The Listening Room: Episode 45 (28.09.18)

The Listening Room
Friday, September 28, 2018

From the familiar – Schubert's Fifth Symphony in a lovely live performance from the Concertgebouw with John Eliot Gardiner conducting his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique – to the less often heard – Neeme Järvi conducting Wilhelm Stenhammar's glorious Sången ('The Song') – this week's playlist ranges widely. A terrific new Eroica from Pittsburgh (not included here) is coupled with a very fine performance of Richard Strauss's First Horn Concerto played by the orchestra's Principal Horn, William Caballero (and do give the Beethoven a listen too) - it's a work that really doesn't get played in concert that often and well worth hunting down.

Stradella's San Giovanni Battista from Sandrine Piau and Rinaldo Alessandrini's Concerto Italiano is a total joy while Sir Charles Villiers Stanford's Seventh String Quartet came as quite a surprise - beautifully constructed (no surprise) but so eloquent and passionate. I've always loved Kathryn Rudge's rich mezzo voice and  have long wanted to hear her in Elgar – and here's the chance, a couple of orchestral songs, beautifully done.    

The Scottish-Japanese guitarist Sean Shibe has released his second album for Delphian (a guarantee of terrific sound) and it enshrines a programme he gave in concert last year called 'softLOUD' - and it does just that: beautifully intimate acoustic renditions of Scottish songs juxtaposed with the electric guitar in thrilling pieces by some of America's finest and most ecelectic composers - I've included Julia Wolfe's Lad

A memory of Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin brings a lump to the throat, Yuja Wang sparkles in more Tchaikovsky and Viktoria Mullova and Paavo Järvi join the Estonian National SO for some enchanting Arvo Pärt

A few pre-release tracks – the Leeds Competition winner Eric Lu playing Chopin, and Erato's fine guitarist Thibaut Garcia playing Barrios Mangoré

Listen on:

SpotifyApple Music, Qobuz

The tracks:

Tchaikovsky (arr Wild) Swan Lake – The Dance of the Four Swans

Yuja Wang (DG) 

Schubert Symphony No 5

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique / Sir John Eliot Gardiner (SDG)

Pärt Darf ich …

Viktoria Mullova; Estonian National Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi (Onyx) NOT ON QOBUZ

Elgar Two Songs, Op 60 – No 1, 'The Torch'; No 2, 'The River'

Kathryn Rudge; BBC Concerto Orchestra / Barry Wordsworth (Somm)   

Anon (Rowallan Manuscript) A Scots Tune 

Sean Shibe (Delphian) NOT ON QOBUZ

R Strauss Horn Concerto No 1

William Caballero; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra / Manfred Honeck (Reference Recordings)

Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin – 'You wrote to me … I wished to limit my life'

Dmitri Hvorostovsky; Olga Guryakova; Orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper / Kirill Petrenko (Orfeo) 

Stanford String Quartet No 7

Dante Quartet (Somm)  

Stradella San Giovanni Battista

Sandrine Piau; Concerto Italiano / Rinaldo Alessandrini (Naïve)

Barios Mangoré La Catedral - 3, Allegro solemne 

Thibaut Garcia (Erato)

Stenhammar Sången

Charlotta Larsson; Martina Dike; Lars Cleveman; Fredrik Zetterström; Norrköping Music Classes Children's Choir; Gothenburg Symphony Chorus and Orchestra / Neeme Järvi (BIS)

Chopin Piano Sonata No 2 – Grave … Doppio movimento 

Eric Lu (Warner Classics)

Wolfe Lad 

Sean Shibe (Delphian) NOT ON QOBUZ

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