What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[jimtranr]

Einojuhani Rautavaara's first three symphonies conducted by Max Pommer with the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. This spacious and ultra-transparent Ondine release was recorded in a church. A CD rip.

[eljr]

Simpson: Geysir and Mozart: Gran Partita

Mark Simpson, Fraser Langton (clarinet), Nicholas Daniel, Emma Fielding (oboe), Amy Harman, Dom Tyler (bassoon), Oliver Pashley, Ausias Garrigos Morant (basset horns), Ben Goldscheider, Angela Barnes, James Pillai, Fabian van de Geest (horn), David Stark (double bass)

Release Date: 20th Nov 2020
Catalogue No: ORC100150
Label: Orchid Classics
Length: 57 minutes

Presto Recordings of the Year
Finalist 2020

Presto Recording of the Week
4th December 2020

Presto Recordings of the Year
Winner 2020

[bart]

This Extended Play was very enjoyable but alas too short (I guess a longer version will follow):

Verdi - Fragments Part 1 "Traviata"
musicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis
Qobuz 24/96

[bart]

Nielsen - Ibert - Arnold - Flute Concertos
Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Jaime Martín
Clara Andrada, flute
Qobuz 24/48




I enjoyed this one.
Andrada is very fine flutist.

[bart]

Buxtehude - Cantates pour voix seule - Manuscrits d'Uppsala
La Rêveuse,
Qobuz 24/96




This got a 5 De Diapason, and other awards.
When you like Bach's Cantatas, you'll probably like these too, only a little bit less (Bach rules!).
Works also from Tunder, Förtsch, Schütz, and Geist.

[bart]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Saint-Saëns: Sonates & Trio
Renaud Capuçon (violin), Edgar Moreau (cello), Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
Erato (2020), via Qobuz

From this week’s Presto newsletter. A very nice new release.

Originally Posted by bart

Tony, just listened to this.
I had it on my list because our classical radio station 'Klara' chose it as their album of the month.
A true delight: the works, the performance, the sound!

Good albums deserve to be heard again!

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Back from a seminar (listened to a LOT of classical during the travel!) and now enjoying yet another performer of the music of one of my favourite composers:

Mr. de Sainte Colombe - Pièces de viole
Paolo Pandolfo
Thomas Boysen, theorbo & baroque guitar



I am glad I have just discovered another truly great viola da gamba player.
This disc is great.

I've played this disc a lot of times, and am now streaming it.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by bart

Good albums deserve to be heard again!

Quite the prodigy Camille Saint Saens was.

Saint-Saëns was born in Paris on October 9, 1835. He was one of the most precocious musicians ever, beginning piano lessons with his aunt at two-and-a-half and composing his first work at three.

At age seven he studied composition with Pierre Maledin. When he was ten, he gave a concert that included Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto, Mozart's B flat Concerto, K. 460, along with works by Bach, Handel, and Hummel. In his academic studies, he displayed the same genius, learning languages and advanced mathematics with ease and celerity. He would also develop keen, lifelong interests in geology and astronomy.



Capucon/Moreau/Chamayou are all very talented musicians.


It is a very enjoyable album Bart.

[bart]

Marin Marais
Sainte-Colombe - The Greatest Masterworks
Spectre de la Rose
via Qobuz




Roon brought me to yet other splendid performers of these masterpieces that I adore so much.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Listening again to:

Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe et ses filles
Philippe Pierlot
Lucille Boulanger
Myriam Rignol
Rolf Lislevand
Qobuz 24/96




This is like a "greatest hits of" album, and it is extremely well played and recorded.
I've been a huge fan of French viola da gamba music since watching the movie 'Tous Les Matins Du Monde', and I can play Marais Marais and Sainte-Colombe over and over and over again.
The quality of performance here is equal to Jordi Savall's, and it has better sound.

Having become a film star (played by actor Jean-Pierre Marielle, who was passionate about music), Monsieur de Saint Colombe comes to us here from the comfort of his own home where he gave concerts which proved very popular with amateur musicians as well as his two daughters. His repertoire mainly consisted of dances, namely stylised dances intended for “the personal and tranquil enjoyment” of enlightened listeners. These dances were composed in suites from the middle of the 17th century onwards and follow on from one another in an order that was gradually established over time, from the most dignified or the noblest (and slowest) to the liveliest.

Not only was Jean de Sainte-Colombe admired for the grace and stability of his left-hand technique, but also for his use of silver-spun strings which were very much in vogue in France at the time and added a prestigious aesthetic to his music. He was widely praised for his beautiful playing and his way of reaching chords with beautiful dissonances that lifted the spirits of his learned and cultured audience.

Philippe Pierlot (primary artist, bass viol), Lucile Boulanger (bass viol) and Myriam Rignol (bass viol) invite us into this mysterious and sophisticated world on this album, with a collaboration from Rolf Lislevand on theorbo for two of the pieces. Playing excerpts from his Pieces in D, in G and in C, it becomes clear why the composer was hailed by many during the era of Louis XIV as the “Orpheus of his age”; a legendary musician in ancient Greek mythology. © François Hudry/Qobuz

This album is maybe the one to start with if you're not familiar with Sainte-Colombe.
The performances leave nothing to be desired and the sound is impeccable.