#232 The Smell of Crudeness

It's raw and crude and ill music, no doubt. So wild, furious, and choleric. how it bites and claws, how it kills.

Gardiner with ORR is mysterious here. Jut the bells themselves would be enough but he goes very much beyond that. The timpani! The whispering strings at 8'29''! This is sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, in its original form.

Composer: Hector Berlioz
Work: Symphonie fantastique, IV. Songe d'une nuit de sabbat
Recording: Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, John Eliot Gardiner

#158 The Smell of Melting

Light and grace of Spain! I can't do it often but today is the day. The layers of voices are interlaced and superimposed, and melted together, and layered again, till alleluia.

JEG and his Monteverdi Choir is so special, unbeatable. Very touching, sublime. They're not just singing, it's somehow more inner.

Composer: Tomás Luis de Victoria
Work: O lux et decus Hispaniae
Recording: The Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner

#126 The Smell of Endless Return

No matter what: there's always a return. She can be exalted, she can be mad–she's always back. It's a painful, hurting way back. There's anger and wrath and fury, and they all subject to enigmatic love.

For von Otter, this is a one-off performance. Orchestra sound is suppressed, not important; everything is in the voice.

Composer: Kurt Weill
Work: Happy End, Surabaya-Johnny
Recording: Anne Sofie von Otter, NDR-Sinfonieorchester, John Eliot Gardiner

#113 The Smell of England

Rejoice, O English hearts, rejoice! What's more English than Britten's Spring Symphony? Both layered and simple, gentle and noble.

When Robbin joins Ainsley at 1'11'', the words are like the olympic flame. And then the growing and the explosion at 1'35''... for this grass should be ever green. And so, my friends, I cease.

Composer: Benjamin Britten
Work: Spring Symphony, Part IV Finale: "London, to thee I do present"
Recording: Alison Hagley, Catherine Robbin, John Mark Ainsley, The Boy and Girl Choristers of Salisbury Cathedral, The Monteverdi Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, John Eliot Gardiner

#107 The Smell of Oppression

There's a great strength pushing from the very first moment. These confirmatory chords at 0'11'', the prance at 0'20'', the shift at 0'26'', the punches starting from 0'34''. The hidden stress afterwards, leading to Allegro molto vivace at 2'10''. Here's dreadful oppression, tension of forces. Listen how it comes back at 7'25''.

Gardiner is an apostle of such strains. His reading of the symphony allows it to grow within you, for you to reach, to understand your limits. Spring walk with me.

Composer: Robert Schumann
Work: Symphony No 1, I. Andante un poco maestoso
Recording: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner

#96 The Smell of Knowing Better

Do you smell it? Leporello's predominance, his advantage? How safe he feels he is, how confident? And the music is totally clear: it's a game, it's a twiddling: randy cat and half-dead mouse.

The period instruments of EBS give the aria rough edges; it's wild, not so rounded. Donna Elvira should have known better.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Work: Don Giovanni, "Madamina, il catalogo è questo"
Recording: Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

#94 The Smell of Fug

This is smell, literally. I smell fug, age, marasmus. It breathes with leather-bags: asthmatic, noisy panting. And in the same time, it goes high, very high. Or actually, it does not go: it's already there.

This recording is, above all, a recording by Monteverdi Choir. Utterly clear, pregnant sound, clean pronunciation. Together with unrivaled EBS, it's a masterpiece no one can match.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Work: Requiem, I. Introitus: Requiem
Recording: Barbara Bonney, Anne Sofie von Otter, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Willard White, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

#44 The Smell of Fragility

Sure, Papageno's aria sounds joyful. But it's so fragile, so subtle, one is afraid to breathe. The music is fleet-footed: hopsasa!

Gerald Finley is pretty convincing as Papageno. Here's a land of good, nothing wrong can happen here. And we just swallow the bait. It really was ein Netz.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Work: The Magic Flute, "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja"
Recording: Gerald Finley, The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

#36 The Smell of Stallion

Gallops. Frenetic turns, and there's only one direction: forward! A sprinter reaching out for victory. No shadows, no dark tones–pure pleasure. The sudden fortes are not scary, it's just funny yapping.

ORR/Gardiner recording is the finest one. Fast reading, full of joy, excellent sound. I still remember when I've heard it for the very first time. Delightful.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Work: Symphony No 7, III. Presto – Assai meno presto
Recording: Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, John Eliot Gardiner

#31 The Smell of Blue Skies

After the introduction, a cathedral is built. Its roof is missing, you can still see the blue skies. Very enjoyable piece of architecture.

Gardiner's account is grandiose, the sound is absorbent. Strict playing is combined with reckless joy. A peaceful movement that does not expect anything in reward. Enjoy.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Symphony No 2, IV. Allegro con spirito
Recording: Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, John Eliot Gardiner

#17 The Smell of Firmness

This is a very special recording of Coriolan. Smell the force of bows in the first chord, it defines the landscape. Here I am, here I stand, live or dead.

Depending on your mood, you can sense Coriolan music as either fragmentary or concentrated. It's nervous, pushing forward. And then (after 6 minutes), the heroic theme breaks in the middle. The finale brings nothing but emptiness with no salvation.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Work: Coriolan Overture
Recording: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner

#1 The Smell of Intimacy

It's a quiet, very intimate setting. It's magic of the night. Smell the affection between alto voice and male choir when they repeat leise, leise. In that moment, music is not around you, it's inside you, spreading through your body. Sip hot tea–that's the feeling.

Schlaf du nicht, schlaf du nicht–do not sleep. Not now.

Composer: Franz Schubert
Work: Ständchen, D. 920
Recording: Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner