The Dutch and Belgians seem to have a knack for Bach Cantatas, with Koopman and Herreweghe mounting all kinds of impressive productions on period instruments available on Youtube. One conductor I haven't had on my radar, but who has a series of videos posted now, is Jos van Veldhoven (who looks like a cross of my dad and Sigmund Freud), which is odd given that he's apparently been the leader of the netherlands Bach Society since forever.. The soloists are many of the usual suspects such as Dorothee Mields, who has done a ton of stuff with Herreweghe, and Damien Guillion.





I'm liking the pairing of Mields and that counter Tenor.

(March 16, 2017 at 9:37 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote:

(March 16, 2017 at 7:49 pm)bennyboy Wrote: At 46:10, that's a pretty snappy interpretation.  On listening, it sounds borderline manic.  Not much mystery, but an awful lot of fire and brimstone!

Next step. . . Metallica!

Of course, that said, that recording is from a different reconstruction than many are used to. Surprisingly, despite being two centuries and several continents separated from Mozart, unlike Sussmayer, Robert Levin somehow managed to do a better Mozart than Sussmayer, who would likely have been, at most, two degrees of separation from him.

Levin is a pianist who is well-known for improvising cadenzas for Mozart's works that do an exceptional job at creating stuff that sounds like authentic Mozart off the top of his head:





And surprisingly, despite the piano concerti and sonatas having extremely different needs from the requiem, he does an exceptional job of pulling this off.

Awesome

Going back to the time of transition between the Renaissance and Baroque period, some nice worldy music contemplating the similarities between love and war.

Wut!?

That florid style. . . that seems almost hyper-baroque in a sense: so much expression. Maybe it's the performers-- they are tight!

(April 4, 2017 at 5:03 pm)bennyboy Wrote: Wut!?

That florid style. . . that seems almost hyper-baroque in a sense: so much expression.  Maybe it's the performers-- they are tight!

I mean, they are called Les Art Florissants, so...
But they have been at it for quite a while and know what they are doing.

As Agnew explains in the beginning (pardon his french), while it's one of Monteverdi's late works, he didn't become conservative but grew even more expressive and experimental towards the end of his life because he was, as he says, still burning with the desire to take music to the next level until the end.

For those who like to watch interesting rehearsal sessions ... (finished complete movements included)

As a Canadian, I'm so very happy to see an obvious Gouldling enjoying his life as a performer in this way. Surely there must be something online about his style. . .


But then I go online, and see he doesn't like Gould, and that his style is a polar opposite. But THEN I watch videos of Gould in preparation and rehearsal, and see how totally similar their personalities are. I mean. . . you can even hear him singing while he plays!

Anyway, whatever, I'm pretty much in love with this guy's personality. He seems like a new generation's embodiment of Bach.

(May 9, 2017 at 4:33 pm)bennyboy Wrote: As a Canadian, I'm so very happy to see an obvious Gouldling enjoying his life as a performer in this way. Surely there must be something online about his style. . .


But then I go online, and see he doesn't like Gould, and that his style is a polar opposite. But THEN I watch videos of Gould in preparation and rehearsal, and see how totally similar their personalities are.

Anyway, whatever, I'm pretty much in love with this guy's personality. He seems like a new generation's embodiment of Bach.

Apart from his somewhat romantic style of playing , he is such an uncanny Gould reincarnation it's scary. I guess he has to deny it because it's so obvious

I found a fun behind-the scenes video of Gould.  Not everybody loves him, but to me, he's a kind of walking work of art.






And here's something apparently from a TV show or live broadcast or something.  Bernstein attempting to edumacate the audience on musical decision-making.  It's really a ridiculous moment, and the way he presents is so rehearsed that it really does make one laugh-- and yet not with any diminished respect for him I think.

Ah the partita 2