Classical Corner Classical Music Corner

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, May 29, 2015.

  1. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    I just ordered this Brahms violin concerto and sonata disc by Gluzman. Are you still enjoying your copy and recommend it?
     
  2. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    I've been working my way through an order of Testament CDs that I placed at Berkshire a while back. Tonight I opened the last of them: a 2-CD set of Richard Strauss's last concerts, performances with the Philharmonia and BBC SO he led at a festival in his honor in 1947. A word of warning to those who might be likewise tempted: aside from the Burleske, which is the sole segment of the concert professionally recorded, all the works included are in ca. 5-minute fragments with ca. 15-bar breaks between, because they were taken down by an engineer off air on 78 RPM acetates, and he lost some music each time a blank needed changing. I saw no mention of the lapses on the CD cover and learned of them only upon consulting the track list in the booklet. I imagine what's there will make for interesting study and comparison with other, complete recordings, but it won't do for simple "I want to hear the piece" listening.
     
  3. Zafu

    Zafu Cosmic Muffin

    This is absolutely stunning. Took some of this afternoon off from work and was in complete bliss. This may be the most perfect opera recording I've ever heard in terms of my own musical enjoyment.

    [​IMG]

    About to order this one, recorded in 1960 and wondering if any of you have some feedback and while we are on the subject, would welcome any suggestions for awesome Opera performances, as I've often obtained great recommendations from you folks.
    [​IMG]


    Thank you and peace,

    Zafu
     
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  4. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    How is the sound quality of the Beecham La Boheme?
     
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  5. Zafu

    Zafu Cosmic Muffin

    It's phenomenal. Incredibly clear and detailed.
     
    bruce2 likes this.
  6. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    Wow I am just starting to try some opera and last night after seeing your post decided to order a copy of La Boheme. I read all the reviews I could find and ended up ordering the Karajan version with Pavarotti because it seemed to be the best combination of a good performance with excellent sound. I read a few reviews saying the Beecham sound quality is not very good. However based on what you say I may have to order both and see for myself! Both versions the Beecham and Karajan seem to be almost unanimously praised as two of the best Bohemes.
     
  7. Zafu

    Zafu Cosmic Muffin

    While so much in music is subjective, I am compelled to tell you to ignore those negative sound quality reviews. For all we know, they are listening on ear buds. The detail and dynamics are glorious.

    Cheers,

    Zafu
     
  8. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    Thanks I ordered a copy of the original 80s non-remastered EMI cd. Can't wait to hear it!
     
  9. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    You might also want to consider the recording led by Arturo Toscanini, a radio broadcast concert performance from 1946. The sound, of course, is not modern stereo, but Toscanini led the opera's premiere and was closely associated with Puccini for the rest of the composer's life.
     
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  10. Zafu

    Zafu Cosmic Muffin

    Sending you a PM. It's the one that was remastered in 1986 with EMI on the lower right as in the picture I posted.
     
  11. JuniorMaineGuide

    JuniorMaineGuide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boulder, Colorado
    It looks like the ECM catalogue is on Spotify! :pineapple::pineapple::pineapple:
     
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  12. layman

    layman Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I only got a chance to listen to it one time before I had to box it up for storage. I look forward to getting it out of storage and listening in more depth...hopefully in the next month or so.
     
  13. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    I have listened to it twice so far and enjoy it. I really like the Brahms Violin Sonata included on this disc too.
     
  14. Wugged

    Wugged Forum Resident

    Location:
    Warsaw, Poland
    Yes indeed. Some of those Naxos discs are outstanding. Amongst my favourites are the Guitar Laureate series under the guidance of Norbert Kraft and the really superb Haydn Piano Sonatas set by Jando. I have yet to hear better Haydn - better than Brendel and others IMHO.
     
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  15. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Played a handful of Sofronitsky the last few days, haven't heard anything of his besides some of the more popular Russian composers in a while. The Scriabin disc I have is a more recent Japanese reissue on Denon that sounded fine. It was only after switching to some rips by Vista Vera I was again reminded just how poor they sound with noise reduction ranging from barely acceptable to completely egregious, ie on Beethoven's Op. 111 there was very obvious "flutter" during trailing notes and they sometimes boost the upper midrange as well to make it sound less dead. Saving grace was that it was a fiery performance of Op. 111 and one fairly obvious that it had Sofronitsky's fingerprints on it. IIRC this was from a FLAC rip of Scriabin Museum Vol 4 by Vista Vera.

