#morninglistening to EsaPekkaSalonen's Turangalîla. I hadn't considered calling any version of this amazing piece elegant, but this account might just push me that way. Propelling & linear. But a bit more bloom and warmth in parts would be welcome. It's more romantic than he shows it to be.

#morninglistening to #Fricsay's Zauberflöte on @DGclassics w/the RIAS Orchestra. Not surprisingly, this is exactly FricsayFerenc's tack; RitaStreich is there, of course. Light touch, great lilt, good, reduced dialogue. An easy co-favorite. Amzn: amzn.to/4a755zQ

#morninglistening to #CharlesMackerras and the ScottishChamberOrchestra on Telarc in #WAMozart's Zauberflöte. All his Mozart is good, but the Magic Flute is second only to his Così, w/ neat, fresh tempi just about throughout & lively characterization. Amzn: amzn.to/49PkiVM #NowPlaying

#morninglistening to the best Gounod #Faust? Certainly not by any consensus I'm aware of. But the WelshNationalOpera's recording w/CarloRizzi is my personal favorite al the same, feat. JerryHadley, CeciliaGasdia & SamuelRamey on the back 9 of his glory-days. Teldec/Warner

Rosenkavalier1B #Weidringer[TM] for said opera but at the Volksoper Wien.

#morninglistening to Mozarts's CosìFanTutte with the @viennaphilharmonic under Jimmy Levine & a fine cast (incl. Ann Murray &; Thomas Hampson) that offers somewhat foursquare but tender beauty. A 'standard' rendition foil to Jacobs (♡), though you might prefer Böhm.

Austrian premiere of #Benamor at the @theateranderwien.bsky.social for @diepressecom.bsky.social „Benamor“ im Theater an der Wien: Nehmt das bitte nicht zu ernst! Zwischen Shakespeare und Pension Schöller: Die freche Zarzuela „Benamor“ im Theater an der Wien bietet Unterhaltung, Camp & gute Musik.

No one should be ashamed of loving the accordion. Not even clowns. #CriticsNotebook: Martynas Levickis and the Accordion Take Center Stage at the Schubert-Saal ionarts.blogspot.com/2026/01/crit...

#morninglistening to #CharlesMackerras and the @scottishchamberorchestra on @telarcintl in #WAMozart's DonGiovanni. There is so much that's good here--but in toto, it does not rise to the levels of his Così (or the Zauberflöte, for that matter). It remains a little staid. Amzn: amzn.to/49PkiVM

Another #KlausMäkelä-sighting at the Konzerthaus: ionarts.blogspot.com/2026/01/crit... DSCH-8 & Tchaik VC

#morninglistening to #WAMozart's ballet/ incidental music. Philips used Zinman w/the @nederlandskamerorkest for the Idomeneo music here and in the 2000 remake. (The insta sound-clip suggesting otherwise is wrong.) Amzn: amzn.to/49CqxgU

Calling all #Parsifal-mavens and those who would like to join the club: Up on ionarts now, the latest and last Kna' Bayreuth Parsifal issued and reviewed. ionarts.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...

Latest for @diepressecom.bsky.social: Olivier Latry/Shin-Young Lee at the Rieger Organ of the Konzerthaus and Martynas Levickis (we restored him to being Lithuanian, online, sorry!) on its little brother, the accordion.

From a #CriticsNotebook: Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique

#morninglistening to the selectively underrated Prokofiev symphonies of TheodoreKuchar w/the Ntl Symphony Orch. of Ukraine on @naxosmusic. Motivating me to finish my ionarts survey of such cycles. Amzn: amzn.to/3NyTdPg It's astonishing how rarely we listen to these sys, except for Nos.1 & 5 maybe.

