Tír Na HiFi

Ciaran wrote:Last night it was nearly all LP.

Maurizio Pollini in Schubert's late Piano Sonatas. Spellbinding!

I have a gorgeous LP of Pollini playing Schubert, I must dig it out. And I just love Cecilia Bartoli.

Tonight I started with Gombert:



Oddly, the SACD booklet doesn't discuss the music at all: it just discusses Gombert's notoriety. He seems to have been the Robert King of his day, for, while we know very little about him (like other composers of the period), there is a brief reference in a book by Cardano from this time which refers to the musician Gombert who was sent to the galleys for sodomising one of the prince's boys. Apparently we have no other evidence, so it's hard to know whether to believe it or not. Anyway, I find his music almost on a par with Josquin, and to me that's as good as polyphony gets!

On to Chopin Scherzos with Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter:



Bach Cantata 108 from the wonderful Kuijken series:



The Parker Quartet playing Ligeti:



and finally a few dazzling Neapolitan arias from Simone Kermes:

Ciaran wrote:Last night it was nearly all LP..... I was really enjoying the Magnificat towards the end when "... Gloria Patri ... BANG ... Gloria Patri ... BANG ... Gloria Patri... BANG... Gloria Patri... BANG... " I got an ugly reminder of why classical listeners abandoned LP as fast as they could when CD arrived!

Excellent....I love that description!

Ciaran wrote:Tonight I started with Gombert....I find his music almost on a par with Josquin, and to me that's as good as polyphony gets!

High praise indeed!

It has been a while since I have listened to Dittersdorf....

Seán wrote:....I won't ask them over on CMG about it .... as they just don't like Gardiner, full stop.

Like every other conductor, not everything that Gardiner did is good but I agree with you on that comment....over there it is almost universal dismissal for the sake of it. I don't get it....is it because he is English?

fergus wrote:

Seán wrote:....I won't ask them over on CMG about it .... as they just don't like Gardiner, full stop.

Like every other conductor, not everything that Gardiner did is good but I agree with you on that comment....over there it is almost universal dismissal for the sake of it. I don't get it....is it because he is English?

I don't know, it's a bit annoying at times.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No 1, 2 & 7
Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä conducting

The Vänskä/Minnesota set arived today. This evening I gave myself a real treat and listened to the First, Second & Seventh Symphonies, this is a gorgeous set.

For a really comprehensive review one need look no further than Musicweb International:
http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http ... nQPTzuHhCA

Seán wrote:[For a really comprehensive review one need look no further than Musicweb International:
http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http ... nQPTzuHhCA

Thanks for that link Seán....my interest has been aroused....

My first venture into the organ music of JSB....