And it's got Christophe Rousset in it!



(Swoon!!!)

I didn't understand that at first - just seen BobbyZ's thread. Sad news. RIP.

IGI, I have mixed feelings about the bits of the Gardiner cycle I've heard, but did listen to this on Christmas Day and Boxing Day:



Some very nice things there (musically and interpretatively), and on the whole JEG does the festive stuff quite well.

IGI, opilec,

What's the message with the CD art/covers? Some world/religion message or is the series sponsored by WHO or UN or

Sometimes Gardiner is just too hard-driven, and I do have issues with the size of forces. The opening chorus of Cantata 127, for example, is ruined by having that many sopranos belt out the chorale: there's such beautiful instrumental scoring in that movement, but much of the time it just can't be heard. Kuijken's much more to my liking, and I need to check out Cantus Cölln's recordings too.

Harnoncourt: hm. Frustrating! There's something very odd about the timbre of Concentus Musicus that I've never quite taken to. I suppose it's good to have an ensemble in this repertoire that has such a characterful and recognisable sound, but there's also something very peculiar about it that's hard to pin down. Partly it's the acoustic that he and the engineers generally go for -- quite spacious -- but also the sound of the continuo group, and the general application of a quite intense vibrato and a rather sawing-sounding style of bowstroke. Does anyone else feel this way about Harnoncourt's work with CM?

As to that particular recording, there are some very good things about it, not least the swaggering account of "Grosser Herr", and the soloists are generally good. But quite how the infant Jesus is supposed to get to sleep in "Schlafe, mein Liebster" is beyond me, and I don't like Harnoncourt's insistence on pausing at every fermata in the chorales. And then there's the usual quite wilful pulling around of pulse -- most anoyingly in "Flösst, mein Heiland". I can almost hear him jabbing his finger at the performers throughout this performance. Sometimes it works, but not this time, at least for me.

Then again, I've never heard a recording of the Christmas Oratorio I've completely enjoyed, which probably just means I'm a fussy old git! Would like to hear the old Tölz Boys' Choir recording on DHM, which Nicholas Anderson had a high opinion of: does anyone know it?

PS  Yes, I did cheat and eventually listen to the whole of the Harnoncourt Christmas Oratorio, though I did parts 1-3 one a day to start with!

You're right, IGI, it's not easy, especially when the text size is so small!

I agree about that Haydn, IGI (though I miss the wonderful slurred horn octaves that feature so gloriously in the Mackerras recording of 31 on Telarc). I also love Harnoncourt's London symphonies with the Concertgebouw Orchestra: really glorious playing throughout.

Now spinning here (which is Köln by the way in case you haven't been keeping up): Samson François playing Ravel on EMI. You can see his left hand concerto on youtube but that didn't quite prepare me for the trip to A Very Dark Place and most of the way back that is the recording he made with Cluytens. I've never known Ravel pulled around like this to be so effective - I thought the only way to do it was just to do what he wrote and not interfere with it too much. On balance I do still think that's the best way to do it... but cripes!