#morninglistening to CharlesMackerras and the scottishchamberorchestra on telarc in WAMozart's LeNozzeDiFigaro. Mackerras provided Mozartian goodness, even if this does not rise to the levels of his Così (or Zauberflöte, for that matter). Amzn: amzn.to/49PkiVM

Squeezed #Weidringer [TM] for Martynas Levickis at the Wiener Konzerthaus. Because the accordion needs some love! (And I love the fact that Die Presse covers 'little' concerts like this. So good for the classical ecosystem not just review the biggest hits! (Support your paper.)

#morninglistening to #Fricsay's 1955 mono MagicFlute w/the RIAS and his ensemble-cast including Haefliger, FiDi, Stader, Streich. Greindl is a good Sarastro but KimBorg's wobbly Speaker just about ruins things. Some tempi are slow by today's standards but Fricsay's genius shines through enough.

Organic #Weidringer[TM] for Olivier Latry & Shin-Young Lee at the Riegerv Organ of the Wiener Konzerthaus

#morninglistening to one of my little obsessions: FAUST in music. Of the obscure ones (and coming after a horrid one), "Aus Goethes Faust" by JuliusRöntgen (insert "transparency" joke here) is one is the better ones. NetherlandsSO performs the conservativehigh romanticism deliciously.

#morninglistening to ClaudioAbbado's beautiful, arguably genteel LeNozzeDiFigaro. Raising the question: Can Mozart be too plush & beautiful? Probably not; it's a great foil to recordings w/more action. VPO on good form, too. Amzn: amzn.to/4k6NcWt Along the lines of Solti, Levine, > Mehta & Davis.

#morninglistening to glorious #JSBach-goodness: CconcertoCopenhagen in arrangements of the TrioSonatas into concertos on @berlinclassicsmusic. Now this is how transcription works! (As opposed to the Fröst album, for example.) Amzn: amzn.to/4pRUgY5

Speaking of helping people, my Spotlight in this week's Fanfare is a benefit for The Sunday Love Project, the organization that feeds Philadelphians in need. At the helm is pianist Jonathan Biss, with 7 talented @curtisinstitute.bsky.social musicians at his side sundaylove.org

When thinking about Iran, I always want to talk with Marina Nemat. She is a dissident and former political prisoner from that country. She has long been exiled in Canada. Conversations with her are both informative and moving. We spoke earlier today. www.jaynordlinger.com/p/thinking-a...

You've got it hand it to AI -- sometimes it really knows what it's talking about! 🥰

Zeitreise ins Reich der Langeweile: www.diepresse.com/20491037/jor...

Jordi Savall and his band opened this year's early music festival "Resonanzen" — themed "Les femmes" — with a pure Vivaldi program culminating in the Four Seasons. Holy cow... Yikes.... ionarts.blogspot.com/2026/01/crit...

Es gibt Werke, da bietet sich eigentlich nur eines an: Augen schließen, Füller aus der Hand, Notizbuch weg–und, Ohren voraus, mit dem ganzen Körper eintauchen und sich in der Musik verlieren. „Des canyons aux étoiles…“ ist so ein Stück. www.diepresse.com/20488605/kla... @klangforumwien.bsky.social

#morninglistening my way through the 'Mozart-neglectables' w/#LaFintaSemplice. A flop in his lifetime (WAM was 12!) Better than B&B, w/ some arias that have no right to be as good a they are. Philips/BerlinClassics' 1989-recording under Peter Schreier w/a superb cast - ...

Latest for @diepressecom.bsky.social: Joshua Bell & the @asmforchestra.bsky.social at the Konzerthaus www.diepresse.com/20485169/kon...

From Hegel to Heidegger, Adorno, and Calvin. It's a continuous tradition of verbiage. :-)

#CriticsNotebook: From the Canyons to the Stars... Messiaen, Metzmacher & Klangforum at the Konzerthaus ionarts.blogspot.com/2026/01/crit...

Bru Zane / Müpa Budapest: Unerhört französisch in Ungarn opern.news/news/beitrag...

