What are you currently listening to (Classical)?

[SCAudiophile]

Yesterday and today....the LINN recording of Shostakovich #5 with Dmitriev/Leningrad is beautifully done, lush strings, power, quintessentially Russian brass, raw, tons of energy (in the music), etc...
this took a while to find and to arrive; glad I waited and got past the trepidations of adding "yet another #5" to the shelves!

The various Scriabin symphonies under Gergiev, Pletnev and Petrenko are some of my favorites to date,...still spinning through those today in sequence. V. Petrenko like A. Nelsons (now with the BSO in the US)
are 2 fine young conductors and I'm looking forward to their future with their respective ensembles and more recordings!

 

[Bachtoven]

I was not familiar with this artist, but an equipment reviewer for The Absolute Sound uses it as a reference recording, so I thought if nothing else it would sound good, and it certainly does! (It's recorded by famed engineer Peter McGrath. I did note that the piano image favors the right channel a bit, but the sound is very present and clear--a live recording.) Fortunately, the playing is wonderful too: by turns thunderingly virtuosic or poetically delicate as the music requires.

 

[LL21]

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata!!! Electric guitar...metal!

https://youtu.be/o6rBK0BqL2w

 

[Bachtoven]

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata!!! Electric guitar...metal!

https://youtu.be/o6rBK0BqL2w

Hmmm...I'd be impressed if she didn't resort to overdubbing! I'll stick with the piano version, thanks.

 

[Bachtoven]

Excellent sound and playing, but I just don't care for this type of music anymore.

 

[Jazzhead]

 

[andolink]

L. van Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Op. 12, Nos. 1-3
This cycle from Accent on period instruments is excellent in all respects.

 

[Bachtoven]

A wonderful performance--quite passionate and volatile, with very good sound.

 

[jeff1225]

We need more 20th Century representation!

 

[andolink]

A masterful Mike Clements recording here of a (IMO) benchmark performance:

 

[Bachtoven]

I gave this a second listen--much more palatable than the Norgard. I used to like his music--I guess tastes change.

 

[andolink]

A performance/recording that really immerses the listener in the genius of Bach's masterpiece like no other I know:

 

[Fiddle Faddle]

View attachment 28684

That coupling was the very first CD I ever saw, held and bought. Well, of course what is pictured is much more recent reissue of that same album. The one I bought back in '85 was one of the very first batch of "ADRM" Decca analogue to digital reissues onto the CD format. What I heard back then was truly an horrific insult to the ears and put me right off the CD format. Took me a another 7 years before I was prepared to dip my ears into the water again with the excellent Mercury reissues. But when I listen to this far more modern reissue from the very same original tapes it goes to show just how far the CD format has come (in terms of both overall remastering and production techniques and of course the playback hardware), since the reissue you've mentioned really sounds excellent.

There was never any dispute about the performances but 30 years ago it sounded like Perlman was playing a $100 Chinese Skylark violin! And a bad one at that!

 

[Bachtoven]

The special recording gear has certainly resulted in realistic piano sound. Good playing, too. I've heard more passionate "Appassionata" Sonata performances, though.

Bach: Toccata in C minor, BWV 911
Beethoven: Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata"
Chopin: Nocturne Op. 48 No. 2; Etude Op. 25 No. 6; Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
Liebermann: Gargoyles, Op. 29

 

[andolink]

Da Capo has issued two new releases of the music of Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen following his death June 27th.

I downloaded the flac version of this one today and found it to be quite stunning. Gudmundsen-Holmgreen is the other great Danish Modernist besides Nørgård. His music juxtaposes quasi-improvisitory complexity with childlike simplicity and whimsy:

 

[Bachtoven]

Another "audiophile" recording. Sounds great and he plays wonderfully.

 

[NorthStar]

 

[NorthStar]

 

[NorthStar]

 

[Mike]