[technobarbie]

I've been enjoying this.

Lars-Erik Larsson: Twelve Concertinos, Op. 45

 

[Masolino]

Towards the "early music" end of spectrum, this is what I have been listening to with great enjoyment:



Westhoff's one of Bach's most immediate influences in composing the sonatas and partitas for solo violin (using multiple stoppings, etc.). His published oevure is very small and these are the only sonatas with basso continuo that we have in this form. Apart from being a musician, Westhoff was also a university professor in modern langauges. Stylistically I find Westfhoff to be somewhere in between Heinrich Biber and Arcangelo Corelli, two more famous violinist-composers in the Baroque period. The sound is incredibly vivid and direct with the continuo part equally in presence to the solo violin.

Musicweb UK "Recording of the Month":http://www.musicweb.uk.net/classrev/..._ZZT050201.htm

Johann Paul von Westhoff (1656-1705)

Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo (Dresden 1694)

David Plantier, violin
Les plaisirs du Parnasse
Zig-Zag Territories ZZT050201

 

[Doc Sarvis]

I have two of his recordings:

Both of these are very enjoyable, especially the first. It's melodic, interesting music, kind of a Malcolm Arnold-esque sound but with a character all its own. Lloyd is quite obscure here in the states, but from what I've read he has a following in the UK. Interestingly, his stuff is all on Albany records, a US label.

The first one listed is an SACD. Recommended!

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears Finally received the Koechlin recording of Chamber Music with Flute from yourmusic and am delighted with it. This is my first experience with Koechlin, but now I'm ordering more of his music. It's just beautiful. If you like Debussy, Satie, Milhaud and other composers of that period then this will suit your tastes to a t.

I bought both this and the Teneyev, and I love them both. Both are on yourmusic.

 

[scottder]

I've seen enough raves for the Teneyev, so i used my last free CD at BMG to get it.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc Sarvis Here's an interesting disc: I don't know a whole lot about this, but from what I've read, it's a collection of Eastman-Rochester student contest winners. The contest was to produce "tranquil, yet thoughtful" music. The result is that most pieces sound like derivatives on Barber's "Adagio for Strings" or some-such, but a lot of the music is quite remarkable. Apparently this has been a cult favorite for many years. A word on Mercury Living Presence sound: I know some don't like it, but I've come to realize that it is quite spectacular if one does not try to reconcile it with realistic sound. It has a dramatic sound signature all its own that is quite enjoyable, just not "realistic" by today's standards.

I had previously heard about this recording and don't know why I never pursued buying it. I am still a bit hesitant as I keep hoping these will eventually be released as SACD/Hybrids. I hope they release this one soon.

 

[technobarbie]

Here's a few I picked up today. The Rosary Sonatas are gonna take a little getting used to, but the others are great - especially the Suk.

 

[scottder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottder I've seen enough raves for the Teneyev, so i used my last free CD at BMG to get it.

Picked this up, wow....if you want over-the-top Russian Romantic music....this is the CD to buy. Listening through from begining to end made me tired!

Scott

 

[Mark from HFR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by technobarbie Here's a few I picked up today. The Rosary Sonatas are gonna take a little getting used to, but the others are great - especially the Suk.

That Suk 'Fantastic Scherzo' is... well, fantastic. I first heard it about ten years ago when it was coupled on Jiri Behlolavek's recording of Janacek's 'Sinfonietta.' It has such an uneasy feeling of shifting moods. What is the other piece like?

 

[Bunnyears]

Along with the Suk, I picked up Glazunov's Symphony No.5 and The Seasons at yourmusic, and it's a winner! Very enjoyable.

I had The Seasons on vinyl, but this is a lot better than how I remembered my older recording.

 

[Ferbose]

If you are looking for a true "modern" masterpiece written in the last fifty years, I implore you check out this recording:

This is a landmark recording in many ways.

First, The music is incredible, consisting of more than 40 songs on 3 CDs. .

William Bolcom spent decades to set Blake's poem series into a song cycle. Great poetry often inspire great lieder, and here it worked again. Bolcom does not just witre lieder in the Germanic romantic sense, and he chooses to be a modern songwriter. The music styles range from plain American folk songs, to classical art songs, jazzy tunes, recitatives with dissonant orchestral background and pieces showing rock and reggae influence. The songs are for many different voice types, and all kinds of unorthodox instruments are employed, including electric guitars. The moderness of this song cycle is undeniable, because it is inspired by music developments in mid 20th century. But it does not try to break academic rules or alienate the audience, it just brings music elements of our age together to make seriously good sounding music.

