Classical Corner Classical Music Corner

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

  1. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    His Beethoven sonatas did not impress me at first (the slowish fast movements, the fastish slow movements, the narrow dynamic range in his playing), but because they were so highly regarded I stuck with them. His sense of structure with these works is peerless. I always feel I am with a knowing, confident guide. Still, his choices are very much his own and on his terms. He doesn't come to you, you must go to him.

    I find the playing better on the mono set (last I saw it was available from Amazon Japan) but the stereo set has much better sound.
     
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  2. Wes H

    Wes H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    In surveying my meager collection of Backhaus LPs, I almost mentioned that I'd not heard his early (78) recordings which are surely more representative of his peak years... but I thought I'd rambled on long enough and David would likely jump on that fact. I see you beat him to it! ;)
     
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  3. Wes H

    Wes H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I see -- "cold" & "unemotional." And yet I've always heard he was a great interpreter of Romantic works--particularly Brahms. Is your assessment based on the early 78-rpm recordings?
     
  4. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Yes, as issued on Naxos.
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2018
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  5. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    He certainly has his fans for Brahms, though I have never heard of him being a great interpreter of Romantic works. I had always thought that he was best known for his Beethoven.

    By the way, his prewar Brahms is on Spotify if you wish to sample it. It's the subpar Music and Arts transfers, but you can at least get a sense of the playing.

    Since this has come up (and its been a year or so since I last listened), I plan to check out his prewar solo Brahms again soon and see if my opinion has changed.
     
  6. Åke Bergvall

    Åke Bergvall Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mariestad, Sweden
    Another possibility is to wait for the Complete Szell (106 CDs) coming out in August, which presumably will have new masterings if recent Sony boxes are anything to go by. It's available for pre-order from jpc: Complete.. -Box Set- (106 CDs) – jpc .
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2018
  7. Wes H

    Wes H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I've not heard enough Backhaus to form an opinion; just going by some things I've read...

    Wikipedia: "He was particularly well known for his interpretations of Beethoven and romantic music such as that by Brahms."

    Gramophone magazine: "...there were two events which left an indelible impression: at the age of ten he met Brahms and played for him; and at about the same time he heard performances of both the Brahms piano concertos by Eugen d'Albert, with the composer conducting. He later studied with d'Albert in Frankfurt. These personal associations provided a particular source of inspiration for Backhaus, who was always at his very best in the music of Brahms. This fact was recognized by HMV's Fred Gaisberg, who invited the pianist to record an extensive series of Brahms piano works in the mid 1930s."

    I appreciate your steering me to Spotify, though, and I'll see if I can look up some of his early recordings.
     
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  8. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Revisiting the Op. 76 works and late works from this CD for the first time in a while. The fast works are as I remembered them. They sound rushed with clipped phrases. Many of the slow works are also played somewhat fast and without any real tenderness.
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2018
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  9. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Still working through the Mahler symphonies. Tonight enjoying an old favorite:

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Wes H

    Wes H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    The Four Ballades by Chopin on the turntable now. I would say that Ivan Moravec's recording on Connoisseur is my favorite, but I'm also very fond of this brilliant 1959 performance by Philippe Entremont.

    This is an original "6-eye" Columbia Masterworks LP (mono).

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. dale 88

    dale 88 Errand Boy for Rhythm

    Location:
    west of sun valley
    Andrew Davis
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Tasmin Little

    Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 6; Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; The Lark Ascending.
    Apex, 2003
    from a Teldec recording 1991.
    Recording engineer: Tony Faulkner

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2018
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  12. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I would say the same.
     
  13. Wes H

    Wes H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    This evening I'm playing a 1978 Nonesuch LP of Six Sonatinas for Piano by Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni -- a composer better known for his Bach transcriptions than for his own original works. Composed between 1910 and 1920, these "Sonatinas" are wide-ranging in style: One sounds almost classical, yet others are more 20th century--with nods to Bizet and Prokofieff--but never atonal. As played by Paul Jacobs (on a Baldwin SD-10 Concert Grand), these short pieces are magical.

    [​IMG]
    The cover illustration is a portrait of the composer by his son, Raffaello Busoni, who drew it from memory in 1925, a year after his father's passing.

