Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #63)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, Nov 22, 2014.

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  1. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Continued from here.

    Welcome!

    This thread (and the 61 that have preceded it) is for all things that relate to Classical Music. Feel free to post what you're listening to, recordings you recommend, recent classical purchases, classical concerts, classical works, classical composers or classical performers.

    Please discuss audio hardware and music formats in threads dedicated to those topics.

    Beginners are especially welcome. Feel free to post any questions that you may have about classical music and/or classical recordings. This includes requests for recommendations for recordings of particular works/composers, etc. We have lots of friendly, respectful and knowledgeable members who will be glad to help you out.

    And as always, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all of the regulars (you know who you are) that continue to make this thread an enjoyable, civilized and informative experience! You guys are still the best!

    :wave:
     
    MikaelaArsenault likes this.
  2. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Few conductors, past or present, save Furtwangler, can surpass Karajan when it comes to Wagner Meistersinger. The prelude is both majestic and authoritative ... :righton:

    I don't recall if the EMI CD has the Prelude to Meistersinger but am too lazy to go to my study to check since I am listening to my big rig.

    [​IMG]
     
    Licorice pizza likes this.
  3. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I have both recordings he did of the complete opera plus the excerpts on EMI.
     
  4. Fafner88

    Fafner88 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Haifa, Israel
    I remember when I took a course on the history of western music, Dufay was one of the few medieval composers that I found listenable, quite a beautiful music despite all those weird parallel fourths and fifths. There are a couple of very nice CD's of his choral works with brass accompaniment which makes it less monotonic. Reminds me that I should revisit this stuff, I haven't listened for years to any pre-baroque music.
     
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  5. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have the complete Meistersinger on both LP and on CD as well. Unfortunately, listening to the entire opera is so time-consuming ...
     
  6. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    The color of my Meistersinger box is somewhat different. IIRC, this was the first EMI Wagner opera recorded in East Germany ...

    [​IMG]
     
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  7. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Side B of this LP includes Prelude to Lohengrin Act III and Preludes to Parsifal Acts I & III. IMHO, Parsifal preludes are the ultiimate romantic music and only Furtwangler could surpass Karajan but only slightly ...
     
  8. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have the following 3-LP EMI set in my Wagner collection as well. The bottom of the box on the front says Dacapo while the bottom of the backside of the box says EMI Electrola. On the upper left hand corner is the familiar EMI logo. My understanding is Dacapo is a different record company and Electrola might be the German division of EMI ...

    [​IMG]
     
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  9. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    It is the curse of having too many recordings, as I was not even sure if I already have this CD when bluemooze first posted it but just confirmed I do. It took me many years before I started to appreciate early music ...
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  10. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    I have several like this in my collection

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Scott Wheeler

    Scott Wheeler Forum Resident

    Location:
    ---------------
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  12. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing LP3 - side 6 from the following box to re-acquaint myself with Furtwangler's style for the Prelude to Parsifal Act I ...

    [​IMG]

    BTW, this was a 1938 recording but the sound is actually quite decent.
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  13. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Thanks again. I might end up getting both. :)
     
  14. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    The following box is supposed to include all the recordings ever made by Furtwangler. I have listened through no more than a half dozen CD's so far. The remastering is decent ...

    [​IMG]
     
  15. Hawkman

    Hawkman Supercar Gort Staff

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Good Afternoon from here in New Jersey!

    Recently I've become enamored of the Freddie Mercury/Montserrat Caballè album 'Barcelona'. Particularly the 25th Anniversay album from two years ago that used an actual orchestra instead of the original synthesizers. It's absolutely wonderful!

    I love Montserrat's voice. This is the first time that I have heard it. In fact I never heard the album when it came out originally.

    You have all been so kind with your recommendations to me in previous threads. I beg your indulgence again in my asking recommendations for Montserrat Caballè albums or albums that feature her. DVD recommendations, if any, are also welcome.

    Thank you in advance.
     
