Peter Maag's Mozart with the Orchestra Di Padova E Del Veneto is a winning combination of serious and fun. I hesitate to say these are my favorite Mozart symphonies, but I hesitate to say they aren't, either.



16/44 FLAC rip from CD

Dvorak's 4th Symphony is a relatively early work, and the shadow of Wagner is clearly present. It also has plenty of Bohemian charm, but it isn't quite as focused, or as tightly constructed as his later work. But it is certainly worth hearing.



DSD rip from Tower Japan SACD

Maybe not for everyone, but I think Josquin des Prez's Motets are 500 year old feel good music. From the (IMO essential) Josquin & the Franco-Flemish School box.



On CD.

Every time I listen to Glenn Gould playing Bach I'm reminded of the (alleged) George Szell qoute: that nut is a genius!

Everything Gould plays has some nuttiness and some genius, but the genius is the big winner in his recordings of the Bach Toccatas, which were some of the last Bach recordings he made. Perhaps because the Toccatas have a feeling of improvisation that is different from his more "formal" compositions.



On CD

In honor of the Dodgers winning the World Series (again) I give you something out of left field. Stravinsky's Four Norwegian Moods.



On CD from the Chailly/Stravinsky box.

These are short little delights that sound like they could have been written 300 years ago.

I used to have a bit of a crush on Martha. I'm over it now.

Handel's Concerti Grossi are his version of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, but not nearly as famous. You can make the case they don't have as many catchy tunes, and don't have the cool descant trumpet like the Second Brandenburg. But they are excellent works in their own right, esp. when played in a more or less "old fashion" way by the Prague Chamber Soloists.



16/44 FLAC download

More Russian music squarely in HvK's wheelhouse: Tchaikovsky 5. His 1976(ish) recording was one of the first classical records I bought, and I pretty much wore it out. It has all the brooding passion and blazing climaxes that make Tchaikovsky so popular.



16/44 FLAC rip from CD

The fourth and sixth symphonies in this two disc set are also outstanding.

Mrs. CA is out of town, so it might get loud around here. Andre Previn's Los Angeles Alexander Nevsky was recorded by Telarc in Royce Hall at UCLA. Same as Zubin Mehta's (vastly underrated) LA Phil recordings for Decca in the 60s and 70s. And it sounds fantastic... if you play it loud enough to enjoy the quiet parts. It is also a terrific performance.



On CD

Listening to the last 3 Beethoven Sonatas from my favorite sonata set: Friedrich Gulda. Gulda is admittedly a departure from my usual "favorite" pianists like Ivan Moravec or Murray Perahia because he is manicly precise and almost severe with his measured interpretations. But it sure works for Beethoven (and Bach). YMMV.



On CD

Another Mozart C Major Chamber Masterpiece^tm: the "Dissonance" K465. All of Mozart's mature string quartets are great, but this one is probably my favorite, because it sounds both modern and classical at the same time.



16/44 FLAC download.

No surprise the young Alban Berg Quartett plays both the modern and classical aspects just right.

We've been having A LOT of rain. So today I'm hunkering down with an opera. Tristan und Isolde, in the 1950ish Knappertsbusch performance from Bayreuth.



16/44 FLAC download

The sound is OK, and the playing of the Bayreuth pickup band is OK but the singing and conducting are pretty amazing.

Mozart and Haydn had one of the great bromances in the history of (classical) music. After Haydn published is groundbreaking Op. 33 string quartets Mozart dedicated an equal groundbreaking set of quartets, now known as the Haydn Quartets. And near the end of his life he alluded to some of Haydn's later quartets in his final string quintets K. 593 and 614.



On CD

These are not particularly popular, but they should be. Esp. as played by the Auyrn Quartet.

Sifting through Qobuz and landed on this album while in my work truck.   What a great album…..  she played with such grace and fitness that it was captivating.  I left my AQ Dragonfly Red at home… so I’m limited to the crappy BT streaming protocol via a Roav FM modulator….yuck!!   Today I’m just going to explore the Deutsche Grammaphon label to see what jumps out.  

This Telarc disc by (Irish) pianist John O'Conor was my introduction to the (Irish) composer John Field 30something years ago. And it is excellent in every way.



On CD

I also very much like O’Conor playing the Field Nocturnes, though most don’t seem to share our appreciation.  You can readily pick up a copy for a couple of bucks!

In keeping with nocturnal theme there is Mahler's Symphony No. 7, Song of the Night. Like all of Mahler's music it is huge, sophisticated and subtle. But unlike most of it there are no haunting melodies, cathartic climaxes or crushing pathos. What there is is a lot of atmospheric, vaguely spooky nachtmusik. It is something of the "odd man out" of Mahler symphonies and probably the least played (besides the 8th, that requires a literal army of musicians to perform), although that might be turning around.



DSD download from HDTT

Leonard Bernstein's 1960s New York recording was one of the first and is probably still the best version of this symphony. Like most Columbia/CBS/Sony recordings of the era the sound is not very good. But the HDTT mastering brings out all the little details that makes Lenny's interpretation so special.