WAYLTL - November 2022

[Oscar]

The October thread was one of the longest in recent memory. Let's keep it going.

Brahms: Sonatas for violin and piano, Op.120 Nos.1 & 2
Dohnányi: Sonata in C-sharp minor for violin and piano, Op.21

Jenna Sherry (vln) & Dániel Lőwenberg (pf, 1898 Steinway & Sons grand, model B)

Budapest Music Center Records BMC CD 295 ℗ © 2020. CD.
Recorded at BMC Studio, Budapest, on January 30 & 31, 2018 (Dohnányi); and January 3-5, 2020 (Brahms).
Recording producer: Péter Aczél.
Sound engineer: Viktor Szabó.
Supported by the National Cultural Fund of Hungary.
Artwork: László Huszár / Greenroom.
Booklet note: Márton Keréfky
English translation by Richard Robinson.
Produced by László Gőz.
Label manager: Tamás Bognár.
℗ 2020 Budapest Music Center Records.
Printed in Hungary.
https://www.bmcrecords.hu

COMMENT: Ms. Sherry is from New Orleans, La., and now lives in London. Mr. Lőwenberg was born and raised in Budapest. In 2012, he published a biography of Hungarian violinist and conductor Sándor Végh, the only monograph of this famous Hungarian musician. Re the music on this CD, the Brahms Sonatas are pretty bulletproof works. Beautiful playing here. Solid intonation, relaxed tempos and purity of sound mark these performances, which for me engendered feelings of sympathy, harmony and autumnal color.

[Al Eisner]

Thanks, Oscar for starting this month's thread.

"America": 20th century American choral music, performed (of course) by
non-Americans: the SWR Vokalensemble, Stuttgart, directed by
Marcus Creed. Label: SWR/Hänssler. recorded 2013.

Works included:

Copland - Four Motets
Reich - Proverb
Cage - Five
Feldman - The Rothko Chapel
Bernstein - Missa Brevis
Barber - A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map

The Copland and Cage are purely a capella; the othes include some percussion,
and the Feldman viola and keyboard(s) too. By far the most substantial
and (to me) most fascinating work is the Feldman. I would also put in
a particular word for Barber's effective dirge and for Bernstein's late
conservative Missa Brevis, the latter of which is very well-crafted and
features very effective use of bells and drums to support the vocalists.
The Copland is an attractive but not all-that-interesting student work; I
have mixed feelings about the Reich and Cage.

The performers seemed quite effective; I would especially single out the
violist (Andra Darzins) in the Feldman and the countertenor (Franz Vitzthum)
in the Bernstein. (I have no idea if the Cage, which allows a great deal
of freedom, was at all idiomatically performed.)

I am not familiar with other recordings (and, indeed, the majority of the
works were new to me), but I think it safe to recommend this CD.
--
Al Eisner

[Dan Koren]

Gabriela Montero, Piano Concerto No 1 "Latin":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofL3E9dF6C4

Superb!

dk

[JohnGavin]

Rachmaninoff: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom - Estonian Philharmonic chamber choir, Kasparov Putnins
BIS

Two composers who did not wear their spirituality on their sleeves but radiated it through their art. Sergei Rachmaninoff and Francis Poulenc!

[Frank Berger]

I bought this long ago, probably on someone's recommendation here. Maybe elsewhere. I don't think I got around to listening, until now. It's lovely. You can hear obvious influences and that makes it comfortable listening at first hearing. Will it hold up in repeated listening (taking into account diminishing marginal utility)? If I could bring back the excitement of hearing Prokofiev's 2nd sonata for violin and piano for the first time, I would.

[Oscar]

On Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 5:42:49 AM, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> Rachmaninoff: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom - Estonian Philharmonic chamber choir, Kasparov Putnins
> BIS

Great esnsemble. All their discs on Bis are worthwhile listens.

[Chris J.]

On 5 Nov 2022 Oscar wrote:

> The October thread was one of the longest in recent memory. Let's keep
> it going.

