ClassicalCritic

Notes from the 2025 Bayreuth Festival: A New <i>Meistersinger</i> Production for Bayreuth Also published in Die Presse : Bayreuth: Als hätte Monty Python bei den „Meistersingern“ Pate gestanden A Laughing Mat...

Better late than never: My review of the opening of the Bayreuth Festival's Meistersinger:

ionarts.blogspot.com/2025/08/note...

50th, obviously!!!

75th deathiversary #Weidringer[TM] for the Cuarteto Casals at the Salzburger Festspiele | Salzburg Festival in DSCH, coinciding with their New, in-progress cycle of the Shostakovich quartets on harmonia mundi international.

#morninglistening to the Rachmaninoff 3rd PianoConcerto that impressed the pants off everyone in the Jury & beyond at the 22 @thecliburn competition: YunchanLim, @ftworthsymphony & MarinAlsop

Amzn: amzn.to4ounnhh

Yes, it really is a blisteringly good, ripping account. #NowListening

Italien grüßt Salzburg: Mendelssohn und Vivaldi auf Besuch Welche Städte nicht alle behaupten, die nördlichste Italiens zu sein! Die Camerata Salzburg lieferte im Haus für Mozart gute Argumente für die Festspielstadt als Kandidaten.

Jüngstens für @diepressecom.bsky.social von den Salzburger Festspielen und Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik:

www.diepresse.com/19959297/ita...

www.diepresse.com/19980119/ifi...

Trojan #Weidringer[TM] for the repremiere of AntonioCaldara's #IfigeniaInAulide at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik

#morninglistening to the Danish JohannStrauss: Hans Christian #Lumbye w/the ConcertoCopenhagen & LarsUlrikMortensen on @BerlinClassics.

Easy listening of the finest kind, effervescent and frolicking.

#nowplaying #ClassicalCDCollection

Seasonal #Weidringer[TM] for Janine Jansen & Camerata Salzburg at the @SbgFestival in the Four Seasons & "Italian" Symphony

Ein himmlischer Radau: Mozarts c-Moll-Messe mit Les Musiciens du... Ein hervorragendes Damenduo prägte die traditionelle Festspielaufführung von Mozarts c-Moll-Messe, diesmal mit Il Canto di Orfeo und Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco unter Gianluca Capuano.

Rezension zum Bild: www.diepresse.com/19959294/ein...

Himmlischer Radau: Mozarts c-Moll-Messe mit Les Musiciens du Prince

Ein hervorragendes Damenduo prägte die traditionelle Festspielaufführung von Mozarts c-Moll-Messe, diesmal mit Il Canto di Orfeo und Les Musiciens du Prince & Gianluca Capuano.

Secular #Weidringer[TM] at the Salzburger Festspiele | Salzburg Festival for Les Musiciens du Prince et al in the Mozart C minor Mass.

Is there a tentacle missing?

What a missed opportunity!

Begeisternd: María Dueñas und Alexander Malofeev im Mozarteum Auf dem Papier haben Alexander Malofeev und María Dueñas nur das Alter gemein. Im Konzert gaben der stille, hellblonde Russe am Klavier und die gewiefte spanische Geigerin aber eine unerwartet gut...

Latest from the #SalzburgFestival for @diepressecom.bsky.social:

www.diepresse.com/19959290/beg...

Begeisternd: María Dueñas und Alexander Malofeev im Mozarteum

Notes from the Bayreuth Festival: Camping Masterclass and Macbeth at the Foot of the Green Hill Also published in Die Presse : Partystimmung bei „Macbeth“ Wagner-Light – and not even that much Wagner The free-to...

Catching up with my culture missives in English: Up on ionarts now:

ionarts.blogspot.com/2025/08/note...

Notes from the Bayreuth Festival: Camping Masterclass and Macbeth at the Foot of the Green Hill

Complete Piano Concertos DEC 4437272; DECCA - Inghilterra;

Yes, it's muscular Mozart, to an extent, but it's better than Dresden China Mozart and plenty enjoyable!

#WolfgangAmadeusMozart #PianoConcerto

#morninglistening to the last discs of #VladimirAshkenazy's Mozart Concertos w/the @philharmonia_orchestra which are just absolutely fine. I love how Ashk. jams an abs. wild Fugue into the cadenza of K537, the "Coronation" Concerto!

Amzn: amzn.to/4odmRaA

Die Rezension zum Bild via @diepressecom.bsky.social:

www.diepresse.com/19959279/igo...

Igor Levit statt Evgeny Kissin: Gespreizter Schostakowitsch, geflüsterter Brahms

There's that. :-)

Absolutely. No, it's not. But we seem to, methinks?

Bastien und Bastienne/Der Schauspieldirektor

Yes, the music has some merits. But we'd be better off discovering wrongly neglected works by lesser known composers than trying to convince ourselves that rightfully neglected pieces by the masters are actually precious, after all.

