What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[Antonmb]

Sor: 24 Etudes
Narciso Yepes, guitar
Deutsche Grammophon (1968), vinyl

Beautiful music, and Yepes is the master.IMG_1427.jpg

[bart]

A Belfast Christmas
Belfast Cathedral Choir
Matthew Owens
Qobuz 24/96




Choir and organ, a very tranquil album.

Choral music has always played a significant and central role at Belfast Cathedral, since its consecration in 1904. This strong choral tradition continues to this day with the recently formed all-adult, fully professional vocal ensemble. This "new" cathedral choir brings together some of the finest singers in Northern Ireland who lead the liturgy and worship of Belfast Cathedral and are featured here in their debut album for Resonus Classics. Featuring a varied programme of seasonal carols from composers including Elizabeth Poston, John Rutter and Philip Ledger, this album celebrates Christmas from Northern Ireland’s national cathedral. © Resonus Classics

[bart]

Revue Blanche - Misia
Qobuz 24/96




Meta had heard some pieces from this album in a radioplay and she liked it so much that she did a search in Qobuz.
It is a wonderful album, with pieces from de Séverac, Satie, Durey, Ravel, Auric, Casella, Duparc, transcribed for voice, viola, flute and harp.

Ten years of Revue Blanche. That’s ten years of making music together. At the occasion of this anniversary, the ensemble is going back to their roots: to vibrant turn-of-the-century Paris, where a luscious body of music emerged that has occupied a central place in Revue Blanche’s repertoire since the very start.

Misia Sert became our guide. Walking in her tracks, Revue Blanche paid a call on Villa Servais in Halle – where she spent her childhood – and played a Polish song by her grave in Samoureau, near Valvins. While they encountered many iconic masters enchanted by her, she also put them on the track of lesser-known composers. With every step and every gem their curiosity grew, Misia seducing them to go beyond what they’d initially imagined. The present recording is Revue Blanche's homage to this fiery, unbridled spirit who – by devoting her life to the arts – perennially inspires others to do so as well.

The ensemble found working on this album a challenge as well as a saving grace in a year without concerts. The involuntary break from the stage allowed them to focus on the recording process, where they applied ourselves to making Misia a perfect tribute. Now it’s finally here, our hope is that the soundsketch of this grande dame, who truly mastered the art of bringing people together, will help answering to the profound need for beauty and connection felt by many. © Antarctica Records

[bart]

Earlier this afternoon, we had a listen to this:

Charpentier - Te Deum H. 146
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
via Qobuz




Very close to bombastic, like a lot of music composed at Versailles around that time, but it remains an attractive work.

[bart]

Licht der Welt - A Christmas Promenade
Christiane Karg, soprano
Gerold Huber, piano
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Howard Arman
Qobuz 24/96




We quite liked this new release.

In a follow-up to her acclaimed album of Mahler songs, Christiane Karg takes us on a Christmas tour, in the select company of fellow music-makers. Revisiting holiday memories through the eyes of a child, but with the benefit of her superb artistry as a lieder specialist, the German soprano shines a light on some enchanting rarities of German and French repertoire, along with examples of Spanish, Basque, and Scandinavian traditions... A treasure trove of hidden gems! © harmonia mundi

[bart]

J.S. Bach - Adventskantaten BWV 36, 61 & 62
Collegium Vocale, Philippe Herreweghe
via Qobuz




You can always trust Herreweghe when he brings Bach.
In fact, when he brings classical tout court.

[bart]

Christiane Karg - Parfum
Bamberger Symphoniker, David Afkham
Qobuz 24/48




We wanted to hear more Karg.
This is a marvellous album!
Works from Ravel, Debussy, Britten, Koechlin.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Gustav Mahler - Lieder - 'Erinnerung'
Christiane Karg, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
via Qobuz




A couple of years ago, Iván Fischer did the same thing when we attended a concert, but it was even more authentic: piano rolls from Mahler played on an instrument that Mahler himself had played, with a soprano.

Known for her brilliant work in Mozart’s roles, the German soprano Christiane Karg also excels in Puccini (Musetta in La Bohème), Richard Strauss (Zdenka in Arabella) and even in the title role of Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. This “Erinnerung” (Memory) recital is dedicated to a selection of Lieder by Gustav Mahler, drawn largely from his vast collection of popular songs from the Knaben Wunderhorn, some early compositions, and the Rückert-Lieder - one of the composer’s most accomplished cycles.

On the piano, her long-standing partner Malcom Martineau is an ideal match. He wonderfully modulates his sound to match the singer’s every intention. The final two pieces in this recording are unusual for the fact that he hands the piano over to the composer himself! Gustav Mahler effectively “recorded” his compositions (such as Ich ging mit Lust and the famous Das himmlische Leben which closes Symphony No. 4) on perforated card for a Welte-Mignon system.

Approached on a modern keyboard, the Welte-Mignon’s automatic articulated fingers reproduce Mahler’s tempo, intentions and, to some extent, touch. It’s obviously not a perfect replication, but Christiane Karg’s considerable effort to follow his tortuous rhythm is tremendously moving. © François Hudry/Qobuz

We can't get enough from Karg this evening.
She's simply wonderful on this album, as is Martineau.

[bart]

Bartók - Violin Concerto No. 1
Enescu - Octet
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Mikko Franck
Vilde Frang, violin
Qobuz 24/96




What an impressive work that Octet is!

As a concerto soloist and chamber musician, Vilde Frang explores what might be considered public and private aspects of her art, though in both pursuits, her expressive and deeply internalized playing belies any simplistic division between the two. In this 2018 Warner Classics release of Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 1 and George Enescu's Octet for strings in C major, Op. 7, Frang meets all expectations of a virtuoso soloist in the former work and takes a more collaborative approach in the latter, yet between them there is an overlapping of musical aims. Introspection is the dominant mood in the first movement of Bartók's youthful concerto, and Frang maintains a controlled lyricism that is both melancholy and ardent, only to be dispelled by the brusque second movement, which calls for flashiness and extroversion. However, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is held in check by conductor Mikko Franck, so Frang's moody solos are never overwhelmed by the accompaniment, which sometimes is quite loud. The string octet in Enescu's work is surprisingly full-sounding and resembles a string orchestra in its volume and richness, though Frang's distinctive sound is never lost in the mix. Yet for all the rustic hubbub of this energetic music, Frang conveys a pensiveness in the intimate third movement that reminds the listener that this is still chamber music, not a concerto. Warner's recorded sound seems a bit manipulated to even out the wide dynamics in the Bartók and the booming acoustics in the Enescu, which contribute to the octet's unnaturally big sound.

© TiVo

[jimtranr]

SACD rip. Paray's lively conducting and the Wilma Cozart-overseen DSD transfer make this a listening delight.

(Saw Paray conduct Wagner's Flying Dutchman overture when he brought the Detroit to the University of Florida in 1962. That was a lively experience, too.)