Bolcom did not write songs in a dozen of different styles to show off his ability, but he did his best to serve the poetry. He strived to give musical meaning to the text, and ended up using all kinds of music tools he knows to help get the message across. Blake himself likes to emhasize on "contrast" as an aesthetic tool, and Bolcom followed his footsteps by offering sonic contrasts.

The Naxos offering is simply spectacular in scale. The booklet is 40 pages, including assays by the composer, 20 biographical panels (conductor, performers and ensembles), texts of a few dozens of poems, a name list of all 450 musicians involved, and 10 photos of the performance. Conducted by Slatkin, a major conductor and an long-time friend of Bolcom, the performance involves U. Michigan School of Music, providing over 400 musicinas to perform this massive work, and the composer himself. The composer's wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, sung some of the most hautingly beautiful pieces in the cycle. The effort going into this project is simply immense. This is truly the most remarkable music composed in the last 50 years I have heard. Kudos to Naxos for producing a landmark recording of a modern masterpiece and selling it for under $20.

 

[Ffodor]

Since I had some success with my only recommendation on this thread (Taneyev), I am trying another one, in a completely different genre: Antonio Lotti (1667-1740)'s Requiem. Only recording I know is from Thomas Hengelbrock on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. It may be a challenge to find in stores.

The adjective that comes to my mind listening to the work for an umpteenth time since I bought the CD is 'sumptuous'. This is baroque religious music at its most creative, serene and finely wrought, yet fervent. Some may think it lacks 'depth', and certainly it does not have Bach's (relative) rigorism or Haendel's pump -- instrumental elements are italian through and through (I read otherwise, I disagree), arias are suave. If there is a need for an intellectual justification, it is probably that a Requiem can also be a celebration of life; the artistic justification is that it just works, for me.

 

[Bunnyears]

Ferbose,

I think I may be getting that recording as Bolcom was a student of one of my favorite composers, Darius Milhaud.

Meanwhile, I just received this today and want to recommend it to anyone who is looking for something that is off the beaten track. It's well within the budget as I think it is still at yourmusic. Warning, Goliov is not for everyone -- if you like your music very straightforward classical you may not find this to your taste. If you like world music, love strange rhythms and musical sounds from other cultures this is just for you. It also has an older song cycle by Berio based on American folksongs which is very good as well, but it's the Goliov that is so amazing. He has created a blend of Klezmer, Spanish, Israeli, old Sephardic and Arab music that is astonishingly unique and to my ears beautiful. For $5.99, experiment -- you may just find that you love it too.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ffodor Since I had some success with my only recommendation on this thread (Taneyev), I am trying another one, in a completely different genre: Antonio Lotti (1667-1740)'s Requiem. Only recording I know is from Thomas Hengelbrock on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. It may be a challenge to find in stores. The adjective that comes to my mind listening to the work for an umpteenth time since I bought the CD is 'sumptuous'. This is baroque religious music at its most creative, serene and finely wrought, yet fervent. Some may think it lacks 'depth', and certainly it does not have Bach's (relative) rigorism or Haendel's pump -- instrumental elements are italian through and through (I read otherwise, I disagree), arias are suave. If there is a need for an intellectual justification, it is probably that a Requiem can also be a celebration of life; the artistic justification is that it just works, for me.

IMHO, Hengelbrock is a genius. I have all of his recordings. I even had to travel all the way to Rome to find the one I was missing. I highly recommend anything he does. Check out his Bach's Mass in B Minor. This Lotti recording is of a very rarely performed work. If I am not mistaken, this recording is the world premiere, however, I would classify this particular recording as one of Hengelbrocks weaker recordings. May I suggest the following recording as one of his best works EVER:

Durante, D'Astorga and Pergolesi

EDIT: DAMN THIS PLACE! Here I go looking for the above picture and notice Hengelbrock has released a new 3 disc set. Needless to say I had to order it.

 

[LFF]

Hengelbrock tends to record a lot of little known works. Almost all of his recordings are for DHM and they are hard to come by in the states. Moreover to make things worse - they tend to go out of print fairly quickly.

Just of heads up so you buy it now instead of holding off on it.