Monteverdi - Il ballo delle ingrate & other works - Red Byrd - The Parley of Instruments - Peter Holman

August 24, 2020, 4:05 pm

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Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Altri canti d'Amor SV146[8'20]

Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda SV153[19'21]

Volgendo il ciel – Movete al mio bel suon SV154[9'18]

Il ballo delle ingrate[32'05]

Red Byrd (John Potter tenor - Richard Weistreich bass)

The Parley of Instruments

Peter Holman

Produced by Martin Compton

Engineered by Tony Faulkner

Recording January 1991

All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London, United Kingdom

Duration: 69 minutes 4 seconds

Hyperion Helios 2004

flac, cue, logs, digital booklet and cover

GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE

Reviews
‘At the pinnacle of current Monteverdi singing on records’ (Fanfare, USA)
‘One of the most perfect CDs ever made. Unsurpassable: glorious music, superb performances and hair-raising sound. The performers, engineers, and Hyperion Records deserve the highest praise’ (Classical Express)

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Mozart's Pupils: Attwood, Freystädtler, Storace, Süßmayr (Angerer, Concilium Musicum)

August 25, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Bach - Organ Concertos, Sonatas and Toccatas - Konstantin Volstonov

≪ Previous: Monteverdi - Il ballo delle ingrate & other works - Red Byrd - The Parley of Instruments - Peter Holman

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Stephan Storace (1762-1896)
Sextet in G major
Thomas Attwood (1765-1835)
Piano Trio in C major, Op. 1 No. 2
Franz Xavier Süßmayr (1766-1803)
Divertimento No. 1 in C major
Franz Jakob Freystädtler (1761-1841)
Concerto facile in D major
Paul Angerer, Concilium Musicum Wien
(Period Instruments)
Christophorus CD 77136 (1994)

[Flac & Scans]

Bach - Organ Concertos, Sonatas and Toccatas - Konstantin Volstonov

August 26, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan & Till Eulenspiegel - Andris Nelsons & CBSO

≪ Previous: Mozart's Pupils: Attwood, Freystädtler, Storace, Süßmayr (Angerer, Concilium Musicum)

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Organ Concertos, Sonatas and Toccatas
CD1 Organ Concertos
CD2 Organ Trio Sonatas
CD3 Toccatas
Konstantin Volostnov at the Porthan Organ, St. Maria Cathedral, St. Petersburg
Melodiya 2017
digital download, booklet and cover


MusicWeb RECORDING OF THE MONTH
you can read the review here

Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan & Till Eulenspiegel - Andris Nelsons & CBSO

August 27, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Langgaard - Complete Symphonies - Dausgaard

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Richard Strauss:
01. - 09. Also sprach Zarathustra, op.30 [31'50]
10. Don Juan, op.20 [18'01]
11. Till Eulenspiegel's lustige Streiche, op.28 [15'28]

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons

Orfeo C878141A  (recorded September 2011, January 2012 & January 2013; CD issued 2014)

(Digital download; flacs, cover & inlay scans - no booklet)

Recording venue: Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Recording engineer: Phil Rowlands; Producer: Tim Oldham

This recording was missing from the series of recordings with Nelsons and the CBSO posted here on MIMIC in 2018. And it is not to be confused with Nelsons' slightly later recording made with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra for Unitel/C-major and also released in 2014. The latter was posted here on MIMIC in one of Davide's mega-posts, also in 2018, but seems elusive now. In addition to Also sprach Zarathustra and Till Eulenspiegel, that issue has Macbeth in place of Don Juan.

For me, this Orfeo issue is one of Nelsons' very finest recordings with beautifully considered performances; if slightly wild at times. These are greatly assisted by the spectacular recorded sound. The sunrise opening of Also sprach Zarathustra is stunning, with the timpani rumbling on and on at the ending.

There are not many recordings, judged by both performance and recorded sound, that come close to this Also sprach Zarathustra but Georges Pretre's 1983 recording with the Philharmonia is also well worth hearing - as are Antal Dorati's recordings of Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel for Mercury. The Pretre is also posted here on MIMIC.

Download from MEGA.

Langgaard - Complete Symphonies - Dausgaard

August 28, 2020, 5:45 pm

≫ Next: M Haydn: Divertimenti (Brünner, Salzburger Hoffmusik)

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Rued Langgaard (1893-1952)

The Complete Symphonies

Inger Dam-Jensen soprano

Johan Reuter baritone

Lars Petersen tenor

Per Salo piano

Danish National Choir

Danish National Vocal Ensemble;

 Danish National Symphony Orchestra

Thomas Dausgaard

Recorded August 1998-June 2008, Danish Radio Concert Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark

 DACAPO 2008

CD1
Symphony No. 1 Rustic Pastorale
CD2
Symphony No. 2 Spring Awakens
Symphony No. 3 Flush of Youth - La melodia
CD3
Symphony No. 4 Leaf Falling
Symphony No. 5 First Version
Symphony No. 5 Second Version Steppe Landscape - Summer Drama
CD4
Symphony No. 6 The Heaven-Rending
Symphony No. 7 1926 Edition
Symphony No. 8 Memories at Amalienborg
CD5
Symphony No. 9 From Queen Dagmar’s City
Symphony No. 10 Yon Hall of Thunder
Symphony No. 11 Ixion
CD6
Symphony No. 12 Hélsingeborg
Symphony No. 13 Belief in Wonders
Symphony No. 14 Morning
CD7 [61:43]
Drapa On the Death of Edvard Grieg
Sphinx for orchestra
Hvidbjerg-Drapa for choir, organ and orchestra
Radio Denmark fanfares for orchestra
Res absùrda!? for choir and orchestra
Symphony No. 15 Sea Storm
Symphony No. 16 Sun Deluge

MusicWeb Review:
Hearing Langgaard’s Music of the Spheres for the first time - not to mention Thomas Dausgaard’s marvellous 2012 BBC Prom performance of Symphony No. 11 - convinced me of two things: this composer’s indecent - if frustrating - originality and this conductor’s affinity for his music. Recorded over a decade, the works in this sumptuous Dacapo box were released individually to wide acclaim. It’s not the only cycle available; Ilya Stupel and the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic recorded seven volumes for Danacord in 1990/91, a set much praised by John France in 2001.
 Born into a distinguished musical family, Langgaard set himself against the somewhat dour Danish musical establishment with his search for a Romantic/Symbolist idiom. 
CD 1 is devoted to his First Symphony, premiered - and well received - in Germany just before the Great War. Despite its bucolic title nothing quite prepares one for the Straussian surge and Brucknerian amplitude that characterises this exuberant work. As for the full-bodied, thrustful playing it’s first-rate, and Dausgaard proves a steady steersman, most notably in those frequent perorations which, in lesser hands, could so easily seem otiose.
There’s magic in this symphony, the gentle mood of the second movement, ‘Mountain Flowers’, wonderfully sustained. Textures are surprisingly varied and there are few signs of impending stasis, which is remarkable in such a youthful opus. One might be tempted to invoke Sibelius in the third movement, ‘Legend’, or Strauss in the craggy climb of the fourth, but Langgaard is obstinately original in his means and methods. Only in the rambling finale, ‘Courage’, does the symphony succumb to an element of doggedness and a degree of opacity; that said, any misgivings are swept away by a truly majestic coda that threatens to overbalance but never does.
 CD 2 contains the Second and Third symphonies, completing what has been dubbed the composer’s first, youthful phase; his symphonic forms are still broadly traditional and, in this first version of Vårbrud especially, there’s an almost classical symmetry to the writing. Even so, the splendid brass and timp flourishes are as Romantically inclined as ever, with a dash of Korngoldian spray for good measure. Contrast that with the lyric inwardness of the second movement, whose marking ‘religioso quasi adagio’ is sensitively interpreted. This is music - and music-making - of rare beauty and line that briefly sets this composer apart from the crowd.
 As for the Third Symphony, it’s essentially a piano concerto whose lusty choral part brings Busoni to mind. Despite playing of commendable impetuosity and sparkle it’s hard to escape the sense that it’s all rather aimless; as always there are some fine passages, but not even Dausgaard and that heart-racing finale can disguise the work’s waywardness.
 It seems fitting that the Third Symphony should be subtitled ‘Flush of Youth’, for it marks the end of Langgaard’s first ‘phase’; the next encompasses the rather more rigorous Fourth and Fifth symphonies. ‘Fall of the Leaves’ has strength and sinew, its terseness tempered with rare episodes of striking luminosity. Should we infer a programme here? I’m not sure it’s helpful, for the symphony’s many linked sections suggest internal rigour and structural ambition rather than naive pictorialism. Even the three-minute Tranquillo eschews simple charm for a somewhat more gnarly appeal.
 Bluff would be a good description of these two symphonies. The Fifth is given here in both its original and revised versions. They make for a fascinating comparison, the earlier score’s softer edges supplanted by something more bracing and direct later on. Those jaunty, recurring climaxes in the first movement are a case in point; it’s as if Langgaard has taken a solvent to his canvas and revealed the vivid colours and firm brush strokes beneath the diffusing grime. As Danish Fifths go, both are suitably imposing, and Dausgaard’s persuasive readings give them real stature and strength. Not as sophisticated or polished as Nielsen’s or Sibelius’s towering examples perhaps, but engaging nonetheless.
 CD 4 covers Langgaard’s third phase, from 1925 to 1945, and encompasses the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth symphonies. At the outset one is struck by the inwardness of the Sixth and its lightness of touch. Dacapo’s Super Audio recording is very impressive indeed, bringing out the transparency of the score’s quiet passages as well as the rude irruptions of brass and timps. At times there’s a more than a hint of controlled Ivesian chaos in the writing, which makes ‘The Heaven-Rending’ a thoroughly entertaining - and occasionally unsettling - listen.