Ignaz Jacob Holzbauer, Justin Heinrich Knecht, Ludwig van Beethoven,
symphonies performed by AAMB.

https://www.swrfernsehen.de/kulturmatinee/beethovens-sinfonien-und-ihre-
vorbilder-werke-von-ignaz-jacob-holzbauer-justin-heinrich-knecht-l-v-
beethoven-100.html

Short url: https://preview.tinyurl.com/2p92pwzh

Chris

[HT]

My favourite version of the Chopinata - by the arranger himself, an excellent pianist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzT1y98PxIs

Henk

[James Goodzeit]

I don't have too much time for listening or posting, so I hope to chime in this thread with stuff I have been listening to going back to July.

Right now, Villa-Lobos quartets with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, to celebrate Brazil's recent bicentennial and rejection of fascism at the ballot box. They are very listenable and solidly technical. Only, other than #1 which is actually a suite of dance movements and #5 which is also dance/folk influenced, the others are similar enough that it is hard to take them more than 2 at a time.

Working way through Szell box set and the Yo-Yo Ma 30 years outside the box. For now, I recall a mention of Dvorak's symphonies, how ##7, 8 had better development sections than #9. Listening to the development section Schubert's Unfinished. I can just say wow, that is intense!

[HT]

Something more substantive, a concerto by Jean Wiener:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcnLFzcuOLs

Henk

[Lawrence Kart]

Brice Pauset "Preludes" (aeon)

[Al Eisner]

Brahms String Quintets: #1 in F (Op. 88) and #2 in G (Op.111).

Boston Symphony Chamber Players: Joseph Silverstein and Max Hobart (violins),
Burton Fine and Patricia McCarty (violas), Jules Eskin (cello), recorded
in 1982 for Nonesuch (and hence not in the recent BSO players box set).

I also listened to the 1937 Budapest Quartet (with Alfred Hobday, viola)
performance of #1.

Like all of the chamber music Brahms allowed to survive, these are
great works, and like the sextets very accessible. I came late to them,
but better late than never. The Boston group is wonderful in the first
movement of #1, with a beautifully blended sound, yet bringing out the
individual lines when needed. The mostly-slow second movement also
sounds fine to me, but the finale is perhaps a bit overly-emphatic.

The Budapest, in less good sound, disappoints in the opening by omitting
the exposition repeat (standard chamber music practice, I think, in the
1930's, and are generally less smooth than the Bostons - while still
attractive. But I really love their other movements: the Grave second
has their hallmark intensity, and the finale has a grace which I find just
right.

I have no signficiant reservations about the Boston #2. Their first
movement is joyous, their superb second both lyrical and dramatic. And so
on. (I did not listen to comparisons, and I admit not being all that familiar
with this work.) I certainly recommend their disk.
--
Al Eisner

[Notsure01]

I've been stuck at home due to illness, so in addition to pestering
people with long posts, I've been revisiting old favorites and exploring
new works.

Thanks to a recent RMCR thread on Scriabin's piano Sonata no. 5 I
discovered this fantastic work - it packs enormous beauty and excitement
into 10 minutes or so - absolutely phenomenal!

I started with a Horowitz performance which was sitting on my shelves in
a Sony Original Jackets Horowitz box unplayed for years. That box seems
to be available on Amazon or the single Scriabin "RCA" CD is here:
https://www.amazon.com/Horowitz-Plays-Scriabin-Alexander/dp/B000003EOZ

There is also a different Sony Original Jackets Horowitz box which has
the Scriabin album which was originally on Columbia:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-original-jacket-collection-vladimir-horowitz/345674796
This includes 10 albums of prime Horowitz and can be downloaded from
Apple for $10! Based on good advice here (I assume) I also downloaded
Sofronitsky performances here:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8604503--scriabine-sonates-pour-piano-les-indispensables-de-diapason

As a contrast to Scriabin, I've been listening to a Hilde Gueden
operatic aria album:
https://www.amazon.com/Sings-Songs-Lehar-VARIOUS-ARTISTS/dp/B00000C3R4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=E3JR34ZFVTRP&keywords=hilde+guden&qid=1668419580&sprefix=hilde+guden%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-1

This includes Kalman, Lehar, Fall, Stolz as well as Korngold - and
Charpentier! Hilde is very lively but not in perfect voice, and the
orchestra and chorus tends to be overpowering. Still it is very
enjoyable, particularly the famous "Nun's Chorus" which was arranged by
Benatzky from scraps of Johann Strauss music.

[gggg gggg]

Didn't she record the first complete studio DAPHNE?

