What's playing today ?

Shostakovich piano quintet. I first heard it on the radio long time ago and it made an impression. Still great

 

Josquin des Prés and Guillaumme Dufay

 

Britton's The Turn of the Screw (Naxos). Nice spacious recording with amazingly real sounding vocal rendition. Better on my system than any London's or Telarc's that I know of.

 

Brahms, lots of Brahms!

 

Today:

Finzi violin concerto (Chandos)

Weiss solo lute music (Naxos). Wonderful. I have all 9 in the Naxos series.

Rubbra string quartets 1 & 2. .... sublime

Vaughan Williams - Songs of Travel - Bryn Terfel. Perfect. Why does he waste so much time and energy on crossover cr*p? He's such a mighty fine artist. Ah yes, of course ... the money!

 

Sinatra-Basie, An historic Muscial First (vinyl on Reprise)
Dynamite!

 

KOR- Proprius. Cantate Domino from this label got all the press back in the day but this recording is really something special. Mostly 20th century composers with two modern tracks to die for . . Saul! and Beatus vir. The venue and sound serve them particularly well (i.e. required listening with the lights out). Warmest recommendation. My copy is of the olde black stuff .

 

:
: Nice trumpet :
:

 

Too modern for the music, I think.

 

Alfred Deller and the Deller Consort - Music of Handel, Bach and the English Renaissance. Features Leonhardt and Harnoncourt.

These days old stuff tends to get jazzed up and a bit syncopated. I like that, in fact I like it a lot. But this is old stuff done in an old fashioned way. Four-square and starched collar,with cut-crystal pro-noun-ci-ation.
I like this a lot, too.
Deller's voice was a sublime instrument, and this Leonhardt chap, well, he's not too shoddy either is he.

 

Hindemith's organ sonatas are just wonderful, especially the first
Desert island, here I come with this CD.

 

So far today:

Paul Simon - Still crazy after all these years
Mahlers 5th - Solti
Shostakovich 13th String Quartet - Emerson
Cardoso Requiem - Tallis Scholars

 

Grigny, la Messe, by MC Alain. What a marvel.

 

As far as I can recall, she recorded this work (Mass and Hynn's) three times. This seems to be the third recording. I only know the first and the second. The first (on the magnificent Cliquot organ, Poitiers) is my preferred recording of the work. The second (do not remember the organ) was too polished to my taste, and I parted with it (on LP) more than 20 years ago. Is the third recording currently available?

 

Dear pe-zulu.

I believe it is no longer available, but you can still get it second hand. There are two vendors, I think, at French Amazon.

This version is also recorded at Poitiers, but each part of the mass is also sung in plainson. The singers are Les Chantres de La Cahpelle de Versailles, and their work is marvelous.

This is a magnificent version: a truly beautiful organ historically registered (the Plein jeux 16' plus only the trompete 8' in the bass, thus rendering a deep tenor), in perfect acoustics plus a really inspired choir.

I don't propose to make a copy for you (I think Erato no longer exists, so it would perhaps be legal?) because (deep shame) I never manage to make good copies of cds.

 

You thus prefer Alain's recording to Andre Isoir's ?

 

I think this issue was her last recording so far of this composition:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grigny-Hymnes-Nicolas/dp/B00003W85F

Does this mean that she recorded it FOUR times?
Or is this a reissue of one of the others (1st/2nd)?

Well, anyway, you guys got me interested in this work.
Are there more recommendations?

 

Now I am comfused.

First recording ca. 1970 on the organ of the Cathedral, Sarlat (not Poitiers, as I wrote above).No choral contribution.This is the one I own - on LP - transferred to CDR. It is outstanding, magnificent, celebrating when it should, and expressive, rhetorical when it should. Listened to it to day.

Second recording ca. 1982, do not remember the organ. With choral contribution, but not led by Cabré IIRC. Technically better than first recording but musically inferior IMO, parted with it (on LP) around 1990.

Third recording with choral contribution led by Cabré

Fourth recording 1996 with choral contribution led by Mandrin.

Maybe I do not remember correctly, and the second recording BTW was led by Cabré, the only sensible answer, as far as I can see.