Month: July 2017

I’ve been busying myself with a number of things these last few days – one has been to create the composers’ entries for those CDs which I’ve transferred over here, like Concerto Köln’s La Prise de la Bastille (Davaux, Martin, Dittsersdorf, Gossec). So I went on to create the entry for Dittersdorf… and, one thing leading to the other and one’s hands and time being easily trapped in cogwheels, I stopped there for a week. Since I didn’t have so much Dittersdorf in my collection and had reviewed a few on Amazon, I decided to import those reviews here… and of course that led to more activities, like looking at the discography of Dittersdorf, buying some more, compiling various label discographies, etc. Hence my blogging silence for a week.

And with all that, I did listen to other things, Telemann (I have the project to start a Telemann cycle – mainly of his orchestral music -, and have been purchasing. I love the combination (to my ears) of Handel, Rameau and Vivaldi, Vogler – I had been intrigued enough by his Symphony “La Scala” to want to explore more (see my review of Gustavian composers: Uttini, Naumann, Kraus, Vogler. Nationalmuseum Chamber Orchestra, Claude Génetay. Musica Sveciae MSCD 407), and more on CD is more or less limied his Requiem which I ordered, and it turns out to be a fucking extraordinary piece, and cursed be Mozart for reviling Vogler as he did!

One thing leading to another… Transferred my reviews of Kraus’ Funeral Cantata for the death of Gustav III, Newell Jenkins on Vanguard (excellent) and Stefan Parkman on Musica Sveciae (and expanded the latter with a comparison of the Funeral Symphony, which serves as a filler, and Concerto Köln’s version), as well as my two reviews of music of Kozeluch, three Piano Trios on Cpo and four Symphonies by Concerto Köln on Teldec. They remind me how much I had enjoyed the music. I need to explore more Kozeluch (but I’ve just today clicked on “buy” for  a lot of additions to my Kraus discography! It’s a limitless pit…). Created the Kozeluch composer entry, expanded the Kraus entry.

As with cogwheels, one thing leads to the other, and because I had reviewed on Amazon.com another version of Jean-Baptiste Davaux’ Symphonie concertante that is played by Concerto Köln on their program for Capriccio La Prise de la Bastille (which I transferred from Amazon yesterday), I carried over that review as well, Musiques de la Révolution française – Hommage du monde – L’Europe (Davaux, Cambini, Kreutzer). Luis Michal, Marta Carfi, Orchestre de chambre de Bavière Munich. Cybelia CY 841. In turn, I make reference in that review to other CDs that I’ve reviewed, published at the time of the celebration of the bicentennial of the French revolution, which I now need to import over here. I also created the composers’ entries for that Cybelia CD. I need to do so with the composers of yesterday’s transfers, Gossec, Vanhal, Mahaut, Martin and Dittersdorf! Again it’s never a simple copy and paste job. As I was doing the entry for Kreutzer (and this is the French Kreutzer, Rodolphe, the dedicatee of Beethoven’s 9th Violin-Piano Sonata – which he is said never to have played, how shamefully ungrateful! -, not to be confused in particular with the early-romantic German composer Conradin Kreutzer), I checked what else of interest had been recorded and there is an attractive 2-CD set of his opera La Mort d’Abel, published by a Spanish label which I first encountered, Ediciones Singulares, and co-produced by the interesting Palazzetto Bru-Zane which houses the Center for French Romantic Music. Turns out that they have a very interesting catalog of rare works on Ediciones Singulares and other labels, so I went ahead and compiled a discography… Cogwheels…

Since I was compiling my reviews of the symphonies of Kraus, I transferred from Amazon my old review (2011) of Sinfonien der Klassik (Symphonies of the Classical era): Gossec, Vanhal, Mahaut, Kraus. Cappella Coloniensis, Hans-Martin Linde. Phoenix Edition 174, and since I made a reference therein to Concerto Köln’s early Gossec recording on their CD La Prise de la Bastille: Music of the French Revolution. Jean-Baptiste Davaux, François Martin, Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, François-Joseph Gossec on Capriccio 10 280, I also imported that one.

Those transfers aren’t just plain “copy and paste” affairs, they require very meticulous updates of the links to various other recordings mentioned in the reviews, finding the exact label numbers and barcodes of those references – and that in turn opens new cans of worms… Lots of work.

Created the entries for the composers on Musica Sveciae MSCD 407, Gustavian composers: Francesco Antonio Uttini, Johann Gottlieb Naumann, Joseph Martin Kraus, Georg Joseph “Abbé” Vogler.

Since I had reviewed the Musica Sveciae CD on Gustavian Composers the other day and therein made references to my reviews of Concerto Köln’s 2-CD survey of the symphonies of Kraus, Capriccio 10 396 and 10 430, I transferred them from Amazon.com.

 

Wow. Made it. Wrote a new review. I feel like I climbed on top of the Himalaya.

Gustavian composers: Uttini, Naumann, Kraus, Vogler. Nationalmuseum Chamber Orchestra, Claude Génetay. Musica Sveciae MSCD 407 (1989)

The Vogler symphony is the find – despite Mozart’s damning comments on the composer (but, to be fair, dating from decades earlier).

I have not been very active these last few weeks (or as it been months?) – interrupted midway through a big comparative survey of Bach’s Viola da Gamba & Harpsichord sonatas, which I hope to resume ASAP.

Today I transfered an old review from Amazon.com, John Jensen playing music of Paul Reale, Bloch (Piano Sonata), Ruggles (Evocations) and Larry Lipkis on Music & Arts. Not very memorable – to the point, in fact, that I had put the record on sale a while ago, and thought I should transfer the review here before letting it go. There’s a story as to why I listened again – but it is not interesting enough for me to tell it. Anyway, now I’m thinking I might keep the CD. The piece of Lipkis is pretty good, and while I still have doubts about the compositions of Reale, I’m now inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt…