Bach Netherlands Bach Society Van Veldhoven St. Matthew Passion, Bwv 244 (2011) {hybrid Sacd Eac}

Franz Liszt - Tasso, Totentanz, Piano Music
Claudius Tanski (Piano) / Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Stefan Blunier
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 200 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Gold" # 937 1678-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

Happy birthday, Franz Liszt! The Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under its conductor Stefan Blunier and the pianist Claudius Tanski present orchestral works and piano music by this Austro-Hungarian great, including the overture to Goethe’s Torquato Tasso and the Totentanz of 1849, on the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of his birth. A finely nuanced extra comes in the form of an orchestration of La lugubre gondola by John Adams.

Robert Schumann - Complete Works For Violin And Orchestra
Ulf Wallin / Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie / Frank Beermann
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 316 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: BIS # BIS-SACD-1775 | Country/Year: Europe 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

This SACD is a delight! (…) If you are not familiar with Schumann’s violin concerto, by all means avail yourself of this excellent BIS SACD – I think you will be happy to make its acquaintance.

Robert Schumann - The Violin Sonatas
Ulf Wallin & Roland Pöntinen
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 326 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: BIS # BIS-SACD-1784 | Country/Year: Europe 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

… Violinist Ulf Wallin and pianist Roland Pöntinen recorded the Sonata No. 1 in 2009 in Stockholm and the remaining sonatas in 2010 in Berlin, and there is a noticeable improvement in sound quality in the later recordings, possibly due to closer microphone placement and more resonant acoustics. Even so, Wallin and Pöntinen are consistent in their penetrating interpretations and they deliver handsome performances that hold the album together and make it a fine artistic achievement.

Miah Persson / Joseph Breinl - Portraits: Songs by Clara and Robert Schumann
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 221 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: BIS # BIS-SACD-1834 | Country/Year: Europe 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

BIS engineers have produced a very naturalistic recording of piano and singer in the former Academy of Music hall in Stockholm. However, the large hall is very obviously empty, from its notable resonance, tending to reduce the perceived image of the players somewhat. These songs were meant for drawing rooms and salons, not large reverberant auditoriums, and personally, I felt that the essential intimacy of a lieder recital was somewhat lacking, and the 5.0 multichannel version rather emphasised this. The resonance does contribute to blurring the singer's diction and also tends to cloud some of the rapid piano figuration. These are minor points, and can be partly overcome by raising the playing volume level.

Christoph Prégardien / Ensemble Kontraste - Wanderer: Songs by Schumann, Killmayer & Mahler
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 262 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Challenge Classics # CC72518 | Country/Year: Europe 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Vocal, Songs

All those concerned with this Wanderer project are to be heartily congratulated. I will listen to this splendidly performed release again and again. (…) There are twenty four works on this disc. The vast majority of these are established in the standard repertoire but are presented here in a different guise by tenor Christoph Prégardien and the Ensemble Kontraste. The impressive Prégardien has a distinct baritonal quality to his lower register. Across the scores the concept of the Wanderer from German Romantic literature is a constant theme that works superbly well.

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 WAB 108 (Version 1890) in C minor
Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Stefan Blunier
2xSACD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 331 MB | Full Artwork: 98 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1713-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Orchestral

"Even though Stefan Blunier's 2011 recording of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is a lot to digest, timed at over 88 minutes and stretched almost to the breaking point, this is a deeply compelling performance and an impressive recording that deserves all the time listeners devote to it. (…) MDG's natural, unprocessed sound is a great aid to capturing the orchestra's subtle dynamics, and the live recording has very few extraneous sounds. Highly recommended." ~AMG