Sir Frank.

Please do not be put off by the album cover.

Stu

J. S. Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046-1051

Otto Klemperer / The Philharmonia Orchestra

Good ol' Mr Peccary....Brilliant!

Greg Peccary was the reason i stuck it on.

J.S. Bach:  Simone Dinnerstein / Kammerorchester Staatskapelle Berlin

Chorale Preludes for Piano after J. S. Bach: Ich ruf'zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 by Ferruccio Busoni

Nun freut euch, lieben Christen, BWV 734 by Johann Sebastian Bach 

Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Jesu bleibet meine Freude "Jesu, joy of man's desiring"

English Suite no 3 in G minor, BWV 808

Concerto for Harpsichord in F minor, BWV 1056

Concerto for Harpsichord in D minor, BWV 1052

I probably have all of Simone Dinnerstein's Sony / Telarc recordings.  I enjoy and listen to every different type of style but I like Dinnerstein because no matter whether one agrees with her vision or not, to me personally, I think she gets it.  She is a genuine musician and is playing and making music for all the right reasons.

She does not fall in to that trap of authenticity for the sake of authenticity.  No one today can say with absolute authority how Bach felt about music in general and his own music in particular.  She leaves that to the historians to speculate about.  Structure and form without soul (expressiveness) is just mathematics.  Music and art must transcend the notes on a page for it to speak to the listener and get to a higher level. 

Dinnerstein is also a painter (just as her father was).  Painters must be familiar with light and its effects in a constantly changing environment.  I think her interpretations shed light on the music from different angles and so she would never claim to have the one and only answer like a sculptor who sets the final work forever.  She plays with a sense of self discovery which can be so redeeming.

I think the reason I identify so closely with musicians like this is that I can sense a sameness in affinity and goals; a desire to search for answers and to be true to ones own self in the end.  Spending time with this music, one on one, with an instrument in a dimly lit room, late into the night, free of any dogma, is a joy I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.  Of course I don't know, but in my mind, based on the characteristics that I hear in the music of Bach, I don't think Bach would disagree.  How can it be so technically perfect and a marvel yet be so human in its nature revealing truth about joy and struggle, alike?

Prelude[s] for Piano after J. S. Bach: Ich ruf'zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 by Ferruccio Busoni

This is an arrangement that defies the HIP purists!

I am not fond of Bach played on the piano though have a handfull of wonderous performances from Edwin Fischer and Artut Schnabel.

Of these [piano performances] my favourite is Ich ruf played in 1942 [in Berlin!] by Fischer before he finally was compelled to leave Germany.

The sadness in that music, and wonderful arrangement by Busoni leave room for Fischer to play most beautifully in an awfully bad recording, and yet one that must have amazed the engineers as the graved the wax groove! Diny Lipatti also recorded this arrangement with a different, more refined take, but just as heart rending, no doubt a reflection of his known early demise!

ATB from George

PS: Dinu in "Ich ruf..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkUZX77vNtc

And now the Edwin Fischer recording of same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrbKOsKwneE

I'll not gloss the history or the strange place to make such a recording ...

ATB from George

Missed Gergiev's Otello today, in Rotterdam... (family commitment). A record will have to do.

And not just any record. Unbelievable that this recording is almost twenty years old - I remember purchasing it the day it came out. These forces were originally assembled to record a Berlioz opera, but because Domingo hadn't learned the text, he proposed instead to do (his last, on disc at least) Otello. The result is one of the most atmospheric studio Otellos ever, excellently cast and sung down to the smallest roles. Domingo has/had a huge repertoire and recorded a great deal of it, but for me, this recording is his greatest legacy.

EJ

Although there are so many definitely 'better' or 'greater' composers worked in previous centuries (for me of course) -  here Simone has so sympatic approache  that forcing me to listen it.

Almost the only Hantai's disc what I really like. Here just playing with full of miracle.

Very strange harmonies; no math, no fuga, no counterpoint-centered music; just taste it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8hPsIP9alc

An absolute classic to relax to.

steve

Thanks George for referring to two astounding references from the great Edwin Fischer and Dinu Lipatti.  I've now been afflicted and will not get this out of my head for at least the remainder of this day!  It is such profound music.

I have both the Fischer and Lipatti recordings and enjoy them immensely.  As I age though, my Andante (or gait, if you will), tends to want to be in the less quick lane.  Lipatti is the quickest and probably represents how most seem to play this.  Fischer is closer to what I like.  If you want a completely different take on this seen from the other extreme try Tatiana Nikolayeva.  Not for everyone or even everyday and it takes much more effort to get into this same frame of mind but if you do it is well worth the journey once in awhile.  I don't find it slow as this is exactly how I've played it when I'm in a more melancholy mood and want to add weight or gravity to the piece.  When you are at the keys it does not seem slow at all.  Just listen to what she can do musically.  It is masterful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEXWM94xwI8

Dinnerstein, is somewhere between Nikolayeva and Fischer but certainly leans to Fischer and has all the expressiveness, tenuto and a singing voice you could ask for and her playing is like velvet just as Busoni instructs. 

Dear Doug,

I was already crying at Fischer and Lipati.  Bach had a connection to Heaven, and all three show it, but Tatiana, is the bravest of all!

I used to have a tape of the Goldbergs made in about 1987 which took the same timeless apporach. If I could remember who I loaned it to, I could more or less ...

It a was a BBC Lunchtime Concert from Wigmore Hall, and repeated for the side turn at the Overture [Var 16] on Sunday evening a week later - it was on TDK SA 90 tape. It ran within seconds on both sides!

I wish the BBC would issue that on CD. Hyperion have a slight musical comparison on CD from the same visit to the UK!

Devastating. A small word for that performance!

ATB from George

Jan Garbarek - tenor, & saprano saxophones

Keith Jarrett - piano

Palle Danielsson - double-bass

Jon Christensen - durms

Recorded: 24th & 25th April 1974

Arne Bendiksen Studio, Oslo

CD - ECM [2008]

Closing Ceremony of PARALYMPICS .. was really enjoying it until somebody let Coldplay in. The show going on around them is still excellent though ... wish they'd play one the singer knew. 

 On CD.

The Cure: Faith

Part 2 of the Dark Trilogy.

I'm enjoying in spite of Chris as well!

So far today ...

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar

Agnes Obel - Philharmonics        

Lost In The Trees - A Church That Fits Our Needs

This was the first listen to Agnes Obel, even though this album has been on the radar since it was released.  Thanks to the forum and my local radio, finally purchased it.  Favorable first impression. 

I thought it was interesting that "Philharmonic" and "A Church That Fits Our Needs" both start with an instrumental track. 

Can't go wrong with any of The Black Keys albums.  All very good.  And I am really getting into Portugal. The Man.  I started with 'American Ghetto' and now have 3 of their albums.  Look forward to listening to the rest.