A relatively new anthology of music by Christian Wolff, the second
released by the AngelicA Festival in Bologna Italy:

https://idischidiangelica.bandcamp.com/album/sveglia

Included is music for piano (some quite short pieces...), percussionists,
and a septet of electric guitars. The latter was a commission for
the festival.

Anyway, there had been a bit of interest in Wolff here, and this
is as good a place as any to visit with his recent ideas. (He's
also the pianist, at the pianistic age of 88.)

In article <uo4c8u$stt$1@hope.eyrie.org>,
Todd M. McComb <mccomb@medieval.org> wrote:
>https://idischidiangelica.bandcamp.com/album/sveglia
>Anyway, there had been a bit of interest in Wolff here, and this
>is as good a place as any to visit with his recent ideas.

So if people with curiosity in Wolff are reading, I'd suggest the
piece "Roulette" from this album, a trio for piano & 2 percussionists
written in 2022. The whole album is generally mellow, though.

A 2-CD set on Hyperion of Sqint-Saens chamber music, recorded in 2004 by
the Nash Ensemble. All the works involve pianist Ian Brown. The music
spans all of Saint-Saens's career, from the early Tarentelle (for flute,
clarinet and piano) to three late woodwind sonatas (bassoon, oboe and
clarinet). In between come two larger works, the Piano Quartet and
Piano Quintet, plus the Septet (trumpet, string quartet, double bass
and piano) and a Caprice (flute, clarinet, oboe and piano). Much of
the music is quite delightful, and includes some very fine works.
(Somehow I think Poulenc must have been listening to some of the
woodwind works.) Performance seem first-rate.
--
Al Eisner

Op vrijdag 19 januari 2024 om 01:50:44 UTC+1 schreef Al Eisner:
> A 2-CD set on Hyperion of Sqint-Saens chamber music, recorded in 2004 by
> the Nash Ensemble. All the works involve pianist Ian Brown. The music
> spans all of Saint-Saens's career, from the early Tarentelle (for flute,
> clarinet and piano) to three late woodwind sonatas (bassoon, oboe and
> clarinet). In between come two larger works, the Piano Quartet and
> Piano Quintet, plus the Septet (trumpet, string quartet, double bass
> and piano) and a Caprice (flute, clarinet, oboe and piano). Much of
> the music is quite delightful, and includes some very fine works.
> (Somehow I think Poulenc must have been listening to some of the
> woodwind works.) Performance seem first-rate.
> --
> Al Eisner

A comparable set was issued on the label indésens! with the Solistes de l'Orchestre de Paris, playing the chamber music with winds on 2 cds (without the piano quartet and piano quintet).
First class, very much recommended.

CD 1
1-4. Septet (Septuor) for trumpet, strings & piano, Op. 65 [17:20]
5. Romance for French horn & piano, Op. 36 [3:26]
6. Tarentelle for clarinet, flute & piano, Op. 6 [6:36]
Two movements from The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnaval des animaux) transcribed for contrabassoon & piano:
7. The Swan (Le cygne) [2:50]
8. Elephant (L'éléphant) [1:22]
9. Romance for flute & piano, Op. 37 [6:38]
10. Cavatine for trombone & piano, Op. 144 [4:38]
11. Romance for French horn & piano, Op. 67 [6:52]
12. Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs (Caprice sur des airs danois et russes) for flute, oboe, clarinet & piano, Op. 79 [10:22]
13. Delilah’s act 2 aria Softly awakes my heart (Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix) from grand opera Samson and Delilah (Samson et Dalila), Op. 47 transcribed for bassoon & piano [2:55]
CD 2
1-4. Clarinet Sonata, Op. 167 [15:32]
5. Prayer (Prière) for bassoon & piano, Op. 158 [5:52]
6-8. Oboe Sonata, Op. 166 [10:57]
9. Odelette for flute & piano, Op. 162 [6:45]
10-13. Bassoon Sonata, Op. 168 [11:32]
14. Fantaisie for cornet & piano [5:02]
15. The Swan (Le cygne) transcribed for flugelhorn & piano from Le carnaval des animaux [2:52]

Chopin Piano Concerto no. 2.

I like the 2nd (which was actually
the 1st) better than the 1st (which
was actually the 2nd).

The playlist is here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2f-sOK0MmJIqnhdn5echZKfo85pw4nnO

Cheers!

Bach Art of Fugue - Keller Quartet. I'd heard several versions on keyboard but
this quartet version varies the tempo and phrasing to make the work even more
interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bJXiXTahhg

Schubert Early String Quartets - Melos Quartet. Although Schubert is a
favorite, I've never really listened carefully to the early quartets and found
numbers 7, 8, 9 to be interesting and enjoyable

Lohengrin - Beczala, Wilson, Nezet-Seguin at Metopera,org. I've heard several
versions, and this is the best sung and acted. True, it is the usual goofy
production, but it doesn't go too far in silliness. Beczala makes the role
seem easy. Streaming for $4.99.

