Baroque music

kez

GIUSEPPE ANTONIO BRESCIANELLO Concerti, Sinfonie, Ouverture by La Cetra Barockorchester Basel

If I could post on emusic, I would add this to the Baroque Music Thread (any volunteers?).

Brescianello (1690-1758) is a new composer to me - one I like very much! He was an Italian composer who spent a lot of his time in Stuttgart. Many of the compositions on this disk are very Vivaldi-like, yet he retains his own style. Brescianello's music on this disk is full of lively, very impressive melodic riffs and you won't tire of listening to it if you like baroque music at all.

La Cetra Barockorchester Basel does a spot-on fantastic performance here. Conductor credits list David Plantier (evidently the lead violin, who plays beautifully) and V

mommio

Done!

MrV

Looks like I can say thanks once more for your Baroque recommendations. I'm putting this in my list for my refresh date.

kez

Thank you, Mommio, for posting on emusic for me.

I was looking at upcoming baroque releases and came across the most bizarre recording that's due out later this month:



Amor Oriental - H

kez

MrV - I noticed the same lineup of David Plantier and La Cetra Barockorchester Basel who recorded the Brescianello CD, have also released a followup that I would like to have. Although I haven't located sound samples to give it a listen before ordering, I think I can be pretty confident I'll like it based on their excellent performance of the Brescianello:



Venturini: Concerti Da Camera by David Plantier, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel

Gramophone review here

MrV

Kez - I hope the Venturini becomes available on Emusic. I'm still subscribing there, on a very limited basis, mainly because of Harmonia Mundi and BIS and the other Classical labels. Lately I've been listening to two albums by London Baroque on BIS; the 17th Century Trio Sonata in Germany and in England, also Keyboard Concertos by CPE Bach performed by Freiburger Barockorchester on HM.

kez

@ Mr. V - I, too, have that London Baroque BIS CD on 17th Cetury Trio Sonata i Germany and England, and really enjoy it. I agree that there are still enough good classical labels on emusic to make one second-guess cancelling altogether, although it was a very big negative factor for me when emusic added a lot of Archiv CDs (which I had been anxiously awaiting!), only to discover the problem of questionable sound quality. They might as well not have been added, as far as I was concerned, because I would not download any Universal album after all the hoopla and that was a big disappointment. But Bis and Harmonia Mundi are a big plus for emusic.

kez

Mision: Barroco Amaz

Bad Thoughts

@Kez: Is that the normal price for Mision, or is it on sale?

kez

@Bad Thoughts - Evidently $4.40 is the normal price on emusic for this one (as far as I can tell). Significantly better than Amazon's price of $8.99 for album download, or $31.24 for physical CD!

kez

VIVALDI Vespers of Sorrow by La Tempesta & Jakub Burzynski

emusic link

Or get it for 40 cents more in FLAC at eclassical.com during their current 25% off sale.

This is an OUSTANDING recording. Read Musicweb International's review.

EDIT// Forgot to mention that Track 7 is missing from eclassical's page. It was a repeat of the previous track but the fact that it is now missing must mean they're working on straightening it out. I downloaded it a while back in FLAC and picked up the missing track at emusic.

kez

Handel: La Resurrezione by Marco Vitale & Contrasto Armonico Baroque
Amazon link

I have decided I must have a recording of Handel's La Resurrezione. I've been listening to sound clips of various recordings and cannot make up my mind which one I should get. Brilliant Classics offers the double CD above at a great bargain price and I like the sound samples. I've read some absolutely glowing reviews of this one, while at the same time I've read some really terrible reviews of it. Same mixed reviews seem to be the case for several others. I'm left in a quandry as to which one I would be happiest with. Here's the ones I've been looking at - does anyone have a favorite recording of this oratorio?

Argenta/Schlick/Laurens

Le Concert D'Astree/Haim/Prina

Minkowski

Combattimento

Hogwood

Comments from anyone? I need help on this one.

frogkopf

I see you're going for Baroque!

kez

@frogkopf - not surprising, is it?

