Tír Na HiFi

A recent purchase: Mozart Horn Concertos played by Ab Koster, Tafelmusik/Weil....





Wonderful music splendidly played by both soloist and orchestra. What a wonderful tone from the solo horn! Another wonderful addition to my collection.

After the last few days spent in the riveting company of the Festetics Quartet making their merry way through the glories of the complete Haydn string quartets, it made perfect sense to begin tonight's listening with the Cuarteto Casals' performance of three of the six exquisite string quartets that Mozart wrote in response to the great man's Op.33.  Wonderfully fiery, taut, focused, deeply involving performances to lose yourself in.




And I'm currently listening to the Arcanto Quartet's rather more refined take on another of Mozart's Haydn quartets, coupled with their unspeakably beautiful version of the master's clarinet quintet where they're joined by Jörg Widmann.  There is an understated contemplative delicacy about these interpretations that is rather more relaxed than the Cuarteto Casals yet such is the greatness of this music that it encourages and rewards such diverse approaches, the cumulative absorption of which over time bring us ever closer to the sheer wonder of Mozart's own inspiration.

mcq wrote:After the last few days spent in the riveting company of the Festetics Quartet making their merry way through the glories of the complete Haydn string quartets, it made perfect sense to begin tonight's listening with the Cuarteto Casals' performance of three of the six exquisite string quartets that Mozart wrote in response to the great man's Op.33.  Wonderfully fiery, taut, focused, deeply involving performances to lose yourself in.




And I'm currently listening to the Arcanto Quartet's rather more refined take on another of Mozart's Haydn quartets, coupled with their unspeakably beautiful version of the master's clarinet quintet where they're joined by Jörg Widmann.  There is an understated contemplative delicacy about these interpretations that is rather more relaxed than the Cuarteto Casals yet such is the greatness of this music that it encourages and rewards such diverse approaches, the cumulative absorption of which over time bring us ever closer to the sheer wonder of Mozart's own inspiration.

Interesting; I will keep those in mind. Do you know if the Arcanto have completed or will they complete all of the "Haydn" quartets with another CD by any chance?

Debussy: Images 1 & 2 and Children's Corner played by Michelangeli....

fergus wrote:

mcq wrote:After the last few days spent in the riveting company of the Festetics Quartet making their merry way through the glories of the complete Haydn string quartets, it made perfect sense to begin tonight's listening with the Cuarteto Casals' performance of three of the six exquisite string quartets that Mozart wrote in response to the great man's Op.33.  Wonderfully fiery, taut, focused, deeply involving performances to lose yourself in.




And I'm currently listening to the Arcanto Quartet's rather more refined take on another of Mozart's Haydn quartets, coupled with their unspeakably beautiful version of the master's clarinet quintet where they're joined by Jörg Widmann.  There is an understated contemplative delicacy about these interpretations that is rather more relaxed than the Cuarteto Casals yet such is the greatness of this music that it encourages and rewards such diverse approaches, the cumulative absorption of which over time bring us ever closer to the sheer wonder of Mozart's own inspiration.

Interesting; I will keep those in mind. Do you know if the Arcanto have completed or will they complete all of the "Haydn" quartets with another CD by any chance?

I don't believe so, Fergus, but I sincerely hope they do so one day. As far as I'm aware they have only recorded two other CDs for HM - the Schubert Quintet and the Debussy, Ravel and Dutilleux quartets - both of which are exceptional. I understand that this quartet is comprised of individual solosts who have other professional obligations of their own to fulfil and, unlike a full-time quartet, they may be unable to record as much repertoire as they would like to. But, the great thing about HM is that it is a real artists' label that patiently nurtures their musicians' careers over time so I expect the Arcanto Quartet to record the remaining Mozart Haydn quartets in due course (perhaps over a number of CDs interspersed with other works).

mcq wrote: I don't believe so, Fergus, but I sincerely hope they do so one day. As far as I'm aware they have only recorded two other CDs for HM - the Schubert Quintet and the Debussy, Ravel and Dutilleux quartets - both of which are exceptional. I understand that this quartet is comprised of individual solosts who have other professional obligations of their own to fulfil and, unlike a full-time quartet, they may be unable to record as much repertoire as they would like to. But, the great thing about HM is that it is a real artists' label that patiently nurtures their musicians' careers over time so I expect the Arcanto Quartet to record the remaining Mozart Haydn quartets in due course (perhaps over a number of CDs interspersed with other works).

Thank you for that. I really like the Clarinet Quintet so I will look closely at those recommendations. So much music and so little time!!!

Ah yes, art is long and life is so very short but life would be meaningless without art so it's good to make time for what really matters.  By the way, I assume you've heard this beautiful CD?

fergus wrote:
I see that you have bought the Harnoncourt cycle Simon; you should enjoy that. As for another Beethoven Symphonic cycle I would recommend, depending on how one likes one's Beethoven, von Karajan [1963]/Zinman, Cluytens, Gardiner and/or Bruggen [2].

What would others recommend to help convert this non believer?

1. Charles Mackerras / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, a lovely set, budget price
2. Osmo Vänskä / Minnesota Orchestra. BIS. Sonics are splendid as one might expect.
3. Claudio Abbado / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra DG. A magnificent set.
4. Herbert Blomstedt / Staatskappelle Dresden Brilliant Classics, budget price.

mcq wrote:Ah yes, art is long and life is so very short but life would be meaningless without art so it's good to make time for what really matters.  By the way, I assume you've heard this beautiful CD?

I couldn't agree more and young Pepe posted a similar sentiment on Facebook earlier tonight. I have a 5 cd set of L'Archibudelli's Mozart in my Amazon.fr basket. I must get it soon.

Concluding the evening's listening with some beautifully impassioned music for piano trio immaculately performed by Trio Wanderer.  What a masterpiece the Tchaikovsky piece is!  And the Smetana, written immediately following the death of the composer's four year old daughter, is just heartrending.  The ensemble's achievement here is not to exaggerate the anguish and descend into maudlin sentimentality but instead present the music simply and forthrightly, boldly direct and free of theatrical flourishes.  A very powerful experience.