Only this afternoon I listened to this album… Beautiful indeed…
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Today I woke up in the morning with Baroque withdrawal syndrome… and then remembered one of my violin playing heroes, Manfredo Kraemer, born in Buenos Aires with German ancestry.
Formed in Argentina and later Germany, he in 1985 was one of the founding members of Concerto Köln and concert master of Musica Antiqua Köln. Jordi Savall invited him to his Hespérion XX and Le Concert des Nations, and in 1996 he founded his own curiously named ensemble The Rare Fruit Council… curious but lovely and memorable name…
His recordings of Buxtehude Op.1, of Rosenmüller, Legrenzi and Stradella, and Leclair and Locatelli are great. But today’s fare was this album from 2003 with, as the title Rariora & Marginalia indicates, rather uncommon pieces of violin music, much of it in the stylus phantasticus.
The best-known piece will be Bertali’s Chiacona, which here receives the most gripping performance I know of. Can’t keep still, must move to it’s diminutions over the ostinato bass…
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I believe there’s a medication and/or beverage for that 
Looking forward to listening to The Rare Fruits Council selection you kindly brought to us. On an Alicia de Larrocha adventure just now. Will report soon.
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This recording is new to me, so thank you for the suggestion. The imaginative continuo band playing is quite colourful in the Bertali, isn’t it?
In my library I see I have also L’Arpeggiata, Rachel Podger, and John Holloway playing the Chiacona, so just listening to those versions again. Thank you for some great mid-day diversions (on dimunitions).
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This is interesting. A varied selection. I intended to dip into it but ended up listening to both CDs straight off. Baroque giving way to the Classical era.
Composers:
- Albrechtsberger, Johann Georg (1736–1809)
- Dittersdorf, Carl Ditters von (1739-99)
- Monn, Matthias Georg (1717-50)
- Salieri, Antonio (1750–1825)
- Starzer, Josef (1787–87)
- Vanhal, Johann Baptist (1739–1813)
- Wagenseil, Christoph (1715–77)
- Zimmermann, Anton (1741–81)
Works:
- Albrechtsberger, J G: Fugue for Quartet in C major
- Dittersdorf: Oboe Concerto in G Major, L.42
- Dittersdorf: Sinfonia in A minor, Grave a2, “Il delirio delli compositori” (The Delirium of Composers)
- Monn: Sinfonia in B
- Monn: Violin Concerto in B flat major
- Salieri: Concerto for Oboe, Violin, Cello and Orchestra in D Major
- Salieri: Triple concerto for violin cello & oboe
- Starzer: Divertimento in C major
- Vanhal: Sinfonia in G minor
- Wagenseil: Sinfonia in D major
- Zimmermann, A: Sinfonia in C major
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There’s another very good version by Philippe Pierlot and the Ricercar Consort, François Fernandez playing the violin solo part…
An article from 1976 when de Larrocha was a superstar. Something that struck me is the quality of writing from the music journalist (Donal Henahan), so rare today.
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Thank you for the New York craze article. Very nice journalism. She was at her peak at the time. Her later recordings are also great and better recorded, but her work in the 60’s and 70’s was uniquely good.
Been listening to the wonderful New York Polyphony in another BIS recording:
This one is music from the 1500’s by Palestrina (Missa Papae Marcelli), Victoria and Guerrero.
Thanks to David Vernier
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I read Jessica Duchen’s Javier Perianes interview/article in the December International Piano with keen interest, with the Introduction mentioning his recording of “one of the pinnacles of Spanish piano music, Granados’s Goyescas”. His recording was just released today and in the interval between reading Ms. Duchen’s article and today, I explored recordings of these six linked Enrique Granados compositions by the artist whose performance he (Perianes) most admires, Alicia de Larrocha. Her Manuel de Falla, Frederico Mompou, Isaac Albéniz and Antonio Soler remain highly regarded. The Goyescas were the most authentically Spanish of the works she performed and she brought great color, texture and dynamics to these unique works, possibly the most challenging in Spanish piano repertoire.
