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Mozart: Apollo et Hyacinthus (Schmidt-Gaden)

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Apollo et Hyacinthus, K38
Gehrard Schmidt-Gaden, Ensemble Baroque de Nice
(Period Instruments)
Pavane  ADW 7236/37 (1991) 2-Disc set






[Flac & Scans]




Les Percussions de Strasbourg ‎– 50th Anniversary Edition

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CD01 Messiaen
CD02 Boulez, Amy, Manoury
CD03 Les formes ouvertes - Boucourechliev, Haubenstock-Ramati
CD04 Americana - Varèse, Chavez, Cage, Campion
CD05 Musiques de l'Est - Stibilj, Silvestrov, Denisov, Kabelac
CD06 Espace Temps - Serocki, Aperghis, Xenakis
CD07 Invités - Schat, Puig, Denisov
CD08 Asie et autres influences - Scherchen, Shinohara, Ohana, Louvier, Taïra
CD09 Dufourt
CD10 Monnet
CD11 Oeuvre collective
CD12 Musique et espace - Grisey
CD13 Amérique su sud/Musique Et Film - Pampin, Matalon
CD14 Mâche
CD15 Transformations et détournements - Racot, Levinas, D'Adamo, Paris

Accord ‎480 6512 (2012) out of print

Ripped and contributed by grasprelease; please direct your comments, queries, and thanks to him

dBpoweramp rip (CD1-3, 5-15); EAC (CD4) flac tracks, logs, webcovers (separate file)
~3.9 GB; parts 1-4 all needed to unzip
links:
part 1: https://mega.nz/file/fd43nQzD#TyfePoZu8fVPvwbb-Ekwq9f0P9zQiRqQamiWBG6yn2o

part 2: https://mega.nz/file/zMgXiCID#yE3Z4cpXZBdlEvu9uDTok-yroNgMVWPa4X4n4Y-aHeg

part 3: https://mega.nz/file/TMg3lSoL#o1vrCakBpd-0m6XBxdyo_igJ6BYxBLdtG3Gw6pse1c4

part 4: https://mega.nz/file/6FpRgYyZ#38M1Ujq-qAvPSVisVdegzytv_NLK3clIpL1MvwLeW0g

covers: https://mega.nz/file/OVg1DbzA#hGxNMFHBs-0gFtB5dCtLEt9Vue7s4ZsXp9vM8pqsDoI

****
Tracklist (partial):
CD1 Messiaen: Sept Haïkaï, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, Couleurs de la Cité Céleste
CD2 Boulez: Le Marteau sans maître. Amy: Cycle. Manoury: Le Livre des Claviers
CD3 Haubenstock-Ramati: Jeux 6. Boucourechliev: Archipel 3
CD4 Varese: Ionisation. Chavez: Tambuco, Toccata. Cage: First construction (in metal). Campion: Ondoyant et Divers
CD5 Stibilj: Epervier de ta faiblesse, Domine. Silvestrov: Mystères. Denisov: Nuages Noires, Apparitions et disparitions, Rayons des étoiles lointaines dans l'espace courbé. Kabelac: Huit Inventions
CD6 Serocki: Continuum. Aperghis: Kryptogramma. Xenakis: Persephassa
CD7 Schat: Signalement. Puig: Provisoires agglomérats. Denisov: Concerto Piccolo
CD8 Scherchen: Shen. Shinohara: Alternances. Ohana: Quatre etudes chorégraphiques. Louvier: Candrakâla, Shima. Taira: Hiérophonie V
CD9 Dufourt: Erewhon, Sombre journée
CD10 Monnet: Bibilolo
CD11 Jarrell: Incipit. Mache: Vectigal Libens. Lauba: Kupang. Romitelli: Chorus Leroux: Rheumics. Monnet: Mort et transfiguration pour 40 balais. Singier: Salmigondis. Pesson: Gigue. Levinas: Tic, Tac... Matalon: Caramba(les). Hurel: Ecart en temps. Drout: La Fuite
CD12 Grisey: Le Noir de l'Etoile
CD13 Pampin: On space.. Matalon: Le Scorpion
CD14 Mache: Maraé, Aera, Khnoum, Le printemps du serpent
CD15 Racot: Subgestuel Levinas: Voûtes D'Adamo: Die Runde Zahl. Paris: Les Arpenteurs (extraits)

Beethoven & Pössinger - Violin Concertos (Anton Steck)

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Violin Concerto on D major, Op. 61 (1806)
(Original manuscript version)
Franz Alexander Pössinger (1767-1827)
Violin Concerto in G major, Op. 9 (1805)
Anton Steck, Violin
Matthew Halls, L'Arpe Festante
(Period Instruments)
Accent ACC 24230 (2017)

[Flac & Scans]

Monteverdi: Selva morale e spirituale - Garrido, Ensemble Elyma

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Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
CD1 Spiritualità e liturgia
CD2 I Psalmi vespertini
CD3 Vespro dei Martiri
CD4 L'Eloquenza divina

Rosa Domínguez, Adriana Fernández, soprano
Philippe Jaroussky, Fabian Schofrin, countertenor
Cyril Auvity, Stephan van Dyck, tenor
Bertrand Chuberre, baritone
Stephan Imboden, bass

Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc
Ensemble Elyma; Gabriel Garrido, dir
Rec 13-17 Oct 2003; 29 May-3 Jun & 11-16 Oct 2004, Chapelle de la Charité, Bourg-en-Bresse FR

Editions Ambronay AMY001 (2005) out of print
XLD rip    flac, cue, webcovers, booklet, tracklist (in CD1 folder)
CD1 362 MB
1fichier     https://1fichier.com/?mx89a17alyqzh3285tra
WeTransfer (for 7 days)     https://we.tl/t-TFvut5b6y5

CD2 301.2 MB
1fichier     https://1fichier.com/?0m2jwf099imwf6ws3g4m
WeTransfer (for 7 days)     https://we.tl/t-mecCVoCj9E

CD3 267.9 MB
1fichier     https://1fichier.com/?0h8hnw3qgo5ont2cj4tv
WeTransfer (for 7 days)     https://we.tl/t-gGWgZVmvfk

CD4 249.1 MB
1fichier    https://1fichier.com/?4kazrrkn2xpx8ka2h4tf
WeTransfer (for 7 days)    https://we.tl/t-AfzgtvjW3v