[gggg gggg]

On Monday, November 14, 2022 at 2:30:54 AM UTC-8, Notsure01 wrote:

If you like that kind of music, you might wish to see if the contents of the following lp has been issued on cd. Fredericke Sailer is an overlooked, underrated and neglected soprano:

https://www.discogs.com/release/12292169-Fritz-Wunderlich-Friederike-Sailer-Songs-From-Viennese-Operettas

[Notsure01]

Thanks, Greg, for the suggestion. The name Friederike Sailer was
somewhat familiar to me, and then, amazingly enough it occurred to me
that I had recently listened to her! She appears on the Fritz Werner
version of Bach's cantata no. 26, one that has been a favorite recording
of mine ever since I had the MHS LP years ago.

In my defense I checked and see that she sings for only 51 seconds - but
does a fine job! Also, as a Szellot in good standing I have Szell's
Salzburg performance of Magic Flute and she has a weightier part - First
Lady...

I do enjoy what is called Operetta and am NotSure why it is considered
by some to be a lesser art form. Sullivan, Lehar, and J. Strauss in
their best work have created masterpieces - and Offenbach was the
greatest of all (not sure about Dostal...)

I did a quick search for Friederike Sailer recordings and found this:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8723529--beliebte-operettenmelodien

Thanks again.

[Al Eisner]

Continuing with the Brahms chamber music theme: 1930's performances by
the Budapest String Quartet on a 2-CD Biddulph set, LAB-120, transerred
by Ward Marston. The set includes the two String Quintets, String
Quartets 2 znd 3, and the second String Sextet. So far as I can tell
from dates in a Budapest discigraphy, the lineup for the first four works
was Joseph Roisman, Alexander Schneider, Istvan Ipolyi, and Mischa
Schneider; fo the Sextet (which I have not listened to), violist Ipolyi
had been succeeded by Boris Kroyt.

The first quintet is the performance I mentioned in the previous post.
In the second (with Hans Mahlke), the first movement is as exuberant as
that of the Boston players (the absence of the exposition repeat does
not bother me all that much), while the Budapest (ii) is a bit less
affecting. Their wonderful finale is all-out exciting. Who said Brahms
in his last years was necessarily autumnal? The Op, 51 quartets are
not my favorite of Brahms chamber music, and too often come across as
dense, but the Budapest brings out the best in #2, playing with
admirable transparency. And #3 is even better. Highly recommended.
[Note that this is NOT the 1050's set of all three quartets, also on
Biddulph. The 1930's set is available used at Amazon, not cheap but
also not awful.]
--
Al Eisner

[Andrew Clarke]

Mr Sure, have you seen the videorecordings of Laurent Pelly's productions of the Offenbach operettas, accompanied by Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski? La Belle Helene is a particular favourite. You can sample bits and pieces on You Tube. I like Fledermaus with Eberhart Waechter (getting on a bit) and Janet Perry (in full flight) and Carlos Kleiber too.

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

[Andrew Clarke]

On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 8:34:29 AM UTC+11, Oscar wrote:
> The October thread was one of the longest in recent memory. Let's keep it going.

Eternal Heaven. A collection of Handel arias sung by Lea Desandre and Iestyn Davies, with the ensemble Jupiter led by lutenist Thomas Dunford, recorded by Erato. Brilliant, unless you think that Dame Joan knew everything there was to know about Handel singing ...

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

[Herman]

> Who said Brahms
> in his last years was necessarily autumnal?

Not me. I think the 'autumnal' thing is just complacent BS.

[Andrew Clarke]

On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 8:34:29 AM UTC+11, Oscar wrote:

> The October thread was one of the longest in recent memory. Let's keep it going.
>

The 2011 ROH production of Verdi's Macbeth with Simon Keenlyside and the terrifying Liudmylla Monastirska, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano. I would imagine that if the Ukrainian authorities had projected Mme Monastirska's performance on to giant screens on the Russian border, Putin's 'special operation' might never have happened.

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

[HT]

Yakov Flier. Everything on YT. IMO even easier to listen to than Gilels. The Russian Piano School at its very best.
Livia Rev. Debussy Études. Heard it for the first time. A great performance.

