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Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 10:12 pm
by fergus
Havergal Brian’s Symphony No. 1 “The Gothic”....
This is a monumental work especially for a first symphony and I thought that it would have been a much more inaccessible work than it turned out to be (for me anyway) given what I had read about it beforehand. I found it to be a fine work and I enjoyed it, possibly given my liking for Choral music in general. It is very atmospheric in parts with a somewhat reverberant acoustic which adds to the sense of it almost having been recorded in an enormous Gothic cathedral (which is in fact what it is primarily about). I would suggest that the volume knob needs to be turned up a few notches for this one!
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:48 pm
by Jose Echenique
fergus wrote:Jose Echenique wrote:
In Mexico there´s a long tradition of seeing on November 2nd, the Day of the Dead here, a dreadful XIX Century play on the legend of Don Juan called Don Juan Tenorio by Spanish playwright José Zorrilla, so rather than seeing that, I´m revisiting René Jacobs´Don Giovanni. It should have been a winner, but it falls in the category of "interesting" rather than great. As expected the playing of the Freiburger Barockorchester is beyond praise, but Jacobs´conducting has its hits and misses. His cast too isn´t uniformly satisfactory. The Norwegian baritone Johannes Weisser has a fine voice for a youthful don Giovanni, all he misses is the Mediterranean warmth and bravado of the best Giovannis on record. On the other hand you can´t go wrong with an Italian Leporello, and Lorenzo Regazzo is obviously an asset. American tenor Kenneth Tarver is a mellifluous and stylish don Ottavio, so, so far, so good, but the women are rather disappointing, especially considering the glorious ladies that have recorded donna Anna, donna Elvira and Zerlina. So, sad to say a mixed bag.
The glorious John Eliot Gardiner recording remains unchallenged after 20 years, since it is superbly sung, conducted and played. You will have to go back 50 years to the Giulini to find an even better Don Giovanni.
P.S. And don´t even bother with the dreadful DVD of this production. It´s so silly and perverse as to defy description.
That is interesting and disappointing Pepe. I only have the Gardiner version but If I was considering an alternative version Jacobs would have been one of the considerations. Not now!
All things considered, maybe not Fergus. Jacobs´Cosi and Nozze were much more successful. Even the more recent Yannick Nézet-Seguin recording in DG, with modern instruments but period articulation is more successful. Of course, it always helps to have Joyce DiDonato in the cast, for her alone I would buy the recording.
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:57 pm
by fergus
Walton: Viola Concerto....
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 11:10 am
by fergus
Charpentier: Messe des morts....
....beautiful!
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 1:18 pm
by fergus
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 1:31 pm
by Seán
fergus wrote:
It's on my wish list.
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 3:30 pm
by Jose Echenique
This is a genuinely weird recording. This beautiful Stabat Mater was sent as a present by the composer to George II and is kept in the British Library. Though composed in the early XVIII Century it rather sounds as late XVII Century. The excellent chorus and orchestra are very stylish, and conductor Diego Fasolis is a real master, he certainly knows what he is doing, the weirdness is courtesy of Cecilia Bartoli who tries to sing everything so "meaningfully", stressing every syllable to draw attention to herself, that the result is both disconcerting and infuriating. This is by no means how this music should be sung, and even such a glorious singer as Franco Fagioli (who these days should get top billing even above Bartoli) moderates his privileged voice to fit into the team.
This is not the first recording of the Steffani Stabat Mater, Gustav Leonhardt has already recorded it for DHM, and that recording in all probability is the more faithful to the composer.
Much more satisfying and enjoyable is Fasoli´s recording of Steffani´s orchestral music. The success of this recording is that the program has been very intelligently organized, so these sinfonias and dances sound as an organic whole and not unrelated bits and pieces from here and there. The playing of I Barocchisti is formidable.
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:00 pm
by fergus
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:11 pm
by Jared
^^ can't think of a better way to round off a weekend, Fergus!
anyway, I'm sorry I've been quiet this weekend, but I've been indulging in a bit of a Marx Bros film fest...
Re: What are you listening two?
Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 12:05 am
by fergus
Jared wrote:....I'm sorry I've been quiet this weekend, but I've been indulging in a bit of a Marx Bros film fest...
Great choice Jared....nothing better! Good for you.