Tracklist
CD1
01 O ciechi
02 Voi ch'ascoltate
03 E questa vita un lampo
04 Spuntava il di
05 Chi col che m'innamori
06 Messa a quatro (Messe)
07 Kyrie
08 Gloria
09 Credo - Sanctus
10 Benedictus
11 Agnus Dei
12 Messa concertata (Messe)
13 Kyrie
14 Gloria
15 Credo
16 Crucifixus
17 Et resurrexit
18 Et iterum
19 Et in Spiritum Sanctum
20 Ab aeterno

CD2
01 Dixit Dominus
02 Confitebor tibi Domine 2
03 Confitebor tibi Domine 3
04 Beatus vir 1
05 Laudate pueri 2
06 Laudate Dominum 1
07 Laudate Dominum 2
08 Laudate Dominum 3
09 Magnificat 1

CD3
01 Deus in adiutorium - Domine ed adiuvandum
02 Isti sunt Sancti
03 Dixit Dominus 2
04 Isti sunt Sancti
05 Sancti per fidem
06 Confitebor tibi Domini 1
07 Sancti per fidem
08 Sanctorum velut aquilae
09 Beatus vir 2
10 Sanctorum velut aquilae
11 Absterget Deus
12 Laudate pueri 1
13 Absterget Deus
14 In caelestibus regnis
15 Credidi
16 In caelestibus regnis
17 Sanctorum meritis 2
18 Gaudent in caelis
19 Magnificat 2
20 Gaudent in caelis
21 Salve Regina 3

CD4
01 Momento Domine David
02 Sanctorum meritis 1
03 Deus tuorum militum 1
04 Deus tuorum militum 2
05 Iste confessor 1
06 Iste confessor 2
07 Ut queant laxis
08 Salve Regina 1
09 Salve Regina 2
10 Jubilet tota civitas
11 Laudate Dominum
12 Pianto della Madonna sopra Il lamento d'Arianna

Romantic Chamber Music Schoeck - Onslow - Chausson - Bartolucci - Enescu

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Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quintet op. 29
Felix Mendelssohn
String Quintet No. 2
Salvatore Accardo, Margaret Batjer violins
Toby Hoffman, Sylvie Gazeau violas
Gary Hoffman cello
Nuova Era 1993






George Enescu
Chamber Music 1905-1906
Indesens 2010
Tatiana Samouil violin
Gerard Caussé viola
Justus Grimm cello
Vincent Lucas flute
Frederic Mellardi trumpet
Claudia Bara piano
Indesens 2005




Cesar Franck
Piano Quintet
Franz Liszt
Pensées des morts
Andante lagrimoso
Ave Maria
Sviatolav Richter piano
Borodin SQ
Philips 1991




Max Bruch
String Quintet in A minor op. posth.
String Quintet in  E flat major op. posth.
String Octet in B flat major op. posth.
The Nash Ensemble
Chandos 2016








Feliz Mendelssohn
Piano Quartet No. 2
Piano Quartet No. 3
Bartholdy Piano Quartet
Naxos 2000                                       






Domenico Bartolucci
Piano Trio
Violin Sonata
Prelude, Intermezzo and Fugue Nos. 1 and 2
Giacomo Scarponi violin
Luca Venturi violin
Ivo Scarponi cello
Aldo Cicillini viola
Marco Venturi piano
Brilliant 2017







Elegies
Works by Glazunov - Vieuxtemps
Carter - Vaughan Williams
Britten - Liszt - Kodaly
Kim Kashkashian viola
Robert Levin piano
ECM 1987






Gabriel Faure
Piano Trio
Franz Schubert
Notturno
Ernest Bloch
Three Nocturnes for Piano Trio
Charles Widor
Four Pieces for Piano Trio
Caterine Wilson piano
Adele Armin violin
Jack Mendelssohn cello
Doremi 2017





Ernest Chausson
Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet
Lorin Maazel violin
Israela Margalit piano
The Cleveland Orchestra SQ
Telarc 1980






Fredrich Kuhlau
String Quartet in A minor
C. P. E. Horneman
String Quartet in D major
The Copenhaguen SQ
Da Capo 1994









Carl Maria von Weber
Clarinet Quintet
W. A. Mozart
Clarinet Quintet
Peter Schmidl clarinet
Members of the Wiener Oktett
Decca 1996






Melos Ensemble
Music by Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven.
Spohr, Weber, Mendelssohn,
Schumann, Brahms, Janacek,
Poulenc, Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies
Warner 2011








Gabriel Pierné
Piano Quintet
Violin Sonata
Olivier Charlier violin
Quatuor Viotti
Jean Hubeau piano
Erato 1990








Robert Schumann
Andante and Variations for 2 pianos, 2 cellos and horn
Adagio and Allegro for horn and piano
Three Romances for oboe and piano
Abendlied for oboe and piano
Fantasiestucke for clarinet and piano
Five Stucke im Volkston for cello and piano
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alfred Brendel,
Malcolm Frager, Benjamin Britten piano
Barry Tuckwell horn
Heinz Holliger oboe
Franklin Cohen clarinet
                                                      Mstislav Rostropovich cello




P. I. Tchaikovsky
String Quartet No. 2
Souvenir de Florence
Vermeer Quartet
Rami Solomonow viola
John Sharp cello
Cedille 2000







Sergei Rachmaninov
Elegiac Trio No. 1
P. I. Tchaikovsky
Piano Trio
Vadim Repin violin
Mischa Maisky cello
Lang Lang piano
DG 2008







Bedrich Smetana
String Quartet No. 1
Cesar Franck
String Quartet in D major
Juilliard SQ
Sony 1997








George Onslow
Grand Sextour
Grand Septuor
Nielsen Wind Quintet
Jean Hubeau piano
Marc Marder double bass
Warner Apex 2003





Ludwig van Beethoven
Grosse Fugue op. 133
W. A. Mozart
Adagio and Fugue K546
Igor Stravinsky
Double Canon
Three Pieces
Concertino
Robert Schumann
String Quartet No. 3
Quartetto Italiano
Amadeus 1977




Enrique Granados
Piano Trio
Violin Sonata
Preludes
Madrigal
Danza gallega
Trova
Trio Rodin
Aevea 2015






Antonin Dvorak
String Quartet No. 12 "American"
Melos SQ
Harmonia Mundi 1997








Johannes Brahms
Piano Quintet
Sring Sextet No. 2
Isabelle Faust violin
Christian Tetzlaff violin
Lars Vogt piano
Cavi Music 2006







Franz Schmidt
Piano Quintet
Anton Bruckner
String Quintet
Eduard Mrazek piano
Vienna Philharmonic Quintet
Decca 1974






