as this, an artist should choose familiar repertory. However, Stutzmann includes several world premieres (check out the rather stark "Caro addio," from Bononcini's Griselda), and there's not a chestnut in the bunch. On a vocal recital, the audience, one is assured, wants to hear the singer, and Stutzmann departs from the vocal program with a large amount of instrumental music. In a word, Stutzmann is extreme, and it works because that's Baroque opera, and the larger-than-life heroines here come to life as they do on few other recordings. Vivaldi, whom Stutzmann loves and is perhaps the composer who fires her imagination the most, is well represented in arias that are not at all in general circulation. The sound, too, puts the audience face-to-face with the singer and musicians, something that usually annoys, yet here compels. Many listeners will want this album because it is apparently Stutzmann's swan song with Orfeo 55, which has disbanded, but it can really be recommended to anyone wanting a taste of what Baroque opera is about.

© TiVo

[bart]

Esa-Pekka Salonen
Kaija Saariaho - Works for Solo Cello
Wilhelmina Smith
Qobuz 24/96




Very adventurous pieces!
Smith shows quite some technical prowess here.
There is also a short work from Giuseppe Colombi.

[ehoove]

String Quintet C Major D 956
Schubert
The Auryn Quartet \with Christian Poltera on Violocello
A excellent Offering and great recording
TACET Records L110 Tube only/Transistorfrei
Regards,
Jim

[bart]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

24/96. The "Sketches" are the real attraction here.

I liked the symphony also Jim.
Thank you for the suggestion.

[bart]

Originally Posted by ehoove

String Quintet C Major D 956
Schubert
The Auryn Quartet \with Christian Poltera on Violocello
A excellent Offering and great recording
TACET Records L110 Tube only/Transistorfrei
Regards,
Jim

Jim, I own a couple of DVD-As with this string quartet.
They're good.

[Kal Rubinson]

Beautiful and interesting stuff.

[bart]

This was playing into the practice:


Mozart - String quartet No. 19 in C major 'Dissonance' K. 465
Schubert - String quartet No. 13 in A minor 'Rosamunde' D. 804 op. 29
Chiaroscuro Quartet
Qobuz 24/88.2




The ensemble got quite some awards for this album.

[bart]

Kaija Saariaho - Chamber Works For Strings Vol. 1
Meta4
Qobuz 24/96




A hell of a ride.
Not for the faint of heart or the 'traditionalists'!

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Beethoven - Idylle héroïque: Violin Concerto & Triple Concerto
Dmitry Sinkovsky
Alexei Lubimov
Alexander Rudin
Musica Viva, Alexander Rudin
Qobuz 24/44.1



The Violin Concerto:
At the start, I thought: Wow he has a nice, a bit rough, really catching tone.
But then came the cadenza, totally out of place.
Beethoven must have turned in his grave (I would ).
I didn't like any of his cadenzas, and I had to endure 3 of them!

The Triple Concerto: I will give it a chance later today.

I finally listened to the Triple Concerto.
This album disappears from all my playing lists.
Forever.