Tír Na HiFi

fergus wrote:

mcq wrote:Secondly, Riccardo Muti's exceptional series of Cherubini masses collected in a bargain-priced EMI box. Perhaps Muti's greatest achievement (although I do love his 70s recordings of the Verdi operas on EMI). You can sense Muti felt a strong personal attachment to this composer's deeply beautiful music.

Fourthly, the Avison Ensemble's glorious recordings of Handel's Concerti Grossi Op.6 on Linn. These concerti grossi of Handel are compositions that, like Bach's immortal Brandenburg Concertos, I find difficult to resist. Rather more measured in tempi than some period instrument recordings, they are nonetheless deeply rewarding.

Fifthly, Frans Bruggen's noteworthy performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor on Glossa. Perhaps the greatest testament I can pay to this richly powerful recording is that I listened to Gardiner's classic performance the day before and was startled to find that I preferred Bruggen by no small margin. An intensely involving and overwhelmingly emotional experience of this greatest of masterpieces.

Finally, Philippe Pierlot's simply beautiful rendition of Bach's Magnificat on Mirare. This is a simply wonderful and truly heart-gladdening experience which might well be the greatest Magnificat of them all.

We do not hear from you in some time, then you come back with a post like this and now there are 6 new discs on my Wish List!!!

I have been rather negligent of late with regard to my postings and I do apologise. Too much time spent listening to music and not enough putting pen to paper (so to speak).

First of all, I think Handel's Italian cantatas constitute some of his most underrated work and Glossa are to be congratulated on committing to a full cycle. There are seven volumes in all (although I'm currently missing Volume 6) and Fabio Bonizzoni with his excellent period ensemble, La Risonanza, have given us performances of vigour, warmth and emotional expressiveness. These cantatas are also a wonderful entry point into Handel's great operas that he composed whilst in Italy. Many conductors concentrate solely on the English oratorios but, in my opinion, some of the great man's best work is to found in operas such as Alcina, Ariodonte, Orlando, Giulio Cesare, Semele, Serse, Rinaldo and Agrippina.

And secondly, the Faust/Melnikov set is quite exceptional and is warmly recomended. These are two fantastic young musicians but, most importantly, they operate as true musical equals which is an essential quality in music like this. In comparison, Anne-Sophie Mutter's set with Lambert Orkis (on DG) falls short because she has a tendency to dominate proceedings. (That said, they are fine performances without ever quite reaching the same heights as Argerich/Kremer, Kempff/Schneiderhan or, indeed, Faust/Melnikov.)

fergus wrote:JS Bach: English and French Suites no. 1 played by Alan Curtis....

Alan Curtis is one of the great Handel conductors and he has done miracles with lesser-known works like Rodrigo and Fernando. However, I am unfamiliar with his work as a soloist. How did you enjoy that CD, Fergus?

something easy to wind down the evening with....

mcq wrote: I have been rather negligent of late with regard to my postings and I do apologise. Too much time spent listening to music and not enough putting pen to paper (so to speak).

No need to apologise mcq....just write more; it is always a pleasure to read your (most informative) posts!!

mcq wrote:

fergus wrote:JS Bach: English and French Suites no. 1 played by Alan Curtis....

Alan Curtis is one of the great Handel conductors and he has done miracles with lesser-known works like Rodrigo and Fernando. However, I am unfamiliar with his work as a soloist. How did you enjoy that CD, Fergus?

I enjoyed it. I have the three discs in the cycle which covers all of the English and French Suites. The playing is quite good and the recording is made in a warm acoustic which takes the sharp edge off the harpsichord. The cycle would certainly come recommended!

Vivaldi: Dixit Dominus [Negri]....

Haydn – String Quartets Op. 33 Nos. 5 & 3....

DaveF wrote:

Seán wrote:Take off yer hi-fat hat for a mo, ( a sacrilege in these parts I know) and listen to the music.

Of course I listen to the music! What else would I be doing? Anyway it was just an observation I made. :-)

Apologies for the bluntness and terseness of my response.

fergus wrote:Haydn – String Quartets Op. 33 Nos. 5 & 3....

Recordings by the Quatuor Mosaïques usually come with a strong recommendation, what do you make of those performances?

Seán wrote:Recordings by the Quatuor Mosaïques usually come with a strong recommendation, what do you make of those performances?

I have a number of them Seán and they are all wonderfull....extremely well played, well paced and they get to the essence of the music.