Edward Elgar
Piano Quintet
Robert Schumann
Piano Quintet
Lars Vogt piano
Christian Tetzlaff violin
Antje Weithaas violin
Radoslav Szulc violin
Tatjana Masurenko viola 
Gustav Rivinius cello
Claudio Bohorquez cello
Cavi Music 2008




Robert Schumann
String Quartet No. 1
String Quartet No. 3
St. Lawrence SQ
EMI 1999






Othmar Schoeck
Notturno
Wanderung im Debirge
Olaf Bar
Carmina Quartet
Helmut Deutsch piano
Denon 2010







Ludwig Spohr
Grand Nonetto
Bohuslav Martinu
Nonetto
Ensemble Wien Berlin
DG 1989







Giuseppe Verdi
String Quartet
Antonin Dvorak
String Quartet No. 10
Christian Tetzlaff violin
Florian Donderer violin
Hartmut Rohde viola
Maximilian Hornung cello
Cavi Music




Gabriel Fauré
The Piano Quartets
Isaac Stern violin
Jaime Laredo viola
Yo-Yo Ma cello
Emanuel Ax piano
Sony 2000







Edvard Grieg
The Three Violin Sonatas
Federico Guglielmo violin
Jolanda Violante piano
Decca 2008








Ernest Chausson
Piano Trio
Poeme
Andante et Allegro
Phillippe Graffin violin
Pascal Devoyon piano
Charles Neidich clarinet
Chilingirian SQ
Hyperion 1998








Ferdinand Ries
Violin Sonatas op 8 Nos. 1 and 2
Violin Sonata op. 19
Eric Grossmann violin
Susan Kagan piano
Naxos 2015






Bonus discs:


Felix Mendelssohn
String Octet
Piano Sextet
Prazak SQ
Kocian SQ
Jaromir Klepac piano
Jiri Hudec double bass
Praga 2005




Franz Schubert
String Quintet
Octet
Yehudi Menuhin - Robert Masters violin
Barry Tuckwell horn
Gervase de Peyer clarinet
Archie Camden bassoon
Walter Gerhardt - Cecil Aronowitz - Ernst Wallfish viola
Maurice Gendron ·  Derek Simpson cello
Eugene Cruft double bass
Warner 1970



Franz Schubert
Notturno
Piano Quintet "The Trout"
Friedrich Wuhrer piano
The Bachelet Quartet
Karl Kruger double bass
BNF 1955





You can also hear more romantic chamber music here (Brahms), here (Beethoven - Spohr), here (Dohnanyi)  and here (Dvorak, etc).

flac, cue, logs, digital download, scans, covers and booklets.

Vanhal - Six Quartets Op. 6 (Eybler Quartet)

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Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739-1813)
Six String Quartets, Op. 6 (1771)
Eybler Quartet
(Period Instruments)
Gallery Players of Niagra GPN 17003 (2017)






[Flac & Scans]



Gustav Holst: The Planets - James Judd

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Denon  CO-75076
Gustav Holst:

01. - 07. The Planets. Suite, op.32 [50'27]

Choir of King's College Cambridge, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Judd

Denon  CO-75076  (recorded December 1991; CD issued 1992)

(digital download; flacs, cover and inlay scans, no booklet)


Recording venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London
Recording engineer: Hiroshi Goto; Producer: Takashi Baba

Here is an excellent, if little-known, recording to add to the long list of The Planets here on MIMIC. Although this wouldn't knock any of my top-five at the head of the list, it is unlikely to disappoint in any respect.

The bombs drop effectively in Mars - The bringer of war, Jupiter -  the bringer of jollity is not wallowed in and the rhythms in Uranus - the magician are well pointed. The wide dynamic range of the very fine recorded sound does make the clock chimes difficult to hear, though. The Royal Philharmonic playing for James Judd (British, not American as claimed recently in Fanfare Magazine) is outstanding. Judd joins Andrew Davis in his earlier Toronto recording in using boy choristers in Neptune the mystic, which works surprisingly very well.

Download from MEGA.

Martinon conducts Ibert - Bizet - Saint-Saens and Borodin

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Jacques Ibert
Divertissement
Georges Bizet
Jeux d´Enfants
Camille Saint-Saens
La Rouet d´Omphale
Danse Macabre
Alexander Borodin
Symphony No. 2
Paris Conservatorie Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra (Borodin)
Jean Martinon
                                                       Decca 1958 (Borodin) and 1960
digital download, cover


This is a compilation from two original recordings made in 1958 and 1960. The recording quality is excellent, very bright but suiting the program, and full range. The actual performances have extraordinary 'lift' and non more so than the opening Ibert Divertissement. This sense of 'lift' persists throughout the entire program. 
The Paris orchestra at the time of this Martinon recording was notoriously difficult to control or train. Many of the key members constantly double-booked themselves for other engagements and frequently sent their deputies in for either concerts or rehearsals. This meant that any conductor rehearsing the orchestra for a concert would never know which of the players in front of him would actually be attending the concert (or recording session). Under these amazing circumstances Martinon still managed to produce a set of electrifying recordings for these two records.
The Ibert item was incidental music for the French farce 'The Italian Straw Hat' and is a very witty piece of work. The performance here is so much better than any other that I have heard that comparison is pointless. The same 'joie de vivre' pervades the following Danse Macabre, Jeux d'enfants and Le Rouet d'Omphale.
This is one of the most outstanding issues in the series of 'The Classic Sound' . (Amazon review)


Schubert: Complete Works for Violin & Pianoforte Vol. 1 (Anton Steck, Robert Hill)

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Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)
Sonatina for Violin & Piano in G minor, D. 408
Sonatina for Violin & Piano in D major, D. 384
Sonatina for Violin & Piano in A minor, D. 385
Anton Steck, Violin
Robert Hill, Fortepiano
(Period Instruments)
MD & G 620 0687-2 (1997)



[Flac & Scans]

Schubert: Complete Works for Violin & Pianoforte Vol. 2 (Anton Steck, Robert Hill)

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Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)
Rondo for Violin & Piano in B minor, D. 895
Sonata for Violin & Piano in A major, D. 574
Fantasia for Violin & Piano in C major, D. 93
Anton Steck, Violin
Robert Hill, Fortepiano
(Period Instruments)
MD & G 620 0688-2 (1997)



[Flac & Scans]




Music for the Berlin Court (À la cour de Frédéric le Grand) -- Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

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Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703-1771)
Christoph Nichelmann (1717-1762)
Friedrich II“Der Grosse” (1712-1786)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)

Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin


Recorded November 2011, Teldex Studio Berlin
Harmonia Mundi HMC 902132 (2012) out of print


 XLD rip flac, cue, webcovers, booklet, tracklist
341.2 MB
1fichier     https://1fichier.com/?ch929ka50e1gih8efm9z
WeTransfer (for 7 days)     https://we.tl/t-ZPzWxpDbe5

Tracklist   
01 Graun JG Ouvertüre und Allegro, GraunWV A:XI:2I - Ouvertüre (Lento - Allegro)
02 II. Allegro
03 Nichelmann Concerto per cembalo concertante D-B M.TH.169 - I. Allegro
04 II. Adagio sempre piano
05 III. Presto
06 Friedrich II 'Der Grosse' Sonata per flauto traverso solo e basso 'pour Potsdam' n190 - I. Recitativo
07 II. Andante et cantabile
08 III.
09 Graun JG Concerto per viola da gamba concertata GraunWV A:XIII:14 - I. Allegro moderato
10 II. Adagio (Arioso)
11 III. Allegro
12 Bach CPE Sinfonie n1, Wq183, 1 - I. Allegro di molto
13 II. Largo
14 III. Presto

Boulez: conducts Mozart - Stockhausen - Handel - Berg - Debussy - Stravinsky - Henze

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Igor Stravinsky
Petrushka
Anton Webern
Six Pieces for Orchestra op. 6
Claude Debussy
La Mer
Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Boulez
Melodiya 1990






Le Domaine Musical
Recordings 1956 -1967
Stockhausen - Pousseur - Stravinsky
Berio - Kagel - Varese - Messiaen
Schoenberg - Berg - Webern - Boulez
Nono - Henze - Eloy - Gabrieli
Yvonne Loriod piano
Conducted by Pierre Boulez - Hans Rosbaud - Rudolf Albert
Decca 2015





G. F, Handel
Water Music
Music for the Royal Fireworks
New York Phiharmonic
Pierre Boulez
CBS 1975









W. A. Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 1 K 37
Piano Concerto No. 2 K 39
Piano Concerto No. 3 K 40
Piano Concerto Mo. 4 K 41
Yvonne Loriod piano
Orchestre du Domaine Musical
Pierre Boulez
BNF 1962






W. A. Mozart
Serenade for Winds K 361
Alban Berg
Chamber Concerto for violin, piano and wind intruments
Christian Tetzlaff violin
Mitsuko Uchida piano
Ensemble InterContemporain
Pierre Boulez
Decca 2008



digital download, covers and booklet

Romantic Songs for Tenor & Guitar: Giuliani, Schubert & Spohr - (Ian Partridge, Jakob Lindberg)

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Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)
Eight Songs
Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829)
Six Songs, Op. 89
Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859)
Five Songs from Op. 37 & Op. 72
Ian Partridge, Tenor
Jakob Lindberg, Guitar (Louis Panorme, London, 1830)
Pearl  SHE CD 9608 (1989)


[Flac & Scans]





Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Tadaaki Otaka, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos & William Boughton - Russian Orchestral Masterworks

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Russian Orchestral Masterworks
1.01 - 1.04 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5 in E minor, op.64 [46'00]
1.05 - 1.08 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings in C major, op.48 [30'41]
2.09 - 2.12 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade. Symphonic Suite, op.35 [44'29]
2.13 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Russian Easter Festival Overture, op.36 [13'55]
3.14 - 3.21 Sergei Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet. Ballet Suite [39'08]
3.22 Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet. Fantasy Overture [21'37]
4.23 - 4.26 Sergei Rachmaninov - Symphony No.2 in E minor, op.27 [59'31]
4.27 Sergei Rachmaninov - Vocalise, op.34 no.14 [5'52]
5.28 - 5.32 Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird. Suite (1910 version) [23'28]
5.33 - 5.44 Igor Stravinsky - Le Sacre du printemps [35'24]
6.45 - 6.48 Igor Stravinsky - Petrouchka. Ballet (1911 version) [37'04]
6.49 - 6.51 Igor Stravinsky - Symphony in Three Movements [22'53]
7.52 - 7.55 Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, op.35 [21'12]
7.56 - 7.58 Dmitri Shostakovich - Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, op.102 [18'53]
7.59 - 7.63 Dmitri Shostakovich (arr. Rudolf Barshai): Chamber Symphony, op.110a [21'43]

London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos (Disc 1 - Tchaikovsky Symphony 5)
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky (Discs 5 & 6 - Stravinsky)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Tadaaki Otaka (Discs 3 & 4 - Prokofiev & Rachmaninov)
English String Orchestra (Disc 1 - Tchaikovsky Serenade); Philharmonia Orchestra (Disc 2 - Rimsky-Korsakov) and Martin Jones- piano, Graham Ashton- trumpet, English Symphony Orchestra (Disc 7 - Shostakovich) conducted by William Boughton.

Nimbus NI 1749  (recorded 1984 - 1994; this compilation issued 2000)

(digital downloads; flacs, cover, inlay and booklet scans)

Recording venues: Walthamstow Town Hall, London (Disc 1 - Symphony 5), Watford Town Hall (Discs 5 & 6), Brangwyn Hall, Swansea (Discs 3 & 4), Royal Albert Hall, London (Disc 2), Great Hall, Birmingham University (Disc 1 - Serenade & Disc 7)
Recording engineers and Producers: not stated.

This compilation from Nimbus includes familiar issues and some almost forgotten. The Fruhbeck de Burgos Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony, for instance, which is given a fine, if straightforward, performance. It was originally issued coupled with Kodaly's Hary Janos Suite which seems to have disappeared without trace - unmentioned in their online catalogue.

Rozhdestvensky's Stravinsky set is also a find - excellent performances, although the Petrouchka isn't quite at the same level as a broadcast performance given when he was the BBC Symphony's chief conductor.

And I had never come across Martin Jones and William Boughton (Nimbus''house' pianist and conductor) recordings of the Shostakovich Piano Concertos before. Again, although very straight forward in concept, I found them enthralling and very youthful sounding. Graham Ashton's trumpet is outstanding in the First Concerto. I see that these recordings were dismissed out of hand by David Hurwitz - so they can't be all bad.

Tadaaki Otaka proves himself to be equally at home in Rachmaninov's symphonies as he is in the piano concertos with John Lill.

Recording quality is generally fine and natural sounding with only the Birmingham recordings displaying much of Nimbus' legendary over-reverberant quality. The sound of the Philharmonia Orchestra captured in the Royal Albert Hall for Boughton's Rimsky-Korsakov is particularly spectacular.

