What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[Antonmb]

Schubert: String Quartet No. 15; Piano Trio in E flat major “Notturno”
Takács Quartet, Andreas Haefliger
Decca (1997), via Qobuz

More excellent Schubert.
IMG_3931.jpg

[bart]

Robert Schumann - The Three String Quartets Opus 41
Kuijken String Quartet
via Qobuz




Earlier this week, Meta and I organised a concert with the Kuijken Trio (Sigiswald, Sara and Marie). A full Mozart programme. They gave an excellent performance. The more than 90 music lovers were extremely happy, and we received innumerable positive mails and messages afterwards.

This is an album with Wieland on cello.
Played on instruments of that time - Sigiswald usually plays on a much older violin.
Wieland has recently retired from the music scene.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Metamorfosi Trecento
La Fonte Musica, Michele Pasotti
via Qobuz




Earlier album from the ensemble Tony and I posted this week.

Myth, Sallust tells us, is the relation of ‘things that never happened, but always are’. Ever since the fourteenth century, music has drunk deep from the source of myths. When composers were not dealing with sacred history, with the great morality tales of Christ, they turned to myth as to a great art and a matchless repertory of exemplary stories. Metamorfosi Trecento is a musical exploration of myths and of the polyphony of the late Middle Ages. The ancient myths, foremost among them Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and their medieval transpositions are extremely present in the repertory of the Ars Nova: Narcissus lost on a fatal voyage, the stories of Daphne’s dream, Philomela, the myth of Orpheus, Callisto. The lutenist Michele Pasotti and the singers and instrumentalists (fiddle, recorder, clavicymbalum, Gothic harp etc.) of the ensemble he founded in 2005, La Fonte Musica, bring these wondrous tales back to life with a beauty and artistry we wished to share with you.

Already listening again to this great album.
This is a fantastic ensemble.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy - String Symphonies Volume 3
Margot Oitzinger
L'Orfeo Barockorchester, Michi Gaigg
via Qobuz




This is quite lovely chamber music.
The Scene for alto and strings (MWC H 1) "Che vuoi, mio cor?... Lo lo so… Mai, se di lei t'accendi" is simply gorgeous.

That was again a very joyful listen!

[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

Listened to this album again.
I do have one minor complaint: the harpsichord is a bit too recessed, but then again, this is also in a concert hall.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

J.S. Bach - Six Suites for Viola Solo
Kim Kashkashian
Qobuz 24/96




Kim Kaskashian:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Kashkashian

Playing it now.
It's not bad at all.
Sound is terrific.
I do like a bit more lower notes, but the viola is more flexible than a violoncello.
Best of both worlds might be the violoncello da spalla after all...


And to forget the lady above, this is de real Kaskashian!

We went to the whole set again.
It's better than played on a violin.
I still prefer the violoncello (da spalla).
But you can certainly sense perfectly the genius of Bach.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Frescobaldi - Toccate e Partite d'Intavolatura di Cimbalo - Libro Primo
Christophe Rousset
Qobuz 24/96




Rousset continues to add to his already impressive list of harpsichord recordings.

Frescobaldi brilliantly combines improvisation and architecture. These qualities resonate with the discography of harpsichordist Christophe Rousset, whose choice of repertoire and interpretation are adventurous and serious at the same time. Frescobaldi’s counterpoint goes along with the finest art of singing, inherited from the Italian madrigal, and the flexibility of his language highlights the virtuosity of his compositions. Christophe Rousset recorded toccate and partite on a beautiful and original harpsichord of the late 16th century. Its sound faithfully testifies for the significant place of this First Book of harpsichord pieces in the nascent modernity of Frescobaldi. If the modal harmonies are still old-fashioned, the free beat and subtle melodies make it an indisputable baroque master, admired from Italy to France and Germany: Bach is said to have had a copy of his Fiori musicali! This new disc by Christophe Rousset reveals the first treasures composed specifically for the harpsichord. Its repertoire was served from the beginning by musicians whose expressive boldness recalls in a musical way Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro. © Aparté

I notice I come back quite often to this recording.
It's agreeable music, very well played and the sound is nigh perfect.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Musica Notturna - Invocation à la Nuit
Jordi Savall



Cédric Halgrin came today to swap some tubes.
He wants me to try different ones in order to find the sound that's best for my taste.
What a service!
He left a pile of CDs too.
All excellently sounding of course, you can trust him on that matter.

This 2-CD box has 1 album with the magnificent voice of his late wife. All pieces are songs for the night: 'Chants de la Nuit'.
The second album has musical pieces: 'Musiques de la Nuit'.

Composers from medieval times till Arvo Pärt.
Wonderful!
I ordered it already.

Streaming the set this time.

[joel_hifi]

Fazil Say - Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas

Nice interpretations and... we have a moaner

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Abel - the Drexel Manuscript
Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba



Just back from a lovely evening with our amplifier producer.
We listened to a lot of music, had a great meal, and continue now with baroque in its purest form.
We already had Marais, Sainte-Colombe and Hume at Cédric's and now at home we listen to Abel.
This is a great disc, and Pandolfo is one of the best performers on the instrument.

This is very beneficial for the soul...