What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol.IX)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 01 January 2013
With 2013 upon us, it's time to start a fresh thread. I've gone back to an earlier thread title because often the "why" is the most interesting part of the post.
Anyway, links:
Volume VIII: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...nt/12970396056050819
Volume VII: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...6878604287751/page/1
Volume VI: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878604097229
Volume V: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605140495
Volume IV: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605795042
Volume III: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878607309474
Volume II: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878606245043
Volume I: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878607464290
just bought Paul Stephenson's "These Days" on a show today. What a wonderfull album !!
.... music makes me think on Alan Taylor ....
From the antique market! at the bottom of my road... Sounding V Good after a clean.
Vinyl on the London 'Jazz Series' label.
Whats this like Bert?
Hi Ewemon, It's a performance on a pretty high level. It's a good balance between violin and piano. Sometimes I would like to feel a bit more emotion as it's a bit too technical/clinical for me. But still - I like it enough, so I have heard it now already a couple of times.
Good album! 
Yep. Second that. I dig this one out for listen quite often. Very good sound quality, too.
Last one ...
From this box set..
Whats this like Bert?
Hi Ewemon, It's a performance on a pretty high level. It's a good balance between violin and piano. Sometimes I would like to feel a bit more emotion as it's a bit too technical/clinical for me. But still - I like it enough, so I have heard it now already a couple of times.
Will need to try and give it a listen.
Good album!
Personally she just doesn't float my boat. One of those artists I know who is good that maybe one day I will like but not at the moment.
Actually I had struggled to get into this album - until recently - must be a John McCririck stylee thing 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mspAjNnvy18
Both, the Bach above and Galbraith's Haydn disc, are highly recommended.
Definitely one that grows on you. I find the track Stranger produces goosebumps!
Not really a Madonna fan but I like quite a bit of this album. The bass is stunning. Through my Electras you can feel as much as hear it.
On vinyl ......
Massenet's "Manon", in a quite spectacular performance.
Cheers,
EJ
I was a little surprised with this purchase....it's actually very good
Familiarizing myself more with the pieces and trying to decide if I want to go to a Bach Partitas concert given by Andras Schiff.
Johann Sebastian Bach:
My sole interest today was particularily BWV 127 "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott" and even more specifically the Aria from within, Die Seele ruht in Jesu Händen.
You could say I've been slightly obsessed as I went through Leonhardt, Rilling, Gardiner, Herreweghe, Suzuki, and even a 1950's recording with RIAS, Ristenpart and soprano Gertrud Birmele today.
What you get in the aria is such a fantastic accompaniment. Scored for two flutes, an oboe, two violins, a viola, basso continuo and of course, a soprano. This aria has a continuous interplay with the flutes (played staccato, oboe, continuo (played pizzicato by a cello) and soprano. When the knells of death (ihr Sterbeglocken) are mentioned mid-way through then the two violins and viola join in with an eerie pizzicato reinforcement. Throughout though, the instrumentation running its staccato / pizzicato reminds one of the clock ticking and our coming fate is arriving. Simply breathtaking music and imagery.
The aria, with a rather sombre feeling, does clip along at a fairly good pace though. It seems incongruent in some ways but with the instrumentation does give it its mystery and life. Scored this way it probably couldn't go any slower.
I also listened to a Harold Bauer transcription (from Angela Hewitt's Bach arrangements) album. The speed here does match the typical Cantata feel but this version leaves me cold. If I listen to any versions at this tempo it would be to the actual cantata with the interesting instrumentation.
What changes the landscape though is a recent discovery for me of a Walter Rummel transcription for piano played by Jonathan Plowright. The concept is all transcribed by Rummel very accurately but Plowright's recording is roughly 33% longer in time (say 8' compared to 12'). This is a revelation and adds such an astounding weight and gravity to the work it leaves me in total bliss. Like I said, in the original cantata you could not make this work at a slow tempo but the sonority of the piano allows you to make it work. It is like taking something perfect and viewing it in slow motion to stretch the impact and the seriousness of the matter. Yes, it turns out to be a much darker work this way but I find it sheds a lot of light on many things that one could easily miss otherwise. Slowing down and focusing on the details is like mining deeper for the treasure. This transcription is a lifelong treasure for me and in my mind a profound and unforgettable work to experience.
