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"New" Music Log

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More from the DHM super-long box, two discs' worth of wind sonatas for recorder, flute, or oboe. I went on a Handel mini-bender a few years ago, but that was focused on keyboard works and cantatas, so I still have a lot of Handel to explore. This makes for a nice next step. Typically, baroque wind sonatas aren't really my thing, and this twofer doesn't make them my thing, but the music is frequently charming, always entertaining, and well played and recorded. I will say, that of the combos on offer here, the oboe sonatas offer the most. The aural contrast between the woodwind and the often harpsichord dominated accompaniment makes for something quite ear-catching. And does Handel rip off Bach in a few places? Can't say that I blame him.
 
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From the DHM long box. An hour of mostly moderately entertaining and occasionally boring harpsichord music. The instrument sounds comparatively warm (or dark), and Bradford Tracy plays very nicely, but I can't say that the music really does a whole lot for me. A few passages here or there are a bit vivacious, and Tracy generates some appealing sounds in some places, I guess, but this recording will soon slip from memory.
 
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Coming after the austere, almost severe de Rore St John Passion, this DHM long box disc of Spanish baroque works offers something of a musical antidote. The music is rhythmically buoyant, often upbeat, and both colorful and attractive. The disc includes cantatas and chunks of cantatas by five composers (de Literes, Galán, de Torres, Valls, and di Iribarren), as well as a couple works by Anonymous again. Marta Almajano does the lion's share of the singing, and she does well, though some of her singing sounds quite operatic, and some people may not be as predisposed to liking it as me. The few other singers do good work, and the small number of singers and instrumentalists keep things transparent. I really enjoyed my prior exposure to Cristóbal Galán, and the two additional short pieces here reinforce that positive impression, and make me think I should probably sample more of his music. The other pieces, the longest of which is José de Torres' thirteen minute, thirty-two second cantata "Más no puede ser" which gives the disc its title, certainly sounds like a baroque cantata, but it is far removed from the sound of the cantatas from that 800 pound gorilla of the form. There's nonetheless much to enjoy. That rhythm is again the main draw. It's sorta groovy. Maybe I need to expand my cantata horizons some more. Everything on the disc is quite enjoyable, and the long box also includes the third volume out of eight that were recorded. All eight were boxed up, but that's OOP and goofy expensive, but I likely will find a way to explore more of this music.
 
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Up until buying the DHM long box, the oldest music I owned in physical form was composed by Hildegard von Bingen. That's pretty dang old. I've streamed music by Kassia, pushing back into the 9th Century. That's older yet. This disc of ancient Greek music setting works by poetess Sappho and various other poets and artists from before the founding of the Roman Republic pushes the date of the earliest compositions back another thirteen hundred years or so. Now that's old. Based on the academic work of Conrad Steinmann, who also happens to direct the forces here and play some of the instruments, and using modern reconstructions of instruments made by Paul J. Reichlin, this disc purports to present accurate reconstructions of music of the ancient world. I'll just go ahead and assume all the diligent work offers an accurate glimpse into the long gone past. The instruments include some wind instruments, some stringed instruments of a harp-like nature, one wind instrument that sounds like a kazoo-accordion hybrid, and some percussion instruments. Drums and cymbals aside, which sound like drums and cymbals made last week, the other instruments often sound like cruder versions of what modern ears are used to hearing. That's not to say that instruments don't sound good, because they do, and they do their jobs admirably. And that job is to create music that sounds not unlike similar attempts at creating ancient music for various television shows and movies set way back when. The music on offer is a bit starker and smaller in scale - it never transitions to saccharine massed strings, for instance - and it is fairly simple when compared to even something like Machaut, let alone Renaissance and later music, with often basic melodies and simple if insistent rhythm. That most ancient of all instruments, the human voice, gets a good workout, too. Soprano Arianna Savall, of those Savalls, does superb work singing her parts, and tenor Giovanni Cantarini does good work. I wouldn't be surprised if they sing rather better than people over two thousand years ago did. The music and disc is certainly intriguing, and I enjoy it, but it is highly unlikely I listen to it more than three or four more times in my life.

