Listenin' to Classical Music and Conversation

Well besides beating them at the Medway, the Dutch conquered them and put the Elector and his wife on the throne.

 

See what happens?

 

I have his recordings of the Handel concertos with LPO and Boult. Love them!

 

Disappointed in this as the sound is very distant and not very dynamic. I bought the LP och the Concerto FO when it was released and have it on two different CD's from DG. The one in the Boston Symphony not at all Complete box sounds much better than the Pentatone.

 

First listen to CD 15 from "Ferenc Fricsay - Complete Recordings On DG Vol.1 - Orchestral Works."

Dvorak - Violin Concerto performed by Johanna Martzy and the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Bruch - Violin Concerto No. 1 performed by Erica Morini and the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Glazunov - Violin Concerto No. 1 performed by Erica Morini and the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

 

from the Charles Munch RCA collection:

Excellent performance that is almost as good as my benchmark recording of this piece (Monteux). Really good remastered sound as well. Also, since I'm in a Sibelius mood too, from the Karajan 1960s box set:

 

(CD Deutsche Grammophon Universal Japan UCCG-51087 SHM-CD) 2016 ..... a true classic recorded in 1972 .... japanese HR cutting edition with fantastic sound ....

 

First listen to CD 12 from "Alfred Brendel - Complete Recordings" on Decca.

Mozart:
Fantasia K475
Piano Sonatas 15 & 4
Rondo K511

 

The Fantasia in C minor (K475) is one of my favorite solo piano works of all time and Brendel plays it beautifully.
IIRC the piece modulates 8 times and is IMO one of Mozart's most significant solo piano works and his most brilliant use of chromaticism.

 

First listen to CD 13 from "Wilhelm Kempff - Solo Piano Recordings" on DG.

Beethoven:
6 Bagatelles Op. 126
6 Ecossaises WoO 83
Rondo a capriccio Op. 129
Bagatelle "Fur Elise" WoO 59
"Andante favori" WoO 57
Rondos Op. 51 Nos. 1 & 2
6 Variations on the Duet "Nel cor piu non mi sento" WoO 70

 

I think Pentatone got a little lazy on this one and transferred at a very low volume so it could be done more quickly/easily without overloading. If you crank it way up the sound improves, IMO.

 

Universal is bringing Mowrey's quad mixes of the Planets and Zarathustra with Steinberg/BSO to blu-ray audio next month. Perhaps the start of releasing more of them in that format...

 

Yeah. Some of his DG recordings such like Lenny’s Carmen were out there from Pentatone on SACD.
It is a pity that Kubelik and Abbado’s Boston recordings of the time were produced by other (Karl Faust IIRC) and resulted in the ordinary DG sound.

 

Welcome back!

 

Thanks! I was not away....just busy with life and stuff, lots of things going on. It's all good.
Plus it's tax season!!

 

I just started with my tax late last week ...

 

P.S. An awesome Thomas Mowrey recording is that really fine Turnabout recording of the Aaron Copland Fanfare For The Common Man. Audiophile Productions also made a nice reissue of this years ago. A stunner also. Donald Johannos and the Dallas Symphony performed great on those sessions.

 

And Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances.

 

This is awesome!

 

I checked the Claudio Arrau Complete Philips Recordings box I got last week to see if it is complete - it is, no duplicate or missing discs or stuff like that - and I'm looking forward to listening to at least parts of it soon, for instance some of his American Decca recordings that are included. The box has the same concept as the excellent Alfred Brendel Complete Philips Recordings box, it is arranged by composer rather than original jackets and I prefer that setup. One thing that's not so great is the packaging of the CDs, it's not so easy to take them out of the tight jackets.

 

You will never get around to unwrapping that so why not send it to me as a little gift?

 

I actually have a dozen of Complete Bach Organ Works including this box, which is the only box that still needs to get a first listen ...