Really enjoyed Handel’s “Tra le fiamme” with Magdalena Kozena and Marc Minkowski. Handel is good music for cheering anyone up. And the CD (Archiv) really is a core collection item. A disc for the Top Fifty collection.

Bought the Nonesuch CD by the Kremerata Baltica of Enescu’s Octet (1900) and Piano Quartet (1940). An enjoyable disc; the works are so completely different! The 1900 Octet sounds vaguely Smetana / Dvorak, whilst the 1940 Piano Quintet sounds almost Stockhausen (“endlessly wandering”). Both works will repay frequent listenings. Enescu’s sole defect as a genius seems to be a lack of ability to write a memorable theme