[sAmUiLc]

Britten VC

Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto | Digital Concert Hall

Britten's Violin Concerto, Schubert's Symphony No. 3 & Bartók's Divertimento for string orchestra performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker & Zubin Mehta.

www.digitalconcerthall.com

I've attended about 400+ live classical concerts (almost all of them of world class musicians) - mostly when I was young and single - and watched countless concerts online, but I have never seen anything like it. Jansen is in the zone from the beginning till the end. I've seen some get into the zone somewhere in the proceeding but never from the beginning till the end. People who never experienced getting in the zone themselves may not know what it is like. They just think Jansen is playing passionately. I have been in the zone a few times while playing tennis matches in various tournaments when I was younger - no, I wasn't a professional, but a weekend warrior as they call. I knew right away that she was in the zone first time I saw the concert. I watched it dozen more times afterwards but the astonishment never lessens. If you observe the reaction of Harding and some orchestra musicians afterwards you might detect what I am talking about. I also saw later her playing the same concerto with Paavo Järvi also online. She was trying very hard to do the same but no way. Getting in the zone cannot be manufactured. It just happens. And when it happens it is exhilarating afterwards.

Anyway, this performance is truly once in a lifetime experience. And it made a believer of Jansen out of me.

P.S. I just noticed that the link showing at the top has misinformation. It is not Zubin Mehta but Daniel Harding. And the rest of the program after Britten VC is wrong. But if you click on the link and the right information shows up.

 

[Ludwig Schon]

While I love the intensity of the Quatuor Ébène, there's something very satisfying about the Tokyo's refinement. The SACD audio is very rich and realistic, too.

View attachment 168693

They’re recording of the early String Quartets are incredible. Such a warm, resplendent sound…

 

[LudwigvanBeetroot]

Today’s listening

Albeniz - Rapsodia Espanola, The Magic Opal, Piano Concerto 1, Suite Espanola No 1
Mena/BBC Philharmonic; Roscoe, piano

Nielsen - Symphony 4, Helios Overture
Martinon/Chicago

Rzewski - People United Variations
Rzewski, piano

Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra, Miraculous Mandarin (complete ballet)
Chailly/Concertgebouw

Shostakovich - String Quartets 12 and 13
Borodin Quartet

 

[Philidor]

Good morning.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Trio Sonata C major BWV 529 (arr. for two violins and b. c.)

Isabelle Faust, Bernhard Forck, violin
Jan Freiheit, cello
Raphael Alpermann, harpsichord

Concerto for oboe, violin, strings and b. c. C minor BWV 1060R

Isabelle Faust, violin
Xenia Löffler, oboe
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

 

[sAmUiLc]

 

[Rogerx]

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

Teresa Kubiak (Tatyana), Bernd Weikl (Eugene Onegin), Stuart Burrows (Lensky), Julia Hamari (Olga), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Gremin), Enid Hartle (Filipyevna), Anna Reynolds (Larina), Michel Sénéchal (Triquet), Richard Van Allan (Zaretzky), William Mason (Captain)

Royal Opera House Covent Garden, John Alldis Choir
Sir Georg Solti
Recorded: 1974-06-23
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

 

[Kiki]

Bohuslav Martinů
Symphony No. 2 H295
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Jiří Bělohlávek • 2009 Live • Onyx

I think in general Bělohlávek tended to favour a rumbling, impressionistic bass line, and soft, quiet percussions. Be it on Supraphon, Chandos or Onyx, although to varying degrees with a few exceptions, they have all exhibited a similar trend. And this is not only true in Martinů, but also in other composers. I often found myself turning up the volume to make the bass line louder, but then the higher frequencies could become too loud to bear. Have to say this is a little bit annoying.

Despite my reservations of Bělohlávek’s characteristic sound, his one and only Martinů #2 recording, like Neumann's, is nearly perfect - A flowing opening movement, an although slow but mesmerizing slow movement, the most light-footed and playful scherzo that I have ever heard, and a fluent and driving finale. If only he would give us a crisp and striking bass line... Regardless of that, It has much better recorded sound than the Neumann. This has to be one of the most satisfying Martinů #2 recordings. Well there are not too many Martinů #2 recordings around anyway.

 

[Philidor]

Next PCs.

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

Piano Concerto No. 15 B major KV 450
Piano Concerto No. 16 D major KV 451

English Chamber Orchestra
Murray Perahia, piano and direction

 

[sAmUiLc]

Not just gorgeous Janowitz singing, this CD contains a pretty good Metamorphosen.

 

[Art Rock]

Zygmunt Stojowski: Chamber works for cello (Jaroslaw Domżał, Joanna Ławrynowicz, AP)

The first of two chamber music CD's in my collection by this Polish composer. Here we have a substantial romantic cello sonata, two shorter pieces (Romance sans Paroles and Fantaisie) and a Concertstück. All in all, well worth hearing as an alternative to the more famous pieces for cello and piano from that period.

 

[Philidor]

This week's string quartet in a recording that sounds a little raspy in my ears.

Edward Elgar: String Quartet E minor op. 83

Brodsky Quartet

 

[sAmUiLc]

Schumann: Dictherliebe
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Vladimir Horowitz

It is the only recording I know Horowitz collaborating with another musician other than conductor and orchestra. Anyway both had own mannerism but here they checked each other, producing a real fine account.

 

[Baxi]

NP:

(1994)

 

[jambo]

Für Elise - Best of Romantic Piano Music, a nice relaxing collection before dinner.

 

[Merl]

When i blogged my Elgar sq reviews i only had a poor vinyl rip of this one but I picked the cd up dirt cheap last week so listening now. Much better than that awful vinyl rip.

 

[Rogerx]

Strauss, R: Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64


Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons
Recorded: 2017-12-02
Recording Venue: Symphony Hall, Boston

For the Saturday Symphony tradition

Strauss, R: Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten, TrV234a
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons
Recorded: 2021-10-19
Recording Venue: Symphony Hall, Boston

 

[sAmUiLc]

 

[haziz]

Strauss, R: Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons
Recorded: 2017-12-02
Recording Venue: Symphony Hall, Boston

SS 21.5.22 - Strauss - Eine Alpensinfonie - The Saturday Symphony
I have never warmed up to Richard Strauss in the past. We'll see if this changes my mind.

 

[Philidor]

I have been neglecting these works since the beginning of listening to classical music ... maybe some single piece was a bonus on some CD ... with about ten recordings of Chopin's op. 10 and op. 25 on the shelf it feels just like another way of being silly.

Sergej Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux op. 33 & op. 39

Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano

 

[elgar's ghost]

Frederick Delius - various works part three
for late morning and early afternoon.

Appalachia: Variations on a Slave Song for orchestra with finale
for baritone and mixed choir, ed. Thomas Beecham
[Text: African-American folk sources] (1898-1903):

Sea Drift for baritone, mixed choir and orchestra
[Text: Walt Whitman] (1903-04):
Songs of Sunset - cycle of eight songs for mezzo-soprano, baritone,
mixed choir and orchestra [Texts: Ernest Dowson] (1906-07):

Piano Concerto (1897 - rev. by 1907):

Brigg Fair for orchestra (1907):

On Craig Ddu for unaccompanied mixed choir
[Text: Arthur Symons] (1907):
Wanderer's Song for four unaccompanied male voices
[Text: Arthur Symons] (1908):
Midsummer Song for unaccompanied mixed choir
[Text: unknown, poss. Frederick Delius] (1908):

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