#KurtMoll #Mozart

#morninglistening to #WAMozart's "Bastien & Bastienne" w/the @bayerischesstaatsorchester. Charming? Yes. Quaint? Yes. Well sung? Yes. But what a sophomoric opera and "drama". Fit for a seven-year old with water on the brain as PGWodehouse might have opined.

Amzn: amzn.to/47eGARa

Substitutional #Weidringer[TM] for Igor Levit at the
SalzburgFestival in DSCH & then some.

Schubert: Piano Sonatas Product description No Description Available.Genre: Classical MusicMedia Format: Compact DiskRating: Release Date: 10-OCT-2000 Amazon.com Wilhelm Kempff was a master of poetic lyricism, with a wondrous keyboard touch and a breathtaking command of subtle dynamics and tonal colorations--all invaluable attributes of any Schubert interpreter. He also had the knack of holding together large structures that can often seem aimless, thus avoiding another trap many pianists fall into, that of lavishing so much attention on passing detail that Schubert's "heavenly lengths" can seem wayward wanderings. The one criticism often heard is that Kempff emphasizes poetry at the expense of drama. This magnificent set leaves that claim unsubstantiated. Few pianists have been so successful, for example, in what may be Schubert's wildest single movement, the nightmarish Andantino of the A major Sonata, D. 959. Here, Kempff captures the tortured mood of the piece to perfection without breaking its Classical frame. Tempos are generally expansive, but Kempff's tonal luster and unerring sense of natural phrasing never make you want him to step on the accelerator. A special treat is the inclusion of rarely heard early works. Some of these were left unfinished; others reflect a composer still mastering his craft. But most are of more than passing interest, and some have an enchanting, aching beauty. Kempff's Schubert set has been a recording classic since its release on LP; its availability in a space-saving CD box at a budget price is cause for celebration. --Dan Davis

Amzn: amzn.to/4fqNXHw

A recording this old shouldn't be as good or as handily trouncing much of the competition. But there it is...

#FranzSchubert #nowplaying

#morninglistening to #WilhelmKempff's D959 on DG. I reviewed this for ClassicsToday a while back and was impressed. But it's wild how good, light, lively, unassuming & RIGHT this is.

Amzn: amzn.to/4fqNXHw

Paul Badura-Skoda plays Schubert - The Complete Piano Sonatas The first CD release of a landmark editionPaul Badura-Skoda is unquestionably the outstanding Schubert pianist of the 20th century, declared the Leipzig Volkszeitung in 2012. An astute interpreter, a sensuous singer on the keyboard, one who plumbs the notes fully yet treats each one with love and intelligent solicitude. Coinciding with the pianist's 90th birthday later this year, Sony Classical is pleased to announce the first CD release of Badura-Skoda's complete recording of the Schubert sonatas, an LP collector's item ever since its original publication in 1971.Encouraged by the Vienna-born RCA Victor executive George Marek, Badura-Skoda recorded all of Franz Schubert's sonatas including his own completions of several works left unfinished by the composer between May 1967 and May 1971. When RCA released the complete set of sonatas on 13 LPs at the end of 1971, the Gramophone reviewer showered Badura-Skoda's interpretations with praise: As a fellow Viennese he has the style in his blood and loves the music. Nothing is over-driven or inflated. Schubert for him is no would-be Beethoven: he conveys the music's relaxed lyricism, its basic simplicity, emphasizing romantic dreams more than the stern, classical sonata heritage.Now this very special set is available again, newly remastered from the original analogue masters for its first CD appearance as a 12-disc box. Paul Badura-Skoda's Schubert is a must-have for lovers of great piano music, performed with the utmost love and understanding.

... only the 3rd movement; so this original version is 3/4 identical. Very minor difference.

#morninglistening to #PaulBaduraSkoda's D959 for RCA (@sonyclassical). That's his 1nd take in his 1st, most agreeable Bösendorfer-cycle.

Amzn: amzn.to/41kJRuv

He re-recorded this sonata in 1971 but then substituted only the 3rd...

#morninglistening to Schubert's D959 on what is pro'lly THE black horse cycle: MichaelEndres' on @capricciorec, replete w/Dances.

Amzn: amzn.to/4fpPRbq

It's a very evenly fine performance, but the standout is the exquisitely judged Andantino.

#FranzSchubert #NowListening

#morninglistening to MartinHelmchen seriously good D959 for pentatone. There are more good ones than bad ones but this stands out for a couple reasons...

Amzn: amzn.to/45bMgc1

Sound, both playing- and recorded. And the last two movements, esp, & much of the first, seems ideally created &propelled.

Are you talking about the ghastly (if well-intentioned) foam padding, that used to be standard in multiple-disc set in the fat cases?

The disc's data side (which is, however, the LESS fragile side) never touches the sleeve directly, anyway, in my case[s]. There's always either the booklet or the back-page between it and the sleeve.