Superb, basically SOTA sound.
 
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From the DHM long box, The Age of Passions, my first exposure to the works of Philippo Martino, and also, I think, my first exposure to Lute Trios. The disc includes six brief trios constituting the entire published output of the composer. A Notturno is also included, but it is by a different, later Philippo Martino. Though the music is for trio, four instrumentalists play. Husband and wife Lee Santana and Hille Perl, also of Los Otros, play lute and viola de gamba, respectively - though the back cover says Santana plays flute - and they are joined by violinist Petra Muellejans and flutist Karl Kaiser, who split duties. All of the works are in four movements, with designations changing for each work, and the style is late baroque and almost improvisational sounding. Much of the music is somewhat relaxed, but some pieces are more energetic, and every once in a while one stands out. The Arietta Allegretto from the first suite is very "rustic" and sounds like it was lifted from some county fair and embellished so as to make it more artistic. The Allemande that opens the sixth trio sounds vaguely familiar, like someone after Martino may have borrowed some ideas. It's really quite good. There's a lightness, freshness, and informality to all the music that make it appeal more as the disc progresses. Like with pretty much all lute music, I likely will never listen to this disc a lot, but it's something a bit different. Sound and playing are superb.


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Prior to buying the DHM big box, I'd only heard one disc of music by Heinrich Schütz, Paul McCreesh's recording of the Christmas Vespers. I liked it and figured I should try some more Schütz, but I failed to do so until now. Fortunately, the DHM set has three Schütz recordings, and I opted to sample Anthony Rooley and The Consort of Musicke's recording of the madrigals. The disc offers fifty-three minutes of irresistible counterpoint. The music doesn't exhibit the same beauty as Renaissance polyphony, and while the music is often quite attractive, that's not the most striking or appealing part. No, the most appealing part of the music is the astonishing clarity of the vocal parts. Mostly limited to five voices, or fewer, it doesn't matter how many parts there are: each part is always perfectly clear and superbly sung. Listening offers more of an intellectual exercise than an aesthetic or emotional one. I literally perked up to listen, sat up straighter, and focused on a point in between the speakers much of the time. The headphone experience is less satisfactory here since the spatial presentation of the voices offers part of the appeal. Superb sound adds to an immensely appealing disc. It's something.
 
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One nice feature of the DHM long box is that it includes five discs of music from Heinrich Schütz. This twofer contains sixteen pieces from the composer, and all are just dandy. They are so dandy that the use of countertenors for the alto parts, including a young Andreas Scholl, causes no grief whatever; indeed, they sing quite splendidly. Too, the boy's choir is more than acceptable. These two outcomes are due to expert use of the small instrumental forces involved and properly deployed choirs. The antiphonal placement of voices in some pieces also aids matter, offering nice contrasts and opportunities for blending vocal sonorities. The almost two hours of music can be a lot to take in at once, but listening to the pieces a handful at a time is most enjoyable. Lovely and serious, and wonderfully crafted, the music falls just shy of JS Bach in terms of quality. Maybe. Fine performances from all involved and superb sound.
 
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The DHM long box is chock full of discoveries and gems. The Heinrich Schütz recordings all fall squarely in the second category. I've never heard Symphoniæ Sacræ III, Op 12 before, but on the evidence of this recording, I've been missing some good stuff. The two disc set contains twenty-one sacred pieces with varying vocal forces, always small, and varying instrumental support, always just right. The music is serious but always at least reasonably vibrant, and often more than that. The textures are always light, and as recorded, superbly clear. The singers are pretty much all excellent, and Frieder Bernius and his forces pull off something unusual in my experience, and dependent on my taste: a boy soprano delivers the goods as Jesus in fourth track. Whoda thunk it? The top flight for its age (late 80s) sound makes this a corker of a disc. I'm thinking I need to explore more of Schütz's stuff. I'm thinking the complete works project led by Hans-Christoph Rademann on Carus may end up coming in handy.
 