The Seventh Symphony, given here in its revised version, certainly has moments of tremendous swing and energy - not to mention thrilling perorations - but some may find the overall effect rather opaque at first. Despite its Romantic roots there’s none of the heart-on-sleeve appeal one might expect here. Instead we’re confronted with an understated, pleasingly shaped work whose many felicities don’t reveal themselves on first acquaintance. As for the Eighth, which includes a tenor soloist and chorus, it has a ceremonial swagger that’s well caught by the deep, sonorous recording.
 Indeed, when it comes to invention the Eighth is the most delightful offering so far; moreover, the often arm’s-length nature of the earlier symphonies is replaced with something altogether more genial and carefree. The choral singing is both animated and incisive, a thrilling counterpart to the strange brass punctuations. Where the Third just slides into bombast at this point the vocal contributions here - including that of tenor Lars Petersen - bring real surge and splendour to the piece. Odd as this may sound, if you like Haydn this good-natured music is sure to please.
 We’re at the end of phase three in CD 5, which kicks off with the Ninth Symphony, subtitled ‘From Queen Dagmar’s City’. It shares with the Eighth a buoyant mood, an generosity of spirit if you will, that really shines through in the freewheeling first movement. The humour and point of the second movement is pure delight, and the playing is as deft as one could wish. This is Langgaard at his most accessible, craft and content in a pleasing equilibrium. The bells of the third movement are a surprising turn, and the finale is imbued with a gentle, beaming charm that’s utterly beguiling.
 The single-movement Tenth, ‘The Hall of Thunder’, is altogether more trenchant and has some of the strangest sonorities yet heard on this set. Now this piece really does beckon us into Nordic folklore, although any overt programme is tempered by writing of familiar rigour and added instrumental virtuosity. A tad unrelenting, perhaps, but I daresay new listeners will be entranced by the boldness and brio of the piece. As with all the symphonies in this phase, the Tenth is relatively short, although the eternally spinning Ixion’s wheel of the Eleventh Symphony lasts barely six-and-a-half minutes. Dausgaard’s performance of the piece at this year’s Proms went down a storm, the six tubas outrageous and off-the-wall but undeniably entertaining.
 CD 6 takes us into the fourth and final phase of Langgaard’s life, from 1946 until his death in 1952. At just over seven minutes the Twelfth Symphony, ‘Hélsingeborg’, is as pithy as its immediate predecessor. The Danish orchestra are as committed as ever, even if the opening could have been tidier. There are vestiges of that earlier openness, but is it fanciful to sense a drawing down of blinds at this point? The Thirteenth, with its intriguing subtitle ‘Belief in Wonders’, is much more conventional in construction and length, yet it has flashes of the easeful Langgaard - perhaps more wistful this time - that infuses the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth symphonies.
 His late works are certainly assured, and the Thirteenth has a haunting quality that I found most affecting. This isn’t a composer who induces such sentiments elsewhere, and I suspect in lesser hands the piece wouldn’t seem as heartfelt as it does here. The Fourteenth, ‘Morning’, with its stirring choral start, is simply splendid. Indeed, I was reminded of that mighty greeting to the dawn at the end of Schönberg’s Gurre-lieder, such is the blaze of sound Dausgaard gets from his singers and players. That said, in the second movement Langgaard modulates into something rather more reticent - otherworldly, even - in which the orchestra play with chamber-like concentration and delicacy. This is music of Mahlerian farewell, superbly performed and recorded; and while it’s not quite the summation it appears, it’s certainly the most serene and lovely writing here.
 As with so many sets of this nature the final disc - CD 7 - is a bit of a hotchpotch. The last two symphonies - Nos. 15 and 16 - get strong, muscular performances; the former, subtitled ‘Sea Storm’, is considerably enlivened by parts for bass baritone and male chorus. Frankly the piece needs some help, for it strays into the doldrums far too often. It’s hardly the strongest of Langgaard’s symphonies, but it’s not bereft of all colour and excitement, especially in the turbulent, gong-splashed finale. Soloist Johan Reuter is firm and sonorous and the wide dynamics of the recording are especially welcome in the choral climaxes. 
There’s renewed heat and vigour in the Sixteenth Symphony, teasingly titled ‘Sun Deluge’, even if it’s a tad overbearing. There’s a degree of brashness too, which is quite invigorating at first but soon palls. No, as a final utterance No. 14 strikes me as much the finest of Langgaard’s last symphonies; as well played as Nos. 15 and 16 are, their incipient banality is likely to be something of a turn-off for newcomers to these works. Loath to end on anything resembling a bum note, I’m happy to say the elegy to Grieg has a dark splendour, Sphinx a glorious inscrutability and Res Absurdia?! a manic countenance that’s more likely to appeal to explorers of this dippy Dane’s odd but invigorating œuvre.
Music of near genius, quirk and quiddity; this bumper set has it all. 
Dan Morgan