    [​IMG]
     
  16. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    [​IMG]

    A recent “dollar” find, this is a near-mint copy of the 1979 reissue of Karl Richter’s BACH Brandenburg Concertos, 2 LPs. From DG’s “silver foil” period, the cover is laminated in silver foil, like they did with others at the time, like Kleiber’s Brahms 4 or Michelangeli’s Chopin. It looks beautiful in person and the photos can’t quite do it justice. There is a great Karl Richter photo on the back of the gatefold:

    [​IMG]

    I really like this 1967 performance. It’s probably not HIP enough for most people, but it’s still quite fleet on its feet. It also appeared on CD in the “Originals” series, albeit bearing a variation of the original cover, which is different.

    I’m not sure if this set was supposed to contain liner notes, but mine doesn’t have an insert. On the inside of the gatefold there is only a detailed listing of the instrumentation used and details about the recording. The deadwax contains (P) 1967, meaning it uses original metalwork.

    Anyone else familiar with this interpretation?

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Gorgeous artwork, I love when they do these hand drawn covers.

    Yesterdays listening was Pascal Roge playing Satie. It has been a long time since I heard this CD, Ciccolini is normally my preferred musician to play Satie. This CD by Roge had very nice performances as well.

    What was just as impressive is this was a 1984 all digital recording and I never would have guessed it if I went into it listening blind. The digital recording sounded very modern and truthful.

    [​IMG]
     
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  18. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    Agree, that is a very, very good Satie. In fact, my favourite “non-slow” Satie.
    Aldo Ciccolini, on the other hand? Can't stand him. His playing sounds cold.

    Regarding the digital, I find Decca was very good at it from the start. Their early digital recordings sound amazing and warm. They had their own in-house built digital converters and recorders. Their more recent digital recordings sound even more analog-like in my opinion, might be due to their using old mics and mic pre-amps, don't know. But I know that their Gewandhaus/Chailly orchestra recordings sound like they could have been late '70s analogue recordings.
     
  19. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I fully agree about Ciccolini. And his Beethoven sonatas are even worse. Maybe the first time I thought it was appropriate for something to be out of print. :D

    As for Roge, I love his Satie (even if I prefer Thibaudet's a bit more), his Poulenc (even if I like Tecchino more) and his Saint Saens concertos.
     
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  20. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    I relistened to his Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes, IMO the major difference is his tempi can sometimes be a bit more brisk and he doesn't use the pedals as much as Roge so it isn't as rich or deep. I think these things do give some more atmosphere to Roge's playing and having relistened to both now I probably do have a preference for Roge overall and will be seeking out his other Decca CD. When it went into the Gnossiennes last night Roge's was the most "film like" (as if it sounds like it is scored for scenes in a movie) I had ever heard these works.

    I find this very interesting :) I am guessing my preference for Ciccolini is because he was probably my first introduction to Satie and it wouldn't be uncommon for me to continue to like performances where I was first (or very early on) introduced to a work and when I did my comparison a long time ago I was using de Leeuw's earliest recording.

    To switch topics from Satie, I want to upgrade my Sofrontisky CDs/FLAC rips. Any suggestions from you guys?
     
  21. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Yes, I almost said that earlier. It can be a very strong influence on what I like/don't like, though I try hard to keep it from happening by trying to have an open mind.

    Upgrade in what way? Sound or performance?

    His recordings are notoriously poor in sound quality. The best i could suggest is to check out this discussion on another forum - Vladimir Sofronitsky
     
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  22. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    I mostly meant sound quality as it applies to mastering, I don't mind poor recording quality. I am open to hearing about specific recommendations for sound and performance if you have any. From everything that I have heard his playing is to my taste so I don't mind recommendations from a wide variety of composers. Most of the rips I have are by Vista Vera some of the noise reduction on them is aggressive. I have a couple of CDs released in Japan a few years ago under Denon.

    ie below, except it is the Studio Recordings 1.

    [​IMG]

    I will go through those threads, but I definitely trust you guys more when it comes to mastering!
     
  23. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Ciccolini at times can be too anti romantic sounding in his playing of the pieces. However, IIRC Satie held himself out as anti romantic but I agree that some players go overboard with the steely mechanical sounding non breathing sound.
     
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  24. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    There are a few people in that thread, one in particular, who really know their stuff.

    For whatever reason, Sofronitsky never really clicked for me. I recall a few individual performances that really impressed me, but the rest weren't my thing.
     
  25. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Do you do Youtube? I'll upload the 1946 recording of him playing Scriabin piano sonata no 3, op. 23 if you haven't heard it. This is one of my favorite performances of this piece.
     

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