What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[bart]

Kodály - Duo for violin and violincello Op. 7
Dvořák - Piano Trio Op. 90 'Dumky'
Barnabás Kelemen
Nicolas Altstaedt
Alexander Lonquich
Qobuz 24/96




The Kodály piece is very powerful. What you can do with cello and violin is quite amazing.
Dvořák's piano trio is simply beautiful.

After the success of the recent recording of works by Veress and Bartók, the Lockenhaus Festival series, curated by its artistic director Nicolas Altstaedt, continues its journey through central Europe with Antonín Dvořák and his famous "Dumky" Trio, named after a genre of Slavonic folksong generally performed by blind wandering minstrels who accompanied themselves on the kobza or bandura (twelve-string lute). Dvořák, whose father played the zither, immersed himself in this music and creatively translated its substance into his own music. This Trio was premiered in 1891 and, in response to its ecstatic reception, Dvořák decided to perform it during his grand farewell tour before leaving for the United States. Zoltán Kodály’s Duo for Violin and Cello (1914), which completes the programme, also bears witness to the influence of folk music. © Alpha Classics

[bart]

Astor Piazzolla - Le Grand Tango
Merel Vercammen
& Dina Ivanova
Qobuz 24/88.2




Hurray, there are still releases from singles!
The trptk label presents one here.
It's a fine piece of music.

[bart]

Mattias Spee - Eclipse - Vol. 1: Joseph Wölfl
Qobuz 24/88.2




This is an enchanting release.
The music is not complex but utterly beautiful.
And Brendon Heinst always makes the finest recordings that are available.

Mattias Spee (1997) studied with David Kuyken and Ralph van Raat, among others. He won several prizes, at the Prinses Christina Concours, the Steinway Piano Competition and the VriendenCultuurPrijs. Spee has a distinct preference for contemporary and lesser known repertoire. “I would like to bring hidden treasures from music history into the limelight,” says the pianist.

For the adventurous Dutch TRPTK label he has started a series with – unjustly – forgotten composers under the motto ‘Eclipse’. The first part is dedicated to the Austrian Joseph Wölfl (1773-1812), a contemporary and rival of Beethoven. He left behind a considerable body of work including symphonies, string quartets, operas, and the requisite piano concertos and sonatas.

Wölfl was particularly tall in stature, equipped with large hands and a virtuoso pur sang: with ease he could span thirteen keys. His music has a strong and penetrating character. While the often gruff Beethoven performed mainly for the old elite, the friendly Wölfl appealed to a much wider audience. Wölfl was an eminent improviser and he was also extremely popular as a teacher. He traveled extensively throughout Europe and could be found not only in concert halls but also regularly at the gaming tables.

Colorful is the ‘Sonata in C minor’ with which the album opens. The ‘Fugue’ in particular continues to resonate for minutes. The ‘9 Variations on an Andante’ is evidence of great musical imagination. The ‘Sonata in B minor’ is compelling and the ‘Waltz in C minor’ forms a beautiful conclusion.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Forqueray - ...ou les tourments de l'âme Vol. 1
Michèle Dévérité
Qobuz 24/48




Marin Marais, Lully, Couperin, Sainte-Colombe.
In this group of composers Forqueray is to be situated style-wise.
Good music to go into the night.

Revisiting this album.
Again to go into the night...

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by bart

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 8
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel
Qobuz 24/96

This is Mahler's symphony that is most unfamiliar to me.
I'll need a couple of listening sessions, and a comparison with my Solti version to really evaluate.
Sound seems quite decent.

Stereo is insufficient for this piece.

[bart]

Maya Fridman - Red Velvet
Qobuz 24/96




A cello journey with works from modern composers.
Kaveh Vares even wrote the title track especially for Fridman.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Bach - Oboe Concertos
L'Arte del Mondo, Werner Ehrhardt
Céline Moinet, oboe
Qobuz 24/96




This is absolutely delicious... if you care for period instruments... actually even if you don't.
And the oboe is modern.
Sound is impeccable. Wow!

Céline Moinet is often asked why she decided to become an oboe player. She was adamant: she did not want to play a brass or stringed instrument or even a piano – it had to be woodwind. After having begun, as most children do, with the recorder, she turned at age 7 to the oboe, which had captivated her from the word go. On her new album she takes a look at Johann Sebastian Bach: "Here, the oboe becomes the narrator".
Together with the prizewinning instrumental ensemble "l’arte del mondo" under Werner Ehrhardt she combines a historically-informed orchestral sound with her modern Marigaux oboe. The musicians have recorded Bach's three oboe concertos: BWV 1059, 1053r and 1055 as well as the sinfonias to the cantatas Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen and Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis in which the solo oboe is the focus. "Bach's cantatas were my first port of call. They are a rich, sophisticated source of literature for oboists; one might say they are the quintessence of his music", says Moinet. Following on from her last album centred on Schumann's Romances she enters a very different sound world this time round, though not one that is a stranger to her: she heard Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto very early on, the second movement of which Bach ornamented. "I have strong childhood memories of the work". © Berlin Classics

We had a craving for a bit of Bach.
This is a good example of his genius.
Excellent by all accounts.

[audioguy3107]

[bart]

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Frédéric Chopin - Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Piano Protagonists - Music for piano & orchestra
The Orchestra Now, Leon Botstein
Orion Weiss, piano
Qobuz 24/96




We enjoyed this!

This new studio recording contains three works for piano and orchestra that virtuoso pianist Orion Weiss and conductor Leon Botstein first performed in concert at the Bard Music Festival. Together, the three works span almost a century of musical Romanticism and are as different from one another as the generations they represent. In each piece, the virtuoso genre becomes a means by which the composer responds to a specific source of inspiration — in the first case (Korngold), a performer and family friend who had suffered a horrendous tragedy, in the second (Rimsky Korsakov), a venerated old master, and in the third (Chopin) a melody from a beloved opera. © Bridge Records

[Antonmb]

Bach’s Long Shadow
Francisco Fullana, violin
Orchid Classics (2021), via Qobuz

I enjoyed this quite a bit. The selections to go with the Bach are excellent, as is Fullana’s playing.

From the album liner notes:
“The entirety of solo violin repertoire stands on the shoulders
of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose monumental Sonatas and Partitas redefine the violin as a polyphonic instrument. Bach’s Long Shadow explores the chain of influence and inspiration extending from Bach to other legendary artists over 300 years. The album opens with Eugène Ysaÿe’s metamorphosis of Bach’s E major Partita into an obsessive display of virtuosity, contrasted against the original Partita from the Leipzig master. The listener will then hear the polyphonous adaptations of the Spanish guitar classics Asturias and Recuerdos de la Alhambra, made possible only by Bach’s ground-breaking treatment of the violin as a polyphonic instrument. Next is Recitativo & Scherzo by Fritz Kreisler, a dedicatee and muse of Ysaÿe, performed on Miss Mary, the enchanting 1735 ex-Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù. My album juxtaposes baroque and modern bow, gut and steel strings, in its exploration of Bach’s solo violin legacy.”
- Francisco Fullana

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