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Earlier this year, I listened to Cipriano de Rore's setting of the St John Passion and was struck by its austere approach. In some ways, Heinrich Schütz's setting is even more austere, at least as recorded here. Relying on five voices only, the music is sparse and severe. This is a nothing but the text, scaled down to replicate a church setting. The thirty-three minute, single track main work is well done enough, and obviously earnest, but it lacks the crackerjack performance quality of the Huelgas Ensemble in the de Rore, blunting effectiveness a bit. The accompanying eight Passionmotetten include an organ, adding a bit more color, but the works remain austere and severe, and intimate. In some ways they work better, in some ways not, and one can't help but want to hear what a better established ensemble might be able to do with the pieces. I may have to find out.


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This disc of four of John Fernström's string quartets could almost qualify to be part of the Asian Invasion thread. The composer was born in China in 1897, though to missionaries, so he's really not Asian; he was the offspring of agents of colonialism. I shan't hold that against him. The composer was apparently something of a multi-talented artist, also given to playing violin, conducting, and even painting, so he was a well-rounded sort.

The disc presents the quartets in order. As the Fourth bounces into being, the name Dvorak immediately pops into mind, and it stays there for the duration of the brief three movement work, though earlier composers like Haydn or Mendelssohn also make an appearance. Given that the work was written in 1942, it can be described as conservative, though quite enjoyable. The Sixth, from 1946, moves forward a bit in time, calling to mind some Fin de siècle composers (Zemlinsky, say), and when combined with some more modern influences, the resulting sound, if not quite "gypsy", is like a tangy, less sumptuous Korngold, except for the nearly Schulhoffian Scherzo. So, very nice. The Seventh is more modern, but still somewhat conservative stylistically, but its high energy level makes it perhaps the most appealing of the bunch. The Eighth, which has been recorded at least two other times, closes out the disc. It has big old whiffs of Vaughn Williams in the slower music, and plenty of energy in the faster music. I can hear why it's the most oft recorded work, though my preference is for the Seventh. Overall, these works are nice and I'm glad to have the disc, but I don't have a burning desire to build a big Fernström collection.

Sound is OK for its late 90s vintage, and the Lysell Quartet plays well, though the first violin can sound a bit tart at times.


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Earlier this year, I picked up Nils Mönkemeyer's disc Mozart with Friends - Julia Fischer, Sabine Meyer, and William Youn, so some rather notable friends - and was bowled over by the overall quality. When this disc of the first three of Bach's Cello Suites transcribed for Viola popped up as an Add-on, I figured why not. Well, he's done it again. (Or, more accurately, he did the same thing before he recorded Mozart.) I've never heard transcriptions of the Cello Suites, but of course the music isn't surprising, and it works well on viola, even if not as well as on cello. That written, Mönkemeyer plays so well that one gains an appreciation of things that can only be done on a smaller stringed instrument. The precision and nimbleness is most impressive, the purity of tone even more so. So, it's both old hat yet something new and vibrant. While it may seem gimmicky at first, this is definitely no gimmick

But the Bach ends up being the warm-up. The real treat here is the second, bonus disc, comprised of four world premiere recordings of works by living composers. Krzysztof Penderecki's brief memoriam to Bach starts things off quite beautifully, with a dark, rich, chromatic sound in a somewhat standard modern homage format. It's good enough that it has at least two other recordings available. Things then take a qualitative step up with Marco Hertenstein's Luce morenda. Unabashedly modernist and virtuosic in nature, Mönkemeyer makes the whole thing sound most inviting and fun. Then along comes the apex of the twofer in the form of Ariel, by Sally Beamish. Ms Beamish is a violist herself, so her score extracts many lovely sounds, grants the soloist the opportunity to show what she or he can do, and delivers a fantastical sound befitting the literary subject. Konstantia Gourzi's Lullabies for a New World ends the disc, and it sounds vaguely eastern, influenced by chants that one imagines the composer may have heard in her native Greece at sometime in her life, though they are really just imaginary. The second disc offers a half-hour of mesmerizing new stuff, and for a solo instrument that I typically don't listen to. How about that?

Mönkemeyer surely needs to record the Bartok Viola Concerto, and I will likely have to give his DSCH Viola Sonata a try. And some of his other discs. But this guy has got to record more contemporary fare. It's impossible not to at least like what he's done here.