  16. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Aida-Giuseppe/dp/B000002RXJ
     
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  17. Fafner88

    Fafner88 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Haifa, Israel
    It depends if you are interested in a complete opera or just a compilation of famous arias. In the first category, I like her Tosca with Carreras conducted by Davis (on Philips/Pentatone), Aida with Domingo conducted by Muti on EMI, and the famous Turandot with Pavarotti for Decca conducted by Mehta. In the second category, there are many "best of" CD's from EMI Decca and RCA, but maybe this CD is the best to start with www.amazon.com/Puccini-Arias-G/dp/B000002RP4/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1416677218&sr=1-3 (and I think that Puccini is a good place to start for opera newcomers in general)
     
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  18. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Forgot about the Tosca - that's very good as well.
     
    Hawkman likes this.
  19. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing CD42 from the following box for a first listen ...

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Cantata No. 134, a cantata I am totally unfamiliar with, was so beautifully performed under the direction of the late Gustav Leonhardt ...
     
  21. Hawkman

    Hawkman Supercar Gort Staff

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Excellent. Thank you so far!

    This track is what put me over. The orchestra and emotion in her voice can bring me to tears. I only put it here to give you an idea of what hits me...although all of the recommendations are most welcome.

     
    bluemooze likes this.
  22. Fafner88

    Fafner88 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Haifa, Israel
    Are you aware that it's Freddie singing in falsetto, NOT Caballe?

    Caballe sounds like this-

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm16-hnbrms
     
  23. Hawkman

    Hawkman Supercar Gort Staff

    Location:
    New Jersey
    What I AM aware of is that I had several tabs open on my iPad and even WITH the preview I still didn't realize that I copied the wrong tab. DUH. :)

    I meant to copy this...

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=HcGZw7RAMPY

    There is a deluxe version of the newer orchestral version that has three other discs including a rarities/outtake disc. One of the cuts is Caballè doing Excercises In Free Love. Regardless, it is the above that hits me. She is wonderful. I like the combo of the two voices.
     
  24. Fafner88

    Fafner88 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Haifa, Israel
    God, and how could I forget her La Boheme with Domingo and Solti. Maybe you should get this one first, if you want a complete opera.

    www.amazon.com/Boheme-Giacomo-Puccini/dp/B000B5Y02S/ref=sr_1_13?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1416682426&sr=1-13
     
    Hawkman likes this.
  25. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    I've been on an extreme Schoenberg kick. Reading Allen Shawn's Arnold Schoenberg's Journey, which is a great read in, as Shawn puts it, is designed to step back from all the analytical focus on Schoenberg's ideas (thought the book his pretty heavily musicological too) and focus on the "fantasy, power, songfulness, beauty, and humor of the music itself." Writes Shawn, "it is not entirely in a spirit of facetiousness that I have said to friends that I fell that perhaps Schoenberg's work deserves a more superficial treatment than it has hitherto received."

    I'm really fascinated by the man and his psychology -- the whole Gerstl episode and the deep psychological and emotional drama in the music of that period, especially the love triangle pieces like Erwartung and even an early tonal piece like Verklarte Nacht (in it's original sextet arrangement, never much warmed too the string orch arrangement).

    But most of all I've been returning to Gould's playing of the piano works. I grew up with the Paul Jacobs, and I've seen Uchida play Schoenberg, only came to the Gould much later. I know it's idiosyncratic, romantic even -- strongly tying free atonal period Schoenberg to its Brahmsian roots -- with Gould playing around with tempos. I know a lot of people prefer the music given a cleaner, more astringent reading and Gould's Schoenberg has plenty of detractors. And I've been returning to the Jacobs too, and to Pollini too. But there's something in the Gould approach that keeps pulling me back in; for better and worse it's almost like he's playing a different piece of music than the other guys, with an emphasis on a surprisingly strong melodic flow and on the music's drama. His was a fascinating and really beautiful way of looking at the work. I especially love his take on the Piano Suite -- which, with it's almost neoclassical buried baroque dance rhythms seems to set up really well for Gould. Can't get enough.

    [​IMG]
     
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