What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

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Debussy - Chopin - Mussorgsky
Behzod Abduraimov
Qobuz 24/192




He can certainly play the piano!

Behzod Abduraimov joins Alpha for several recordings, starting with this ‘kaleidoscope of miniatures’ – miniatures that are in fact fairly gigantic, and showcase the Uzbek pianist’s extreme virtuosity and sensitivity. ‘Each movement is in itself a miniature, and taken together they form a kaleidoscope of human emotions and images of all kinds’, says Behzod Abduraimov.
In his view, the pieces in Debussy’s Children’s Corner are not intended for young piano students, but ‘for adults, so that they can immerse themselves in the world of children with a little nostalgia and a lot of humour’. When it comes to Chopin, ‘each prelude has a different musical essence, creates its own atmosphere. Together they form an arc spanning the distance from the first prelude to the last. So I tried to consider them as a whole’.

Finally, Mussorgsky evokes in ten highly expressive movements the paintings at an exhibition held in posthumous tribute to his friend Viktor Hartmann. A ‘Promenade’ heard several times suggests Mussorgsky himself strolling through the exhibition. For Behzod Abduraimov, ‘the “Promenades” play a key role in this cycle: they create the atmosphere before each painting’.
Born in 1990, Behzod Abduraimov is one of the most promising pianists of his generation. © Alpha Classics

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Originally Posted by Antonmb

Bach: Little Books
“Music from the Bach family circle”
Francesco Corti, Harpsichord
Arcana/Outhere Music (2020), via Qobuz

This was a Gramophone recommendation, and I enjoyed it allot. From the album site at Outhere Music:

“A world renowned international soloist and harpsichord teacher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Francesco Corti embarks a collaboration with Arcana with a musical journey through the manuscripts of the Bach family, beginning with the two books belonging to Johann Sebastian’s brother (the Möller and Andreas Bach manuscripts) and leading to the famous Büchleine for Anna Magdalena and Wilhelm Friedemann. The programme presents three major keyboard works by J. S. Bach (BWV 815, 992 and 998) that are preserved in ‘domestic’ copies.

Combined with works by the most important musical figures in Bach’s musical life: Böhm, one of his teachers; Kuhnau, his predecessor as Thomaskantor; Telemann, friend and godfather to Bach’s second son Carl Philipp Emanuel; Hasse and François Couperin. The resulting programme is an unconventional Bachian harpsichord recital, a mixture of different genres and composers, that is probably much closer to the ‘home concert’ of the period than to the standard modern recital.”

The sound is excellent, and the harpsichord has a beautiful tone.

Tony, this is very very good!
Performance is magnificent, and the recording (24/96) is truly spectacular (in the best way).

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Bruce Brubaker - Glass Piano
Qobuz 24/44.1




These compositions remain mesmerising...

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Lavinia Meijer - Voyage
Qobuz 24/96




What a terrific musician Meijer is.
Her harp playing is magical.
This album offers a very artistic booklet.

It's been a while since someone has issued harp recitals that have consistently captured the public imagination, but harpist Lavinia Meijer has shown strong programming instincts in albums that have done just that. Voyage (the title referent is pretty general) is an excellent example. After recording several albums for Channel Classics, Meijer was signed to Sony and released an album of works by Ludovico Einaudi to popular acclaim but mixed critical reception. Here she has threaded classical and crossover styles together very nicely, mixing standard-fare harp arrangements of the likes of Clair de lune and Satie with selections from the Amélie soundtrack of French composer Yann Tiersen. From Satie to Tiersen, Meijer says, is a "short step." Maybe, but many listeners will experience the Tiersen pieces as moments of relaxation, of clarification of the denser textures and significations of the French repertory pieces. There is no doubt that Tiersen is an evocative melodist, and Meijer brings out the film's slightly nostalgic flavor of romantic comedy. Recording the harp is engineering's black belt, and those worried that Sony would not be able to match the legendary sonics of Channel Classics can set their minds at ease: Meijer's harp has a startling presence, and the balances in the pieces with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta are excellent. The booklet, featuring artwork by Jeroen Krabbé, is another plus. Strongly recommended.

© TiVo

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Górecki - Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Warsaw Philharmonic, Kazimierz Kord
Joanna Kozlowska, soprano
via Qobuz




Haunting...
One of the most moving pieces across all genres.

[PHC1]

Anna Clyne's cello concerto DANCE was written for cellist Inbal Segev, who plays and fully inhabits it here, with the London Philharmonic under Marin Alsop. It's an extraordinary work that is well worth your time and, with this fine engineering, your money. Ready stylistic comparisons and descriptions do not spring easily to mind, which is all to the good.

Clyne's idiom might superficially be called neo-Romantic, and the work's passionate idiom makes it a good pairing with the Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, that closes out the album (it's also notable that the two works were composed exactly 100 years apart). Yet there is really nothing "neo" about Clyne's work: its language is fresh. There are few melodies, and those that there are, serve the purpose of evoking folk traditions rather than serving as building blocks for the structure. Instead, Clyne sometimes uses energetic cello configurations that sound like Steve Reich's "gradual processes," although she is no minimalist, either: she's far too emotionally intense for that.

The 17th century Ruggieri cello Segev plays is part of the fervent sound too. The title DANCE comes from a five-line poem by Rumi, of which the first word of each line is "dance"; the five movement titles come from the rest of each line. Clyne's style is something that must be experienced to be understood, but the fact that it fully stands up to the Elgar concerto, played well, should tell prospective listeners something. https://www.allmusic.com/album/anna-...o-mw0003378579

[jimtranr]

CD rip.

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Gorecki - Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of sorrowful Songs"
Zofia Kilanowicz, soprano
National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki, conductor
DSD64




This might be the most gripping version I have of this masterpiece.
Currently listening in stereo, but soon in multichannel!
The dynamic range of this recording is fantastic.

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Gaspar Sanz - Santiago de Murcia - Spanish Guitar Music
Jakob Lindberg
via Qobuz




This was playing in the practice earlier.

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Johannes Ockeghem - Les Chansons
Cut Circle, Jesse Rodin
Qobuz 24/88.2




There is one piece from Josquin des Prez also, but for the rest it is Ockeghem all the way.
Well recorded, well sung with careful diction.
Extensive and beautifully illustrated booklet with all songs in old French, translated into 4 languages (French, English, Dutch and German).

These interpretations are not smooth, so unlike some ensembles tend to bring them.
Cut Circle reminds me of Grain de la Voix, which also brings polyphony in an attractively edged way.

Recommendation in the Fanfare Magazine.