Henk

[Dan Koren]

On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 7:10:58 AM UTC-8, hvt...@xs4all.nl wrote:
>
> Yakov Flier. Everything on YT. IMO
> even easier to listen to than Gilels.

Obviously! He was the better pianist.

> The Russian Piano School at its very
> best.

Using racist concepts and language
again? ;-)

dk

[HT]

Op zondag 20 november 2022 om 21:28:10 UTC+1 schreef dan....@gmail.com:

<g> Mea maxima culpa ...

Henk

[Dan Koren]

On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 1:40:03 PM UTC-8, Marc S wrote:

> I've been listening to Sokolov in Brahms PC 2
> quite a bit (with the Finnish Radio Symphony
> Orchestra and Saraste - I prefer it to the one
> with Jia) - I love it! My favorite now.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr4yH25qNdA

I know it. Overdone and overthought.

> I think it was thanks to a link from you that I
> found it. It even beats Rubinstein and Krips

No, it doesn't. It is a different approach.

> (however I still need to listen to Volodos).

Why bother if you found one you like?

> Dan, I really can't get it in my head ;D HJ Lim
> really sucks... in Brahms, in Mozart and in

She doesn't. She plays like an improvisation,
not like a "masterpiece" that must be treated
with "respect".

> Bach and Beethoven. And no... she is
> not the "heir" of Richter's style or we...

I never said she was. She is herself.
Sometimes she reminds me of the
younger Richter you probably never
heard, e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IRP4GO1NyA

Leslie Gerber famously described
this performance as "blisters paint".

> she is just really bad... fix your ears
> or sth ;D

My ears are just fine, thank you. They
have just been lubricated for winter
with Mobil One 0W-50 racing oil! ;-)

dk

[Notsure01]

On 11/20/22 2:44 AM, Andrew Clarke wrote:
> On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 10:56:15 AM UTC+11, Notsure01 wrote:

>>>> As a contrast to Scriabin, I've been listening to a Hilde Gueden

>>>> operatic aria album.

>> I do enjoy what is called Operetta and am NotSure why it is considered
>> by some to be a lesser art form. Sullivan, Lehar, and J. Strauss in
>> their best work have created masterpieces - and Offenbach was the
>> greatest of all (not sure about Dostal.
>

> Mr Sure, have you seen the videorecordings of Laurent Pelly's productions of the Offenbach operettas, accompanied by Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski? La Belle Helene is a particular favourite. You can sample bits and pieces on You Tube. I like Fledermaus with Eberhart Waechter (getting on a bit) and Janet Perry (in full flight) and Carlos Kleiber too.
>
> Andrew Clarke
> Canberra

Indeed I have! I've always liked Offenbach including Hoffman, Perichole,
etc, but particularly enjoyed Grande Duchesse which I had with Zareska
on a Urania LP. Just a few months ago I listened again - but I never had
a libretto. I looked online for one, but this work has been so
shamefully treated that the online libretti didn't match the performance.

In the end I bought the Laurent Pelly/Minkowski DVD to get subtitles at
least. I hesitated since the production appeared to be Eurotrash -
soldiers gassed coming back to life, a cabinet full of skulls, etc - but
this all seemed only a small part of the production and the acting was
splendid.

Particularly Felicity Lott - the role was really meant for a young
woman, but Flott made it work. Comedy is hard and the cast had the right
tone. and the singing was fine.

(I hesitated to use the term Eurotrash since I recall this had caused
considerable controversy here. For me, while I'm happy to see different
interesting perspectives on familiar works, we don't need to see Tristan
as performed by two salamanders in an abandoned coal mine in Ecuador...)

(I also just enjoyed Nacht in Venedig - would be glad to discuss if
there is interest)

(And no need to call me Mr Sure - you can call me Not)

[Andrew Clarke]

Dear Not,

I get the impression that French directors take considerable liberties with the spoken dialogue in Offenbach, usually to update the jokes, and the author of the new material appears in in the credits. In the case of the "Olympic Games" in La Belle Helene, the last riddle that stumps everybody, except, of course, Paris, has been completely replaced in the English subtitles, because the French original just doesn't work in translation. I agree, Dame Felicity's rather acid humour works beautifully in La Grande Duchesse, and, indeed in La Belle Helene too, where references to Greece touriswm are rife ...