You can read more reviews here and here
You can hear more Langgaard here

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M Haydn: Divertimenti (Brünner, Salzburger Hoffmusik)

August 29, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Władysław Żeleński - Piano Works 1 - Ławrynowicz

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Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806)
Divertimento in C major, P. 99, MH 27
Variations in C major, P. 132, MH 108a
Divertimento in E-flat major, P. 102, MH 9
Divertimento in D major, P. 93, MH 319
Wolfgang Brünner, Salzburger Hoffmusik
(Period Instruments)
CPO 999 230-2 (1993)

[Flac & Scans]

Władysław Żeleński - Piano Works 1 - Ławrynowicz

August 30, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 - Piano Pieces op.118 - Peter Donohoe - Yevgeyi Svetlanov

≪ Previous: M Haydn: Divertimenti (Brünner, Salzburger Hoffmusik)

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Władysław Żeleński (1837-1921): Piano Works 1

Joanna Ławrynowicz, piano

Acte Préalable 2005

[Flacs & booklet]

Even in his native Poland Władysław Żeleński is remembered mostly as the father of Tadeusz 'Boy'Żeleński, a free-thinker, translator (of French classics, including also philosophers like Descartes), poet, literary critic, women rights spokesman and anti-church activist. His father, whose music is presented here, seems to have been a conservative... I recommend listening at least to the solemn 'March in Honour of the Immortal National Bard Adam Mickiewicz' (who, which always made me laugh, starts the most important Polish epic poem with the words 'Lithuania, my country!') and to the well-rounded Sonata in E minor.

Żeleński's Piano Concerto and Piano Quartet have appeared from Hyperion in excellent recordings. In Poland he is mostly known from songs and solo organ preludes. He seemed to have a real knack for effective two-part counterpoint, which might be a weird thing to say about a 'real' composer, but which I take to be evident in the (middle of the) last movement of the Piano Sonata included here.

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Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 - Piano Pieces op.118 - Peter Donohoe - Yevgeyi Svetlanov

August 31, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Mozart: Piano Concertos K413, K414 & K415 in Chamber Arrangement (Kuijken)

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Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 1 op. 15
Piano Pieces op. 118
Peter Donohoe piano
The Philharmonia
Yevgeny Svetlanov
EMI 1990
flac, cue, log, scans 

It depends on whether you are interested in this disc for the concerto principally or for the op 118 pieces. Let me say at once that it would be an excellent choice in either case. However if you want the concerto played in the manner of Rudolf Serkin I guess you might as well get Serkin himself, and the version I like best among those I am currently aware of as available is on a bargain Sony label along with superb accounts of one-movement concertante pieces by Schumann and Mendelssohn. There is no such issue over op 118, and here I am very pleased to have a modern companion to the alternatives I have enjoyed for many years from Katchen and Gould.
I am not necessarily suggesting that Donohoe is consciously mimicking Serkin in the concerto. It was once remarked to me by a friend whom I had introduced to my Serkin records that Serkin seems to say 'You do this piece like THIS.' There is a finality, I find and I'm not alone, to the way Serkin goes about many classical masterpieces. If he seems to leave little room for alternatives, then that is possibly because there really is little room for alternatives: in which case Donohoe is perfectly capable of having worked out his interpretation for himself. It's an interpretation that stands up very well in its own right. The outer movements are fast, the central adagio is slow, all that is how I usually like it best, and that is how Serkin also goes about it. This is a review of Donohoe so I am not going to turn it into some panegyric to Serkin. There is one very interesting and very significant difference that is worth highlighting, and it is the start of the development section in the first movement. Forgive some appearance of dogmatism, but the way Arrau handles this is all wrong. He makes the maximum thunderous noise, which is exactly not what the composer asks for. The initial marking on the double octaves is a single 'f' only, followed by a crescendo that the orchestra presumably has to supply in the main, as the rising pitch of the piano part makes full tone all but impossible. Donohoe uses more volume and more pedal at the outset than Serkin, who relies for effect on a martellato touch, but between Donohoe and the orchestra the impression is very powerful and convincing. I have seen the orchestral contribution praised highly, and I concur. Right at the start Svetlanov has more sense than to attempt some big noise, and indeed all the way through the work the Philharmonia cover themselves in glory, even though the recorded sound is a little shy and reticent. A boost to the volume does wonders for that, I found.
The op 118 set of 6 pieces is admirable throughout. One thing that I suppose might be questioned is the amount of sustaining pedal that Donohoe uses. Well, a virtuoso of Donohoe's stature is not going to be pedalling to cover for dodgy finger-work, is he? This way of doing it makes these pieces basically into chamber compositions rather than concert-platform fodder, and I like them this way. Be clear that these are not 'bijou' renderings. Donohoe's touch is big, but this is Brahms after all. One of the works, the Ballade, is a bit of a platform-stormer or can be done as one, but if I were listening to Brahms himself play it in a small room I am sure he would have used plenty of volume, and maybe he might have taken advantage of the chamber context to try something along the lines of the remote faerie effect that Donohoe gives us in the middle section. That is, if he could play as well as Donohoe, which I very much doubt.
Indeed, I have not a single criticism to offer of any of these six solo renderings. The E flat minor intermezzo that ends the book and the disc is in my own opinion one of the greatest things in the whole literature of the piano, and it is completely awe-inspiring as played here. There is even one important thing done (at last) as I want to hear it - the left-hand part in the central section is played almost without pedal. Gould does not do it like this, nor Katchen, although surely, I continued to believe, some more reputable interpreters than myself must have wanted to play it in this way. So thank you, Mr P. Donohoe. The great, lovely and familiar A major is done to something like perfection, with the short repeat observed in the central section and the voices in double counterpoint given prominence alternately as I like them to be. I hesitate to remind anyone of the remark in the Master Musicians book on Brahms that the F minor intermezzo is 'rich in canons but somewhat dour.' Hear this performance to purge your mind of this ghastly blasphemy against one of Brahms's deepest compositions.
Back to the concerto. This performance is certainly well worth having, whether you already own a version or two by Serkin or not. These days my own collection has not entirely focused on Serkin, but I am undoubtedly of the fast-tempo school in the first movement. A very interesting alternative that I can recommend, still fastish, is from Curzon, largely because his conductor is none other than Serkin's own great buddy Szell, who adapts himself superbly to this very different soloist. Many years ago there was also the performance that more than any other convinced me that a slow reading of the first movement was feasible, it was by Barenboim and Barbirolli, but I don't know whether you can still find it. And there are many more, but they are another story. (Amazon review)

