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Jared wrote: he's far too busy listening out for Cuckoos (and about the right time of year, too!) to be writing any essays..

Obviously, LOL!!!

fergus wrote:

Jared wrote: he's far too busy listening out for Cuckoos (and about the right time of year, too!) to be writing any essays..

Obviously, LOL!!!

I try to take a break on Sundays and concentrate on wading through the 'to be listened to pile' ;-)

Delius - The Walk to the Paradise Garden, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, Summer Night on the River, A Song Before Sunrise & Fantastic Dance (David Lloyd-Jones, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Naxos)



A beautiful disc :-D

there is no doubt, this is 20th Century classical music, written with Fergus in mind... ;-)

Schubert - Violin Sonata D384, D385 & D408 (Jaap Schroder/Christopher Hogwood, L'Oiseau-Lyre)



;-)

I have always thought Theodora Handel´s finest oratorio, musically even better than Messiah.
The very first recording, as far as I know was Johannes Somary´s 1960´s version in Vanguard, since then Harnoncourt, Christie, Neumann and McCreesh have recorded it. Martini has been recording Handel for Naxos for some time now. Most of his recording have been acceptable, but inevitably not fully competitive with the best versions available, and Theodora is no exception. The singers are mostly good, especially the young Romanian countertenor Vitzthum who has recently recorded a Hasse recital for Oehms. The orchestra is quite good but the chorus nowhere on the class of the Gabrieli Consort or Les Arts Florissants. But my main reservation about this recording is the recorded sound. The chorus and orchestra sound strangely in different acoustics and not related to each other. The voices are much better recorded.
Overall the performance is better than average, it could be recommended if the sound picture was better, but why not invest a little more and get the glorious William Christie recording, superbly recorded by ERATO.

Copland - Appalachian Spring (Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony, RCA)

Moeran - Violin Concerto & Lonely Waters (Lydia Mordkovitch/Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Chandos)

This was a gorgeous voice, mostly remembered for her Mozart, but she was also excellent in Verdi.

A terrific performance. Karajan and the BPO at their best.