I wonder why orchestral works these days almost always are performed with
strict fidelity to the score while opera productions are generally freely
interpreted? I was listening the other day to the Mahler 1st recording by
Dimitri Mitropoulos - Minneapolis SO (1940):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pro4H2kb_CQ This kind of personal
interpretation is seldom found today...

And for fun, here is Rossini on mandolins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exac3Cm-tTs

I'm done with Brahms... *fav composers: first Mozart and Beethoven by far, then Bach and Schubert.

Quote from site:

>Swiss composer Jürg Frey writes masterful soundscapes, calm and
>vast. With his sensitive ear for colour, sound and precision, he
>composes music of great serenity and lyricism; a poetic weightlessness
>in search of silence in sound. "My music is slow, sometimes static,
>often delicately shifting between standstill and movement. And yet,
>after more than an hour, this music has arrived at another place.
>Standstill, little happens, -- it is this atmosphere from which my
>music emerges and to which it always returns. Sometimes it just
>stays there. This is my world." With these words, Jürg describes
>his _String Quartet No. 4_, the third quartet he has composed for
>us, marking over 20 years of collaboration and mutual trust.
>- Quatuor Bozzini

https://collectionqb.bandcamp.com/album/j-rg-frey-string-quartet-no-4

Wagner: Overtures and Preludes

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim

Recorded in 1992 and 1994. Streaming on AppleMusic. Resplendent recordings and performances. This is very, very good. Digital reference versions?

On Friday, January 26, 2024 at 7:57:59 PM UTC-8, Oscar wrote:
> Wagner: Overtures and Preludes
>
> Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim
>
> Recorded in 1992 and 1994. Streaming on AppleMusic.
> Resplendent recordings and performances. This is very,
> very good. Digital reference versions?

Are there any times you don't listen to Dick Wagner?
Inquiring minds would like to find out .....

Cheers

After spending some more time with Celibidache... I am done with him. At least in my preferred repertoire...

I'm also done with Pletnev...

fav pianists: Schnabel and Gould; I also like Eschenbach and Rubinstein very much.

*Done with Rothenberger; sorting out Krips's Serail and Suitner's Nozze (in both of which other casts are problematic as well).

Fav Mozart opera recordings:

Serail: Beecham
nozze: Fricsay (Klemperer for Grist)
DG: Klemperer EMI, Krips, Mitropoulos
cosi: Böhm Decca, Böhm EMI
Zauberflöte: Böhm Decca, Klemperer EMI

*Celibidache stays one of my fav conductors...

Marc S schrieb am Sonntag, 28. Januar 2024 um 22:26:23 UTC+1:
> *Celibidache stays one of my fav conductors...

His Beethoven, his Mozart 550 and much more...

*WRT Karajan's cosi: Merriman + Otto are problematic for me, the reasons I can't enjoy the recording. WRT singers, Karajan's early nozze is his best casted Mozart opera recording.

*fav composers: Mozart, Beethoven... Bach, Schubert

*fav conductors (related to the interpretations of the works by the composers mentioned above): Celibidache, Klemperer, Krips, Mengelberg, Végh (and maybe Scherchen as well)

*fav pianists - still undecided, but ones that come to mind ("..."): Bashkirov, Eschenbach, Feinberg, E. Fischer, Friedman, Gieseking, Gould, C. Hansen, Moravec, S. Richter, Schnabel, Sofronitsky, Sokolov, Volodos (maybe Derzhavina, Horowitz and Rubinstein as well)

*fav violinists ("..."): Kreisler, Milstein, Szeryng (maybe Heifetz, Huberman and Kremer as well - I do not like Jansen, Hahn, Oistrakh, Menuhin, Grumiaux and most others I've listened to).

*fav cellist - haven't listened to many and often didn't pay close enough attention (such as in chamber music); mainly thinking about Bach here, and I don't think anyone comes close to Fournier regarding Bach's cello solo music.

Marc S schrieb am Montag, 29. Januar 2024 um 12:07:05 UTC+1:
> *fav composers: Mozart, Beethoven... Bach, Schubert
>
> *fav conductors (related to the interpretations of the works by the composers mentioned above): Celibidache, Klemperer, Krips, Mengelberg, Végh (and maybe Scherchen as well)
>
> *fav pianists - still undecided, but ones that come to mind ("..."): Bashkirov, Eschenbach, Feinberg, E. Fischer, Friedman, Gieseking, Gould, C. Hansen, Moravec, S. Richter, Schnabel, Sofronitsky, Sokolov, Volodos (maybe Derzhavina, Horowitz and Rubinstein as well)

*add Pletnev as well.

>
> *fav violinists ("..."): Kreisler, Milstein, Szeryng (maybe Heifetz, Huberman and Kremer as well - I do not like Jansen, Hahn, Oistrakh, Menuhin, Grumiaux and most others I've listened to).
>
> *fav cellist - haven't listened to many and often didn't pay close enough attention (such as in chamber music); mainly thinking about Bach here, and I don't think anyone comes close to Fournier regarding Bach's cello solo music.