Download from MEGA.

Henri Dutilleux - Orchestral Works - Hans Graf

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Henri Dutilleux
Orchestral Works Vol. I
Symphony No. 2 "La Double"
The Shadows of Time
Métaboles
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Hans Graf
Arte Nova/Allegro  2005




Henri Dutilleux (b. 1916) has been the elder statesman of French music since Olivier Messiaen's passing (1908-1992). Dutilleux has never been prolific, but the quality of his small body of works is very high. He is a quintessentially French composer, obviously continuing in the vein of Debussy and Ravel with luscious orchestral textures and recurrent nocturnes with gauzy, oblique, fluid, drifting constructions. Dutilleux is a moderate modernist, maintaining continuity with the early 20th century and always maintaining a flowing, lyrical quality, reflecting his mystic vision of nature, even as he moves outside standard tonality.(Amazon)



Henri Dutilleux
Orchestral Works Vol. II
Symphony No. 1
La Nuit Etoilée (Timbres Espace Mouvement)
Tout un Monde Lontain
Jean-Guihen Queyras cello
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Hans Graf
Arte Nova/Allegro 2005








Henri Dutilleux
Orchestral Works Vol. III
L´Arbre des Songes
La Geole
Deux Sonnets de Jean Cassou
Mystere de l´Instant
Olivier Charlin violin
Ildiko Vekony cimbalom
François Le Roux baryton
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Hans Graf
Arte Nova/Allegro 2005

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Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine – Christie

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Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Vespro della Beata Vergine

Sophie Marin-Degor, Maryseult Wieczorek, Artur Stefanowicz, Fabián Schofrin, Paul Agnew, Joseph Cornwell,  François Piolino,  Thierry Félix, Clive Bayley
Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie

Erato 3984-23139-2 (1998)
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Ashkenazy conducts Prokofiev´s Symphonies 1, 5, 6, and 7

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Sergei Prokofiev
Symphony No. 1 "Classical"
Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 6
Symphony No. 7
Autumnal
Overture on Hebrew Themes
London SO
Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra
Keith Puddy clarinet
The Gabrieli SQ
Vladimir Ashkenazy piano and direction
Recorded 1974, 1975,1985 and 1993
Double Decca 2002

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Decca’s welcome reprisal of these Prokofiev symphonies comes amid a general dearth of finely recorded versions of the Sixth (considered the composer’s greatest but certainly not most popular) and Seventh. Other available recordings of these works either suffer from middling analog sound quality (Yevgeny Mravinksy in the Sixth, Nikolai Malko in the Seventh) or from drabness (Charles Dutoit in the Sixth) and plain bewilderment (Seiji Ozawa’s Berlin Philharmonic set). For years the clear recommendation has been Neeme Järvi’s masterful traversal with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on Chandos, but the re-release of these barely-remembered Vladimir Ashkenazy performances gives that long-prized set a new run for its money.
First and foremost, Decca’s 1993 sonics are comparatively a league ahead of Chandos’ mid-1980s production, offering the rock-solid bass necessary for the myriad low brass passages and exposed bass drum parts. Second, The Cleveland Orchestra outclasses its Scottish brethren in general orchestral virtuosity, as well as in the various wind solos (exemplified by the elegant interchanges in the third movement of the Seventh and the silken clarinet playing throughout) and in the effortless and unforgettable playing of the principal trumpet.
Interpretively, Ashkenazy favors lean textures and taut rhythmic precision (a consistent feature of his conducting style) resulting in the occasional tendency to let the music’s tension slacken (compare the opening of Järvi’s more urgent reading of the first movement in the Seventh). However, in the swifter sections, such as the Seventh’s frenzied second-movement Piu animato and the same symphony’s lively fourth movement, Ashkenazy lets it all hang out, and listeners should brace themselves for quite a ride.
The more famous selections–the First and Fifth symphonies, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Concertgebouw, respectively–are never less than satisfying. Nothing revelatory takes place in the well-known “Classical” Symphony, other than customary clean execution. The Fifth Symphony has many competitors (Karajan, Järvi, Slatkin, and Maazel, among the better ones) but Ashkenazy’s rendition stands up well, with genuinely exuberant playing from the Amsterdam forces. In the crushing first-movement climaxes, audiophiles also will be pleased with the substantial weight in the percussion and the clearly audible tam-tam crashes that can literally make or break recordings of this work. The fillers include the composer’s early mysterious Autumnal fragment and an idiomatic reading of the chamber version of Overture to Hebrew Themes, both incidental and somewhat out of place among these symphonic monuments. [8/21/2002] Review by ClassicsToday
Artistic Quality: 9 Sound Quality: 9

Bach Cello Suites BWV1007-1012 -- Arnau Tomàs

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

CD1  Suites 1, 2, 3 (BWV1007-1009)
CD2  Suites 4, 5, 6 (BWV1010-1012)

Recorded July 2014
Església parroquial de Sant Martí, Granera (Barcelona ES)

Aglae Música AMC 106.07 (2014) nearly out of print

Arnau Tomàs plays a cello by Anselmo Curletto (Torino 1909)



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580 MB (2 CDs)
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Tracklist
CD1
Cello Suite No.1 In G Major BWV1007 - 1. Prelude
Cello Suite No.1 In G Major BWV1007 - 2. Allemande
Cello Suite No.1 In G Major BWV1007 - 3. Courante
Cello Suite No.1 In G Major BWV1007 - 4. Sarabande
Cello Suite No.1 In G Major BWV1007 - 5. Menuets 1&2
Cello Suite No.1 In G Major BWV1007 - 6. Gigue

Cello Suite No.2 In D Minor BWV1008 - 1. Prelude
Cello Suite No.2 In D Minor BWV1008 - 2. Allemande
Cello Suite No.2 In D Minor BWV1008 - 3. Courante
Cello Suite No.2 In D Minor BWV1008 - 4. Sarabande
Cello Suite No.2 In D Minor BWV1008 - 5. Menuets 1&2
Cello Suite No.2 In D Minor BWV1008 - 6. Gigue

Cello Suite No.3 In C Major BWV1009 - 1. Prelude
Cello Suite No.3 In C Major BWV1009 - 2. Allemande
Cello Suite No.3 In C Major BWV1009 - 3. Courante
Cello Suite No.3 In C Major BWV1009 - 4. Sarabande
Cello Suite No.3 In C Major BWV1009 - 5. Bourrees 1&2
Cello Suite No.3 In C Major BWV1009 - 6. Gigue

