What are you listening two?

[markof]

Helps to ease the pain of preparing tax accounts this morning.

[Jose Echenique]

Coincidence Pepe; I was only looking at that set on Amazon the other day!

Just let me warn you Fergus that this is very different Gluck from the one we know from Orfeo, Alceste and the 2 Iphigenies. One can see that Gluck got bored with the old Opera Seria form, though every now and then his genius shines here and there. It´s a valuable recording to our understanding of Gluck and that thrilling moment in the development of music.

[Jose Echenique]

Listening this evening to a recent purchase, Handel's Siroe, King of Persia (on the Accent label).  This is one of the very few Handel operas that has completely passed me by (I haven't heard Andreas Spering's earlier recording on Harmonia Mundi) and I was very pleased to see this recent live recording from last year's Gottingen Handel Festival being released.  Whilst I certainly would not rate this opera as highly as Theodora or Orlando, the lowly opinion that this work enjoys among Handelian scholars is wholly undeserved.  Once again it takes a fine and deeply rewarding performance such as this to remind us that it is foolish and naive to underestimate any opera from the pen of arguably the greatest composer of secular vocal music that ever lived.  Key to the success of the recording is the sympathetic conducting of Laurence Cummings.  This is not a breathlessly exciting theatrical performance in the manner of Rene Jacobs but is closer to the more measured performances of Handel's operas that Christian Curnyn has produced for Chandos.  Many of the singers are unknown quantities to me apart from Lisandro Abadie (who I found exceptional in Fabio Bonizzoni's recording of Aci, Galatea e Polifermo for the Glossa label) but there is a real sense of an ensemble of singers engaging with their characters and interacting with each other which makes for a really rewarding listening experience.

I followed this with another recent purchase, Midori Seiler's superb recording of the Haydn violin concertos with Concerto Koln (available on Berlin Classics).  These are fiery and passionate performances that remind me a little of Viktoria Mullova's fine performances of the Bach violin concertos that she recorded with Ottavio Dantone's ensemble, Accademia Bizantina, for Onyx last year.  They share with those performances a sense of robustness and muscular expressivity in their approach allied to a keen sensitivity to the underlying elegance that pervades these finely shaped works.

The Spering Siroe has the enormous advantage of having Ann Hallenberg, altogether in a different class from Yosemeh Adjei, pleasant enough as he is. Where Cummings scores big time is in that the ACCENT is complete repeats and all, while Spering or DHM unbelievably cut a lot to make it fit on 2 compact discs.

[mcq]

Thanks for that, Pepe.  I believe it was the record label that insisted on Spering cutting the recitatives in order to make it fit on 2 CDs.  Although the Spering set was recorded at a relatively early stage of Hallenberg's career, I do understand your point about Yosemeh Adjeh (although the young countertenor certainly does not disgrace himself). However, such is the overall consistency of all the performances and the opera's rarity value on disc, I really enjoyed the set.  It is surprising, though, that Alan Curtis has never recorded it.  If he were to record it complete with the likes of Simone Kermes, Joyce DiDonato and Ms. Hallenberg, that would be very special.  Up next from Accent in their collaboration with the Gottingen Handel Festival is Faramondo which Diego Fasolis  has already recorded for Virgin.  The lineup of singers that Cummings has assembled for the performance at this year's festival (all unknown quantities to me) surely cannot compete with the star power of Cencic, Jaroussky, Karthauser and Sabata on Fasolis' superb recording but we shall see.

By the way, Pepe, do you know why Rene Jacobs recorded Orlando for DG Archiv rather than Harmonia Mundi?  Also, Pablo Heras-Casado also recorded his recent El Maestro: Farinelli for DG Archiv rather than his usual home of Harmonia Mundi.  Perhaps Jacobs is a free agent but has Heras-Casado switched labels?

[fergus]

Just let me warn you Fergus that this is very different Gluck from the one we know from Orfeo, Alceste and the 2 Iphigenies. One can see that Gluck got bored with the old Opera Seria form, though every now and then his genius shines here and there. It´s a valuable recording to our understanding of Gluck and that thrilling moment in the development of music.

That is very interesting Pepe; I do like to hear those "transition" moments in musical history very much.

