Streaming Classical

Streaming Classicals (23-4): Great Recordings and Bad Vibes

A Long Soujourn I haven’t written about Streaming for more than half a year! Well, I was in NYC (and UK) for more than 2 months and did not have the bandwidth to. In NYC, I played only physical discs, both LPs and CDs. Yes, it sounded wonderful! But do I miss real media now that I have returned to streaming in Shenzhen? Yes and no. I miss my large collection, but I also love exploring new albums through streaming. No matter what, enjoy the music! It’s the music that’s important, not the bits.

MQA Officially close to demise, it is not quite dead. It’s astonishing it has kind of a surge in presence in China, of all places. Does it concern me? No, not at all.

Apple is up to their Rotten bit again Among the recent news, one particularly alarms me. We all know Apple has been posturing to enter the high-stake hi-res streaming market in a big way. We also know from history Apple is pretty much garbage when it comes to providing high quality music on the go. And now it seems they want to give classicals a go. Just our bad luck! So, imagine my chagrin when it was announced that Apple has acquired one of the best classical labels, Swedish BIS. This is one of my favorite labels! I hope in due time it shall remain available on Tidal, Naxos etc but I’d not hold my breath!

Hyperion The other big news is Universal had acquired Hyperion, long a hold-out in the streaming world. Wow, as soon as the deal was sealed, one sees an avalanche of the Hyperion catalogue, previously unavailable for streaming. Although they do not have too many of my favorite artists, we can enjoy their catalogue now. My pick would be the Takacs Quartet.

Bach Recordings of the Violin Concerti are a dime a dozen, but truly enjoyable ones are less common. One exceptional recent release is Himmelsburg, by Lina Tur Bonet with Musica Alchemica (Glossa). It pairs the BWV 1041/42 with 2 transcribed from the harpsichord. Utterly natural playing. When it comes to the Solo Violin Works, I’m glad to report another excellent (and very fluid) version by Bojan Cicic (Delphian). And the excellent Goldberg by Vikingur Olafsson (DG), a deceptively easy listen! Much more extreme (but perhaps interesting) is Maya Beiser’s Solo Cello Suites, the title of which, Infinite Bach (Islandia), alludes to overdubbing and electronic manipulations (she has done this before, with Bach and Glass). An interesting interview of the artist here.

Biber When it comes to baroque violin, I’m a devotee of the Rosary Sonatas, a masterpiece that merits different interpretations. Meret Luthi and Les Passions de L’Ame (Prospero) do the work justice

Ysaye The master’s Solo Sonatas are the most challenging works written after Bach. If anything, they are even harder to well characterize. There have been many notable recordings of select sonatas, but the recent complete set of Hilary Hahn (DG) stands out for total command, with much more depth than most of her recent (shallow) outings.

Beethoven No version in the past years can come close to the sheer joy and refinement the partnership of Antje Weithaas and Denes Varjon provides (Avi)

Fabio Luisi Ever since I played Luisi's Nielsen cycle with the Danish National (DG), I have been enthralled by his performances across the board. Luisi is one of those conductors who may not be a household name, but whose performances are hard to fault and not easy to find sometimes! His magnificent Dresden Staatskapelle Strauss series (Sony) is not that easy to come by (but on Tidal). Try the gloriously atmospheric Alpine Symphony - a piece that separates the boys from the few men. Even more obscure are the excellent Honneger Symphonies (OSR, own label; on Tidal). His other orchestra, Philharmonia Zurich, also contributes some excellent albums, including a great Bruckner 4th (own label; Tidal).

Concerto Gems Concertos are supposed to be showpieces, no? Yes! When it comes to Jennifer Higdon's Duo Duel (Naxos). Marvelous sonorities! And Olli Mustonen  and friends did proud by Rautaavara and Martinu (BIS)! Not far behind is Peter Jablonski and friends in a Bacewicz collection (Ondine).