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Mozart: Piano Concertos K413, K414 & K415 in Chamber Arrangement (Kuijken)

September 1, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: The Fitzwilliam String Quartet plays Sibelius and Delius

≪ Previous: Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 - Piano Pieces op.118 - Peter Donohoe - Yevgeyi Svetlanov

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No. 11 in F major, K.411
Piano Concerto No. 13 in C major, K.413
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K.412
Marie & Veronica Kuijken, Fortepiano
Sigiswald Kuijken, La Petite Bande
(Period Instruments)
Challenge Classics CC72752 (2017)



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The Fitzwilliam String Quartet plays Sibelius and Delius

September 2, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Sibelius: Kullervo - Paavo Jarvi

≪ Previous: Mozart: Piano Concertos K413, K414 & K415 in Chamber Arrangement (Kuijken)

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Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56 'Voces Intimae' (1908) (33:07)
Frederick Delius (1862-1934)
String Quartet (1916) (27:39)
Sonata in one movement for Cello and Piano (1916) (12:25)
 Fitzwilliam String Quartet
Christopher Rowland violin I
Jonathan Sparey violin II
Alan George viola
Ioan Davies cello
George Isaac cello and Martin Jones piano (Delius Sonata)
Recorded: The Maltings, Concert Hall, Snape, December 1978 University College, Cardiff, October 1971 (Delius Sonata)
Decca Eloquence 2013

The quartet performances here were classics of the LP catalogue and it will delight many that they return now in such virile analogue sound. And ‘virile’ is the word. Both artists and engineers are of the same mind. The end result is performances and recordings that "ply the saplings double"– and not just saplings. The Fitzwilliam pour on the power in the Sibelius. This is certainly impressive stuff with a towering impact that goes beyond what one would expect from a mere four string instruments. Other more recent recordings will have more variation in dynamic and more delicacy; Bis and Finlandia – the latter with the New Helsinki SQ. As yet the Fitzwilliams are unmatched if you prize potency, piled-high intensity and close-up lapel-grabbing sound. You can hear distant traffic rumble right at the beginning of the Sibelius. We are prepared for the thirty year old recordings by the front-cover photograph with the quartet resplendent in the long collar shirts and jackets and hair-cuts of that era.
The Delius is just as closely miked – right in the thick of it! This work evinces more give and take but is ‘flown’ just as hard as the Sibelius. Some Delians may find it all too tense and unremitting. Personally I find this approach a breath of fresh air. From the same year comes the Cello Sonata. It was written - as was the Cello Concerto - for Alexander Barjansky. It is a work with a glowingly rounded and generous-hearted sunset lyricism. This is well put across by Isaac and Jones without the radiance and cohesive coherence achieved by Julian Lloyd-Webber. The sound is from 1971 and this too is evident.
Eric Fenby who with Barjansky played the Delius sonata to the composer assisted the Fitzwilliam in preparing for the recording sessions as did Sidney Griller with the composer’s own metronome markings for the Sibelius.
Powerhouse performances of three little known works. (MusicWeb Review)

