What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[ehoove]

Bach's Tops Vol 1
Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York
Richard Kapp Conductor
Very enjoyable LP!
CBS Records 36339
Regards,
Jim

[joel_hifi]

Tony, listening to the Janos Starker's 1963 recording of Bach's No.2 &. No.5 Cello Suites (SR90370) on Mercury Living Presence 2022 Abbey Road Studios remaster, pretty good

Has anyone heard the other recent Mercury Living Presence Vinyl Series 2 re-issues?

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Earlier:
Bach: Suites for Solo Cello
Janos Starker
RCA Red Seal 1997

This is Starker's last recording of Bach's cello suites. I don't have earlier versions of his and perhaps should get the Mercury Living Presence on vinyl for comparison, but this one done late in his career strikes me as particularly emotionally engaging, if not always technically perfect. I think my favorite recording of the celo suites will always be Rostropovich, followed by maybe my old scratchy Casals, but this comes close.

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by joel_hifi

Tony, listening to the Janos Starker's 1963 recording of Bach's No.2 &. No.5 Cello Suites (SR90370) on Mercury Living Presence 2022 Abbey Road Studios remaster, pretty good



Has anyone heard the other recent Mercury Living Presence Vinyl Series 2 re-issues?

I haven’t heard them but will look for them. In the meantime, I acquired the Speakers Corner vinyl reissue of Starker’s 1966 recording, it’s really excellent as well.
IMG_3973.JPG

[joel_hifi]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

I haven’t heard them but will look for them. In the meantime, I acquired the Speakers Corner vinyl reissue of Starker’s 1966 recording, it’s really excellent as well.
Attachment 67521

Excellent, will look for that set, thanks!

[bart]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

I haven’t heard them but will look for them. In the meantime, I acquired the Speakers Corner vinyl reissue of Starker’s 1966 recording, it’s really excellent as well.
Attachment 67521

I heard that, on a turntable!
Fantastic performance.

[bart]

Mozart - Mozart en famille
Sigiswald, Marie & Sara Kuijken
Qobuz 24/96




This is a recording of the exact programme as a concert my wife and I organised in November last year, in a local church.
It was a great evening!

This recording of Mozart chamber music can be listened to as a pleasant private concert "en famille". The choice of the works is dictated solely by the specific instruments played by the three family members: violin, viola and keyboard. This is not a usual instrumentation in the chamber music repertoire, yet it is this combination that has given rise to a pleasantly varied programme - thanks to Mozart's inexhaustible genius!

The Sonata in C major, K. 296 is dated Mannheim, 11 March 1778. Mozart had left Salzburg with his mother in September 1777 to try his luck in Paris, but musical and amorous reasons caused him to spend five months in the musical city of Mannheim before he continued his journey to Paris. Mozart wrote the two Duos for violin and viola (K. 423 and K. 424) in 1783, when he was in Salzburg for a few weeks. In the first of the two duets (K. 423, in G major, recorded here), it is immediately obvious how both instruments are treated equally: both parts are extremely concertante, the dialogue is very intense. We also realise how well Mozart (who himself was an accomplished violin virtuoso, and also enjoyed playing the viola) understood and exploited the possibilities and the separate characters of the violin and the viola from within.

The Fantasy in D minor for fortepiano (K. 397) is a rare gem in the keyboard literature - the composition date is estimated to be around 1782. Mozart is without doubt among all composers the one who has the most intimate relationship with the D minor mystery - think for example of his String Quartet in D minor (K. 421), his Piano Concerto K. 466, and of course his Requiem, K. 626 - in all these works the D minor key stands for a deep, dark but not depressing energy. It is as if Mozart wants us to feel and see how fatality is inevitably part of the unspeakable mystery of life and suffering. But at the same time he testifies how strong the deeply hidden positive forces continue to propel everything, eternally and indestructibly. Here, Mozart reaches into the deepest abysses.

The so-called "Kegelstatt" Trio, K. 498, dated 5th of August, 1786, was originally intended for clarinet, viola and keyboard. In the printed edition of this trio, Mozart had the clarinet part replaced by a violin part, and mentioned the original clarinet part as an alternative to the violin - surely this would have boosted sales. This recording presents the printed version of this work (with violin in stead of clarinet), in which the lower notes of the clarinet part have been very judiciously shifted to higher regions, within the violin range.

The key of E-flat major is a constant reminder of Mozart's Masonic affiliation. Wolfgang received great material support on several occasions from lodge brothers, and perhaps the Kegelstatt-story is referring to joint recreation among like-minded friends.

The keyboard instrument played for this recording is a faithful copy (by Chris Maene, Ruiselede-Belgium) of a fortepiano built ca 1785 by Johann Andreas Stein in Augsburg. Mozart was a great friend of this instrument builder. The size of J. A. Stein's fortepianos is basically comparable with the harpsichords of his time. © Challenge Records

[bart]

Johan Wilhelm Wilms - The Piano Concertos Vol. 1
Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
Ronald Brautigam, fortepiano
Qobuz 24/96




At first, you think: "Is this early Mozart?".
Then you listen closer, and you notice it hasn't the genius of Mozart.
Still quite nice music, and when I read about the 'Dutch Beethoven', I knew he must have heard Mozart's works before he composed these pieces.

Born in the vicinity of Cologne, only two years after and some sixty km distant from Beethoven, Johann Wilhelm Wilms was once a musical force to be reckoned with. In Amsterdam, where he lived from the age of 19, his music was actually performed more frequently than Beethoven’s at one period, and his orchestral works were played in such musical centres as Leipzig. Besides chamber music and solo sonatas Wilms composed several symphonies and solo concertos (for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and cello) as well as piano concertos for his own use, five of which were published between 1799 and 1820. Two more have been lost. He also appeared regularly as soloist in concertos by other composers.

But already during his lifetime Wilms began to retreat from the public eye, whether because of setbacks in his private life or because he was disillusioned with the superficial tastes of the Amsterdam audiences. By the time of his death in 1847, he was remembered almost exclusively as the composer of the then national anthem.

In time for the 250th anniversary of Wilms’ birth, Ronald Brautigam has edited the five extant piano concertos by "the Dutch Beethoven" and presents the first three here, with No. 4 and No. 5 to follow in a second volume. © BIS Records

[joel_hifi]

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 9
Georg Solti/LSO, 1967 Recording

Listening on vinyl (Decca, first pressing)

[joel_hifi]

J.S. Bach - Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042
Steven Staryk, Boyd Neel/Toronto Chamber Orchestra

Listening on vinyl (Umbrella UMB-DD9, 1977)

A pretty good direct-to-disc recording under the Canadian 'Umbrella' label, German pressed until 1978, later re-issued by the US 'UltraFi' label, small catalogs but worth checking them out

[ehoove]

Williams: Violin Concerto No.2
and selected Film Themes
Boston Philharmonic
John Williams Conducting
Deutsche Grammophon B09S25BWCP
Streaming in HD,
Jim