The EMI-remastered Hispavox version is my favorite
others may find her 1972 and 1976 better recorded Decca version more to their liking
Enrique Granados, considered these six intertwined pieces his greatest achievement, a sentiment shared by critics and performers alike. Inspired (in part) by Francisco Goya cartoon tapestries from the 1790’s and majismo culture in fin de siècle Spain (1890’s), he composed and premiered these pieces in 1910-1911, reflecting Liszt, Scarlatti, flamenco and Spanish folk song influences. Five short years later, the passenger ferry SS Essex he and his wife boarded while crossing from Folkestone, England to Dieppe, France, en route to Spain, was torpedoed and both were among the many killed. His premature end may help explain why his work is not as well known as the quality of his small oeuvre supports.
Alicia de Larrocha’s performances are, I think, after listening to 6 other performances, exemplary in tempo, dynamics, articulation and color. The Goyescas in her hands are simply astonishing. There are other de Larrocha Goyesca recordings available that I encourage folks to listen to, but these (see above) are my current favorites.
Which brings me back to Javier Perianes’ new Goyesca recording. It is exquisite, but with a more reflective, less impulsive tempo/dynamics (de Larrocha’s superbly executed virtuosic impulsivity cuts to the heart of the composition). It is superbly recorded by Harmonia Mundi (at Sala Mozart in Zaragoza) and his El amor y la muerte ballad (Book 2: No. 5) is deeply moving.
For a more Liszt-inflected performance, yet true to all that Granados brought to these pieces, I can recommend Vivianna Lasaracina’s Dynamic recording.
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I’m new to Elgar’s symphonies in that my first listen was to the second in 2016 or so. Seems odd for me since I’ve been so deep into this genre since the late 1990’s.
Anyway, my favorite recording of the second symphony is by Liverpool and Petrenko even though I believe it ranks on the low side by most critics.
If you are a fan of Elgar’s symphonies, which do you favor?
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Absolutely, great compositions! I would go for Hickox with the Welsh BBC orchestra or Barenboim with the Staatskapelle Berlin:
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This is amazing find . The third track Contrapunct sopra la Bassigaglo d’Altr.is an ear worm on repeat! Rare fruit indeed and with these players , several more interesting looking discs to check out. Thankyou
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Love them! Also his pianotrios are really wonderfull. If you know Michael Nyman (compose filmmusic Peter Greenaway movies) you know what he must have listened in his early days. Find Haydn a much underrated composer.
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This recording is superb. Probably the most beautiful songs in my opinion sung by one of the best sopranos.
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I have the Gardiner recording of Monteverdi’s Vesper which is pretty good but this one here is blowing my mind. Superb and great sound quaility.
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The BBC Music Magazine last March published an interesting introduction into the work and its history, and at the same time selects some ‘best’ recordings, which must be taken with a grain of salt, given the magazine’s frequently noticeable bias in favor of British productions. Even so, the article is worth a read…
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During the last couple of days I spent some time listening again to Leif Ove Andsnes’s albums with music by Mozart and Beethoven. I was very pleasantly surprised at how ‘new’ some of the covered concerts and quartets sounded to my ears and mind. New as in discovery of previously missed detail, interpretational decisions by the artist that contribute to my enjoyment of these albums. That said, these are no quirky interpretations, but rather well thought-out and ‘classical’ readings of very popular piano compositions by both composers.
The concept behind the two Mozart albums is to program works from one particular year of Mozart at the height of his compositional art, covering 1785 and 1786. In the case of the Beethoven piano concerts, volume 1 cover numbers 1 + 2, volume 2 numbers 2 + 4, and the last volume the Emperor, together with the op. 80 ‘Choral Fantasy’. In all recordings, the pianist directs the fabulous Mahler Chamber Orchestra from the piano. Mr Andsnes is an outstanding pianist, and his contribution to the recorded history of these works is a worthy one.
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