[Herman]

After hearing / seeing a clip of Sabine Deveilhe in the fireplace coloratura aria in Ravel's l'Enfant et les Sortileges I couldn't help myself and watched the whole 45 minute opera with the Radio France Orchestra and Choir conducted by the Finnish conductor Mikko Franck.
The coloratura soprano here turned out to be Jodie DeVos and the Enfant Chloe Briot.
It's an incredible piece of music, yes, very funny, but also deeply moving, especially when Daphnis & Chloe sounds start churning up towards the end and the choir is searching for the redemptive word 'Maman', which, after all, may be one of the first words in any language. (Ironically, the mother role may be one of the weaker spots in this cast.)
The performance is concertante.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-YwjICCLN0

[Andrew Clarke]

> I get the impression that French directors take considerable liberties with the spoken dialogue in Offenbach, usually to update the jokes, and the author of the new material appears in in the credits. In the case of the "Olympic Games" in La Belle Helene, the last riddle that stumps everybody, except, of course, Paris, has been completely replaced in the English subtitles, because the French original just doesn't work in translation. I agree, Dame Felicity's rather acid humour works beautifully in La Grande Duchesse, and, indeed in La Belle Helene too, where references to Greece tourism are rife ...

With respect to EuroTrash, that is what you get when the director decides that his or her ideas about Life are much more important than those of the composer, and the latter tends to get crowded out. This doesn't happen with Pelly, whose ideas tend to complement Offenbach rather than squash the man flat. The most extended example is Pelly's "Belle Helene" where the entire action is the dream of an increasingly frustrated Helene, who is going to bed while the overture is being played on the bedside clock radio. In the bed is her husband, a rather ordinary, pudgy little middle-aged man who could be a grocer somewhere, and, yet again, he is fast asleep. In despair, Helene, sung again by Flott, takes a couple of sleeping pills and retires for the night. It isn't until the entry of the other kings, who in turn announce their names and their exploits, that he sits up in bed and announces himself:

"Je suis l'epoux de la reine, poux de la reine, poux de la reine,
Le roi Menelas ... "

A real coup de theatre!

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

[number_six]

Donna Hightower - Take One /Gee Baby, Ain't i Good to You (Fresh Sound)

Glass - Concerto Fantasy for two Timpanists and Orch [transcr. Lortz]
Fairouz - Sym 4 In the Shadow of No Towers
Played by Popiel, KU Wind Ensemble etc on Naxos

[Dan Koren]

On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 11:41:42 PM UTC-8, Marc S wrote:

> dan....@gmail.com schrieb am Sonntag, 20. November 2022 um 23:49:15 UTC+1:
> > > I think it was thanks to a link from you that I
> > > found it. It even beats Rubinstein and Krips
> >
> > No, it doesn't.
>

> I think you may be right that he doesn't beat
> Rubinstein/Krips, I will have to think about
> this a little more (and listen a little more) -
> probably I would choose Rubinstein/Krips
> over Sokolov/Saraste as a desert island
> choice (for now)... but I need more time to
> sort my thoughts (and feelings). Maybe it
> is too much "in your face" sometimes, but
> I have to say that it really hooked me.

To my ears, Sokolov sounds too "driven" in
Brahms. This works to some extent in the
sonata op. 5, and a few other pieces. It
also works in the 1st piano concerto.

It doesn't work however in the 2nd piano
concerto, especially not in the 3rd and 4th
movements. No one beats Rubinstein and
HJ Lim in the last movement.

dk

[Dan Koren]

On Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at 11:16:05 AM UTC-8, Marc S wrote:

> dan....@gmail.com schrieb am Mittwoch, 23. November 2022 um 17:24:04 UTC+1:
>
> > It doesn't work however in the 2nd piano
> > concerto, especially not in the 3rd and 4th
> > movements. No one beats Rubinstein and
> > HJ Lim in the last movement.
>

> I will not listen to HJ Lim again in Brahms, sorry.

No skin off my nose.

> I really did try (maybe I will listen to the 4th movement
> later or tomorrow just because you said so... but I don't
> see me changing my mind). And you know, for me it's

One should never do anything because of what someone
recommends or doesn't. Follow your own brain and ears.

> funny, because I usually love your recs (1930s-1980s),
> but now you come up with HJ lim etc... wth ;D

Your loss.

dk