What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by bart

Johannes Brahms - Piano Concertos
András Schiff
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Qobuz 24/96




Schiff plays on a period instrument (a Blüthner piano, Leipzig, c. 1859) and conducts.
What marvellous pieces these 2 concertos are!

This is excellent Bart, don’t know why it took me so long to find this.

[Formerly YB-2]

Happy 266th B'Day to WA Mozart.

Listening to the MHS recording of Mozart's, Eugene List, Vienna Chamber Orchestra & Helmuth Froschauer - Piano Concerts No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 and No. 25 in C Major, K. 503. Do miss the MHS.

[eljr]

[eljr]

[eljr]

[bart]

Philippe Pierlot - Meditation
Qobuz 24/44.1




Absolutely beautiful!
We're blessed with such good solo viola da gamba albums lately.

What a treat to have a first solo album from Philippe Pierlot, the Belgian viola da gamba player best known for being the director of the Ricercar Ensemble, and what a double treat for it then to sound so absolutely ravishing.

In programming terms alone, “Meditation” is a joy for its combination of variety and musicological storytelling. A charting of the viola da gamba’s time in the sun via the music of its finest exponents, it opens with a selection of airs from Tobias Hume’s (1579-1645) The First Part of Ayres of 1605, which was the first complete collection of pieces for solo viola da gamba to be published on British shores. From there it’s a hop over the Channel to celebrate the instrument’s heyday in France. First for a handful of sarabandes and courantes, plus a chaconne, from Monsieur de Sainte Colombe (1640-1700). Then Les Voix humaines by Marin Marais (1656-1728), before returning to British shores for a few pieces by Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787), whose love for the fast-becoming-unfashionable viol saw him adapt his own pre-Classical style to something closer to that of his family friend and onetime teacher Johann Sebastian Bach. Pierlot then winds things up with his own transcriptions of two German works – the Prélude, Sarabande and Menuet from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, and a Meditation for harpsichord piece that Johann Jakob Froberger wrote on a trip to Paris in 1660.

Recorded in Santa Maria di Micciano, the performances themselves have been captured with vibrant-toned intimacy, and a nice amount of church acoustic in the mix; and while there’s audible breathing, I’m inclined to think that it’s worth it for the pleasure of being really able to appreciate the timbres of hair catching – and of subtle mid-bow modulations in weight and attack – on gut string. Pierlot’s Thomas Allred 1635 viola da gamba meanwhile fully lives up to the viola da gamba’s ‘ambassador’ nickname with its mahogany’s sweetness, and Pierlot’s actual playing is as beguiling in the rhythmic rise and fall of an up-tempo Sarabande as in his programme’s many slower-spun lyrical moments. As for the album title, this refers to the programme’s first and last pieces, which serve as an ear-pricking way to finish by coming full circle, while having moved to an altogether different and more exotic place in stylistic and harmonic terms. Don’t leave too soon either, because as the Froberger’s final chord dies away there’s an inspired postscript in the form of far-off church bell chimes. © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz

[ehoove]

Murray Perahia plays Bach
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Murray Perahia - Piano and Conductor
Jaime Martin - Flute
Kenneth Sillito - Violin
I really like this offering controlled and yet very vibrant and engaging!
Sony Classical SK 87326
Regards,
Jim

[bart]

Sarah Aristidou - Æther
Qobuz 24/48




Quite an eclectic journey.
And what a voice this lady has!

The French-Cypriot soprano Sarah Aristidou joins Alpha and here presents her very first album. Twice named "Best Newcomer" by Opernwelt for two contemporary creations, she is a favourite interpreter of Jörg Widmann who has already written two works for her, and has sung under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle and François-Xavier Roth. Barenboim opened the doors of Berlin to her and the Orchester des Wandels, a group of musicians from several German orchestras, including the Staatskapelle Berlin, who have set themselves the objective of practising their art in a way that protects the planet: limiting the carbon footprint in all their activities, including this album. The packaging of the physical version is plastic-free and printed with organic ink. Alpha also supports the reforestation programme in Madagascar initiated by the orchestra.

In addition to the encounter between the young singer and the unique orchestra, this project is also the result of Sarah’s passion for Iceland (the land of Aether par excellence?). Along with the director and photographer Weronika Izdebska, she has created a film exalting the natural world which will be shown in Berlin in November 2021 as part of an installation presenting the entire programme. © Alpha Classics

[bart]

Tye - Complete Consort Music
Phantasm
Qobuz 24/96




Excellent suggestion by a good friend.
Splendid production.

[Formerly YB-2]

Verdi’s Rigoletto - Metropolitan Opera's Saturday broadcast from WRTI, 90.1. Kelsey does a particularly good job as Rigoletto as does Feola as Gilda.
Daniele Rustioni; Quinn Kelsey (Rigoletto), Rosa Feola (Gilda), Piotr Beczała (The Duke of Mantua), Andrea Mastroni (Sparafucile), Varduhi Abrahamyan (Maddalena)