I got fed up waiting for Presto to make this new Die Schöne Müllerin with Iestyn Davies and Joseph Middleton available as a download so I bought it direct from Signum. It’s magical.
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I think the Bryden Thomson set of the Bax symphonies is pretty good. I recall chatting with him after an Ulster Orchestra concert when I was in Belfast as a mature student.
The Naxos cycle is also pretty decent. I forget the conductor: it might be David Lloyd Jones.
I don’t know the Handley cycle (saw him conduct in Belfast too), but I have it Qobuz so shall explore.
But my introduction to the Bax symphonies came via the excellent Lyrita recordings, conducted by Myer Fredman, Raymond Leppard, etc: superlative. Pity they didn’t include the third and fourth.
Managed to catch the second symphony at the Proms a few years back.
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This is a stunning album in every way, superbly recorded and magnificently rendered by artists at the top of their game.
Lucy Ballard is ethereal in Vivaldi’s Gloria. Try Domine Deus, Rex coelestis. Soaringly beautiful.
In Handels Dixit Dominus, Rory O’Conner displays superb singing with great brio and attack from the orchestra and choir.
My favourite classical album.
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Cheers
EJ
Dona Nobis Pacem. A neglected masterpiece which deserves to be far better known and maybe it will be in this 150th anniversary year of RVW’s birth.
And so appropriate for our current times.
Written in the run up to the Second World War and in the light of his First World War experiences and losses, it is a very moving work. The central “Dirge for Two Veterans” section can be shattering.
The 1973 Boult recording is also recommended.
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That’s the version I have and very good it is too.
The BBC did Dona Nobis Pacem in one of their Record Review programmes a few years ago and chose the Matthew Best performance on Hyperion as their top modern recommendation. I’ve not heard it and it’s not available for streaming, but Best’s disc of choral Vaughan Williams, including Serenade to Music is one of my most treasured discs, so his Dona Nobis could be worth tracking down.
The composer himself recorded it and I’d definitely like to hear that some time.
Rgoer
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First spin of Pogorelich’ latest Chopin record - going in with low expectations but an open mind!
Cheers
EJ
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Well, happy to report this is a much more interesting issue than his previous Beethoven / Rach disc. He is slow, almost slow motion, and the tone is steely; phrases are stretched like toffee, some of the melodies barely recognisable, and there is little conventional tension-and-relief. But, there is poetry and messaging, which I missed in his previous record. The piano is also recorded faithfully, not quite as nice as in 1995, but a lot better than last time.
Recommended for anyone who remembers the old Pogorelich and is prepared for some outlandish but searching interpretations of this familiar music.
Cheers
EJ
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I’ve got rid of all my Russian composers in 2014… Suggest you all do the same!!!
I am assuming that’s a weird joke – not really a laughing matter what’s happening in the Ukraine…
Or do you actually suggest we boycot Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky etc? That’s weird too IMO… Still eating Chinese food from your local take-away?
Why would you think I’m joking! I am boycotting Coca Cola, McDonlads and all the other companies that are prioritising profit over Ukrainian lives.
I will be leaving HSBC if they don’t stop investing in Russian oil.
I won’t be listening to any Russian music either.
Sorry they made their decision. Now we need to make ours.
I can see a point when boycotting big companies, but I feel music is different. Who would you wish to “harm”? Also we should distinguish between Russian politics and business on the one hand, and the millions of Russians who also suffer under the Putin system, on the other. “Punishing” Russian culture does send the wrong signal, as it might be seen as “villifying” all Russian people. Quite a wrong approach in my opinion.
But we shouldn’t derail this lovely thread too much – my apologies!
P.S. In fact we believe the Russian music and art (e.g. Malevich’s Red Calavary, my avatar) some of us enjoy if not love should possibly remind us that the Putin system is not Russia!
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An unusual, but strangely compelling (and very well recorded) performance of Biber’s Rosary Sonatas. Listening to the SACD layer of these discs.
Cheers
EJ
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