Have been trying to enjoy Mahler once again (Bruno Walter/Mildred Miller/Ernst Häfliger/New York Philharmonic Das Lied von der Erde this time) and, as ever, despite a magnificent performance, it sets me panting after other music. This is yet another of my ever-growing list of shortcomings.
In my musical peregrinations, including a review of the sarabande, I re-encountered Alonso de Mudarra. I wanted to find recorded vihuela performances of his work. Did not find any, but came across a simply lovely Mudarra Fantasia X YouTube recording, an exquisite and probably familiar piece. The great news is that it is a short listen, but leaves you wanting more. My question to the mavens on this blog is, are you aware of any Mudarra recordings on vihuela? I’ve heard Julian Bream’s Fantasia X version and don’t care for it. I’ve come across a Montserrat Figueras/Hopkinson Smith Alonso Mudarra recording, which is wonderful, but can’t find much else.
Here’s a splendid version of Mudarra’s Fantasia X
and a pointer to Montserrat Figueras/Hopkinson Smith’s recording, which is excellent 16th century Spanish vocal music accompanied by vihuela.
The most probable artist to look for this is the Spanish guitarist and lutist José Miguel Moreno; there is a 12-CD box set with his recording sessions for Glossa (he is the founder/owner of the Spanish Glossa label):
Excellent recommendation. I knew you’d come through. Thank you. Been wanting to hear some Luys Milan as well. Splendid! This is a delicious collection of 16th Century and later (Sor, Tárrega, Mertz, Llobet) Spanish vihuela and guitar pieces. Listening as I write. A treasure.
Mr. Hurwitz is a strong flavor and doesn’t much care about how he comes across. He is also extraordinarily knowledgeable of the classical music repertoire and has systematically listened to more recordings of same than anyone I’ve encountered.
With all music critics, I consider multiple dimensions, background in listening and performance knowledge, a sense of grounding in music theory and history and many other things. Economic self-interest also enters in, particularly when a publication is beholden to the music industry for its existence. Accordingly, I sample broadly (lately benefitting greatly from recommendations on this Roon-supported blog), suspecting and often finding that traditional review venues have more than a few conflicts of economic interest and are prone to less disinterested reviews for the latest bright performer being promoted by a sponsoring label. OTOH, the amateur reviewer is often lacking in other qualities. One of the things I enjoy about Mr. Hurwitz is his deep background knowledge. I don’t know if you noticed, but in his review of the Guido Four Seasons by The Band of Instruments, he was translating the booklet’s French poems on the fly. He often does the same with German and Czech recordings. He is not ostentatious about his knowledge and, because of this, it may slip by unnoticed. He also has minimal label sponsorships, which makes him less beholden to the recording industry. Is he unfair and glib? Occasionally. Is he irritating? Not infrequently. As I said, a strong flavor, but an honest, if occasionally harsh, reviewer and worth listening to if you can bear the rest of the package.
He is, to me, another relevant, if occasionally curmudgeonly resource in the classical music review world. Particularly to those finding their way through the recorded classical music maze and metadata for the first time. Although not to your taste, it is often useful to look beyond the surface and first impressions. I am, however, sorry if my posting a link to Mr. Hurwitz’s Giovanni Antonio Guido Four Seasons by Caroline Balding and The Band of Instruments here offended you.
on a short google search he comes out highly educated.
I like that, it comes out funny with his style.
Add some
and it is a speech easy to follow for a beginner like me. From time to time he only comes out a bit too “US-like” but I do not mind (this come from me being comfortable with critics like Anton Ego in the beginning of Ratatouille. Sorry for the reference).
Never been a fan of harp but after the Simeon ten Holt’s Canto Ostinato by Assia Cunego started to brush away my ignorance. Now Constance Luzzati
adapté à la harpe les œuvres pour clavecin de Jean-Philippe Rameau
Somehow matches one of my recently viewed YT by Mr. Hurwitz about what makes music spiritual (thanks @bill_perkins and the following discussion about him I started to watch his channel).
Glad you are enjoying, Traian. Not many review as broadly. I only rarely watch the videos, but I subscribe to ClassicsToday and read the reviews there for another data point on various recordings. Jed Distler, who also reviews for Gramophone, often reviews for ClassicsToday.
Thank you for bringing this Rameau harp transcription recording. I remember being in St. Petersburg and having tea while a harpist played. Quite enjoyable and changed my opinion of harp music. Will have a listen to Constance Luzzati’s recording.
Hope you’ve had a chance to listen to the Acronym-performed Schmelzer Le Memorie Dolorose recommended and kindly brought forward by @Andreas_Philipp1. One of the nicest recordings of vocals with chamber music I’ve heard and seasonally/spiritually apropos.
Alas, @Andreas_Philipp1 the Villa Musica Brahms recording is unavailable on Qobuz North America. Qobuz is unresponsive to queries to these gaps in their offerings. Too much else going on I suppose to pay attention to such “minor” issues, when their very existence is under threat by high resolution “big box” alternatives. Their Roon integration and most extensive classical and jazz recording collections still make them my first and only streaming choice. Still buying CDs, though, finding RBCD resolution simply splendid on my listening chain.
I hear you re: vocals. Emma Kirkby was the first early music vocal performer I actually enjoyed listening to. The list has grown considerably since then and I now even occasionally enjoy an opera. Oddly, I have pretty much always enjoyed live vocal performances.
BTW, when I watch a David Hurwitz video, I find the comments not infrequently valuable. Have made some discoveries there. There are no comments sections in the other major classical music review venues.
Ah, that’s a shame… Are there other Coviello releases available?
The other day we listened to Telemann’s Fantasias for solo violin; not many years ago, a set of Telemann Fantasias for solo viola de gamba was unearthed, and Thomas Fritzsch gave them a splendid interpretation. And he has a really interesting discography on Coviello, with rarely heard works by Johann Christian Bach and his best friend, Carl Friedrich Abel…
Some. Just neither of the two you’ve mentioned, which sound superb. The way labels upload to Qobuz by country is seemingly haphazard. There may be a hidden logic, just not clear to me.
In keeping with the theme of seasons as vernal equinox nox at the door and with your viola da gamba recommendation, here is a recording Roon recommended to me after finishing the amazing Acronym Schmelzer you recommended. I greatly enjoyed hearing this viol consort performance.
Thank you. He has bona fides with a significant fraction of classical musicians and is not infrequently cited on music label’s reviews of their catalog.
While there are quite a lot of recordings with Sophie Watillon as participating artist, there regrettably are only very few recordings with her as principal artist. She was a wonderful musician and gamba player. Her Simpson album was released posthumously, as the enthusiastic blogger did not even notice, when he held the album in his hands:
I hold her album with pieces by Marais in high esteem; she left us far too soon…
I’m growing increasingly frustrated regarding orchestral CDs and CD box sets that are (1) unavailable via streaming platforms or (2) are out-of-print and cost what I think is a bit much on the second hand market.
A recent example is the box set below I really want but it’s rather spendy for the physical media and I’ve not found it via searches on Apple Music, Qobuz or TIDAL.
