What are you listening to right now?

The new Jonas Kaufmann  cd : Wagner.

Me dear lord can a voice have any more perfection?

Well no singer's perfect, Adrian, but I know what you mean.

Here's what i said in an earlier post (sorry about the repetition, but I don't know how to include a link)

Currently listening to Domingo and various others (Vinay, Vickers, King) as points of comparison and contrast after having played the new Jonas Kaufmann Wagner CD, with Deutsche Opera forces under Runnicles.

The disc contains some superlative singing. His In Fernem Land is every bit as glorious as I remember it live, and his Tannhauser and Rienzi excerpts are wonderfully and very sensitively sung. Kaufmann is a considerable vocal actor in my opinion, a facet of his art that gets comparatively little attention. Perhaps that's understandable given the magnificence of his voice.

It's also a thoughtfully compiled recital, and I'm expecting him to bring the same combination of voice and artistry to the Wesendonck Lieder, to which I've not yet listened.

I'm eagerly awaiting hearing him in recital and Don Carlo this coming spring (or what might pass for it here).

I've just taken delivery of the ROH Tosca DVD with him, Terfel and Gheorghiu. I'm steeling myself for some OTT facial histrionics from Terfel (they were obvious in the performances I attended and will presumably be even more obvious in close-up) but it should bring back memories of what was an impressive production. 

Lovers of Schubert's piano music should not miss the current BBC MM cover disc; Sonata D959, one of the peaks of the repertoire, scaled absolutely magnificently by Francesco Piemontesi. The finest new disc I have heard in a long time (but my first love is always the piano - no Ring cycle can compete with this for me!).

Thanks, Parla, for the additional info, I was not aware of his Schumann recordings, must look them out. On the subject of Schumann have also recently enjoyed Imogen Cooper's new disc including Kreisleriana & Fantasiestucke (Chandos).

Parla, I am not sure you are accurate here. The Claves Schumann cycle has been using a variety of pianists for the releases. Apart from Piemontesi (who has a new recording fo the Dvorak and Schumann PCs coming out on Naive) two volumes have been released with Finghin Collins, two with Cedric Pescia and one from Piemontesi, which contains the piano sonatas and the fantasie. The Piemontesi performance of the fantasie is very fine and quite different to that from Florian Uhlig in Hanssler, who has been working his way through a full cycle too. Neither though has manged to match Pollini.

As coincidence would have it (I seem to be saying that quite a lot recently) I saw a thread on the talkclassical.com forum about preferences for the choice of finale of Beethoven's SQ Op 130.  This just as I had finished the chapter on it in that excellent Angus Watson book I have mentioned a couple of times.  Since, I have played my Lindsay SQ version twice - once with the Grosse Fuge and once with its more commonly performed alternative.  (Not in the same listening session, I hasten to add.  I need re-entry time after these works.)

Two things about this.  The talkclassical.com site was recommended by my American corresponding friend when both of us were reacting to more turbulent and contentious times here.  It served (and serves) up mutually respectful and encouraging exchanges in a way that would attract people to classical music, I believe.  The Haydnesque site has a similar feel to it.  The former is huge and rather oddly ordered, the latter more intimate and less used - about the size of this one, I would say.  A look at alternative platforms might have something to say to us all about improving this one perhaps.

Setting aside the issues around the composer's real or supposed intentions, what do others who love these works think or prefer?  I don't have the experience or the knowledge to bring anything academic into my preference, but after listening with the Grosse Fuge I felt I had had the more profound experience somehow.

Other insights and opinions would, as with so many other contributions here, help understanding and appreciation - for me and to anyone new to this great, great music.

Vic.

Interesting Vic!

I suppose many of us have struggled with this question. I think the Grosse Fuge was Beeethoven's intended finale.  The alternative was an afterthought, in response to suggestions, and perhaps his own feeling that the fugue was too massive a finale. Perhaps the fugue is too massive, but the other finale never seems to me to quite belong to the rest of the quartet. I definitely come down in favour of the Grosse Fuge most times I listen, and I think that perhaps a concensus has shifted that way lately.

For curiosity I just looked at the recordings I have.  All put both movements on the same CD, making it easy to choose the finale one wants.  The Alban Berg, Hungarian and Vegh versions put the Grosse Fuge first with the short finale as an appendix, so presumably that is their preferred option.  The Italians and Bartok Quartets do the opposite - the short finale first. That's 3:2 in favour of the fugal finale. I don't have the Lindsays' versions.

Anyway, wonderful music, either way!

Chris