Д.Д.

reg Harvey, this is IMO an excellent recording... I am sure it is, will check it out.

Attended another concert. French quartet Diotima ( http://www.quatuordiotima.fr/) played Jonathan Harvey's String Quartet #3 and Boulez's "Livre pour Quatuor". First off, the quartet itself is excellent with gorgeous sound. The Harvey's work was first and I liked it a lot. It utilizes a lot of unconventional sounds (including loud unison breathing by the quartet members), but somehow is very fluid, flowing. It's a sort of detached otherworldly music (in a short - and totally superfluous, IMHO - discussion panel with the quartet afterwards the altoist implied that Harvey's Buddhism is evident in this work, and he might be on to something here). I would have loved the quartet to be longer than it was, I enjoyed it greatly. Boulez's piece on the other hand was way too long - 45 mins or something. Apparently he's been writing / revising it for 60+ years, and it has barely been performed live due to its technical complexity and length. For me it actually sounded like a collection of licks, interesting enough for 10 minutes, but not more. I was extremely bored by the end. Unlike most of the classical concerts here, the audience was of mixed age with average for once south of 65. Relatively cheap tickets (€20) might have played their role. Still the hall was probably 40% full, at best. All in all, I was very impressed by the quartet (will check out their recordings, they have quite a few on naive), and will definitely explore Harvey's oeuvre.

Well, such a record actually exists. It is OK, a bit too polished. http://www.cleanfeed-records.com/disco2.asp?intID=77

See above:

A new DVD of performances (by six different pianists!) of Ustvolskaya's piano sonatas on Wergo: http://www.wergo.de/shop/en_UK/3/show,326548.html

Attended today: ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, Ingo Metzmacher conducting. Aleksandra Kurzak, soprano Ewa Wolak, contralto Artur Ruciński, bariton Program: Karol Szymanowski: Konzertouvertüre E-Dur, op. 12 Witold Lutoslawski: Symphonie Nr. 4 Witold Lutoslawski: Musique funèbre Karol Szymanowski: Stabat Mater, op. 53 These composers are rarely performed here, and being somewhat familiar with Lutoslawski's music, I was looking forward to the concert. As per tradition, I reveled in my ignorance and did not get acquainted with these particular works in advance, although I did listen to (and enjoyed) Lutoslawski's Symphonies 2 and 3. ORF Radio is a good (but not great) orchestra, with a focus on modern repertoire. I found their sound rather thin and shallow compared to monumental Vienna Philharmonic (whom I have heard a few times in the same hall), but still good. Szymanowski's overture was underwhelming, The piece sounded unfocused, all sounds sort of smeared, not going anywhere. Not sure if it was the piece or the performance, probably both. The strings were particularly thin on this one. Musicians looked decidedly bored. Thankfully, this was short. Then Lutoslawksi's Symphony 4 - much better. Excellent music, obviously influenced by Rite of Spirng - period Stravinsky, with a lot of percussion. Good melodies, a lot of contrasts, very lively. Well played. Musicians seemed to be more cheerful, smiling at each other - percussion players (some of whom looked very young) in particular. After a break, Musique funebre by Lutoslawski for strings only. The piece is OK, but nothing special. So was the playing. Solo players were fine, but I still had the impression the strings sounded very shallow in orchestral passages. Wonder how orchestras with thick sounds (like Münchner Philharmoniker - the loudest orchestra I have heard in Vienna!) would have fared with this piece. But then came the main thing - Szymanowski's Stabat Mater. This is a phenomenal, solemn work that was excellently performed. The Polish singers were all outstanding. During the passages where a 100-strong mixed choir would sing the effect was just overwhelming. The orchestra's playing was top notch, on a different level compared to previous pieces. Overall, a very enjoyable experience. I also enjoyed the fact that this was an 11AM concert, natural lighting made it all a bit more casual and relaxed.

Yes, there is a Cantus Cölln box - with Rosenmüller but without Schein.

Thanks for sharing thoughts on the DHM set, Moms. I agree with you on Sempe and Steier - good stuff. I also have hears a lot of Kuijken, and found it mostly OK, not spectacular. At the same time, I like his Bach cello sonatas performed on shoulder cello.

Any comments on the DHM box?

I love Bach, he is my favorite composer, but I just can't get a grip on the Art of the Fugue. I find it meandering and unfocused, I get really bored long before the end of it. Having said that, the Musica Antiqua Köln version is interesting. Thanks for the Brookshire plug, listening to French Suites right now, like the performance (and the sound) a lot.

I am pretty sure we had at least a couple Petrushkas last season here in Vienna. I like this ballet a lot, although Firebird (of which Stravinsky seemed to have been quite dismissive) is my favorite among the early big three.

And there is a Columbia set too:

I look forward to hearing Pieter Wispelwey performing Bach's solo cello suites in March.

papsrus, thanks, interesting read. The greatest musical experience of your life, wow!

Any comments re this organ works set?