#morninglistening to WilliamChristie's "Abduction from the Seraglio" on @eratofrance. I've seen some shade thrown at this somewhere but w/a sublime young cast at their early peak & the ever-bubbly @lesartsflo, I find this, if anything, one of the best Entführungen.

#morninglistening to this gem, bec. it's good 2B in the Picture! ByronJanis' balance & clarity are amazing; sound's a bit hard but it fits. > Richter/Sofia! Amzn: amzn.to/4aYSWip The Dorati/Minnesota orchestrated Pictures is fab addition, really making this a staple in a #Mussorgsky collection.

Ringing #Weidringer[TM] for Josh Bell & Academy of St Martin in the Fields at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Puts, Brahms, Schumann.

Novel #Weidringer[TM] at the Müpa Budapest for Léo Delibes' Jean de Nivelle!

This is fun - orchestrated versions of the six Trio Sonatas.

#morninglistening full of excitement to the latest and last installment of the Mr.&Mrs. ÉricLebrun & MarieAngeLeurent #JSBach Organ Cycle on @ChanteloupMusique! Grand finale with the TrioSonatas that I love so much! Amazon: amzn.to/4bD4Cr8 (Instagram sound clip from different volume.)

#morninglistening to GustavMahler's 2nd, Resurrection Symphony from the LorinMaazel/ViennaPhil cycle on Sony. I'm sure that cycle, always the fab 4th apart, was never so bad as its critics had it. But it's also surely not a good as the participants should have wanted it to be. Amzn: amzn.to/455b7PG

Our latest podcast is up on YouTube! #ClassicalDiscoveries on Franz Schreker - "an old-fashioned modernist" www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELbo...

Orange - my other favorite fountain pen ink color! Here's a list of the inks - YELLOWS & ORANGES - I've collected, somewhat in order of shade. (The Graphilo paper isn't as forgiving as old-style as Tomoe River and the Noodler's inks suffered as a result.)

#morninglistening, as I have some catching up to do, to Part II of the JSBach ChristmasOratorio w/JisVanVeldhoven & the bachvereniging on - one of my absolute fave recordings. The soundclip on Insta is from the Bachstiftung recording, though, bec: Hey, that Evangelist!♡ Amzn: https:/amzn.to/4srHBgP

#morninglistening to the @escherquartet on @bisrecordsofficial to remind myself how lively #FelixMendelssohn Bartholdy's op.12 #StringQuartet can be! Amzn: amzn.to/4qEwHCQ Favorite complete cycle??

#morninglistening to the RobertSchumann PianoQuintet op.44 w/the #BeauxArtsTrio in its Pressler-Cohen-Greenhouse formation. On Philips/@deccaclassics. Compare the 2nd mvt. to the Andante of Schubert's op.100 Trio and tell me you don't hear the similarity!?! Amzn: a-fwd.to/2uMYZGa

Very confusing movie. Is it meant to make me hate everyone - and in doing so, is it being semi-clever and politically surprisingly nuanced? Or is it unironically pro-one-side - and in doing so an absolute sh*tshow of cluelessness?

#morninglistening to this 1982 recording, originally on @DeccaClassics, of Palestrina, Allegri & Co w/the Westminster Cathedral Choir & StephenCleobury. Reissued on the short-lived but lovely NewtonClassics. Amzn: amzn.to/4ppdJis

Quintuple #Weidringer for #quatuormosaïques #AndrasSchiff (#SchiffAndrás) and a Blüthner from 1859 at the @Konzerthaus

#DipYourEars No.283: Martin Fröst’s maudlin’ mushy B.A.C.H. ionarts.blogspot.com/2026/01/dip-...

#morninglistening to an easy inclusion in the #HvK115 Project: HerbertVonKarajan's Tchaikovsky ballet suites w/the Vienna Phil on @deccaclassics Recorded by John Culshaw in 1961 & 65. Fabulous, candid booklet text from David Gutman FountainPen SailorProGearSlim Shikioro