[Jose Echenique]

Thanks for that, Pepe.  I believe it was the record label that insisted on Spering cutting the recitatives in order to make it fit on 2 CDs.  Although the Spering set was recorded at a relatively early stage of Hallenberg's career, I do understand your point about Yosemeh Adjeh (although the young countertenor certainly does not disgrace himself). However, such is the overall consistency of all the performances and the opera's rarity value on disc, I really enjoyed the set.  It is surprising, though, that Alan Curtis has never recorded it.  If he were to record it complete with the likes of Simone Kermes, Joyce DiDonato and Ms. Hallenberg, that would be very special.  Up next from Accent in their collaboration with the Gottingen Handel Festival is Faramondo which Diego Fasolis  has already recorded for Virgin.  The lineup of singers that Cummings has assembled for the performance at this year's festival (all unknown quantities to me) surely cannot compete with the star power of Cencic, Jaroussky, Karthauser and Sabata on Fasolis' superb recording but we shall see.

By the way, Pepe, do you know why Rene Jacobs recorded Orlando for DG Archiv rather than Harmonia Mundi?  Also, Pablo Heras-Casado also recorded his recent El Maestro: Farinelli for DG Archiv rather than his usual home of Harmonia Mundi.  Perhaps Jacobs is a free agent but has Heras-Casado switched labels?

Very strange things are happening. The Jacobs Orlando was originally announced by Harmonia Mundi, and was promised on 3 cds, in fact I wonder if it´s complete in Archiv, because I can´t see how they could have managed it on 2 cds (I´ve ordered it but hasn´t arrived yet). Maybe Harmonia Mundi can no longer invest in complete operas after the expensive Mozart cycle ?. Or maybe it´s because Bejun Mehta switched to Archiv? He appears in both the Orlando and the Maestro Farinelli.

But I don´t know if Archiv is still a reliable label. This immensely interesting project was recorded as far back as 2007:




It was never released on cd, but I just found out that it´s available in Amazon UK and DE as a MP3 download, which tragically I can´t buy since music downloads are reserved to each country. Since it was after all published, I can´t see why it never made it to cd. It´s the only Domenico Scarlatti opera available, and the cast is mouthwatering (Roberta Invernizzi, Ann Hallenberg, etc) , weird, isn´t it?

[mcq]

Yes, that is a very strange story about the Domenico Scarlatti opera.  I read somewhere that it was only released in Spain.  A similar thing happened with Ensemble Plus Ultra's recordings of the complete sacred works of Victoria for DG Archiv which were initially only released in Spain but were thankfully released in a wonderful box set a year or two ago.  Apparently, one of Handel's rarer operas, Lucio Cornelio Silla, was recorded by Andreas Spering for CPO but never released and Robert King's version of Ezio was never released by Hyperion.  Happily, Alan Curtis's recording of Arianna in Creta has been recorded complete for Naive with Ann Hallenberg and is expected to be released next year. With regards to Rene Jacobs, I find it hard to believe that Harmonia Mundi would allow DG to sign him. After all, he recorded so many landmark performances for HM and it is highly unlikely that he would have the same freedom to record for DG more or less what he pleases. But, if he has jumped ship (and he evidently didn't want to set up his own label like Herreweghe and Christie) surely Naive would have been a more logical destination?

[Aleg]

[fergus]

I have recently been engaged on a survey of the music of Poulenc that I have in my collection. I have only “discovered” Poulenc in recent years and I have been enthralled by his sound world. I particularly enjoy his scoring for unusual combinations of instruments and the musical textures that result. His musical language is very modern and often quirky and witty but always entertaining. I therefore particularly enjoy his chamber music but I find his sacred music also to be very engaging. Poulenc will not be a composer to everyone’s taste I am sure but he is one well worth investigating methinks.

[Jose Echenique]

I have recently been engaged on a survey of the music of Poulenc that I have in my collection. I have only “discovered” Poulenc in recent years and I have been enthralled by his sound world. I particularly enjoy his scoring for unusual combinations of instruments and the musical textures that result. His musical language is very modern and often quirky and witty but always entertaining. I therefore particularly enjoy his chamber music but I find his sacred music also to be very engaging. Poulenc will not be a composer to everyone’s taste I am sure but he is one well worth investigating methinks.

I love Poulenc, no wonder mostly his operas, but everything he wrote is sophisticated, imaginative and French chic. His Stabat Mater for soprano is hauntingly beautiful, and his organ concerto and 2 pianos concerto hugely enjoyable. Also his songs, so urbane and elegant are lovely.
By the way, did you know Fergus that Poulenc was probably the wealthiest composer who ever lived?
Not because of royalties but because he was heir to the gigantic Rhone-Poulenc Pharmaceuticals. In fact he was outrageously rich.