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The classical what are you listening to now ? thread.

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Janacek plays Dvorak. Though in aged mono, the apparent dynamic range gives up nothing to some later recordings, and one can hear all four instruments easily. The playing is on the robust, very Czech sounding side. In the second movement, a rustic but light trio is surrounded by more rustic music. Nice. The big ol’ gooey globs o’ vibrato in the Lento sound so, so right. Indeed, right through the end, the work has a rustic, rhythmically flexible feel. Excellent.
 
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The Panocha. Pristine and beautiful in the opener, with such darned good viola playing. I mean, really. The second movement has striking rhtymic vitality in the outer sections, and ample tenderness in the trio, all while displaying perfect clarity and addictive vibrato. The third and fourth movements both display the same essential perfect blend of everything.
 
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Finally, the Prazak. More robust and tense and less beautiful than the Panocha, the greater drama is the great offset. Like their countrymen, and most of the Czech ensembles, they play with great rhythmic flexibility. The finale comes off as one of the most vibrant and exhuberant takes in the versions I listened to. As in everything they recorded in decades past, the Prazak are either the best or rate with the best.
 
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Andrea Bacchetti playing Berio. The sound quality is strikingly not SOTA for something so modern (2004). It reminds me of the Orpheum recording of Robert Silverman's LvB sonata cycle, which was recorded in a small space and presented in an unflinching, unflattering way. The playing is good enough, but the interpretations are wanting. That other Andrea - Lucchesini - recorded a disc with some overlapping repertoire back in 2007, as well as more Berio as part of a fantastic mixed rep disc, and his Berio is much, much better. (Plus on his 2007 disc he recorded the Sonata and the pieces dedicated to him for a wedding present by the composer.) Still, it's nice to hear a big chunk of this music from someone else.
 
Peteris Vasks concerto for English horn.
It sounds so amazingly like Vaughan Williams I wonder if it was a deliberate tribute. .. I shall have to see if I can find out.

 
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I slowly worked my way through the Brodsky's second DSCH cycle. I'm glad I discovered Daniel Rowland, and by extension the iteration of the Brodsky with him as first violin. This set does not displace the Danel as my favorite, nor does it quite match a few others (eg, the Borodin), but it surpasses the first Brodsky and more important than mental comparisons, it compels while listening, its flaws both easily forgivable and instantly forgettable.
 
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Josep Colom is, to the best of my knowledge, the first pianist to record Musica Callada twice. His first recording is one of my favorites, along with Albert Attenelle and Haskell Small, so when I belatedly learned that Colom had recorded it again, I had to have it. The playing is a bit slower across the board, typically a few seconds per piece, though it is not especially slow overall. The recording is a DSD256 recording, but I went with a redbook download since DSD256 means nothing. The recorded sound is superior to the earlier recording*. That allows one to savor the quiet playing, in particular, just a bit more, as Colom will taper a phrase or hold a note until near silence. Louder playing sounds less congested as well. But much more important is how the pianist makes each piece sound beautiful, at times completely serene, at times filled with dramatic tension without sounding tense, at times searching, at times static. It just jells. I did not do a full A/B with the earlier version, though I probably will. And with Stephen Hough's version almost out, as well as some new ones since I worked my way through a gob of recordings a half-decade ago, I may just have to listen to some more versions.

The inclusion of Cantar del Alma as an encore is a nice bonus.


* While sonics are better than Colom's earlier recording, the recording does not offer an improvement over Lin or Henck, and probably a couple others.
 
At risk of appearing to be obsessed with Brahms 4th....
This was the version performed for the very first airing of the 4th symphony - Brahms own arrangement for two pianos played by himself and Hans von Bulow in a private recital for music critic Eduard Hanslick. Hanslick was uncertain - said he felt like he was being beaten up by two super-intelligent people! Others of Brahms's friends were not convinced either. But luckily he persisted.

This performance is superb and any Brahms fan should hear it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00008OP1L/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
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Some rather fetching orchestral fugues on the Accord label.
Conductor Kovacic.
Despite the title, Bach is just the opening track.

I need to figure out how to post images of albums from my phone....