Sibelius: Kullervo - Paavo Jarvi

September 3, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Salonen conducts Nielsen - The 6 Symphonies

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Jean Sibelius:
01. - 05. Kullervo. Symphonic Poem, op.7 [78'29]

Randi Stene- mezzo-soprano, Peter Mattei- baritone,  National Male Choir of Estonia, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Paavo Jarvi
Virgin Classics/Erato 628652-2  (recorded March 1997; first CD issued 1997; digital download 2010)

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

Recording venue: Konserthuset, Stockholm
Recording engineer: Mike Hatch; Producer: David R Murray

This recording of Kullervo has the rather strange distinction of being one of the very few with no Finnish input at all, apart from the composer, of course. Originally issued on the Virgin Classics label, it was rebranded as Erato when EMI was subsumed by Warner Music and has been issued with at least four different covers at different times.

Whilst the performance of the "symphonic cantata" overall doesn't match his father's for BIS, let alone Jorma Panula for Naxos nor Paavo Berglund in Bournemouth for EMI. But I do very much like the two soloists Randi Stene and Peter Mattei in the third movement - and find them even more to my taste than even the excellent ones on other recordings. So this recording does enhance Kullervo's claim to being unjustly neglected for so many years and reinforces its originality and powerful effect on the listener even though it can seem at times to be too slow. Especially in the last movement, which I find overblown. But overall Paavo Jarvi does make the work sound thoroughly Sibelian which some other conductors struggle with.

Download from MEGA.

Salonen conducts Nielsen - The 6 Symphonies

September 4, 2020, 4:00 pm

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Carl Nielsen

Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 7

Symphony No. 2, Op. 16 'The Four temperaments'

Symphony No. 3, Op. 27 'Sinfonia espansiva'

Symphony No. 4, Op. 29 'The Inextinguishable'

Symphony No. 5, Op. 50

Symphony No. 6 'Sinfonia semplice'

Violin Concerto, Op. 33

Helios Overture, Op. 17

Little Suite in A minor for strings, Op. 1

Maskarade Overture

Pan & Syrinx, Op. 49

Aladdin Suite, Op. 34

Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47

 Olle Persson baritone - Pia-Maria Nilsson soprano

Cho-Liang Lin violin

New Stockholm Chamber Orchestra

Philharmonia Orchestra

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Sony 2009 

digital download, cover

Bach: Sonatas & Partitas BWV 1001-1006 (Jaap Schröder)

September 5, 2020, 4:00 pm

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonatas & Partitas BWV 1001-1006
Jaap Schröder, Baroque Violin
Smithsonian Collection ND 0382 (1990) 2-Disc set







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Schoenberg - Gesualdo - Brahms - Stravinsky - Robert Craft

September 6, 2020, 4:00 pm

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Johannes Brahms
Piano Quartet No. 1
Franz Schubert*
Six German Dances
J.S. Bach
Prelude and Fugue BWV 552 "St. Anne"
Chorale-Prelude BWV 631
Chorale-Prelude BWV 654
All arrangements Arnold Schoenberg, except* Anton Webern
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
CBC Symphony Orchestra
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Robert Craft
Sony 1964

Igor Stravinsky

Les Noces (1917 and 1919)

Le Chant Du Rossignol

Symphonies Of Wind Instruments (1947)

Orpheus Chamber Ensemble

The Gregg Smith Singers

Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Robert Craft

Sony 1974

Carlo Gesualdo

Volgi, Mia Luce / O Dolorosa Gioia / Ardo Per Te

Quando Ricente / Dolcissima Mia Vita

Che Fai Meco / Questa Crudele / Adrita Zanzaretta

Gagliarda

Recessit Pastor

Aestimatus Sum

Canzon Francese Del Principe

Igor Stravinsky

Monumentum Pro Gesualdo

E. Power Biggs organ

Carol Rosensteil Harpsichord
The Gesualdo Singers including Marilyn Horne

Robert Craft
Igor Stravinsky
Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Sony 1962

Digital download, covers

Carlos Chavez - The Six Symphonies

September 7, 2020, 4:00 pm

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Carlos Chávez (1899-1978)

THE SIX SYMPHONIES, conducted by the composer

Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México

CBS Masterworks 32 31 002 - 3 stereo LPs [P] 1967
Individual FLAC files, scans

As best I can tell, these recordings have never been transferred to CD.



CHAVEZ: THE SIX SPLENDID SYMPHONIES
by Alfred Frankenstein (High Fidelity, August 1967)

THIS MONUMENTAL RELEASE is a tribute to the genius of Carlos Chávez in more ways than one. Chávez is not only the most distinguished symphonist in the entire Latin- American world; he was also the founder and for many years the conductor of the magnificent orchestra which he directs in this recording. Chávez put Mexico on the map, symphonically speaking. in both senses of the phrase.

