Tír Na HiFi

fergus wrote:

DonKC wrote:New from Naxos



Quite exciting, Scythian Suite is quite good.

Good things coming from Brazil

I bought a Brahms Symphony Cycle and a German Requiem late last year all conducted by Alsop [not played by the same orchestra as yours] and I also found them to be very good. I like her conducting.

I do like Marin Aslop.

A wonderful version of this work!

Cracked open this box set and played CD 1 to get a sense of the music making and a flavour of the sound of the instruments used....





....very happy so far!

fergus wrote:Cracked open this box set and played CD 1 to get a sense of the music making and a flavour of the sound of the instruments used....





....very happy so far!

Listening to the last CD in this box set as I write and the set has been a delight from beginning to end. Warmly recommended for anyone interested in this music.

Zemlinsky: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2....





....well crafted works with wonderful harmonies.

fergus wrote:

fergus wrote:Cracked open this box set and played CD 1 to get a sense of the music making and a flavour of the sound of the instruments used....





....very happy so far!

Listening to the last CD in this box set as I write and the set has been a delight from beginning to end. Warmly recommended for anyone interested in this music.

I LOVE Mozart's piano sonatas and I have two complete sets: the first is by Klára Würtz and the second has Maria João Pires, they are both superb. I do like Bart van Oort so I may table a punt on that one.

Two superb Chopin discs this morning.  The first one centred on the final pieces of music to be published in his lifetime and are performed quite beautifully in a somewhat understated manner by Pascal Amoyel who is also joined by his regular partner Emmanuelle Bertrand in the great cello sonata, one of the composer's finest works.  This piece also takes pride of place on the second disc which here is performed by Sol Gabetta and Bertrand Chamayou (whose Liszt recordings for Naive were really quite exceptional).  A more dramatic and expressive reading here than the more reserved Bertrand and Amoyel, this is hopefully the first of many recordings featuring this duo.  

Seán wrote:
I LOVE Mozart's piano sonatas and I have two complete sets: the first is by Klára Würtz and the second has Maria João Pires, they are both superb. I do like Bart van Oort so I may table a punt on that one.

Because it is van Oort I know that you will be aware that these are played on fortepianos Seán which I know are not to everyones liking; but that is why I bought the set. The instruments are quite full sounding with a nice amount of reverb in the recordings. The relatively quick fall off in the duration of the notes suits Mozart's music I think that the more mature works sound great as well.

Les Martyrs is Donizetti´s reworking of his Italian opera Poliuto for the Paris Opera. It had never been recorded before in this version, and it´s fantastic, totally different from the original version with the inevitable ballets that the Opéra demanded, but the piece works just as well as a "grand opéra".
This must have been one of Opera Rara`s most expensive projects to date, the orchestra is large, and I don´t think the wonderful Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has ever appeared with almost 90 players before. In fact there could be more, because the Paris Opera orchestra was large, but the Church of St. Clement where it was recorded looks cramped to it´s maximum.

When La Scala mounted Poliuto in the late 50´s, the cast included Maria Callas, Franco Corelli and Ettore Bastianini. Opera Rara needed singers that could speak French and had at least some idea of vocal techniques of the early XIX Century. The originally chosen tenor was the admirable Bryan Hymel who has made a specialty of the most difficult tenor roles of French Opera: Arnold in Guillaume Tell and Eneas in Les Troyens. I don´t what happened but he didn´t make the recording in the end, but an equally adept tenor was found in Michael Spyres, who like Hymel is making fame and fortune singing the tenor lead in Guillaume Tell. His lyric but powerful voice is very pleasing, and he handles with ease the daunting tessitura, and still finds room to climb to a stunning high D in his aria. Joyce El-Khoury has already made some recordings for Opera Rara, she is a positive, dedicated singer, and she does create an impression as Pauline. The orchestra as expected plays marvelously, and one appreciates the period string textures and especially the period brass, that sounds much lighter and elegant than with modern instruments. Now that expensive studio opera recordings are almost non existent, we must thank everybody that made this recording possible, especially the British Armenian community that took Les Martyrs as the occasion to remember their own martyrs assassinated by the Turks 100 years ago.

A Nielsen binge Symphony # 5 and 6
New York Philharmonic Alan Gilbert
Dacapo 6.220625

I like the strange and dark 5th.. echoes of Mahler 9 and 10. Wonderful work and a great performance.