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Hmm, there has to be an easier way!
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I generally find Magnard's music hard going. He didn't seem to respond well to formal structure like symphonies.
But I find these "orchestral works", more like tone poems, are very appealing.

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And his violin sonata is very good, too.
 
^ Know what you mean about Magnard.... sometimes described as "the French Mahler" and as some kind of lost genius, the symphonies left me cold when I tried them

I've managed to move on from Brahms... all the way to his contemporary in Vienna and occasional fellow beerhaus visitor Anton Bruckner, specifically the 6th. Dohnanyi/Cleveland - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000004208/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I have had this disc for over 25 years and must be 20 since I Iast listened to it, can't think why because its a superb performance.
 
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The French Mahler?
I have to confess that I was thinking the French Reger.

Bruckner 6 - marvellous work - I'll have a listen to Dohnanyi. My favourite so far is Blomstedt.
 
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Finally gave this a whirl. The one thing that this recording does better than the 70s recording is piano sound. There's a more appealing tone and more body. Pollini obviously digs the music, as evidenced by his vocalizing. He does not really present these in a transcendent or deep manner. Instead, they are more straightforward and uncompromising. This pays the biggest dividends in the tense and tetchy Adagio to 106. His tempi are pretty snappy throughout, often leading to an agitated sound. But he also cannot play with the utter precision and control of his younger days. The swift 9'31" opener to 106 has energy and forward drive, but it lacks the sublime execution of pianists like Korstick or Goodyear. This is better than I anticipated, but it does not match memories of his earlier recordings, and better renditions are available. I will probably A/B this and his earlier recordings at some point.
 
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I’ve been waiting to listen to Kun-Woo Paik’s recording of Goyescas. I keep hoping it will be available for legitimate download in the US, but so far that has not occurred. I did find a download store out of Montenegro that allows unlimited downloads for thirty days for just over twenty Euros, but I do not feel like providing my credit card info. So I decided to stream the recording.

Apparently, Paik has long wanted to record this piece, and it kind of shows. This is a long, slow take. Using Alicia de Larrocha’s Hispavox recording as a benchmark, Paik is slower in every movement, by a minimum of around thirty seconds at the low end, and over two minutes at the high end. The whole thing comes in at about sixty-three minutes. What does one get in such a slow recording? Lavish attention to detail, that’s what. That, and a wonderful languidness. Well, those things, and lovely tone and exaggerated dynamics due to the close recording. Everything is on display in Los requiebros, where Paik sort of lets the right hand briefly meander, and he delivers some very guitar like playing, albeit it slowly. El fandango de candil, clocking in at over seven minutes, sounds languid and heavy and sluggish – and feels just right. But it is the thirteen-and-a-half minute El Amor y la Muerte that serves as the centerpiece itself. Paik starts with left hand playing so heavy and thick it almost approximates an organ. The pulse of the music nearly dies, which seems appropriate, as it grimly yet beautifully and at times tenderly proceeds through to the exhausted coda. The dark yet bright, serious yet comical, slow (over eight-and-a-half minutes) yet never sluggish Epilogo sounds just right. To cap things off, Paik ups the energy, rhythmic elan, and tonal brightness in a most satisfactory El pelele.

This recording is so good that I will hunt down a copy to own, in some format, and it may even require a full shoot-out with the heavy hitters to determine the best recording ever. People less susceptible to Paik’s magic may be less enthusiastic.

(And I not at all secretly hope that Arcadi Volodos, who has spent many years in Spain, takes up this work because, well, because.)
 
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I waited long enough. This recording has received plaudits here, there, and everywhere, so it had to be good. And it is. Now, the estimable Mr Andsnes has laid down at least two definitive recordings in his career: his second recording of Grieg's PC (though he may be dethroned in my ongoing survey) and Bartok's Violin Sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff. I've never heard a bad recording from him. This recording of Dvorak's Poetic Tone Pictures most definitely continues that trend, but it does not set a new standard. To be sure, aided by glorious sound, he makes each piece stand out - until the next one arrives. Beauty, vibrance, rhythmic brio, each piece has it all. But here Ivo Kahanek looms very large.

