Tír Na HiFi

Earlier this evening I returned to the delights of Scriabin and this recording:


Alexander Scriabin
Prometheus - Poem of Fire Op. 60
Dmitri Alexeev (piano)
The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti conducting.

This recording by the PO led by Muti was runner up to Abbado and the BPO in the recent BAL on Radio 3. It is a fabulous performance. All the music on this set is terrific, it is well worth having.

Seán wrote:

Alexander Scriabin
Prometheus - Poem of Fire Op. 60
Dmitri Alexeev (piano)
The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti conducting.

I am not familiar at all with this music Seán. I may just take a punt here.

More Muti, this time Schumann 2....

fergus wrote:

Seán wrote:

Alexander Scriabin
Prometheus - Poem of Fire Op. 60
Dmitri Alexeev (piano)
The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti conducting.

I am not familiar at all with this music Seán. I may just take a punt here.

I LOVE it Fergus and the Muti set is a great start. The Poem of Ecstasy won the BAL award a few years ago and that's what introduced me to Scriabin's sound world.

Finishing up tonight with some Debussy....

Carl Maria von Weber: Grand Potpourri for Cello & Orchestra + Danzi: Cello Concerto....

A rarity from the Spanish Baroque. We have had a few José de Nebra zarzuelas recordings before, but this is the first ever by José Castel, a name I can´t recall ever hearing before. For those of you that don´t know, a zarzuela in the 17 and 18 centuries meant a work with spoken texts and musical numbers, rather like a German Singspiel, but nothing to do with popular music theatre like in the late 19 Century zarzuelas.
This zarzuela is very charming, and the Italian influence that King Carlos III demanded from his composers is evident. At the end there is a terrifying coloratura aria that surely made the soprano hysterical.
The recording is competent, the sopranos are fine, only the tenor seems a little stretched beyond his possibilities, and young conductor Pablo Heras-Casado shows a firm grip of the music.

Jose Echenique wrote:


A rarity from the Spanish Baroque. We have had a few José de Nebra zarzuelas recordings before, but this is the first ever by José Castel, a name I can´t recall ever hearing before. For those of you that don´t know, a zarzuela in the 17 and 18 centuries meant a work with spoken texts and musical numbers, rather like a German Singspiel, but nothing to do with popular music theatre like in the late 19 Century zarzuelas.
This zarzuela is very charming, and the Italian influence that King Carlos III demanded from his composers is evident. At the end there is a terrifying coloratura aria that surely made the soprano hysterical.
The recording is competent, the sopranos are fine, only the tenor seems a little stretched beyond his possibilities, and young conductor Pablo Heras-Casado shows a firm grip of the music.

I always liked that form of work Pepe; that sounds interesting.

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1....