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The classical what are you listening to now ? thread.

Mirella Freni singing “ Eco. Son giunte al sommo” from Act 1 of Karajan’s Madame Butterfly. Her performance is unbelievable. The Decca recording as you’d hope for. Couldn’t bear Pavarotti in Karajan’s Boheme earlier
 
Mirella Freni singing “ Eco. Son giunte al sommo” from Act 1 of Karajan’s Madame Butterfly. Her performance is unbelievable. The Decca recording as you’d hope for. Couldn’t bear Pavarotti in Karajan’s Boheme earlier

That's why I personally prefer Freni's earlier EMI Boheme - she's so fresh-voiced and Gedda is on top form (though I realise he's not everyone's cuppa) and superb conducting from Thomas Schippers, whose early death was a real tragedy. The other men are so-so but those two are excellent.
 
That's why I personally prefer Freni's earlier EMI Boheme - she's so fresh-voiced and Gedda is on top form (though I realise he's not everyone's cuppa) and superb conducting from Thomas Schippers, whose early death was a real tragedy. The other men are so-so but those two are excellent.
Thanks for the recommendation- that’ll go on the Qobuz playlist
 
Goldberg Variations

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Belated second listen to Mr Grosvenor's latest. Pianistically, it is a feast. I ought not to, but I will, gripe about the bleeding chunk from Op 14. The playing is marvelous and nuanced and lovely, so the whole thing ought to have been recorded. Of course, the intent was to contrast this to Clara's Op 20 Variations, which here receives its (at least) second great recording, after Ragna Schirmer's. Grosvenor has the advantage of a modern grand and he coaxes so much beauty out of his instrument, and so much entirely unstrident power, that this offers a more tonally luxuriant sound. There are quite a few recordings of this piece now, and hopefully some other big names take it up. The Brahms Op 117 sound absolutely gorgeous and lullaby-like, and are right up there with the best of the best that I recently listened to. Which leaves the big work, Kreisleriana. The same tonal lustrousness and unstrident power appear here - dig some of the almost silly good sforzandi! - and the flexibility and beauty beguile. Grosvenor, to my taste, compels much more in the Eusebius music, though he brings the heat when he needs to. The attention to detail approaches Lonquich's take. Ultimately, this is not a top three take for me, and probably not a top five, though it sounds exceptional. Perhaps I should work through a blob of Op 16 recordings when time permits.
 
Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI: Jerusalem: City of two Peaces - Heavenly Peace and Earthly Peace (La Ville des deux Paix: La Paix celeste et la Paix terrestre).
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Music associated with Jerusalem from across quite a few centuries, associated with the different cultures that were dominant over specific periods covered, played excellently on sometimes unfamiliar instruments with some great but - by western standards - less than conventional singing. Of great musical and audio quality, a somewhat different recording which I found refreshing. But it may possibly divide opinion.

This is a couple of CDs. I think the music is best auditioned now and then by historical/cultural period rather than as a whole, but YMMV. There are YouTube performances to sample.
 
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It's been a while since I last bought a new - as in new, new - Mahler 4. Well, here's one. Now, Jakub Hrůša ain't new to me. He waves the stick in FPZ's reference recording of Martinu's VCs as well as in Ivo Kahanek's crackerjack recording of PCs by Dvorak and Martinu. So the dude can accompany the best of 'em - literally. This here conductor-oriented work is the first where Hrůša's the main draw. (Kinda - more on that momentarily.) He doesn't miss a beat. The entire symphony is perfectly paced, never sluggish and never rushed, and it packs a wallop when it needs to, especially in the Adagio. This is a pandemic recording, with players more spread out than normal, and perhaps as a result of that, the sound is strikingly transparent, with different blobs o' instruments sounding pristinely clear. The playing sounds modern day conservatory perfect. It's not over the top indulgent (though Mahler's music fairly invites that) and it's not wimpy. It's top notch. That gets driven home by what turns out to be the co-main draw: Anna Lucia Richter. Holy smokes! When she first enters, her lower register has a heft and perfection that immediately made me think of the great Juliane Banse with Boulez - and things get better from there. Her high notes, just a bit highlighted, perform the vocal equivalent of throwing cold water in the lister's face, grabbing the listener's lapels, and brusquely yet tenderly seducing the listener, all at once. So pure is her tone, so ridiculously controlled and precise, so captivating, that she almost pulls of an Isabel Bayrakdarian, forcing the listener to scramble to buy gobs of new recordings. No, I shan't do that. I shall restrain myself. I shall daintily sample her Brahms, and only her Brahms. I swear.

Hrůša is now a name I shall seek out, and fortunately the ongoing Brahms/Dvorak outings look enticing. He must record a complete Mahler cycle. He must.
 
CD box of harpsichord music by Rameau, Followed by a set of King Crimson live performances, surprisingly similar
 
Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI: Jerusalem: City of two Peaces - Heavenly Peace and Earthly Peace (La Ville des deux Paix: La Paix celeste et la Paix terrestre).
51PfFvA9mIL._AC_.jpg

Music associated with Jerusalem from across quite a few centuries, associated with the different cultures that were dominant over specific periods covered, played excellently on sometimes unfamiliar instruments with some great but - by western standards - less than conventional singing. Of great musical and audio quality, a somewhat different recording which I found refreshing. But it may possibly divide opinion.

This is a couple of CDs. I think the music is best auditioned now and then by historical/cultural period rather than as a whole, but YMMV. There are YouTube performances to sample.
By coincidence, just heard a very distinctive reading of Mozart’s Requiem on R3 which intrigued me. It turned out to be:

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https://amzn.eu/d/c1IJxly
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.


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