What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Mark Andre - Hij
WDR Sinfonieorchester, Mariano Chiacchiarini
SWR Vokalensemble, Marcus Creed
SWR Experimentalstudio
via Qobuz




If you have the patience to sit this through, the work of this contemporary composer (°64) proves to be worthy of your time.
Special experience.

The second piece is the one to play several times.
A remarkable journey.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Maya Fridman - Red Velvet
Qobuz 24/96




A cello journey with works from modern composers.
Kaveh Vares even wrote the title track especially for Fridman.

This is very intense music, played with vigour, and recorded by one of the best sound engineers of this planet.

[bart]

Benedetto Marcello - Amanti - Cantatas for bass
Sergio Foresti
Ensemble Due Venti
Qobuz 24/96




My wife liked this.
I found it a bit too bland.
Compared to Bach's Cantatas, and also the French ones, this is a little too monotonous.

[bart]

BACH
BEFORE BACH
Chouchane Siranossian
Balázs Máté
Leonardo García Alarcón
Qobuz 24/96




Music from Bach himself, but also from Carlo Farina, Georg Muffat, Johan Paul Von Westhoff and Andreas Anton Schmelzer.
Siranossian plays marvellously, as usual.
Maté and Alarcón do a great accompanying job.
This is a great album.

[bart]

Erich Wolfgang Korngold - String Quartet No. 2 & 3
Alma Quartet
via Qobuz




We quite enjoyed this.
Also on D2D vinyl.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) was a genius. Naturally he was most widely known and rewarded as one of the founding composers of Hollywood film music, but he is not a particularly well-known composer in the classical music world. His three String Quartets are surely masterpieces and can be seen as modern tone poems imbued with beautiful melancholy and Viennese charm. A child prodigy, Korngold wrote some of the most heart-wrenching melodies, which are sure to leave any listener longing for more.

His String Quartet No. 2, Op. 26 (1933) was written just before Korngold moved to Hollywood and is full of musical imagery of Vienna, with gestures towards the waltzes of Johan Strauss II as well as the intricate lyricism of Richard Strauss. A fierce anti-serialist, Korngold was determined that it was still possible to stretch the boundaries of tonality without adapting to the 12-tone technique. The String Quartet No. 3, Op. 34 (1945) is full of themes that he used in his film scores and was written when Korngold was suffering from deep depression. The quartet is much darker.

Why did the Alma Quartet choose to tackle Korngold’s music for this unique project of a direct-to-disc recording on vinyl? The music resonates deeply with its members, as it represents the epitome of late romanticism and lyrical expression. Each member of the Alma Quartet has a profound love for romantic music and after listening to some recordings of his quartets they knew instantly these were the perfect fit for us. It was definitely a challenge to understand the idiom in Korngold’s writing. What makes a direct-to-disc recording so special? Without doubt, it is the most honest way of recording. What the listener can hear is what you get, with no editing whatsoever. It is thus a studio recording with all of the nuances and thrill of a live performance. Evidently, the process is extremely strenuous and challenging. It is necessary to make sure that the performance is as perfect as can be, but you also have to take into account the fact that perfection is simply not feasible. But the question is whether or not perfection is truly exciting and honest. © Challenge Records

[bart]

Sheku & Isata Kanneh - Mason - Muse
Qobuz 24/96




Works of Barber and Rachmaninov.
Album of the week at Presto Classical.


Despite the Covid pandemic, the Kanneh-Mason siblings probably didn't have too much trouble finding the right partners to make music with. The whole family is bursting with young talent, all seven children are professional classical instrumentalists, and accordingly one imagines the lockdown in the Kanneh-Mason household would've been very musical.
Fortunately, this productivity has also been recorded for all outsiders - at least as far as Isata (piano) and her brother Sheku (cello) are concerned. Both siblings have already been highly praised several times for their solo projects, and now they are releasing their first album together, Muse, as a duo on Decca.


Isata and Sheku have already performed both Rachmaninoff's and Samuel Barber's cello sonatas together in concert around the world. When their tour had to be interrupted in 2020 due to the pandemic, the duo decided to simply move this unique music into a recording studio.
With Barber's Cello Sonata, Op. 6 from the 1930s as well as some arrangements of his songs, the two performers give us a wonderful insight into the still lesser-known repertoire. One quickly gets the impression that it was a great pleasure for both of them to discover the dramatic work and to get to know Barber down to the smallest detail. The highlight of the disc, however, is probably the Rachmaninoff recordings. The wonderful Muza from his 14 Romances, Op. 34 is not only the album's namesake, but also conveys a perfect symbiosis between cello and piano. Without relegating either instrument to the background, the performers rather get the best out of the other. This becomes even clearer in the Cello Sonata, Op. 19, which the composer himself describes as an equal work between piano and cello. Although Rachmaninoff did not stray too often into chamber music, Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason manage to elevate it to one of his supreme disciplines. A family project that is more than successful. © Lena Germann/Qobuz

[eljr]

Originally Posted by bart

Sheku & Isata Kanneh - Mason - Muse
Qobuz 24/96




Works of Barber and Rachmaninov.
Album of the week at Presto Classical.


Despite the Covid pandemic, the Kanneh-Mason siblings probably didn't have too much trouble finding the right partners to make music with. The whole family is bursting with young talent, all seven children are professional classical instrumentalists, and accordingly one imagines the lockdown in the Kanneh-Mason household would've been very musical.
Fortunately, this productivity has also been recorded for all outsiders - at least as far as Isata (piano) and her brother Sheku (cello) are concerned. Both siblings have already been highly praised several times for their solo projects, and now they are releasing their first album together, Muse, as a duo on Decca.


Isata and Sheku have already performed both Rachmaninoff's and Samuel Barber's cello sonatas together in concert around the world. When their tour had to be interrupted in 2020 due to the pandemic, the duo decided to simply move this unique music into a recording studio.
With Barber's Cello Sonata, Op. 6 from the 1930s as well as some arrangements of his songs, the two performers give us a wonderful insight into the still lesser-known repertoire. One quickly gets the impression that it was a great pleasure for both of them to discover the dramatic work and to get to know Barber down to the smallest detail. The highlight of the disc, however, is probably the Rachmaninoff recordings. The wonderful Muza from his 14 Romances, Op. 34 is not only the album's namesake, but also conveys a perfect symbiosis between cello and piano. Without relegating either instrument to the background, the performers rather get the best out of the other. This becomes even clearer in the Cello Sonata, Op. 19, which the composer himself describes as an equal work between piano and cello. Although Rachmaninoff did not stray too often into chamber music, Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason manage to elevate it to one of his supreme disciplines. A family project that is more than successful. © Lena Germann/Qobuz

I had just placed this in my queue when I found this.

[eljr]

Spatial Audio - The 3D Orchestral Collection

Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Marko Letonja

Release Date: 15th Oct 2021
Catalogue No: 9029641808
Label: Warner Classics
Length: 74 minutes

I put on my headphones for this. We shall see...

[bart]

Originally Posted by eljr

Spatial Audio - The 3D Orchestral Collection

Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Marko Letonja

Release Date: 15th Oct 2021
Catalogue No: 9029641808
Label: Warner Classics
Length: 74 minutes

I put on my headphones for this. We shall see...

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by eljr

Spatial Audio - The 3D Orchestral Collection

Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Marko Letonja

Release Date: 15th Oct 2021
Catalogue No: 9029641808
Label: Warner Classics
Length: 74 minutes

I put on my headphones for this. We shall see...

Not impressive in ATMOS.