Cello and its great players I

Lets start with Erling Bløndal Bengtsson: http://www.erlingbb.com/
and here is a few great recordings:


Max Reger and Eugene Ysaye










And of course his masterfull Bach recordings. Great sounds!

Here a lovely disc with music from Vagn Holmboe, a great way to discover e great composer.

The quintet for brass is a gem.














Then on to Anner Bylsma: http://www.cello.org/newsletter/articles/bylsma.htm

As always Vivaldi is a surprising composer to visit, and this CD is pleasure and fresh inspiration.

Bylsma and Tafelmusik and Lamon

And now to shadows and pleasures of years now gone, but kept on records and CDs.

The great Pablo Casals, cello, conductor, chamber music

http://www.cello.org/casals/casals.htm

 

Here  the Schumann concerto and smaller pieces for cello.

And this chamber record no men want to miss.

Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud and Casals in two music pieces wrote for angels, and played by angels.

I always get new hopes, listening to this CD.

 

And not to be missed his famous Bach

But music is not always once upon a time. New players are always coming, and they get better and better.
Han-Na Chang f.ex. in a strong recording of two Prokofiev masterpieces:

and the fine debut recording in cooperation with Rostropovich:

recordings like these means that one can stay at home, turn on the stereo, and then listening to art of highest meaning and quality.


And it is a pleasure everyone can pay.









A new cellist (for me) ia Natalia Clein. The recording of Bloch and Bruch is a winner. Especially the Bloch deserves this recording, really a surprise, and a good one too.

Here is a another great Vivaldi record with cello:
 Christophe Coin with AAM on the always great sounding L'Oiseau label. Music as fresh as fresh streaming water.

 

J.S. Bach vocal music

Here is music that is corner stones in my music listening. Bach wrote passions, and I cannot recall anything so passioned as his masses and cantatas.

This recording will always follow me. The music is from another and better world.











The older Jochum record is a great  duplo to have. Warm and passionated in another way than Gardiners.

The swedish record label BIS is doing a great job in recordet music.
They are passionated too, and they have great partners in their Bach records. The japanese travel in Bachs cantatas  is important and wonderfull listening.

This is a record I often spend my time with.












An long time guest is the cantata "Ich Habe Genug"

my two version are quite different. Quite old and quite new. Hans Hotter and Klaus Mertens are singers of glory

Music for souls.

I love the "La Petite Band" and Kuijken in barouqe music.












And I adore the Gardiners travels in Bach. Magnificat is special to me. The first record where the Gardiner win me over.

And of course, the Herreweghian way must be heard too.











And Harnoncourt, the man who created so much musicpleasure. This is passionate!

And here two great female singers:

Christine Schäfer and Dawn Upshaw.

C

J. S. Bach

When the world gets crazy or my head do, I listen to the best medicine I know, the music of Bach. Here is a little handfull of records I love.

Of course  the cello pieces are special, and I think this great player do it  totally right.









This "modern" version of the violin concertos is fresh cool water.

As always HM delivers sounds that the players deserves.











But this old record is not to be missed!

For many years this  is my Brandenburg Concertos, they sound as new on my turntable.

For the suites I will choose this newcomer, but still also listening to the Le Petit Bande on vinyl.

This is a desert island disc. Hear the duos prepared by Kurtag, I still not believe what I hear.












Piano is "my" instrument, and Bachs music on that instrument is perfect(for me).

Martha Argerich

Till Fellner

Richard Goode

Carl Nielsen

Happy Birthday Carl Nielsen 
The first week in June plus some days are always enjoyable in my little village. The most famous man from our place has his birthday on the 9th of June, this year it is birthday no. 147, and there are now rumours how to celebrate him in 2015.

The name and the man is Carl August Nielsen. This year the first week goes with the competition of the violin concerto, great talents from the whole world plays their hearts out. On saturday we have a little gardenparty in the museum, and of course we shall hear music og we shall all sing numbers of his danish songs. All danes grew up singing his tunes.


Our museum is this little house where Carl Nielsen grew up. The garden party is behind the house, and at this time of the year the isle of Funen shows it's best side as the garden of Denmark.

There are many very good recordings of  his music, and I think there will be new ones to enjoy culminating in 2015.

I am not pleased with the idea that a conductor should record every symphony of a composer. I simply don't understand it. My problem, they do it nearly all of them.

My favourite records is: (That's just mine, there may be many others, and I have not heard everything)

Symphony no. 1

London Symphony with Andre Previn (RCA)
San Francisco SO with Herbert Blomstedt (Decca)
Danish National with Michael Schönwandt (Dacapo). 

Symphony no 2
London SO, Ole Schmidt (Unicorn)
















Symphony no 3
Danish Radio SO with Yuri Ahronowtich (Unicorn)
Gothenburg SO with Wyung-Whun Chung (BIS)
The Royal Chapel, Leonard Bernstein, CBS

Symphony no 4
Royal Scottish SO, Bryden Thomas (Chandos)
San Francisco SO with Herbert Blomstedt (Decca)
Chicago SO, Jean Martinon (RCA)
Danish Radio SO, Ulf Schirmer (Decca)

Symphony no 5
New Philharmonia - Jacha Horenstein (Unicorn)
Danish Radio SO - Rafael Kubelik (EMI)

Symphony no 6
San Francisco SO with Herbert Blomstedt (Decca)  /  Royal Scottish SO, Bryden Thomas (Chandos)


Clarinet concerto
Olle Schill, Gothenburg SO, Myung-Whun Chung (BIS)
John Kruse, Chech Chamber, Bostock)  (Classico)





Shorter orchestral pieces
Danish Radio SO, Thomas Dausgaard (Dacapo)

Piano pieces
Leif Ove Andnes (Virgin)
John McCabe (Decca)
Martin Roscoe (Hyperion)

Wind Quintett
Melos Ensemble (EMI) /  Vestjydsk kammerensemble (DG)

String Quartetts:
Kontra Quartett (RCA)
Young Danish Quartett (Dacapo)

Murray Perahia, The Lyrical Poet of the Piano.

Born on April 19, 1947, in Bronx, New York. He began taking lessons at the age of four, he gave his first real concert at the age of 17.
Perahia is sometimes considered a more intellectual than emotional pianist and has primarily concentrated on Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven, as well as performing chamber music. There is also great recordings of Bartok, Liszt, Franck, Mendelsohn, Grieg and Scarlatti.
In more than 40 years he has given us a great number of records to treasure. I had the luck early to get a record of his, and have followed him in nearly 40 years. The first record was the sonatas no 2 & 3 by Chopin. They are still the miracle to play.

Perahia is Perahia as Schubert is Schubert - what else can be said?

I can't remember a dull moment in any of his records, they are mostly milestones in musicmaking. 

So this recordlist is just what I hear most often.

J.S. Bach:Where it all starts, and a point to return to very often. Perahia Bach playing is a pleasure, and I try to select them all.

The poet can be a lion too, these Beethoven records is just great:

This Chopin is still in my toplist.

And he is still going strong,