# 2021 Listening Project - Jan 9



## daco (Jan 5, 2021)

J.S. Bach
Brandenburg Concerto #3
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock, conductor
1979

The melodies are well-known to me from playing this CD multiple times. But this may be the first time that I really recognized just how short the middle movement is - just 33 seconds in this recording. Which prompted me to read more about this piece, and so I'm now aware that the score for this movement was just two chords, so that the movement was likely meant to be an improvised cadenza (at least according to wikipedia). A nice thing about /listening/ to this music more carefully is recognizing stuff like this.

Love's Illusion
Anonymous 4

A compilation of motets from the Montpellier Codex (13th century).

It was really fun to listen to this music and try to follow the ways that the different sung lines interact with each other. Often very beautiful music. Thanks to the liner notes I'm starting to understand what a "motet" is. I do think that this type of music (many of the tracks have 2 or 3 voices signing different words at the same time) would be more interesting if I understood the language, so now I'm wondering whether there is similar music performed in English.
On the other hand, the tracks do somewhat run together. I think you'd have to have more experience with this kind of music than I do in order for the different tracks to take on more of an individual character.

Track 21 (Dame, que je n'os noumer/Amis donc est/Lonc tans a (Mo 337)) was my favorite.

Dvorak Piano Trio "Dumky" Op. 90
Antonín Dvořák
Z.E.N. Trio

Wonderful music! This was another CD purchase at the end of 2020, and this was my second careful listen of this piece (but first in the new year). I particularly enjoyed the Andante. This (along with the Brahms Trio on the same CD) makes we want to listen to more Piano Trios.


----------