Let me also endorse Helene Schmitt's solo violin recordings on Alpha - they are outstanding. I often return to them.

Yes, it was deployed. The singers ware in semicircle all through the stage. Same with the musicians - symmetrically split over central stage (two violins on extreme right - two on extreme left, and so on). A lot of singing and playing was in call-and-response fashion from one side to the other. Since I was sitting on the side this was lost on me.

So, here it goes. Wiener Konzerthaus Performers Hespèrion XXI, Ensemble Le Concert des Nations, Orchester La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Ensemble Hanna Bayodi-Hirt, Sopran Marianne Beate Kielland, Mezzosopran Pascal Bertin, Countertenor David Sagastume, Countertenor Nicholas Mulroy, Tenor Lluis Vilamajó, Tenor Daniele Carnovich, Bass Antonio Abete, Bass Jordi Savall, Leitung Program Bartholomäus Riedl Ist ein schöner Aufzug Ein langer und schöner Aufzug Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber Plaudite tympana à 53 (1682)) Battalia à 10 (1673) Sonata Sancti Polycarpi à 9 (1673) Missa Salisburgensis à 53 (1682) Encore: Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber Gloria (Missa Salisburgensis à 53) (1682) The hall was packed - mostly with retirees, but there were some youngish faces. I decided not to familiarize myself with the music beforehand, so it was all fresh for me. The instrumentalists were good, although from where I was sitting it seemed like horn players on the left and on the right (they were positioned in semi-circle on the balcony) were a bit out of sync - but it might be just due to my being positioned right upfront and to the side (this is what you get when you buy the tickets in the last moment). The music was good, but fairly predictable. There was an interesting moment in Riedl's piece (never even heard of Riedl, btw) that sounded really dissonant - gotta check out if this was intended or some performance fuck-up. The singers (there were 16) were excellent, female ones (two mezzos, two sopranos) in particular. One of the sopranos was on the last weeks of pregnancy, had to hold her belly when bowing. It is heroic that she managed to stand the whole concert. She was outstanding, which was a relief, since being positioned right next to her, she was whom mostly heard. I really enjoyed the (very few) polyphonic moments when the whole choir was singing - otherwise, these were mostly solos / duos. Pretty, but repetitive. I had my regular qualm with vocal choir music reinforced - the "s" sound (and "t" to a lesser extent) is so pronounced - particularly when the whole choir is singing, then it really sounds like a snake pit - it affects my enjoyment of the music. I should start a petition to ban the use of texts in favor of wordless (and consonant-less) vocalizing. Mandatory thundering applause (I still have to attend a concert in Vienna that would not end in 10-minute ovation, retirees are very polite here). And an encore from which I escaped.

And that's a good one.

papsrus, good idea for the thread. I am attending Hespèrion XXI performing Biber's Missa Salisburgensis. The full line-up is here: http://konzerthaus.at/kh/d/0201_detail_frame.asp?KHGVA=true&vaid=0015e412 Will post my impressions.

Yes, this one came to my mind immediately as well. I like both versions (there are more, actually - a 1954 one and a concert one from Salzburg from mid-60s, but these 55 and 81 offer the greatest contrast), but prefer the early one. It has more vigor and energy; the later one sounds more detached to me. In general, Bach's music seems to inspire regular revisiting. Looks like every major cellist recorded suites at least twice - with often dramatically different results. Wispelwey recorded them three times (so far). I love the second version, have only once heard the last one (recorded at lower pitch), have not formed any opinion of it yet.

OK, got it. Last time I saw Butcher playing solo (in a XIII century church with a lot of reverb) he played both soprano and tenor in equal measure.

Love both of those guys, but the few times I've seen Butcher live, he favored the tenor sax. I wonder if that is generally true now? I think Butcher is often a match for Evan Parker when it comes to tenor. One can still discern some Parkerisms in Butcher's playing, but for the most part, it is quite individual and strongly inventive. You mean soprano, right? Parker's tenor plying is quite jazzy, Butcher has eschewed all jazz references from his playing (whether on soprano or tenor) by now, although I did see him do a mock free-jazz blow-hard on tenor once - but this was just a few seconds. I don't hear much similarity. On soprano Butcher's vocabulary is much broader than Parker's IMO. There is a recent Parker / Leimgruber duo, will check it out.

I did not like the sound of these sets (I used Abrams set for A/B-ing), but some of the older individual CDs are still available directly from CAM Jazz website at €7-8 a pop. They are all on Spotify as well.

John Butcher is great on soprano. I particularly like him in solo setting, for example on early record "Thirteen Friendly Numbers" or on a later one "Invisible Ear". And Urs Leimgruber. He is fantastic solo (there are a few CDs out there, I have heard only "Blue Log", which I can highly recommend), and in ldp trio with Barre Phillips and Jacques Demierre. I am not a fan of Evan Parker's soprano. I think he was interesting around Monoceros time, but then became sort of a circular breathing machine playing the same stuff ad nauseam. I like Parker's tenor playing more.