What Classical Music Are You Listening To Tonight?

[bart]

Christoph Graupner - Jauchzet, ihr Himmel, freue dich, Erde - Bassoon Cantatas
Kirchheimer BachConsort, Florian Heyerick
via Qobuz




When you search this thread, you'll see I'm a Graupner fan.
Comes close to Bach, who still remains the greatest of them all.
Heyerick continues his journey of reviving this great composer.

Spirited bassoon Cantatas. During the eighteenth century the knowledge that the bassoon could very well rise up to the virtuosic spheres was reserved for only rather small circles of hearers. After all, the employment of this instrument depended directly on the particular musician’s capabilities in playing technique. In April 1736 a new bassoon star in the person of Johann Christian Klotsch came from Zerbst to Darmstadt. Christoph Graupner must have been extremely delighted to work with this talented musician; Klotsch had only recently been under contract in Darmstadt when he was given multiple opportunities to demonstrate his bassoonist’s skill in the Sunday cantatas. Since Graupner loved to experiment with innovative tone colors, he increasingly placed the bassoon in the spotlight in his cantatas. This development reached its height in 1741 with bassoon parts of concerto character in sixteen different cantatas.

Sergio Azzolini is currently a star of today’s Baroque scene. When he plays his bassoon, the music is brought to life, and on this album with vocal soloists and the Kirchheim BachConsort he has “revived” (in the truest sense of the term) church cantatas with obbligato bassoon by Graupner. Sergio Azzolini comments: “The Baroque bassoon is fragile. And this fits this music because the music too is fragile. The Baroque bassoon is one part, and the player has to do the rest, that is, our body. For this reason we are also very close to the singer. And I believe that Graupner understood that, and it was precisely this that he celebrated”. © CPO

[bart]

Earlier today, I listened to this album:

Senaillé - Leclair - Générations: Sonates pour violon et clavecin
Théotime Langlois de Swarte
William Christie
Qobuz 24/192




An interesting cooperation!

To say that young French baroque violin star Théotime Langlois de Swarte has begun his solo recording career with a bang of prolificity and brilliance is something of an understatement. First, in 2020, we had “The Mad Lover”, a beautifully conceived and executed concept album exploring the 17th century English notion of melancholy via composers such as Henry Purcell and John Eccles. Then at the start of 2021 came Proust, “Le Concert retrouvé”, recreating a 1907 concert at the Paris Ritz programmed and hosted by Marcel Proust. Now here’s “Générations”, an album every bit as fine as its predecessors, with also a couple of key differences.

Topmost of these is that, while Langlois de Swarte’s chamber partners for those first two albums were rising stars of his own generation, in the form of lutenist Thomas Dunford for “The Mad Lover” and pianist Tanguy de Williencourt for Proust, his “Générations” partner is fifty years his senior – early music luminary, William Christie, with whose Les Arts Florissants Langlois de Swarte plays in addition to his own period ensemble Le Consort. Then also because this isn’t so much a concept album as one aiming to ignite modern interest in a forgotten star of early eighteenth century French instrumental music, Jean-Baptiste Senaillé (1697-1764), by placing his sonatas alongside those of a famous violinist figure of the generation just above him, Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1730). What both composers have in common is their melding of Italian virtuosity with French music’s characteristic elegance, melodicism and dance allusions.

It almost goes without saying that Christie and Langlois de Swarte make for a delectable musical match, but the closeness of the partnership really does shine out. The recording sessions took place in the living room of Christie’s home in the Vendée, giving them both an intimate environment with no time constraints, and the album opens with one of the fruits of that privileged set-up: a lyrically melancholic Gavotte in E minor by Leclair, originally for two violins, which the pair transcribed for harpsichord and violin, Christie adding a second melody line for himself.

As for Senaillé, “a minor figure but a great master”, is how Christie himself describes him, and that analysis feels spot on. Take the Sonata in G minor, Op. 1 No. 6 from his Premier Livre de Sonates à violon seul avec la basse continue, published in Paris in 1710, whose opening Largo prelude strikes instantly for its emotional intensity, and for the satiny smoothness with which Langlois de Swarte delivers his violin line’s wide intervallic leaps; and the pair produce something very special as they dig deep into its dark mournfulness. Pleasures of a different shape then come with the concluding Gavotte’s virtuosic violin writing, including ear-grabbing double-stopped passages. Or for a particularly colourful instance of Senaillé taking the Italian style and making it his own, jump to the final Allegro assai of his third book’s Sonata in D major, Op. 3 No. 10 (this one published 1716): a syncopated, stabbing bass drone from the harpsichord to start, onto which the violin dances a rustic folky melody which later incorporates cuckoo call bariolage – a Vivaldian motif in itself, but one that’s here thoroughly reimagined into a French musical style. Essentially, you can hear exactly why all five of Senaillé books of sonatas were reprinted numerous times in his lifetime. Also why, for Langlois de Swarte, the only way is up. © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Bach - Dialogkantaten BWV 32, 49 & 57
Sophie Karthäuser, soprano
Michael Volle, bass
RIAS Kammerchor & Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Raphael Alpermann
Qobuz 24/96




