That’s a fine release.
Andrew Manze gave the AAM a new impetus when he took over. Hogwood had done a great job over the years but it was time for a change. The “Concert for the Prince of Poland” album is also highly recommended. The AAM Harmonia Mundi albums have good sound quality too.
I’m completely new to Zemlinsky’s music and streamed the album below three times in the last week. I can’t get enough.
Any recommendations for further listening are appreciated.
Here’s the AAM again, this time under Richard Egarr doing some Handel. A good album.
The metadata is poor on Disc 1. I’ve seen that before with AAM Harmonia Mundi releases.
SOTD.
2nd verse, same as the first.
I was thinking of our previous posts about Ysaÿe’s violin sonatas, while listening to the impressive new release by Sergey Khachatryan… he plays on Ysaÿe’s own 1740 Guarneri del Gesù, which was given to him from 2010 to 2022 by the Nippon Music Foundation (who had acquired it in 1995 from Isaac Stern)… The violin is now in the hands of Benjamin Beilman, but Khachatryan in 2022 did an amazing last recording with this instrument… not to be missed! Apart from the artist’s playing and the violin’s impressive tone, I am very much impressed by the perfection of the recorded sound…
Thank you for this, Andreas. I had been jumping from Stravinsky to Fauré to the Twelve Ensemble’s Metamorphosis (a string ensemble performance tour de force) and found this most welcome. Superb in interpretation, execution and recording. I’m still processing this, but Hilary Hahn’s version still holds a special place in my beloved performances of Ysaÿe’s incredible sonatas. Wonderful to hear the violin Ysaÿe performed these pieces with sing them again in such skillful hands. It’s mind-boggling. Isaac Stern, Ivry Gitlis, Pinchas Zukerman, and Yehudi Menuhin have all used this splendid instrument to wondrous effect.
Added later: The recording venue/sound engineering are excellent for the Sergey Khachatryan recording and superior to that for the Hilary Hahn recording. I happen to like the very close recording used in the latter, though, possibly close to sound at the chin.
Happy Easter.
When this album came out some four weeks ago, I thought ‘what the heck, another Four Seasons…’ and forgot about it… Then, during the Easter weekend, I rediscovered Julien Chauvin’s two previous albums with Vivaldi violin concertos (2020 and 2022 on naïve’s Vivaldi Collection), which are superb and have received overwhelmingly enthusiastic reviews… So I finally listened to Chauvin’s take on Vivaldi’s most iconic music, and if I tended to think that there was nothing new to add to these concertos, I had to stop and think again… I still have not made my mind up about this interpretation, but I certainly think that this is an album worth being listened to… and if only to delight in the (to me) unknown countertenor Paul-Antoine Bénos-Dijan singing the aria Sovvente il sole from Vivaldi’s Andromeda Liberata…
I guess the term, ‘bleeding chunks’, can seem like an excuse for not pursuing a greater ambition, but today I just wanted to hear a selection of great arias, by a great singer. Decca has a range of ‘Grand Voci’ albums that are really rather good, and today I chose Baltsa. Who knew how great she was in Berlioz? But so much more to enjoy.
I have this entire set, ripped from 55 CDs. I have them tagged with Grandi Voci, and put them on shuffle, for hours of vocal pleasure.
This is a wonderful release! I’ve included a segment in the new edition of Classical Spotlight, which is now available in the Playlists by Roon section of your Roon homepage. (Please note that seeing Roon-curated playlists requires having a streaming account synced in Roon.)
Julien Chauvin not only is known as leader of his period ensemble Le Concert de la Loge, but he has performed and recorded as first violinist of the French Quatuor Cambini-Paris. By the way, Le Concert de la Loge was originally named ‘Le Concert de la Loge Olympique’, after an 18th century ensemble, which was headed by the black French composer, violinist and director Chevalier de Saint-Georges. But in 2016 the French Olympic Committee threatened with legal action, being opposed to the ensemble’s use of the term ‘Olympique’… how absurd…
Quatuor Cambini-Paris is a period instrument group, in the vein of Quatuor Mosaïques and the more recent Chiaroscuro Quartet, and of their releases this 2015 3-CD set with Mozart’s Haydn quartets stands out. I like their musicianship, but I haven’t listened to their interpretation as directly opposed to the Mosaïque or the Chiaroscuro (who haven’t to my knowledge recorded the whole set). The vibratoless string tone is beautifully captured in a closely recorded but resonant sound… it’s a very enjoyable album, for when the urge for beautiful string quartet sound gets overwhelming… 
Edit: Forgot to mention the quartet’s cellist, Atsushi Sakaï from Japan, who may be better known as gambist with serveral beautiful releases under his belt…
these are lovely.
The link requires a login – maybe drag the image instead?
thanks.
be careful what’s on your clipboard.
The joy of nighttime listening… still one of the most extraordinary harpsichord albums I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing…
And so to bed…
@Andreas_Philipp1, if you like the Froberger, you may also like the earlier Sweelinck recording as well.
Oh yes, I do! Thank you!
I may have posted this before, but anyway, your mention of Sweelinck made me listen to it again this morning… only about half of the tracks are by Sweelinck, but the real star of this album is the instrument used. It’s an original Ruckers spinet from 1604, discovered about 25 years ago in Italy, restored to its original playing condition… Marco Vitale plays beautifully, and I find this album a little treasure to be cherished…
