What are you listening to?

[bombasticDarren]

Beethoven - Overture Leonore No.3

Prokofiev - Suite Love for Three Oranges (Rudolf Kempe, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Legends)

[bombasticDarren]

Tchaikovsky - Marche Slave & Capriccio Italien (Adrian Leaper, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Naxos)

[bombasticDarren]

Holst - The Planets (James Levine, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon)

[Diapason]

This is really lovely, sensitively played in a massive acoustic. Only problem is I can't shake the feeling that it's the kind of music played in the communal areas of expensive spas.

[fergus]

Tchaikovsky - Marche Slave & Capriccio Italien (Adrian Leaper, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Naxos)

I think that is a lovely CD Darren with very good performances of those works. I hope that you enjoy it

[fergus]

This is really lovely, sensitively played in a massive acoustic. Only problem is I can't shake the feeling that it's the kind of music played in the communal areas of expensive spas.

As you said you had not heard this music before Simon I did not want to pre-empt your listening impressions but I think that it is not bad music but it certainly is not the most engaging music the JSB wrote.

[bombasticDarren]

Tchaikovsky - Marche Slave & Capriccio Italien (Adrian Leaper, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Naxos)

I think that is a lovely CD Darren with very good performances of those works. I hope that you enjoy it

Yes, what I have heard so far was beautifully recorded

[Diapason]

This is really lovely, sensitively played in a massive acoustic. Only problem is I can't shake the feeling that it's the kind of music played in the communal areas of expensive spas.

As you said you had not heard this music before Simon I did not want to pre-empt your listening impressions but I think that it is not bad music but it certainly is not the most engaging music the JSB wrote.

I think close attention pays massive dividends and the music itself is quite satisfying, but I suspect this will get more airplay as background music than concentrated listening. There's something about the sound of the lute that I find simultaneously soporific and new-agey, and it means that I don't hear or appreciate the musical lines as much as I would on another instrument. (I actually have a similar issue with harpsichord, although at the opposite end of the spectrum: the musical line is swamped (for me) by the sound of the instrument itself.)

In any case, I'm very glad I bought this disc.

[fergus]

I think close attention pays massive dividends and the music itself is quite satisfying, but I suspect this will get more airplay as background music than concentrated listening. There's something about the sound of the lute that I find simultaneously soporific and new-agey, and it means that I don't hear or appreciate the musical lines as much as I would on another instrument. (I actually have a similar issue with harpsichord, although at the opposite end of the spectrum: the musical line is swamped (for me) by the sound of the instrument itself.)

In any case, I'm very glad I bought this disc.

Cheers for that Simon....I will probably end up buying it myself at some stage!

[Ciaran]

This is really lovely, sensitively played in a massive acoustic. Only problem is I can't shake the feeling that it's the kind of music played in the communal areas of expensive spas.

So just relax and let it soak in!

If you were looking for some more baroque lute music, then you might like this:



Jakob Lindberg playing Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750, a composer who wrote almost exclusively for the lute, very famous in his day, and apparently friendly with JSB as he stayed with the Bach household and competed with him in improvisation) on the Sixtus Rauwolf lute, the oldest playable lute in existence. The music would remind you of the JSB cello suites, and is beautifully played and recorded.

Another:



I enjoyed it a lot!