I knew the ensemble and Karthäuser before, so it is no surprise they perform so well here.
But also Volle is excellent and a nice discovery.
Good album.

After Graupner, I felt I needed some Bach.
This ensemble knows how to do it properly!

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Brahms - Ein Deutsches Requiem
Boston Symphony Orchestra, cond. James Levine
Tanglewood Festival Chorus



Great release from the label the Boston Symphony Orchestra launched themselves.
Great 5.0 sound. The organ sounds mighty!

What an impressive work!
I heard a piece in my car coming back from a home visit and needed to experience the whole thing.

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

À Portuguesa: Iberian Concertos & Sonata
Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música Porto, Laurence Cummings principal conductor
Andreas Staier, harpsichord & direction
Harmonia Mundi (2018), 24/96 files

Here’s a fun collection of concertos and sonatas with an Iberian theme, very well recorded.

Enjoying this again.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

Kaija Saariaho - L'amour de loin
Daniel Belcher, tenor
Ekaterina Lekhina, soprano
Marie-Ange Todorovitch, mezzosoprano
Rundfunkchor Berlin
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Kent Nagano, conductor



Her first opera.
We're big Saariaho fans here.
It takes some time to get used to her soundscapes.
Haunting at times, moving all the time.
Good surround sound.

One of our favourite modern classical works.
Not easy on the ear music.
Rewarding if you let it grow on you.

[bart]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Introductio - works by Telemann, CPE Bach, Kleinknect & de Boismortier
Postscript ensemble
TRPTK (2019)

A lovely new recording of baroque chamber music from the label introduced to us by Bart.

This is one of our favourite chamber music albums.

[bart]

Originally Posted by bart

I wanted to play this on Qobuz:

Mr De Machy - Pièces de Violle
Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba
Qobuz 24/88.2




Because I adore another album with this composer, played by Romina Lischka, I wanted to hear more of his work.
I had to buy the download, it wasn't included in the subscription, but now it plays gloriously from our MU1.

It was time for a bit of viola da gamba.
And Pandolfo is one of the absolute best musicians around.

[bart]

Originally Posted by AudioNut

Listening to . . . Beethoven Sonatas - An RCA Living Stereo SACD

Artur Rubinstein - Piano



Artur Rubinstein was a genius on the piano. RCA captured him at his absolute best. The original LP was phenomenal and this SACD is a no pop, no tick equal to the LP (in my opinion)

I hope to get all the RCA SACD's while they are still available at such reasonable prices - they are uniformly good and include the cream of the Living Stereo crop - which was a very good crop indeed ! Great recordings, newly mastered for SACD - OUTSTANDING!

These are indeed wonderful versions!
Playing the SACD.

[bart]

Originally Posted by AudioNut

Listening to . . . An extraordinary set of CD's . . .

Italiane Baroque

Chiara Banchini - Conductor & Violin
Ensemble 415
Amandine Beyer - Baroque Violin

Ensemble 415 was a remarkable group of Baroque musicians - founded by Chiara Banchini in 1981 and, unfortunately, dissolved in 2012.

This recording is wonderful and is made even more so because it was a gift from a very dear friend who, along with his wife, visited me and my wife a couple of weeks ago. What a treat having those folks here.

Thank you so much, dear friend. (A friend who just happens to be a regular contributor to this thread.) Thanks for the visit and thanks for this group of recordings.




The ensemble is noted for its performances of Italian Baroque string music on period instruments. Banchini was one of the very best Baroque violinists performing at the end of the twentieth century, and the ensemble is at its best performing concerti featuring their director as soloist. Their performances of music such as Vivaldi, Corelli, Boccherini, Muffat, and Tartini offer an opportunity to hear less well-known Baroque repertoire by composers who were very well known during the eighteenth century.

This set was playing in the practice.
Just marvellous.
The sound is also very good.