What are you listening to?

[Jared]

Well, you've been busy....relaxing!

I've been making up for lost time, my friend... :-))

the meeting with CEO went as well as could be expected, but no-one's out of the woods yet... I think 2010 could be very difficult.

[Seán]

Well, you've been busy....relaxing!

I've been making up for lost time, my friend... :-))

the meeting with CEO went as well as could be expected,

I'm glad to hear it.

but no-one's out of the woods yet... I think 2010 could be very difficult.

Fingers crossed for you lad. By the way, I couldn't resist putting Ms Balsom on my signature, to quote you Jared, "Angel with a trumpet".

[Jared]

Fingers crossed for you lad. By the way, I couldn't resist putting Ms Balsom on my signature, to quote you Jared, "Angel with a trumpet".

she is indeed very beautiful... although from what I read, a slightly different shape now, as she will shortly be expecting.. ;-))

[fergus]

....I have also been playing Mozart Piano Trios today; K496 & K502 Pires/ Dumay/ Wang on DG... I think they're sublime... ;-))

Mozart's chamber music is often overlooked which is unfortunate as there are many gems to be found there.

[fergus]

Very interesting comments Dave. I don't have any recordings by Hogworth but I have to confess that having acquired the Beethoven cycle by Bruggen and the 18th Century guys that I have "fallen deeply in love" with them. Hogwood nust rate very highly so. I must have a look out for both CDs in Tower.

One thing that I would add in relation to Hogwood Seán is that the music making and presentation under his direction is of a constantly high standard.

[fergus]

I have never heard any of these works Jared.

[fergus]

Well, you've been busy....relaxing!

I've been making up for lost time, my friend... :-))

the meeting with CEO went as well as could be expected, but no-one's out of the woods yet... I think 2010 could be very difficult.

Great to see you both listening and posting again Jared.

[fergus]

Schubert – Symphony No. 8....



The quantum leap to the standard of the 8th symphony is well displayed in this performance. I find this a dark, brooding work and this recording has great contrasts of tone, colour and mood ably demonstrated through the wonderful playing of the orchestra.

Schubert was followed by Machaut, Songs from Le Voir Dit....

[fergus]

In Leipzig the performance of cantatas in church during Lent was not permitted. BWV54 was, however, written in Bach's Weimar years for the third Sunday in Lent and I have chosen the version sung by Marga Hoffgen and played by the Gerwandhausorchester Leipzig/Kurt Thomas for this morning’s offering....



This is very far removed from the performance practice that I listen to but it still remains one of my favourite JSB discs in my collection.


I have also been delving further into the music of Buxtehude; this time I have been listening to his Sacred Cantatas....



These are very different from those of JSB but very interesting nonetheless especially from the point of view of seeing what JSB did with the genre.

[DaveF]

I picked this up in Tower yesterday and was eagerly waiting the chance to hear it. Given my previous experiences with Svetlanov recordings, I had high expectations for this one. So this morning I fired up Symphony 1.
5 mins later I was shellshocked. This is without doubt the worst Mahler recording that I have ever come across. Painfully slow, but the worst part is the extremely poor quality of the recording. Its no better than a highly compressed mp3 and I had to have the volume turned up to twice the level I'd normally have it at just to be able to hear some of it properly. I began to think(and hope) that it was a dud recording and a replacement set would be ok. So I had a browse over on the Gustav Mahler forum to see if there was a mention of this boxset. There was, and it got slated for its poor quality.
Luckily I was due back in town today anyway, so I went into Tower and got a refund for it without any hassle. No doubt it will show up back on the shelves again. I think at this stage I know a good Mahler recording when I hear one and this boxset is one to avoid at all costs!