CD2
Cello Suite No.4 In F-Flat Major BWV1010 - 1. Prelude
Cello Suite No.4 In F-Flat Major BWV1010 - 2. Allemande
Cello Suite No.4 In F-Flat Major BWV1010 - 3. Courante
Cello Suite No.4 In F-Flat Major BWV1010 - 4. Sarabande
Cello Suite No.4 In F-Flat Major BWV1010 - 5. Bourrees 1&2
Cello Suite No.4 In F-Flat Major BWV1010 - 6. Gigue

Cello Suite No.5 In C Minor BWV1011 - 1. Prelude
Cello Suite No.5 In C Minor BWV1011 - 2. Allemande
Cello Suite No.5 In C Minor BWV1011 - 3. Courante
Cello Suite No.5 In C Minor BWV1011 - 4. Sarabande
Cello Suite No.5 In C Minor BWV1011 - 5. Gavottes 1&2
Cello Suite No.5 In C Minor BWV1011 - 6. Gigue

Cello Suite No.6 In D Major BWV1012 - 1. Prelude
Cello Suite No.6 In D Major BWV1012 - 2. Allemande
Cello Suite No.6 In D Major BWV1012 - 3. Courante
Cello Suite No.6 In D Major BWV1012 - 4. Sarabande
Cello Suite No.6 In D Major BWV1012 - 5. Gavottes 1&2
Cello Suite No.6 In D Major BWV1012 - 6. Gigue