    Recorded in June 1978, New York, by Marc J. Aubort & Joanna Nickrenz (Elite Recordings, Inc.) / Mastering by Robert C. Ludwig (Masterdisk).
    Liner notes by Paul Jacobs.
     
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  14. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Busoni himself made some recordings and reproducing piano rolls; alas, like Caruso, he died just before electric recording became available. I have one of his records, for which I paid a pretty penny, even though I think it's not one of the more rare ones: English Columbia L 1445, which couples the first prelude and fugue from Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, Book I, with Chopin's Etude op. 25 no. 5.
     
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  15. joshm2286

    joshm2286 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    I started listening to classical music back in 2001 to relax. About three or four years ago a family member gave me a CD with Chopin and I really enjoyed it. The CD was a part of Sony's Infinity Digital series so I bought 4 more classical titles from that series and really enjoy them. To my ears they were mastered and recorded well. I recommend them. My favorites are Chopin,Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi.
     
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  16. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Welcome to the thread!

    Chopin is one of my favorite composers as well!
     
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  17. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Hi folks, hope all are doing well. :wave:

    I would encourage anybody who likes some of the APR releases of older piano recordings (e.g. early Kempff) to check out emusic.com. Many of these releases are available for download, including the booklet (essential, in my view), and given the current sale the site is offering for download credit, they're effectively about 75% off the price you'd find on Amazon. I am in the process of downloading about a half-dozen right now . . .

    Go here: https://www.emusic.com/label/267331/APR

    The prices look standard -- but if you post $75 to an emusic account, you get $200 in credit in the current sale. Plus there's probably some promotion for joining.

    :cheers:
     
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  18. Wes H

    Wes H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Interesting! Did Busoni make recordings playing his own compositions (or just works by other composers)?
     
  19. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    I regret to say, no--Bach, Chopin, Weber, Beethoven, and Liszt, but no music of his own. My favorite online resource, Wikipedia, the encyclopedia anyone can edit, gives a list here: Ferruccio Busoni discography (as pianist) - Wikipedia

    If the accompanying information is to be believed, he visited the studios for two sessions but rejected all the recordings from the first, which consequently were never issued and are believed lost.

    Egon Petri was one of his students.

    Have you heard Busoni's piano concerto? Quite an odd piece--but then, so is his opera, Doktor Faust.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2018
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  20. Wes H

    Wes H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I've not heard Busoni's Piano Concerto. I'm curious, though, so I'll see if I can find it on a streaming service. Thanks for the background info.

    I do, however, have a 1957 Columbia Masterworks recording of his Violin Concerto (composed in 1897). It is performed by Joseph Szigeti, who was a friend of Busoni and performed with him.

    [​IMG]

    English musicologist Edward J. Dent describes the Violin Concerto as "cheerful and attractive in character without any pretense of being revolutionary in style." (I'll agree with that!) ;)
     
  21. Gasman1003

    Gasman1003 Forum Diplomat.

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    76 years ago today this piece was performed for the first time, during some pretty bleak days:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Shostakovich - "Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op.60 - 'Dedicated To Leningrad' "
    Yevgeni Svetlanov conducts The USSR State Symphony Orchestra.

    Μелодия (Melodiya) Records, USSR, C 01693-6

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The Story Behind Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony - Classic FM

    "The first performance was given on March 5, 1942 by the Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, which had also been evacuated to Kuibyshev, conducted by Samuil Samosud."
     
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  22. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    Wow. It’s been 76 years already? How time flies! :)

    But seriously, it’s totally possible that there is still someone around who experienced the premiere first hand.
     
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  23. Gasman1003

    Gasman1003 Forum Diplomat.

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    Yeah, I guess that's true.

    Interesting how the symphony was heard in the UK and USA before being heard in Leningrad, although with all that was occurring, not too surprising.
     
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  24. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Just finished another enjoyable spin of this CD. I wish this pianist would record more. I love his Brahms as well.
     
  25. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    The Classic FM site mentions that Toscanini led the US premiere. What it doesn't mention is that he did so only after winning a quite heated and, if memory serves, public squabble with Leopold Stokowski, who also wanted to conduct that event, and that Shostakovich evidently did not at all like the way Toscanini led the score. I'm pretty certain it did not enter the Maestro's repertory in any meaningful way after the premiere. If you want to hear his way with it, the historic first US performance was released on LP and has been available on CD, both in authorized editions.
     
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