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Alessandro Scarlatti: Motets....





....beautiful music beautifully sung and played!

John Taverner's beautiful Western Wynde Mass....

David Munrow was such a great loss at such an early age to the world of Music; he was such a talent. One often wonders what direction his music making would have taken had he lived.

More Stanford....





Symphony No. 7 was Stanford’s last one and a fine one it is too. It is a concise work and Stanford was apparently proud of that fact.
The Irish Rhapsody No. 3 is more of a concertante piece for cello and it is all the more interesting for that.
Stanford played the organ and I find The Concert piece for Organ & Orchestra interesting from that perspective. I like the textures in this music; the brass and the organ blend well.

Generally not of my favorite Mahler symphonies, number 3, but quite enjoyed it this evening. It must be several years since I listened to this particular version.

A very intense 3 album set of minimalist works from a variety of contemporary composers (Glass, Skempton, Reily, Cage) and popular musicians (Eno, Radiohead, Aphex Twin).
Tough going in places but powerful and beautiful none the less.

With so little opera being recorded these days, we are lucky that some rare ones, even new to CD, still appear. Massenet´s Le Mage was premiered at the Paris Opera in 1891, and reportedly it was a success, running to some 30 performances, but for different reasons it shortly fell into oblivion.
Like Thaïs, Herodiade, Esclarmonde and Le Roi de Lahore it has a Far East, exotic subject, so loved by French composers from Berlioz and Bizet to Ravel and Koechlin. Like the much better known Herodiade it has some very good tunes and great vocal opportunities for the leads, and the chorus also have their share of good moments.
The performance is sound and idiomatic, with especially good singing from Catharine Hunold as Anahita.
The sound quality courtesy of Radio France is satisfactory but not nearly as glamorous as the opulent score demands. Still in these sad times this would have to do because in all probability we will never get another recording of Le Mage.
On the other hand the book-like case is very fine and the documentation is ample.
Good to finally hear Le Mage.

Jose Echenique wrote:


With so little opera being recorded these days, we are lucky that some rare ones, even new to CD, still appear. Massenet´s Le Mage was premiered at the Paris Opera in 1891, and reportedly it was a success, running to some 30 performances, but for different reasons it shortly fell into oblivion.
Like Thaïs, Herodiade, Esclarmonde and Le Roi de Lahore it has a Far East, exotic subject, so loved by French composers from Berlioz and Bizet to Ravel and Koechlin. Like the much better known Herodiade it has some very good tunes and great vocal opportunities for the leads, and the chorus also have their share of good moments.
The performance is sound and idiomatic, with especially good singing from Catharine Hunold as Anahita.
The sound quality courtesy of Radio France is satisfactory but not nearly as glamorous as the opulent score demands. Still in these sad times this would have to do because in all probability we will never get another recording of Le Mage.
On the other hand the book-like case is very fine and the documentation is ample.
Good to finally hear Le Mage.

Interesting post Pepe. Given what you said do you know why this opera was produced and issued instead of a more well known one that surely would have had bigger sales potential?

I spent this evening listening to the music of Tomaso Albinoni....

markof wrote:
A very intense 3 album set of minimalist works from a variety of contemporary composers (Glass, Skempton, Reily, Cage) and popular musicians (Eno, Radiohead, Aphex Twin).
Tough going in places but powerful and beautiful none the less.

I must admit I do find Glass tough going, this minimalist malarkey doesn't move me. There are times when I have found Cage interesting. I am not familiar with any of the other composer or performers on that set