Spinning Today (Classical version)

[jandl100]

I've probably owned this CD for 25 years.
Every couple of years it gets dusted off and played. Did that last night.
A very enjoyable listen



Also ....

Played the Mass from this.



And (yet more of) Barenboim's Mozart concertos

[The Grand Wazoo]

I snaffled a carrier bag full of classical stuff on vinyl that tickled my fancy in a charity shop in Falmouth last week. I could have easily walked out with 40 or 50 records but I was actually there to get rid of stuff rather than to collect more!
Anyway, I'm spinning this at the moment - hard to categorise and not exactly The Four Seasons:
Stockhausen - 'Zyklus For Percussion' / 'Klavierstuck' Christoph Caskel, Max Neuhaus & Frederic Rzewski
This is on Mace Records - a 'Stereo-Monic' recording, I'll have you know!

[jandl100]

Wow - that's adventurous fare, Chris!

.... meanwhile, back to Mozart .... ....



Argerich in the 20th piano concerto.

OH - MY - GOD
I've never heard anything like this before - an astonishing combination of energy and subtle nuance. A Desert Island Disc for me.

Also ....


Lovely jubbly.


Very nice, too.

[BTH K10A]

Rossini String Sonatas on Argo ZRG 603

Superb recording and played to perfection.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Yes, it's a bit like someone trying to cook a cordon bleu meal while wearing boxing gloves! But I knew that when I bought it.
This morning has seen the following discs a'spinnin':

Copland Conducts Copland - 'Appalachian Spring' and 'The Tender Land Suite' Boston Symphony Orch.
Shostakovich - 'The Epic Tenth' - Symphony No. 10 in E Minor Opus 93 Leningrad State Phil. / Mravinsky



Apologies for the weird images.

[The Grand Wazoo]

A favourite of mine since kidlet-hood, I have loads of different performances of 'Peer Gynt' but not this one. Until now!

Tommy Beecham & the RPO

[jandl100]

I kind of dislike playing "audiophile" recordings on principle -- but this disc is very fine musically as well as sonically. And it happily doesn't share the hyped up treble of all too many Living Presence recordings.
Interesting, too - baroque harpsichord playing from the early 1960s, before all the HIP malarkey got going and became the norm. A fairly steady pulse to it, but full of life and energy. I'll be seeking more of Puyana's work out.

[jandl100]

17thC music for trumpets and other brass. Glorious!



Good music, good recording.

[jandl100]

Seriously into the Mozart piano concertos at the moment at Jerry Towers.

Despite the rave reviews as well as a quick sample download, the 22nd concerto here was a big disappointment. My attention rapidly drifted off, all very generic really.

Out came Barenboim / Berlin for the 22nd concerto ....



Ah, that's more like it. Some emotional involvement from the pianist! The orchestral accompaniment is a little heavy and sonic textures a bit thick - but still very enjoyable overall.

Then Derek Han from this series in no. 22 ...



I like this - not quite the involvement as from Barenboim, but still good and the orchestra is lighter, more appropriate for the music than the Berlin Phil. The recording is clearer, too.

[The Count]

I lost interest in most opera a fair few years ago. But stumbled on this:



Electra by Johann Haeffner

There's not much in the way of arias, the style is primarily what I understand to be termed declamatory. It's lively and held my interest, which opera largely stopping doing a while ago