Add in some Sony A-list sound, and this here is an amazing set.


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From the DHM long box, more Purcell and more Hengelbrock. Turns out this is a nice pairing. This disc includes suites drawn from The Fairy Queen, Dido and Aeneas, King Arthur, and Abdelazer. Some of the pieces are vocal pieces stripped of vocal parts, which may not be to everyone's taste. What's left is music where a young Hengelbrock most effectively deploys his rhythmically incisive, super-precise conducting to often very exciting effect. Even the slow music, while very lovely, maintains a just right degree of musical and dramatic tension. All of the movements and all four works are just splendid. Here's some Purcell that I can enjoy without reservation. The disc reinforces what I already knew: Thomas Hengelbrock is one of the great living conductors.


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Thomas Hengelbrock managed to knock it out of the park with Purcell, so it's not surprising that he delivers on Locatelli. Light and tight is the best way to describe this disc. Generally quite appealing music married to a small ensemble and a conductor focused on delivering quick, energetic, precise playing, but never of the aggressive or over-bearing sort, there's some swing 'n' swagger to the playing that makes it hard to resist. The music isn't the deepest and greatest from the era, but Hengelbrock makes a strong case for it and demonstrates his superior stick-waving skills yet again. A winner.


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The 'Z' portion of my collection needed some fleshing out. Fortunately, the DHM long box has this two disc set of Lorenzo Gaetano Zavateri's dozen Concerti Da Chiesa e Da Camara. There are violin concertos, one double violin concerto, and string and chamber concertos in the mix. It's sort of a grab bag. The music is never really slow, and quite often it's very quick, light, energetic and transparent. At just over one hundred minutes for twelve concertos, none of the works last very long. If a work lasts ten minutes, it's a long one. This has the great good benefit of making each individual work a delight that never overstays its welcome. While I can't say that the music rises to the level of Zavateri's contemporary Bach, I can report that I like the works more than those of Vivaldi. The music and set are not indispensable, but they make for a most entertaining foray into obscure baroque music. Sound and performances are basically up to DHM's high standards.
 
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Somehow - I'm not sure how - I'd managed to collect classical recordings for over two decades without purchasing or even hearing a recording of Carl Maria von Weber's two Clarinet Concertos. The Clarinet Quintet, well, it would be impossible to not have a couple versions of that, I think, though this is the version for Clarinet and String Orchestra, which I'd not heard until now. When I spotted an el cheapo copy of this recording by no less a soloist than Sabine Meyer, with no less a conductor than Herbert Blomstedt leading no less an ensemble than the Staatskapelle Dresden, I figured now was as good as time as any to correct my neglect.

There are literally no surprises on the disc. Ms Meyer plays extraordinarily well, with incredible smoothness and precision, and a beautiful tone first note to last. Perhaps she sounds a bit too literal for some of Weber's invention, though one would never think that listening to the Rondo of the F Minor concerto. The Concertino is lighter and slighter, the Concertos weightier but properly proportioned. Blomstedt and the Dredeners play rather splendidly, too. The tacked on, upscaled Clarinet Quintet, is very fine, if weightier and less transparent than the original. Also unsurprising is Weber's tuneful, somewhat superficial echt-romantic music. It's always beautiful, at times vigorous, and approximately passionate, but it never really digs deep. Doesn't have to. No, this is one of those discs where I knew enough of everything involved to expect a very fine recording, and I ended up with exactly what I thought I would. Even the now generation old sound holds up nicely.


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I serendipitously discovered I had Sabine Meyer's recording of the Mozart clarinet concerto with Abbado in the EMI Berlin Philharmonic anniversary box from about 17 years ago...a very fine recording indeed so maybe I should try those Weber's above.

I seem to recall she was the cause of the final rift between Karajan and the BPO when he tried to appoint her as principal clarinet over their heads.
 