I did not have time to do a full A/B, but two pieces immediately stuck out upon first listen as illustrating the reasons why I prefer Kahanek. The two pieces are Žertem and Bacchanalia. Under Andsnes' fingers, one hears playing perhaps informed by Grieg. That is not so with Kahanek. In Žertem, the playing sounds more identifiably Czech and otherwise Central European as the name Schumann pops into mind. Kahanek, more spaciously recorded, offers starker dynamic contrasts and more halting rhythm. It's mischievous and occasionally hard-hitting, but not heavy. In Bacchanalia, the names Brahms and Smetana come to mind. The weighty and propulsive left hand playing smacks of Johannes in a blend of his Hungarian inflected writing and his early sonata writing. (Relistening to his Second Sonata just a couple days ago probably helped instill that in my aural memory.) And though there is a proper Furiant in the collection prior to this piece, once the listener moves beyond the weighty playing, one hears writing similar to Smetana's more propulsive dance writing. And in both these pieces, the writing sounds more immediately Dvorakian. Now, if this reads like criticism of the Andsnes recording, it really is not. Had Kahanek not recorded this work, Andsnes would emerge as my clear favorite. Interpretive differences are minor, but they’re there, and those are what make the difference. It's certainly impossible to fault Andsnes' playing as playing, or even his interpretations. I just prefer Kahanek.

It's clear, to me at least, that Dvorak’s piano music deserves more attention and more recordings. Here, I just can’t help but think that Herbert Schuch’s the guy who should record the music. Alessio Bax and Claire Huangci also seem like they could add a little something special, and David Greilsammer should pluck at least a few pieces out and drop them in another concept disc. Zlata Chochieva, too, though she should record everything.
 
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Here’s a recording that’s equal parts annoying and fascinating. While I have heard plenty of solo piano concept recordings blending single works or movements by different composers, I’ve not heard a string quartet concept recording do that. Well, here’s sixteen tracks of works composed by twelve composers, with only a handful of complete works, and only one complete well-known quartet, Janacek’s First. In such a case, the bleeding chunks should not work, but here, the Kuss sound so distinctive and stylized that they make some movements sound fresh as heck.

The recording opens with the first movement to Haydn’s Seven Last Words, which sounds adequately somber, and that is followed by the magnificent Hasta pulverizarse los ojos commissioned by the Kuss from Franceso Ciurlo, with some of the music barely hovering above an abstract whisper. The fifth movement from Seven Last Words follows, and it sounds stylistically different from the first, and rather different from the few other versions I’ve heard. The Scherzo from Death and the Maiden is one of the lightest, tightest, most dance-like takes I’ve heard, while the opening to Bartok’s Sixth sounds more transparent, lighter, and more forward looking, almost like Bartok looking forward to Ligeti looking back to Bartok. The DSCH Eighth Largo has the darkness and tension it needs, but it lacks excess heaviness. Some of the cello playing sounds especially effective, and when the movement trails off, Birke Bertelsmeier’s commissioned title track arrives in place of the anticipated Allegro molto. It emerges from silence well enough, and then displays hints of Gloria Coates, but with more tension. The first weak spot is the third movement from Steve Reich’s WTC/911, with the taped voices detracting from the decent music. Komitas’ Spring returns to pure music, in a tuneful, lamenting, haunting, compact way. The Adagio to Mendelssohn’s Sixth sounds pitch perfect, and the Vivace from Smetana’s First sounds light and transparent, though somewhat anonymous. It’s not Czech quartet playing. Janacek’s First benefits from extremely clean, clear playing, with the second violin and viola uncommonly clear throughout. The playing seems to trade expressivity for precision, but that’s fine. The recording closes with the third and final Kuss commission from Oscar Escudero, entitled Post. It begins with an ambient noise/electronic sound/spoken word (performed by the violist) that then segues into three fragments composed by an “algorithm”, with electronics interspersed throughout. It’s a high-tech mishmash of classical style compositions, a post-post-avant-garde style work that has a few moments of success but is really just a gimmick. At least it doesn’t offend the senses like Xenakis.

One of the main outcomes of listening to this is that I now want to hear the complete versions of every work the Kuss extracted movements from. That’s the annoying part. And I want to listen to Ciurlo and Bertelsmeier some more. A heckuva concept disc, this. That’s the fascinating part.
 


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