Albinoni: Concertos opus 10, #7-12

Nice baroque. Nice soft listening.
I solisti Veneti, conductor Caludio Scimone
violin Giuliano Carmignola (#7-#10) and Piero Toso (#11 & #12)

This continues the CD in post albinoni-concertos-opus-10-1-6

Name	Key	Catalogue	Musicians	Observations
Concerto for violin, strings and continuo	F	Op.10 no.7
Concerto for violin, strings and continuo	Gm	Op.10 no.8
Concerto for violin, strings and continuo	C	Op.10 no.9
Concerto for violin, strings and continuo	F	Op.10 no.10
Concerto for violin, strings and continuo	C	Op.10 no.11
Concerto for violin, strings and continuo	Bb	Op.10 no.12

Beethoven: The Cello Sonatas

Pau Casals hums through the profound and rich Cello Sonatas in the 1993 recording with Rudolf Serkin. A super bit mapping CD from Sony Classical, The Cello Sonatas: complete edition. This 2CD cannot be missed !!
Amazing.

Name	Key	Catalogue	Musicians	Observations
Disc 1
Sonata no.1	F	Op.5 no.1		recorded 1953
Sonata no.2	Gm	Op.5 no.2		recorded 1951
Sonata no.4	C	Op.102 no.1		recorded 1953
Disc 2
Sonata no.3	A	Op.69		recorded 1953
Sonata no.5	D	Op.102 no.2		recorded 1953
7 Variations on "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen"		WoO 46		from Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte", recorded 1951
12 Variations on "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen"		WoO 66		from Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte", recorded 1951

Beethoven: The Complete Violin Sonatas Vol.II

These are beautiful. In Deutsche Grammophon's edition, the 1970 recording by Yehudi Menuhin and Wilhelm Kempff is superb.


I have listened to this many times, and I still cannot come up with something intelligent to comment on them. My experience is only one, and I cannot decompose it into aspects. Thank God for this!

Name	Key	Catalogue	Musicians	Observations
Disc 1
Sonata for Piano and Violin	A	op.30 no.1
Sonata for Piano and Violin	Cm	op.30 no.2
Rondo for Piano and Violin	G	op. 30 no.3
Disc 2
Sonata for Piano and Violin	A	op.47		Kreutzer
Sonata for Piano and Violin	G	op.96

Beethoven: The Complete Violin Sonatas Vol.1

These are beautiful. In Deutsche Grammophon's edition, the 1970 recording by Yehudi Menuhin and Wilhelm Kempff is superb.
After "Frühlings Sonate" there is not much that can be listened.
I personally think that Kempff played much better than Menuhin, esp. in CD1. My impression is that Menuhin played "a little bit dirty", but it adds to the playfulness of the recording, which no doubt was enjoyed very much by both interpreters.

Name	Key	Catalogue	Musicians	Observations
Disc 1
Sonata for Piano and Violin	D	op.12 no.1
Sonata for Piano and Violin	A	op.12 no.2
Sonata for Piano and Violin	Eb	op.12 no.3
Rondo for Piano and Violin	G	WoO 41
Disc 2
Sonata for Piano and Violin	Am	op.23
Sonata for Piano and Violin	F	op.24		"Spring Sonata"
Twelve Variations on "Se vuol ballare"		WoO 40		from Mozart's opera "Le nozze di Figaro"

de Falla, Stravinsky: El Amor brujo, El sombrero de tres picos, The Firebird,

These are good works. Very evocative, with attention to melody and instrumentation. I find it difficult not to relate these to incidental music. Probably due to auditive conditioning.

"El sombrero de tres picos" is one of my favorite pieces, the pace and rhythmic complexity of the main them is quite energizing.

Radio Symphonie Orchester Berlin, conducted by Lorin Maazel.
Recorded Polydor, Stravinksy 1958, de Falla 1966.

Manuel de Falla



• El Amor brujo (L'Amour sorcier), Grace Bumbry, mezzosopran


• Tänze aus "El sombrero de tres picos"



Igor Stravinsky



• L'Oiseau de feu, Suite

Ravel, Dvořák, Strauss: Orchestral works

The orchestration of these recordings is very good, I think. Small enough to be eloquent, yet big enough to establish a degree of the unearthly. Distinctive sounds among the groups yet strings that can show the different levels of sounds in the wind.

From Strauss, I have to say that I found Don Quixote quite appealing. Forceful, surreal, enthusiastic, reflexive, popular. Characteristics that can well describe the phenomenal character it is based on.
Perhaps in the same spirit, I would have to accept that Also sprach Zarathustra resembles its cynical character. Yet, musically, it did not resound with me in the least (except for the well known initial part).

About Dvořák, I have to say that I am becoming quite fond of his work. Conflictive yet he is not in a fight against melody, which I appreciate. The New World Symphony is very evocative, and the title defines the setting quite nicely.

Ravel, well, Boléro is very good, well known, and this interpretation has some peculiarities which I do not yet know if I like or not.
Noteworthy is the Feria, 4th part of Rapsodie espagnole. Amazing how the people and music and megaphones are represented.

A disc from Sony Essential Classics. All works by Philadelphia Orchestra and directed by Eugene Ormandy, except: Valses directed by Charles Munch, "New World" by London Symphony Orchestra, and Serenade by Münchener Philharmoniker directed by Rudolf Kempe.

Maurice Ravel



• Boléro


• Rapsodie espagnole


• Alborada


• Le Tombeau de Couperin


• Valses nobles et sentimentales



Antonín Dvořák



• Symphony No.9 in Em, Op.95 "From the New World"


• Serenade for Strings in E, Op.22



Richard Strauss



• Also sprach Zarathustra, Op.30


• Don Quixote, Op.35