Vernon Handley conducts the complete Symphonies of Arnold Bax

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Arnold Bax
Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 3
Symphony No. 4
Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 6
Symphony No. 7
Rogue´s Comedy Overture
Tintagel
Vernon Hanldey´s Interview
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Vernon Handley
Chandos 2003
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Nearly forty years after his Guildford recording of No.4, Vernon Handley was finally asked to record a complete cycle, something that Bax enthusiasts had been hoping for over the intervening years. It was originally intended that he should record only the Third for a free CD to be given away with an issue of the BBC Music Magazine and we have Brian Pidgeon, the BBC Philharmonic’s General Manager, to thank for his percipience in realizing that here was something special and that all the symphonies should be recorded to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death in October 1953.
Handley’s approach to the symphonies has changed over the years. As he says in the interview on the bonus disc that comes with this set, he takes the slow movements at a faster tempo than before, and indeed, except in the case of the Sixth Symphony, he takes generally faster tempi than other conductors in the outer movements as well. I certainly like the quick speed adopted by Handley for the opening movement of the First Symphony (1921-22). There is a sense of urgency not present in Thomson’s recording and, as in Lloyd-Jones’s version, he emphasizes the barbaric quality of the music (the tenor drum comes across ferociously here). Handley maintains a fast tempo for the development section, where other conductors exaggerate the slight modifications of tempo with which Bax liberally sprinkles the score. The speed in the closing page and a half is again faster than usual, but the menacing quality of the music comes across very well indeed.
The clarity of these new recordings is especially demonstrated at the start of the powerful slow movement. The side drum (with snares slack ‘as at a military funeral’, as Bax mentions in a programme note) and the two harps, playing semiquaver arpeggios, are clearly, but not obtrusively, audible. The build up to the first big climax is powerful and the fanfares clearer than in other recordings. Bax felt that this slow movement was one of his best, and nobody hearing this searing performance would be likely to contradict him. The opening of the finale, with its brassy, very Russian sound, strikes me as being at just the right tempo (some performances are too laboured here), and it leads into the Allegro vivace. Bax adds the rider ‘ma non troppo presto’, and again Handley has hit just the right tempo, I feel. At the moment on page 97 of the score when the first subject from the opening movement reappears, it can often sound as if the music is being pulled back, but Handley makes sure that the momentum is maintained despite the slower tempo indicated. The brazen Marcia trionfale, with which the symphony concludes, is played for all its worth, and the final page brings this tremendous score to a shattering conclusion with its blaring brass and tolling bells.
The opening pages of the Second Symphony (1924-5) are well played on all its recordings, but where Handley scores is in the main Allegro moderato. This again is faster than in previous versions, with playing that is very rhythmic and precise. In contrast, Handley adopts a slower tempo than Thomson and Lloyd-Jones for the second-subject group, which allows the music to breathe, though I think the quicker tempos favoured by other conductors have their merits too. Interesting to note that at the start of the slow movement, the harpist arpeggiates the repeated, Holstian chords where other performers play them unspread. The beautiful melody introduced by the violins on the third page is well articulated, and the shattering climax over an organ pedal is very powerful indeed. The final page, with its tremolando strings, horns chords and harp arpeggios (the latter clearer than usual) is spine-tingling.
In the finale, Handley again scores by the sheer attack in the Allegro feroce, which he takes at a cracking pace, faster than in any previous recording. It is this sense of ‘living dangerously’ that I especially like about Handley’s performances, in contrast to those of Bryden Thomson, who had a tendency to hold back rather than let rip. (I remember him saying that music should only be played at a speed at which the fastest notes could be articulated clearly.) The great climax, with organ at full throttle (to borrow Michael Oliver’s phrase) comes across powerfully here, though I miss those menacing descending phrases on the trombones just after figure 17, which David Lloyd-Jones turns into an almost snarling sound; here they are less prominent. But the epilogue is appropriately bleak, and for the first time in any recording I could clearly hear the strange dominant thirteenth on which the work ends (F and A on cellos, C and E on bassoons, with C below on basses): in other recordings one or other of the tone colours predominates, but here you can distinguish them. (Incidentally, Bax’s short score for this work shows that he originally intended to end it with a triumphal march, as in the First Symphony.)
I confess that I have not yet become accustomed to the tempo that Handley adopts for the opening of the Third Symphony (1928-9), which is faster than in any other performance I have ever heard, except the one conducted by Sir Henry Wood that can be found on Symposium CD 1150. In Barbirolli’s recording it sounds as if the woodwind are improvising their meandering lines; here it sounds as if everyone is in a hurry to get to the Allegro moderato. I am also puzzled why the harp chords on page 2 of the score are, as in Lloyd-Jones’s recording, played without being spread; and there is a slight discolouration of the first note of the strings’ entry with the liturgical theme at the fifth bar after figure 5. But thereafter Handley barely puts a foot wrong. The Allegro feroce, though not the fastest on record, certainly propels the music forward with a sense of purpose, and the famous passage for five solo violins on p.30 come across very well indeed. Handley refuses to linger over the Lento moderato, which begins with the strings, but it certainly does not sound at all rushed. Good horn solo a few pages later, and that dramatic moment at fig.38, where the timpani play the first three notes of the ‘motto’ theme, would have pleased Wood, who used to tell his timpanist to make them sound as if it were a horse kicking at a stable door! I have certainly never heard the harp’s ‘glissando in four quavers’ just before fig.39 sound so clear. The climactic anvil stroke (which appears in the manuscript score in Wood’s handwriting, Bax originally having written a cymbal clash) is by far the best I have ever heard: it often sounds as if someone in the percussion section has accidentally dropped a small metallic object on the floor; here it comes across as a resounding thwack. The rest of the movement is brilliantly played. If I were a conductor, I might have taken the Allegro coda a little faster (as David Lloyd-Jones does) but Handley certainly brings this vast movement to an exciting close.
The slow movement is all that it should be, with very good solos from the horn and trumpet on the first two pages, a sense of rapt concentration over the next few pages, a powerful climax towards the end, and a suitably desolate ending with sensitive playing from the principal bassoonist, Bax enthusiast David Chatwin, who, as a student thirty-two years earlier, conducted the first performance of the tone-poem, Cathaleen-ni-Hoolihan, at the RCM, with Ken Russell in the audience; this was around the time that Russell was working on his film The Devils and was becoming interested in Bax’s music; he later sponsored the Lyrita recordings of the First and Second Symphonies.
The third movement gets off to a cracking start. On a first hearing I wished that the tenor drum were a little more prominent, but it is after all marked ‘ad lib’ in the score and with the dynamic p against the mf of the clarinets and violas, so it is obvious that Bax wanted it to be subsidiary to the tune. After the great fanfare on p.91, there is a più mosso, with the additional indication ‘feroce’, and here I felt that Handley was holding back a little; or maybe it was because I am used to conductors taking this section at a faster tempo. The climax before the epilogue is very well managed, and the epilogue itself sensitively played but without being over-expressive. Handley tells us in his interview that he finds Barbirolli’s performance ‘too beautiful’ here. This is not a problem that I have ever encountered with it, but nonetheless Handley’s more straightforward account lacks nothing in poise and a deep a sense of tranquillity. Perhaps the horn solo on the last page begins a little too loudly, but the final bars are as moving as they should be.
When I first heard the opening of the Fourth Symphony(1931) from David Lloyd-Jones I was bowled over by its sense of forward momentum and a feeling that powerful forces were being unleashed. Handley’s opening is quite similar (a trifle slower) but it has to be said that the greater depth of the recording makes it sound even more bracing. The third trombone’s entry at bar 4 registers very clearly here, as do the organ chords on p.2. Handley succeeds very well indeed in holding the long first movement together, and the final pages are most exhilarating, with Handley making less than other conductors of the largamente. I have always found the second movement of No.4 the least appealing of Bax’s symphonic slow movements, but in this new recording I was caught up in his unique sound-world from the very first bars. Fine trumpet solo near the start, and as in his earlier recording (and like Thomson but not Lloyd-Jones) Handley gets the clarinet just after fig.23 to play the second written E natural (sounding C sharp) instead of the E flat that is written in the published score (and also in the manuscript). I greatly enjoyed the third movement, and especially the Allegro scherzando at fig.22, which Handley takes faster and with a lighter touch than previous conductors. The final pages are again quicker than we usually hear, but that is in keeping with the rest of his interpretation.
Handley’s liking for fast speeds is again in evidence at the start of the Fifth Symphony (1932), but here (unlike the Third) I feel that this is all to the good. The playing of the introduction and the build up to the Allegro con fuoco are tremendously exciting, though around the third bar before fig.6 there is an ensemble problem (the only one I’ve noticed in the whole boxed set), with the second violins on the right not quite together with the horns. No matter; it has gone as soon as you notice it. I love the way Handley keeps this music moving forward; very important in this movement, I feel, where there are so many rapid changes of mood. The sheer beauty of the playing around figs.24 and 25 is quite extraordinary.
