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The classical what are you listening to now ? thread.

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The HIP concerto is well-executed, but it's too wimpy to satisfy. That applies to both soloist and band. The solo piano works, on the other hand, are magnificent. The more middle-register dominated sound, superb recording, and meticulous control by Zuev render some of the pieces near-revelatory. (I use the qualifier "near" because ultimately he's playing Grieg miniatures.) Half ho-hum, half good lord!


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In a short while Schubert's Trout Quintet live from the Wigmore Hall on The BBC.

I am warming up the radio on the interval of the Concert.

Best wishes from George
 
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Only a few months ago, I picked up Jamina Gerl's first disc on Tyxart records, and now here's her follow up. Another mixed rep disc, Gerl flexes her muscles. Literally. This recording is not about delicate pianissimo playing and ultra-refined nuance. Gerl starts with a heavy, thick, hard-hitting Bach BWV845 Prelude and Fugue transcription. She moves to dynamically wide-ranging, hard-hitting Liszt Pertrach Sonnets, though she knows when and how to deliver the more nuanced playing here. Next comes an extremely robust Schumann Op 11 with one of the most ear-catching, strongly accented, and Carnaval-inspired Scherzos around, and a nearly bruising final movement. She ends with a Liszt Dante Sonata possessed of huge sounding fortissimo playing, super-heated and right up to the edge romanticism, and intense drive. She compels with each note. She needs to record more. Of course, she also just released a disc of music by Ferdinand Pfohl on Grand Piano, so maybe I should try something new. Clean, clear, wide dynamic range sound. Gerl is something.


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Bartłomiej Kominek's Prokofiev disc starts off with Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, and the playing is unremarkable and unexceptionable to start. As the piece continues on, something happens. One realizes that the unmannered playing, the potent but not harsh forte playing, the clean articulation and very fine dynamic control, and the very impressive but somehow un-virtuosic handling of the score's (and scores') difficulties all end up producing Prokofiev of near-Ovchinnikovian quality. True, in the Sixth Sonata that closes the disc, one can find a bit more to enjoy from, say, Wang or FFG, but this is no slouch of a performance. Apparently, Mr Kominek has transcribed Chopin's piano concertos for smaller forces, so he has various musical talents. I could not find another recording from him, though. Dux did him right and delivers SOTA sound, as is typical with the label.


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Listening to Julian Bream - Villa Lobos, Guitar Concerto; Preludes; Etudes.

Was introduced to the music of Villa Lobos through my Sons guitar playing.
 
Let me commend the 2nd Piano Concerto of Schostakowitch live on R 3 and then Malcolm Arnold's Second Sym, just starting .
 
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Ms Berlinskaya solo stuff. The Op 109 is bright, quick, and uncompromising, with a very fast and potent Prestissimo that sounds perfectly classical in mien, and a theme and variations that is more about speed and energy than anything else. Refreshing. The Medtner, from which the disc title derives, is quite fine, and the Kreisleriana is clean and quick and strikingly unsentimental - it's much more Florestanian than Eusebian in nature. The relative lack of sentimentality ironically ends up paying big dividends in Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales. Overall, this is an extremely fine themed disc.

(Here is another instance of the artist owning the copyright herself. Good for Ms Berlinskaya.)



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Wagner: Tannhauser. Barenboim, Berlin Staatsoper. Barenboim is a remarkable Wagner conductor. This set is so dramatically convincing that Insat down to listen to bits of it and couldn’t stop, so listened to it in it’s entirety when I first opened it. That Prelude to Act One- tells you what you’re in for. He almost finishes the work before it’s began, the finale is majestic.

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you can get this s/h delivered for under a tenner and it’s brilliant.
 
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More late night music. Nelson Friere playing Liszt; he calls the disc "Harmonies du Soir", and it's just delightful. Reminds me of Chopin's Nocturnes.
 

Enjoyed this more than the 2nd symphony from M G-T and the CBSO (a few pages back).The third symphony is more immediate and works better IMO, its like a condensed Shostakovich 11th & 12th with added folk tunes to protect the composer from Zhdanov's 1948 declarations.
However, I'm still to hear the Weinberg music which justifies the claims he's the equal to Shostakovich or Prokofiev.
 
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