What are you listening to?

[Jared]

You are the very one Jared, if I may so with some pride!

Fergus, I have to be very careful with Renaissance music... if I start listening to it in large doses at any one time, then I start travelling down an emotional path which gets ever longer and deeper. If I don't exercise a degree of self discipline, then I can get lost down it for some time, to the neglect of later repertoire...

... and if I may say, Victoria's music is arguably the most enticing of all...

that said, over the past year or so, I have really been getting into Romantic Songs/ Lieder, and these are very lovely, within a clearly Russian framework:

[Diapason]

I have that Gesualdo disc too, Fergus, I may need to give it a spin today.

How was Rogg? Is that particular set you pictured on vinyl?

[markof]

Really beautiful record - apt for the day too.

[Seán]

Finishing off these two CDs this morning....

Lamentations for Easter Eve from....





I know that there are at least a couple of Zelenka admirers out there so just let me reiterate the praise heaped on this CD by Pepe; it really is very good....beautiful music beautifully sung and beautifully recorded!

Count me in, I LOVE Zelenka's music.

[Jose Echenique]

<Count me in, I LOVE Zelenka's music.>

J. S. Bach did too, so who is one to argue with him?

[Jose Echenique]

But today I went back to this much loved recording, the finest this Stabat Mater has ever had. Sure, the Pappano is also wonderfully conducted, and it has Joyce DiDonato as the mezzo, who sings if anything, even better than Bartoli, but Chung´s trump card is the gorgeous singing of Luba Orgonasova, sovereign in the soprano part, and Anna Netrebko just can´t compete with her, either in voice quality or in true Rossini style.
Another excellent version is the Marcus Creed in HM, notable for using period instruments, and even though his singers are not stellar like in the Chung and the Pappano, they are a fine group, but every time I want to hear this work, the singing of Orgonasova is sinfully tempting.

[fergus]

Fergus, I have to be very careful with Renaissance music... if I start listening to it in large doses at any one time, then I start travelling down an emotional path which gets ever longer and deeper. If I don't exercise a degree of self discipline, then I can get lost down it for some time, to the neglect of later repertoire...

... and if I may say, Victoria's music is arguably the most enticing of all...

Nicely put my friend but as you well know we are in a minority here....but that has never bothered me.

[fergus]

How was Rogg? Is that particular set you pictured on vinyl?

Yes it is a 20LP set. Although I bought it some months ago I have only begun to delve into it lately. Do you know of him as a performer Simon? I have a couple (if not three) of single albums with him playing the harpsichord which I very much liked so I got this set at a bargain price and jumped at it. My initial adjective to describe the sound world thus far would be mellow; but I like the sound of the organs that I have heard to date on it.

[fergus]

[Diapason]

His recordings are well known, but not by me!