The opening of the slow movement is played at a steady pace, and Bax’s triadic brass fanfares, set against tremolando strings, have never sounded so majestic. The wonderful, resonant sound of the BBC Philharmonic’s lower strings that follow comes across marvellously in this recording, as does the brazen climax on p.79, with the side drum for once playing together with the brass (in most performances it is a quaver behind here owing to a mistake in the printed parts). The stark flourish for brass and timpani on p.89 following the tuba solo is also much clearer and emphatic than in previous recordings, and, unlike other conductors, Handley is meticulous in getting the clarinet and trumpet at fig.16 to articulate their semiquavers, so that they sound distinct from the bassoons’ quavers.
After the liturgical theme in fourths on the first page of the finale, Handley sets a furious pace for the ensuing, highly rhythmic Allegro, and the orchestra responds with playing of tremendous panache and immaculate precision. Following the darker slow section in the middle and the return to the fast music, Handley builds up a tremendous climax leading into the Epilogue, which starts serenely with an ostinato in the bass and the liturgical theme on clarinets and strings, and here Handley’s preference for having the second violins on the right pays off, with their counter-melody much clearer than in previous recordings. The build-up to the grandiose final pages is very well managed, and the ending, with swirling woodwind and strings against the brass chorale, sounds tremendous. This is undoubtedly the best performance of Bax’s Fifth Symphony I have ever heard.
In his interview, Handley confesses that the Sixth Symphony (1934-5) is his favourite and points out that many people regard it as his masterpiece. The opening pages, with that grinding ostinato in the bass and those stark wind chords above them, come across very well. Like Del Mar and Lloyd-Jones, Handley follows the printed score in placing the third cymbal clash in the final bar before the Allegro con fuoco and correcting the second clash by moving it to the preceding bar (the printed score is obviously wrong here). But Bax’s manuscript confirms that he actually wrote the third clash on the penultimate bar, and this is what Bryden Thomson plays in his recording. However, I remember Christopher Whelen telling me that when he was rehearsing the work in the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, with Bax himself by his side, the composer agreed that the third clash should indeed be in the bar before the Allegro. It is difficult to decide which is the better: Bax’s original thought (as played by Thomson) or his afterthought (or perhaps an incorrect recollection of what he had actually written in the manuscript). I confess that I found the Allegro con fuoco itself just a little too earthbound; Bax has written ‘non pesante’ against the main theme, but it sounds too heavy and lacking in momentum. The rest of the movement, however, is very well played, though I think Lloyd-Jones has a more exciting conclusion.
The slow movement, in contrast, is played faster than in previous recordings, and I found that I soon became used to the tempo. The slow march starting on p.69, which Lewis Foreman has likened to a ‘procession of ghosts’, certainly has an unearthly feel to it. I note, without any particular feelings on the matter, that Handley instructs the tambourine player to continue his repetitions beyond what Bax indicated in the manuscript or what is misprinted in the score. There always seems to have been confusion about this point, and I believe that the original printed tambourine part had nothing at all in this passage. It may be recalled that Lloyd-Jones, in a note to his Naxos recording, mentioned that he had omitted the tambourine part here altogether, though in fact it can be heard on disc (a different take having presumably been used without his knowledge). Handley also omitted the tambourine part in his performance with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic a few years ago.
John Bradbury, another of the BBC Philharmonic’s Bax enthusiasts, plays the opening clarinet solo of the third movement to perfection, and the rest of the Introduction is also beautifully managed, especially the strings at fig.3. The transition to the Scherzo is also very well done, and the opening bassoon solo is clearer than in the Naxos recording. Handley’s tempo for the Scherzo is slower than Lloyd-Jones’s but lacks nothing in rhythmic drive. When it comes to the slower Trio, I have always felt that Del Mar manages to choose just the right tempo here. The other recordings, including this new one, are a little lethargic for my taste; but this is all a matter of opinion, and other listeners may prefer the slow speed adopted here. Handley does not have the sheer excitement that I find in Lloyd-Jones’s working up to the big climax, but the climax itself, with the liturgical theme blared out by the trumpets, is better, with the upper notes of the liturgical theme clearer than on the Naxos recording. That horrendously difficult solo for trumpet at fig.37, where the poor player is expected to descend from a top C to the very bottom of his compass in a few bars playing piano and legato, is well managed (on the Naxos CD the player has to stop for breath). The Epilogue, with its horn solo and divided strings, is beautifully played, and the tenor drum’s sinister tapping on p.125 of the score is perfectly articulated.
Vernon Handley crowns his cycle with what is, on balance, the best performance of the Seventh Symphony (1938-9) that I have heard - and there have been some very fine performances over the years, from Downes’s two broadcasts in the 1980s to Thomson’s Chandos recording and David Lloyd-Jones’s for Naxos. The opening is fairly steady but the clarity of the sound enables the listener to hear details that are not apparent in other recordings, such as the harp’s rapidly repeated notes starting at fig.1 and those delightful downward arpeggios on p.84, which go for nothing in other recordings. I also especially like the timpani’s dramatic contributions at fig.26 and just after.
Somebody (I forget who) once remarked that the slow movement of No.7 was a dud. Well, these things are a matter of opinion, but there are certainly no real duds in any of the performances of it that have been recorded. I always felt that Thomson, in particular, was at his best here, but Handley’s performance is in some respects even better. The final bars are especially well done. The finale begins with what Bax described as ‘a real 18FORTY Romantic wallow’, and this is precisely what he gets from Handley. Unlike other conductors, who feel that the tempo of the ensuing Theme and Variations should relate to that of the introduction (the new crotchet equalling the previous minim), Handley begins it at a faster speed. For the Epilogue Handley instructed the players not to use rubato, and the tempo for this reason sounds a trifle faster than in, say, Thomson’s recording; but the solo playing is wonderful and the ending is as finely managed as I have ever heard.
The symphonies in this cycle are coupled two to a CD as follows: 1 and 3, 2 and 4, and 5 and 6. No.7 shares a disc with the first issued performance of the overture Rogue’s Comedy (1936) and Bax’s most famous work, Tintagel (1917-19). In 1994 Handley made a recording for Lyrita with the LPO of three of Bax’s then unrecorded overtures: Rogue’s Comedy, Overture to Adventure and Work in Progress. These were intended as couplings for a proposed CD reissue of Del Mar’s performance of No.6. But, alas!, as we all know, nothing has been issued by Richard Itter for several years, and these fine performances have never been released. The Overture to Adventure was recorded again in 1998, this time by the Munich Symphony Orchestra under Douglas Bostock for the Classico label, and now at last Handley gives us a new recording of Rogue’s Comedy. Unlike its close cousin, the Overture to a Picaresque Comedy (1930), this score was never published and has probably received no more than three performances since the world première under Hamilton Harty in 1936. It shows Bax at his most unbuttoned, and the BBC Philharmonic play it with tremendous gusto.
The overture is followed by a magnificent performance of Tintagel. Handley has conducted this work innumerable times over the years (and quite a few times in 2003 alone) and he really knows the score inside out. This shows in the exemplary pacing throughout, the outer sections being broader than in many other recordings (of which there have been no fewer than twelve all told). The return of the Big Tune on the horns on p.46 of the score is a thrilling moment. I hesitate to say that this is definitely the best performance I have ever heard (Bax himself thought that Tintagel was nearly always well played on account of its ‘broad lines’), but it is probably the performance that I shall turn to most often. The fifth disc in this set is taken up with an hour-long interview with Vernon Handley by Andrew McGregor, and Lewis Foreman’s notes also include another interview with the conductor.
In summing up this splendid boxed set, I should say that the performances are all outstanding and that Vernon Handley’s interpretations are, in most cases, the best yet recorded. It is possible to point to specific passages and say that the timpani in such-and-such a recording are crisper there, or that those few bars sound more convincing under such-and-such a conductor (and I think that, taken as a whole, David Lloyd-Jones’s performances offer the greatest challenge to Handley). But these minor quibbles pale into insignificance compared with the overall achievement. The quality of the recordings really is superb, and Stephen Rinker is to be congratulated on having provided such a lifelike sound with great depth, clarity and warmth; and how good it is to be able to hear Bax’s intricate harp parts for a change (a drawback of the Naxos set). One of his colleagues jokingly remarked at a recording session that the symphonies would be coming out in ‘Glorious Rinker Sound’ - and he was absolutely right. Congratulations also to producer Mike George, who has done a marvellous job in fitting all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together, and to Brian Pidgeon, who was instrumental in getting this project off the ground in the first place. Grateful thanks to Chandos too for having the courage to issue it when they already had another cycle in their catalogue. But the final vote of thanks must go to the incomparable Vernon Handley. His Bax cycle has been a long time in coming, but it has proved well worth the wait.(MusicWeb review)

Vanhal: Piano Sonatas (Richard Fuller)

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Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739-1813)
Sonata No. 1 in E-flat major
Sonata No. 2 in G minor
Sonata No. 3 in G major
Richard Fuller, Fortepiano
RFFP CD 2 (2013)

These Sonatas were published 1812/13



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