By far the best known of his six symphonies are the first two: one because it exploits Mexican national material, the other because it exists in an atmosphere easily associated with Mexican
antiquity.

The First is the short, one-movement Sinfonía de Antigone of 1932. Embodying material originally written as incidental music for Sophocles' tragedy as "contracted" by Jean Cocteau. the work
creates an effect of a single, great monolithic gesture; it draws together the grandeur of the pre -Columbian and the grandeur of the Greek, but reduced in essence to a statement of unforgettable
size and force. All this in ten minutes and five seconds.

The Second Symphony. the Sinfonia India of 1935 -36, is the work on which. more than any other, the reputation of Chávez rests. As its title indicates. it is based on Indian themes. marvelously
exploiting their repetitiveness. their stark- ness. and their overwhelming cumulative power. The Sinfonia India is clearly one of the progeny of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring; it is also one of the very few
descendants of that savage masterpiece which can stand up to its predecessor both in force and individuality. It has been recorded several times before. but the new version is by far the finest to
date: not only does it give us the energy of Chavez's own interpretation. but it is the only recorded performance to make use of the Mexican Indian instruments - drums, rasps, rattles, whistles--which the score demands. The last four symphonies have no trace of Mexican nationalism. at least to my ears. 

The Symphony No. 3 is a big. elegiac work in four movements. commissioned by Clare Boothe Luce in memory of her daughter and completed in 1954. Here. Chávez concerns himself more with the eternal problems of symphonic form and texture (including a great deal of fugue) than with any external suggestions or references, although the circumstances of the commission dictate the severity and somberness which distinguish this symphony from the others. Perhaps because of that very severity and somberness, the Fourth Symphony (composed for the Louisville Orchestra in 1953, before the completion of the Third) is one of the most brilliant, high -spirited. and exhilarating in the
twentieth -century repertoire. Chávez titled it Sinfonica Romantica and if romanticism includes musical rockets, fireworks, and a general air of joy in living. it is well named.

Also written in 1953 (for the Koussevitzky Foundation), the Fifth Symphony is for strings only, and there are very few compositions that explore the strings with such color and variety of effect. This piece is quite as strenuous a workout for orchestra and audience as any of the others; it is not a string quartet to be played by sixty men but a genuine symphony created for the richness. deep resonances. and fantastic lacy effects of which strings are capable.

In the Sixth Symphony. composed in 1964 for the New York Philharmonic. the classic problems of form and texture are once again to the fore, but the most remarkable feature of this work (it fills an entire record side) is the passacaglia with which it concludes. In his somewhat scanty jacket notes, Herbert Weinstock finds a Mexican Indian influence: for my ears. however. the principal influence
would seen to be the similarly constructed finale to Brahms's Symphony No. 4.  Brahms wrote no more symphonies after his Fourth. Chávez. one hopes. will write at least another half dozen after his
Sixth. will likewise record them with his own great orchestra. and will he as beautifully served by the CBS technical staff as he has been on this occasion.

CHAVEZ: Symphonies (6)
Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México,
Carlos Chávez. cond. CBS ( 32 31 0001.

$17.39: 32 3 1 0002. $ 17.39 (three discs). 

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Corelli - Concerti Grossi op. 6 - Modo Antiquo - Sardelli

September 8, 2020, 4:00 pm

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Arcangelo Corelli

Concerti Grossi op. 6

Modo Antiquo

Federico Maria Sardelli

Tactus 1999

flac, cue, logs and scans

Modo Antiquo present the first recorded performance with the addition of ripieno trumpets, oboes and flutes, a practice which modern research suggests was common in Rome in Corelli’s time, though nowhere indicated in the published editions of these concertos. Whether or not these particular concerti grossi would have been performed in this way we shall never know and I’m no more qualified to get involved in the debate than anyone who reads Federico Sardelli’s persuasive notes in the booklet.
What I can say is that the results sound convincing, especially as the performances are sharply delineated and sympathetic and the additions are not overdone. Nothing in these performances is in bad taste or contrary to the spirit of the music. Try listening to No.8, the ‘Christmas’ concerto, especially the familiar pastoral finale.
Perhaps these enhanced versions are not for hearing every time, but they certainly serve well as an adjunct to the Avison Ensemble or if you have an earlier collection such as those directed by Trevor Pinnock, Roy Goodman, Nicholas McGegan or Chiara Banchini (from MusicWeb review).

Valeri: Complete Organ Music (Paolo Bottini)

September 9, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Strauss: Ein Heldenleben - Andris Nelsons & CBSO

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Gaetano Valeri (1760-1822)
Sonatas, Versetti, Sinfonias for Organ
Paolo Bottini on Five Different Historical Organs
(Most Definitely, Period Instruments)
Brilliant Classics 95559 (2017) 3-Disc set






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Strauss: Ein Heldenleben - Andris Nelsons & CBSO

September 10, 2020, 4:00 pm

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Richard Strauss:
01. (arr. Rodzinski): Der Rosenkavalier. Suite, op.59  [24'42]
02. - 07. Ein Heldenleben 'A Hero's Life', op.40 [47'48]

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons

Orfeo C803091A  (recorded May & June 2009; CD issued November 2009)

(Digital download; flacs, cover & inlay scans - no booklet)

Recording venue: Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Recording engineer: Phil Rowlands; Producer: Tim Oldham

Another of Orfeo's series of recordings made during Andris Nelsons' tenure as chief conductor of the CBSO from 2008 until 2015. This was the first of three issues of Strauss tone poems that they made. The other two are already posted here on MIMIC.

As with their Tchaikovsky series, the City of Birmingham orchestra offer world-class playing under their then dynamic principal conductor and the sound quality is spectacular. Unfortunately, as with so many Orfeo downloads, no booklet is included.

Conductor Artur Rodzinski's arrangement of music from Der Rosenkavalier is a most effective overview of the work - at least in this very stylish performance. The Ein Heldenleben is a very powerful view of the work with splendid love and battle scenes and wonderful solo violin for the Companion.

Download from MEGA.

Biber: Masses and Chamber Music - Segarra - Lamon - Savall - Huggett - McCreesh - Wallfisch

September 11, 2020, 8:00 pm

≫ Next: Tomasek: Piano Sonatas (Petra Matejova)

≪ Previous: Strauss: Ein Heldenleben - Andris Nelsons & CBSO

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Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber

Missa Salisburguensis

Motet Plaudite Tympana

Escolanía de Montserrat

Tolzer Knabenchor

Collegium Aureum

Irineu Segarra

Recorded in Salzburg 1974

Deutsche Harmona Mundi

digital download, cover

Violin Sonatas Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7 (1681)

Nisi Dominus

Passacaglia for solo violin

Monica Huggett Violin

Thomas Guthrie bass

Sonnerie

ASV  1999

digital download, cover

Biber

Missa Alleluja

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer 

Vesperae Sollennes
Sonata da Chiesa - Sonata XII
plus works by Palestrina and Froberger

Concerto Palatino
Gradus Ad Parnasum
Konrad Junghanel

DHM 1999
flac, cue, log, scans

Biber

Sonatas Cuam Aulis tam Aris Nos. 2, 3, 5, 9 and 11

George Muffat

Sonatas 2 and 5 from Armonico Tributo

Passacaglia in G minor

Freiburger Barockorchestre Consort

DHM 1994
flac, cue, log, scans

Missa Christi Resurgentis
Sonata a 6 - Fanfares I and IV
Sonates 1, III, V, VII,  XI and XII
from Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum
J. H. Schmelzer: Sonata XII
The English Concert
Andrew Manze
Harmonia Mundi 2005
flac, cue, log, scans

The Rosary Sonatas

Elizabeth Wallfisch violin

Linda Kent organ and harpsichord

Roseanne Hunt cello

ABC 2008

digital download, cover

Kerll: Missa In fletu solatium obsidionis Viennensis

Biber: Vesperae longiores ac breviores

Cantus Cölln, Concerto Palatino

Konrad Junghänel

Accent 2013
digital download, booklet and covers

Sonata Pro Tabula

Chamber Works by Biber - Valentini
Bertali - Schmelzer - Pezel
Musica Antiqua Koln
Flanders Recorder Quartet
Reinhard Goebel
Archiv 2000
flac, cue, log, scans

Harmonia Artificioso-ariosa
Tafelmusik
Jeanne Lamon
Sony 1994
flac, cue, log, scans

Missa Ex B

Requiem in f minor

Gabrieli Consort and Players

Paul McCreesh

Archiv 2004
flac, cue, log, scan

Biber
Requiem in F minor
Fancisco Valls
Missa Scala Aretina
Koor et Barockorkest van de Nederlandse Bachvereniging
Gustav Leonhardt
DHM 2000
flac, cue, log, scans

Missa Bruxellensis a XVIII

La Capella Real de Catalunya

Le Concert des Nations

Jordi Savall

Alia Vox 2000
flac, cue, log, scan

Biber
Sonatas Cuam Aulis tam Aris Nos. 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12
Schmelzer
Sonatas and Laments
Freiburger Barockorchestre Consort
DHM 1995
flac, cue, log, scans

Biber

Litaniae de Sancto Josepho

Muffat

Missa In Labores requies

Cantus Cölln, Concerto Palatino

Konrad Junghänel

HM 1999

tlac, cue, log, scans

Tomasek: Piano Sonatas (Petra Matejova)

September 12, 2020, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: Thomas Schippers conducts Barber, Berg, Menotti and d´Indy

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Vaclav Jan Krittel Tomasek (1774-1850)
Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 13
Sonata in C Major, Op. 14
Sonata in A Major, Op. 26/48
Petra Matejova, Fortepiano
Supraphon SU 4223-2 (2017)

[Flac &Scans]