Thanks for bring this to our attention. I enjoyed Rachel Podger’s solo album from last year.
I am downloading it now…
She’s one of my favourite performers. She did a great gig with Antoine Tamestit this time last year, solo violin and viola is an interesting partnership, with a good mixed bag of pieces. Like Rachel Podger, she’s really seems to be having fun on stage.
She is really great. But do you know Amandine Beyer? Her Chaconne is not from this world, also her Violin Concertos by Bach. Outstanding!
I heard Amandine Beyer play the Chaconne as part of a collaboration with Rosas/Anne Teresa de Kaesmaeker about 10 years ago. It was in a programme called “Partita 2”.
She’s now doing another collaboration with Rosas/Anne Teresa de Kaesmaeker - the Vivaldi Four Seasons. We’ve been going to ATdK’s shows for 30 years and the music is/was always performed live. The last one was the Biber Mystery Sonatas performed by Amandine Beyer and her band Gli Incogniti, but they used a recording. It was the first time the band didn’t turn up to play. The performance was dreadful and we left halfway through. It got a 1-star review.
After that, I’d be surprised if they come back over here, not like it’s very far. It’s not on the schedule so far, but may be later in 2024.
I have enjoyed some of Beyer’s recordings, but besides Partita 2 I’ve not seen her in a recital.
Interesting that her name just became known to me a couple of days ago as I was searching for piano trios by Beethoven and Clara Schumann, after hearing them at a local chamber music recital.
Puuh. 1 star is not so good …
Well, at the Bachfestival in Leipzig, 2022, a jury guided by Michael Maul appreciated Beyer’s interpretation of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo. And it is really stunning …
Great Performance with her in Swizzerland being the special guest at one session of Rudolf Lutz’ Cantata Cycle in St Gallen: Bach comments Bach …
The 1-star was for the dance. Had Beyer turned up we could at least shut our eyes and listened to them play. ATdK normally gets 4 or 5 stars.
I’ve mentioned before, Alina Ibragimova - a London based violin powerhouse force of nature - cemented her reputation with a recording of the Sonatas and Partitas and then a live performance at the Proms - all from memory in front of 9,000 people. They are on YouTube. Ibragimova’s recording on Hyperion is probably now on Qobuz.
We heard Alina many times during lockdown at a music cafe dinner place. Once we went along she had decided to warm up with the Chaconne with the window open and a massive crowd gathered on the street, which the police did not appreciate. Here she is warming up on another evening, with Samson Tsoy. The chef in the background, Alan, can also play Bach on the violin, but not as well as Alina.
This list may be of interest. Lots of favourites here.
… thanks for that, stevensegal. I will have a look later,
Frank
Sorry for my misunderstanding. I thought the set with Armandine Beyer and her band Gli Incogneti was ugly.
I got Alina Ibragimova’s Caprices composed by Paganini some weeks ago. It is great fun to listen to her ease in playing.
4 Goldberg recordings, 4 Cello Suites recordings… but 1 single disc standing for the complete organ work.
JEG, Trevor Pinnock, Angela Hewitt, Masaaki Suzuki, Murray Perahia, Dunedin Consort quite everywhere.
Hyperion (5) + Linn (4) + SDG (4) + Avie (2) = nearly 1/3 of the whole selection.
Who would seriously endorse such a multi-biased TOP 50 ?
I asked her at one of our dinner recitals in July 2020 what she’d been doing during lockdown. She said she took the opportunity to study and learn the Paganini, eight hours a day, seven days a week for about a month. You will see from the booklet they were recorded in the middle of May 2020, during extreme lockdown. Somehow they managed to get permission to use the Henry Wood Hall (one of the best venues, and a regular haunt), it was done in complete isolation with her regular engineer Simon Eadon and a producer, all in separate rooms. The result is pretty fantastic.
She is the most fearless musician who seems to favour the more challenging repertoire. That said, I’ve heard both her Beethoven and Mozart sonata cycles live, and the Mozart is quite revelatory. She very much favours chamber music (her Chiaroscuro Quartet was formed at the Royal Academy many years ago), but I heard her play the Mozart 4th violin concerto with the LSO under Haitink and it was sublime.
For @JohannSeb, saw this again tonight, best seats unlike last time. His first full length ballet score. Overall, utterly wonderful. The ballet itself is for the ages - ravishingly beautiful. It will be performed in London, Paris and around the world for many years to come.
This morning’s listening - -
G. F. Handel : Chandos Anthem No. 2
The Sixteen Choir & Orchestra - Harry Christophers
Edmund Rubbra : Symphony No. 5, Op. 63
BBC National Orchestra of Wales - Richard Hickox
@dcm if you get tired of romantic orchestral and want to think about big sets of Baroquery you could do far worse than Herreweghe’s Complete Harmonia Mundi recordings (27 CD’s):
Thanks for the suggestion - Im not sure why but Baroque doesnt do as much for me as others here. I think my time in music school broke me… I got a little tired of Bach in particular while there
Nonetheless, I shall give it a listen - great performances are great performances