What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[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

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Not many beyond the obvious.

If you say so. I've seen only the obvious.

[nicoff]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Not many beyond the obvious.

She must have other talents beyond the obvious because others with talents similar to her "obvious" talent have not done what she has been able to do with her talent.

[bart]

Originally Posted by Kal Rubinson

If you say so. I've seen only the obvious.

Kal, good to see you around here.
I read that you wrote your last 'Music In The Round' article.
We're going to miss that!

[bart]

Mahler - Symphony no. 7
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer




My first listen to the SACD.
Not the most exciting symphony of Mahler, but as always a solid performance by the Budapesters, and a very good recording.
Our tickets for the Bruges June '20 concerts are booked!

[clpetersen]

I have a part-time interest in classical and rely on knowledgeable folks as I gain experience - this thread and often Gramophones' recommendations.

Below is their list of recommended piano concertos - what makes this enjoyable is I can access the playlist from QoBuz or Spotify and go directly into my system. From there I will downselect and purchase a few of the recommendations for the home library.

Any comments on their selections? alternates?

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature...iano-concertos

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
Maureen Forrester & Richard Lewis, soloists



Oh my God, this is beautiful, every time I listen to it a bit more...

It was a while ago that I listened to this.
It keeps on improving each time.

[bart]

Originally Posted by clpetersen

I have a part-time interest in classical and rely on knowledgeable folks as I gain experience - this thread and often Gramophones' recommendations.

Below is their list of recommended piano concertos - what makes this enjoyable is I can access the playlist from QoBuz or Spotify and go directly into my system. From there I will downselect and purchase a few of the recommendations for the home library.

Any comments on their selections? alternates?

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature...iano-concertos

Solid performances!
Thank you for sharing.

[bart]

Dowland - 'Whose Heavenly Touch'
Mariana Flores
Hopkinson Smith
Qobuz 24/96




A great album for Dowland lovers.
The Argentinian singer does a great job, Smith is always good on his lute.

"In his darker works, one is abandoned at the depths of a dry well, far from any light, alone with ogres and demons, and just as Dowland goes to extremes in his textual allusions, in a like manner he will twist and turn the lutenist’s hands to wring the excruciating essence from the text. In another moment, he can elicit an almost ferocious capriciousness with as many colours as a rainbow where the lute, which was his instrument of torture a few minutes before, suddenly rises to unexpected heights of lightness and eloquent folly."
It is in such passionate terms as these that lutist Hopkinson Smith describes the music that John Dowland selected for his instrument. This new album dedicated to his famous songs could seem sacrilegious to some aficionados. But the simple music-lover will find in it a source of unparalleled delight. Hopkinson Smith and Mariana Florès have changed the original text by transposing and altering some pages. Anticipating the indignation that such liberties might inspire, the performers point out, correctly, that in those days musical pragmatism was the spice of creativity. Dowland himself left behind several variants of his most famous works.
Argentine soprano Mariana Florès threw herself into this project, both a labour of love and a departure for a performer who tends to sing in Romance languages. With the help of a coach, she has found the perfect English pronunciation, chiselling every syllable with care, working with her lutist friend to find the best colour for Dowland's language and music. It's this mixture of a firm vision and artistic freedom that gives this record such a uniquely enchanting tone. © François Hudry/Qobuz

[bart]

Mieczysław Weinberg - Chamber Music
Gidon Kremer - Yulianna Avdeeva - Giedre Dirvanauskaite
via Qobuz




First listen.