MrV

Kez,
I am wondering if you are familiar with this Vivaldi recording; Vivaldi: Vespro a San Marco by Chœur de Chambre de Namur on Ambronay records. It's a two disc set and I'm thinking of splurging so I would appreciate any info you might have. http://www.emusic.com/album/Les-Agr%C3%A9mens-Vivaldi-Vespro-a-San-Marco-MP3-Download/12423940.html

thanks.

kez

@MrV - No, I'm not familiar with the Vivaldi CD Vespro a San Marco, nor am I familiar with the artists/conductor. But I'm glad you mentioned it because I checked out the de Namur choir and Leonardo Garc

kez

MrV - just wanted to let you know I purchased the Vespro a San Marco CD. I'm listening to it now. Only on track 27 of Disk 1, but I will tell you right now this is a superb recording! If I were active on emusic, I would definitely be adding it to my 'Cream of the Crop Baroque' list. More later.

EDIT//
I was bugged by not being able to distinguish all the works from the tracklist. I recognized a lot of them immediately, of course, but some I was not sure which work they were from. I'm a little anal about this, but if it's important to you, here's how the tracklist breaks down:

DISK 1
1-5 Deus in adjutorium
6-17 Dixit Dominus - Psalm 109 (RV 807)
18-24 Confitebor tibi Domine - Psalm 110 (RV 596)
25-33 Beatus Vir - Psalm 111 (RV 795)

DISK 2
1 Spiritus et animae
2-12 Laudate pueri Domine - Psalm 112 (RV 600)
13 DLauda Jerusalem - Psalm 147 (RV 609)
14-23 Magnificat (Cantique) (RV 610)
24 Oremus
25 Laetatus sum - Psalm 121 (RV 607)

kez

Free album download on Amazon - Link here

Not all of it is baroque, but there are several tracks that are.

Bad Thoughts

Kez, you should have looked down the page:



Also free!

MrV

Kez, Thanks for the track listing, not being that knowledgeable I would not recognize them, but I do like to have the correct track titles. Now I just have to steel myself to buy a booster pack at emu or to purchase (for $4 more) at Amazon, which is actually only two dollars more per disc, with perhaps better audio quality from Amazon. Also I think this would be a good purchase with which to try the Cloud service from Amazon.

Bad Thoughts

MrV, why not get it for $9 at 7digital?

http://us.7digital.com/artists/chœur-de-chambre-de-namur-les-agremens-leonardo-garcia-alarcon-1/vivaldi-vespro-a-san-marco/

MrV

Bad Thoughts,
Downloading it now, thanks very much. I always forget about 7digital as I find it difficult to browse for classical there. This is the third great bargain I've picked up there, along with the Telemann and Paul O'dette discs on Harmonia Mundi.

kez

Bad Thoughts - re 7 digital - !!!!!!! I had no idea they would have the Vespro a San Marco CD! I paid twice their price - ugh! I wish I would have held off downloading til you posted, but oh well - I see 7 Digital has that Strozzi CD and also a Handel oratorio by the same artists, also at bargain prices.

(P.S. And I briefly saw Jordi Savall at the bottom of the page on that Linn Records highlights page but was in a hurry and was going to go back and check it out later - I had no idea that was free too!

Wah - I haven't been a smart shopper today.

Bad Thoughts

Kez, sorry I didn't chime in earlier. I wouldn't have thought to check myself had you not mentioned it was two discs. I always check 7digital whenever an album goes over 80 minutes.

Nereffid

WARNING!
I dl'd that "Mision: Barroco Amazonica" album from emusic, and musically it is indeed highly enjoyable - good call, Kez!
BUT it seems to be a bad rip: a large number of tracks end with brief but loud bursts of white noise. Fortunately most of them could be edited out, aside from one track (4) that segues into another track. I wouldn't call it a deal-breaker myself but others might not want to put up with it.

Another issue that might be related or could be something entirely different is the last track, which unexpectedly fades to silence a few seconds before the end and then comes back for the final chord. It's weird - sounds like someone turns the volume down rather than the players just playing quieter. Maybe they're making some sort of musicological point, maybe it's a bizarre technical error.

kez

I was ready to blame the glitches in 'Mision: Barroco Amazonica' on eMusic, but I must admit in this case they are not to blame. I downloaded the CD from Amazon this morning, and all the problems you mentioned are there for me, too. (It also seems to me that the last track is not supposed to sound like that at the ending.)

What a pain. I do think it is very nice music.

kez

Meister: Il Giardino Del Piacere by Musica Antiqua Koln
Listen to Sonata No. 6 here

"A new recording from Musica Antiqua Köln? Wasn’t this legendary ensemble disbanded years ago? Yes, but one thing at a time… The ensemble was founded in 1973, and just five years later was recording exclusively for Archiv (Deutsche Grammophon) under the artistic direction of Reinhard Goebel. By the end of the 1980s, the group had made about 30 recordings for the label, with emphasis on faithful interpretations of unknown masterpieces that are today firmly established as benchmark recordings. After the year 2000, however, things cooled down and the public taste may have wanted more thrills than could be offered by esoteric Pachelbel sonatas and the like. After three artistically rewarding decades, the ensemble was finally dissolved in 2006. What most observers overlooked, however, was a tape in the WDR archives labeled: “Johann Friedrich Meister, Il giardino del piacere, Musica Antiqua Köln, 2004.” And lo and behold, it really was the ensemble’s very last recording! This CD represents the last word—and a spectacular conclusion—to the MAK discography." (from ArkivMusic's website)

What a surprise! The Berlin Classics label just released this recording in March 2011. It's always nice to learn of new baroque composers, and MAK always did a super job of digging into the less well-known ones. Another one to add to my ever growing list of 'future purchases.'

kez

@Bad Thoughts - thanks so much for pointing out that Jordi Savall free sampler on Amazon. As you would expect from Savall, it's really, really good. I recognized some of the tracks, but not all of them. It always bugs me not to know the composer of the music I'm listening to, nor the album it is on. Interestingly, some of the tracks I couldn't place were from albums I have - guess I couldn't recognize them out of their element. Here's the individual albums from which all the tracks come from:

Track 1

emusic link

Track 2

emusic link
I recognized this one as one of the Brandenburg concertos, but wasn't aware of this Savall recording. Wow - really beautifully done. And the CD has Fabio Biondi on it, too! A nice discovery for me.

Track 3

I couldn't find this one on emusic, but here's the Amazon link - also an NPR link that has some interesting background.

Track 4

emusic link
Why pick a 35-second track from this wonderful CD - well, it's free so what's there to complain about?

Track 5

emusic link
Highly recommended.

Track 6

emusic link
I've owned this CD for several years - very, very good.

Track 7

emusic link

Track 8

emusic link
Outstanding CD!

Track 9

emusic link

Track 10

emusic link

Bad Thoughts

Kez, do you know anything about this offering from a member of the Savall Family?

BTW, thanks for tracking all those down.

kez

@Bad Thoughts - no, I'm not familiar with Arianna Savall's 'Un camino de Santiago' at all, but the sound clips sure sound great. I have another CD (this one), that features Jean Tuberey, the cornetto player, and I like his group, La Fenice, a lot. I'm sure this is a very good CD. (Will have to add it to my list.)

Germanprof

I have a question.

Many years ago I owned, enjoyed, and repeatedly played this LP:

Vivaldi - Concerti For Wind And Strings (Concerto for Two Oboes, Basson, Two Horns, Violin; Concerto for Oboe; Concerto for Bassoon; Concerto for Flute)

It's conceivable I still have the LP in a box somewhere but I have nothing that plays vinyl. Half an hour's searching suggests that this recording has never been digitally released or even released on CD. (If anyone knows to the contrary let me know). Not least for nostalgic reasons I wouldn't mind hearing it again. Can anyone recommend a good substitute with these specific concerti? (As something of a classical ignoramus I do not have good skills for navigating classical recordings).