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This disc of four cantadas by Jose de Torres is one of the Barroco Español discs in the DHM long box. It also includes the Sonata Prima by Francisco José de Castro in the middle of the disc. The cantadas are all of the very highly vibrant type, with Banzo and crew playing at near dizzying tempi at times, with so much energy it almost makes one want to get up and dance. The small forces allow for nice transparency, and it also allows the guitar to dominate proceedings on occasion. Soprano Marta Almajano kicks all kinds of butt singing, producing a lovely tone and displaying virtuosity sufficient to keep up with the ensemble. These are no dour, austere works. They have life in them. Great sound caps off a great disc.


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I do enjoy me some Haydn, and as such I have amassed a pretty hefty collection of his stuff. Two complete symphony cycles. Two complete string quartet cycles, and all but two discs of a third. Multiple complete piano sonata cycles. Dozens of individual discs of various of his works in non-cycle format. Until now, I have never acquired his Oboe Concerto. (Until now, I have never purposely bought any disc of Oboe Concertos by anyone, though I have several as part of bigger collections.) This particular disc, purchased as an Add-on, also includes two works originally for lira and transcribed for oboe and flute, as well as Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Introduction, Theme and Variations for Oboe and Orchestra. The theme of the disc is that all of the works were originally penned for Prince Esterhazy. As far as I know, this disc represents the first time I've heard oboist François Leleux. It is not the first time I have heard his collaborator Emmanuel Pahud, however.

It turned out to be high time I made up for not hearing Mr Leleux. The dude can play. Smooth, smooth, smooth and nimble, his playing flows with an almost alarming assurance. Sometimes oboes can sound a bit raspy, albeit in a good way, but Leleux, on this disc, smooths that out a bit. But not too much. And literally nothing seems like a challenge. This is reinforced when he is joined by Pahud, who appears to be able to play anything as well as a human can play it on his instrument, and both soloists end up producing magnificent music in the Haydn transcriptions, going note for note as equals. Sometimes, Pahud produces a seemingly larger tone, but Leleux slices through the musical mix. As to the music, well, the Hummel is energetic and festive, if formal, and expertly crafted. The Haydn pieces, all three of them, are better yet. They sound characteristically Haydnesque, and are on the light and fun side, and of course they are tuneful. The Oboe Concerto, which may not be Haydn's, does have a London Symphonies sound to it, so if someone other than Haydn wrote, the composer had some talent. The work is quite enjoyable whoever committed it to paper.

Leleux also conducts the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and on the evidence of this recording, he knows how to conduct, too. While I doubt this disc becomes essential listening for me, it's good enough for the occasional spin.

As I have come to expect from Sony Germany and the artists and ensembles they record, everything is world class, including fully up to snuff sound.


Amazon UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00T8N4PF6/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
 
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From the DHM long box, another Spanish baroque work from Eduardo López Banzo and Al Ayre Español. This time it's Antonio de Literes' zarzuela setting of the Acis and Galatea story. Coming in at under an hour for its two acts, it is very vibrant and energetic. Rhythms often swing, or more. Guitars spice up the proceedings. Castanets, too, though they may offer too much of a good thing. The singing is heavier on female voices than male ones, which works well for me, especially since the singers are excellent. Sound and playing are both superb. The Spanish baroque discs have ended up one of the most pleasant surprises in the box.


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Another Hummel, and one less famous than Johann Nepomuk. When I spied this disc for a few bucks, it was not the composer's name that caught my eye. Rather, it was the pianist, Markus Bellheim. His take on Messiaen's Vingt Regards displays a huge sounding, incredibly powerful sonority. It's not the most moving or effective version I've heard - that would be either Kars or Knapik - but it is spectacular and more enjoyable than versions by some Famous Names. I figured I might as well hear what this disc was all about. It's about something sort of different. Bertold Hummel wrote the works on this disc for children, including his bevy of grandchildren, and his wife. This is basically a more modern version of Bartok's For Children. The works are often simple, though not really simplistic, with some having a very 'modern' but not difficult sound. This is not merely a collection of simple, hummable tunes. There's some there there. It's not a collection of great masterpieces, but it's a nice enough collection. Bellheim sounds like he's having fun with what are easy pieces. Sound for the mid-aughts recording is superb.


Amazon UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000FS9GC0/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
 
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