Tír Na HiFi

First listen to an intriguing disk of Mozart's very early Masses (the first of these written when he was only 12!) by the usually reliable Reinhardt Kammler... joyous works, sensitively performed...

Double Brahms....

Some conductors get better with age, but some others never conducted better than when they were young. Colin Davis was one of the latter. Davis recorded twice Le Nozze di Figaro, for Philips in 1970 and for RCA in the 1990´s. The Philips recording just bursts with excitement and fun. His cast is admirable, especially Mirella Freni as Susanna, and a young American soprano making her recording debut as the Countess: Jessye Norman.
There are some 50 recordings of this miraculous opera, but this still holds it´s own, and the BBC Symphony plays splendidly for their 43 year old maestro.

Solo piano lollipops but exquisitely played!

funny... that's the 2nd time in 2 days that Van Cliburn has been mentioned (BBC Music Mag, I think...a competition specialist, wasn't he?)

anyway, I'm pleased it didn't say The World's Best!

still listening to the Mozart early Masses... very enjoyable and light, without digging down into the core of your soul, like he did with his later works..

Double Bach with the Orchestral Suites....

After hearing some of his music is featured in the 2013 Proms (damn I wish I lived in the UK.... some day) anyway... I broke out some of the symphonies of George Lloyd after not hearing them for a long time. Symphonies 4, 5 and 8. Philharmonia Orchestra Lyrita.

Back on the shelf.... tuneful, somewhat colorful, but not memorable at all.

Characteristic strong rhythmic patterns throughout with some really lovely arias make this compelling listening!

fergus wrote:


Characteristic strong rhythmic patterns throughout with some really lovely arias make this compelling listening!

And the Accademia Bizantina plays superbly. Ottavio Dantone is right up there next to Biondi and Alessandrini.

And yet another recording of the Bach violin concertos, but how can one resist when it´s played by the fabulous Freiburger Barockorchester and their 3 wonderful concertinos?
The playing needless to say, it´s out of this world. Personally I would have welcomed a tiny bit of vibrato here and there, for example in the 2-Violins Concerto´s second movement, as when I heard Biondi played it last year with La Europa Galante, but the Freiburgers are beyond reproach, this is yet, another glorious disc.

And in a few months Viktoria Mullova will release her own recording with the Accademia Bizantina and her beloved Bach mentor Ottavio Dantone. Sexy Russian girl and a bunch of Italian guys? It´s going to be good!