What are you listening two?

[mcq]

Speaking of early music, I read a comment on another forum where the person posting didn't consider music before the 17th century as true classical (not period, the broader meaning) because it was as "simple" as pop music. I found that to be a pretty astounding assertion, but as much as I disagree with it, is there anything in the idea that serious listeners find early music too straightforward?

I think that anybody who considers pre-17th century music as "simplistic" has not taken the time to fully engage with the music.  By that I mean putting to one side preconceived notions of what classical music should sound like and, instead, simply sitting down to listen with an open heart and asking yourself "Am I moved?"  The glories of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods are undeniable and permanent but I find it fascinating to listen to 20th century music to learn how these composers were influenced by their forebears and also to discover just how they struck out in bold new directions and developed these influences.  And similarly, by listening to pioneering works by Machaut and Dufay we understand that the great glories of Renaissance polyphony would have been unimaginable without the innovations of these earlier masters.  Perhaps, though, the reason why some listeners consider pre-17th century simplistic centres around the unabashed influence of popular "folk" music on secular and sacred music.  In particular, secular music, whether we are referring to madrigals/chansons or dance music, has an earthy directness about it which unapologetically underlines its attachment to the contemporary popular music enjoyed by all sections of society.

[fergus]

Two String Quartets by Martinu; Nos. 5 & 7....





I thought that No. 7 was wonderful.

[Jose Echenique]

Our only Mexican member Pepe introduced me some time ago to the music of Antonín Reichenauer and it has been some time since I have listened to any of his music so this evening I took down....





If you have not checked out this music then do yourself a big favour and listen to it soon!

And it´s superbly played by Sergio Azzolini, maybe the World´s top bassoon player, and Xenia Löffler, oboist of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
But a word on Reichenauer for our friends who might not have read our original posts. After WWII the Russians stole complete libraries from East Germany and took them in secret to the Soviet Union where they kept them till the mid 90´s, when they finally returned them to Germany. Thousands of not yet published scores [manuscripts], many of them not even catalogued at all, were there, notoriously Vivaldi´s opera Montezuma which was thought lost before they found it in one of the libraries. But there were some other mighty interesting scores from little known composers like Reichenauer, the music on this CD was also found there, and it´s very, very good as our dear friend Fergus has said. Fortunately the recording with superb Czech musicians and master Azzolini was worth the long, long wait.

[jaybee]

corelli's concerto grosso #6




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[mcq]

Listening this morning to two recordings of music by Thomas Tomkins.  This is gorgeously expressive music, alternately declamatory and intimate in tone, but always possessed of a sincerity and understated pathos which cuts directly to the listener's heart.

[mcq]

Our only Mexican member Pepe introduced me some time ago to the music of Antonín Reichenauer and it has been some time since I have listened to any of his music so this evening I took down....





If you have not checked out this music then do yourself a big favour and listen to it soon!

And it´s superbly played by Sergio Azzolini, maybe the World´s top bassoon player, and Xenia Löffler, oboist of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
But a word on Reichenauer for our friends who might not have read our original posts. After WWII the Russians stole complete libraries from East Germany and took them in secret to the Soviet Union where they kept them till the mid 90´s, when they finally returned them to Germany. Thousands of not yet published scores [manuscripts], many of them not even catalogued at all, were there, notoriously Vivaldi´s opera Montezuma which was thought lost before they found it in one of the libraries. But there were some other mighty interesting scores from little known composers like Reichenauer, the music on this CD was also found there, and it´s very, very good as our dear friend Fergus has said. Fortunately the recording with superb Czech musicians and master Azzolini was worth the long, long wait.

As Fergus and Pepe both point out, the two CDs of works by Antonín Reichenauer contain some exceptional music.  At the time of their original release, I bought them blind simply because of the consistently superb quality of the ongoing Music from 18th Century Prague series on Supraphon which has given us some revelatory performances of neglected music.  Undoubtedly the most important composer featured in the series is the ever-excellent Zelenka (there is an imminent release of his Lamentations due to be released as part of these series which I am eagerly awaiting) but also composers like Brentner, Jacob and Jiránek whose works are given dedicated and inspiring performances.

[fergus]

Some keyboard sonatas by Soler, played on piano....

[mcq]

Listening this afternoon to the glorious music of Corelli.  First up is the final recording in The Avison Ensemble's complete set of the composer's chamber works, an undertaking which has proved consistently rewarding and a pleasure to return to on a regular basis.  The Opus 1 and 3 which collectively comprise the Church Sonatas are here performed with grace, refinement, delicacy and understated emotion, virtues which are common to all volumes in their recordings of Corelli's music for Linn.  I then listened to the Assisi Sonatas as performed by Enrico Gatti and his Ensemble Aurora.  This is billed as a world premiere recording as these works pre-date the Opus 1 Trio Sonatas.  I am a great admirer of Gatti's.  He is unquestionably the subtlest of the Italian virtuoso violinists, eschewing self-serving flamboyance and instead concentrating more on quiet, thoughtful gestures which serve merely to communicate the emotional riches that are embedded in the score.  He can certainly play with fire and brio when the occasion demands it but he is a very sensitive, emotionally astute player whose elegant phrasing and lightness of touch is always a delight to hear.

[fergus]

A rather nice album of the music of Vaughan Williams and Warlock which includes a rather enchanting Oboe Concerto....

[mcq]

Listening this evening to the otherworldy beauty of William Byrd's masterpieces, his three-, four- and five-part Masses in reverential, deeply felt performances.  Perhaps the finest versions I've heard since The Tallis Scholars' classic versions.  The hallmark of The Scholars' performances is a sense of coolness and reserve, an interpretation which invites spiritual reflection in private.  I would not want to be without my Tallis Scholars recording but these new performances strike me collectively as an overwhelmingly powerful experience of these high water-marks of the English Renaissance.  There is a rapt, hushed, vital intensity about these performances which seems utterly appropriate given their pivotal position in the canon but also when one considers the clandestine conditions under which this extraordinary music was originally composed and performed.  

I then listened to a performance of a selection of John Sheppard's sacred choral  works.  It has been really wonderful to see renewed interest in this once-neglected composer over the past 20 years in the form of outstanding recordings by The Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen and Stile Antico.  Once completely overshadowed by Thomas Talls, we are beginning to form a fuller picture of a composer whose output was very much the equal of his more illustrious contemporary.  His masterpieces are the Western Wynde Mass and the breathtaking Media Vita.  Neither are heard on the present CD but all of the featured pieces add immeasurably to his reputation, particular the deeply affecting Missa Cantate, a third masterpiece of soaring beauty, in which the influence of John Taverner can be clearly heard.  A really wonderful CD.