Listening this afternoon: Verdi: La Traviata. Carlos Kleiber and the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra with Cotrubas, Domingo, Milnes, etc. My copy is actually a DGG "Centenary" re-issue with OIB processing. I love Kleiber's Tristan and Wozzeck recordings so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this one.
Tonight's transfer project: the famous mad scene aria from Lucia di Lammermoor as recorded for Victor by Amelita Galli-Curci. Very lovely, and for the time unusual in being spread across one 12" and one 10" record, yielding a more complete rendition. Funny thing: the 12" record, containing the segment "everybody recorded," dates to 1917, but the 10" record, billed as "part 2," was done in 1922. You'd never guess at the lapse of years when playing them back to back (or spliced together, as I did on my "server" computer).
Sorry, don't know much about her. I considered her Rachmaninoff preludes a few times, but for different reasons, didn't pull the trigger.
Out of curiosity, what are some of your other favorites? Right now I am listening to a lot of Debussy’s Pelleas and Melisande, and I just received this in the mail from Japan. It is awesome: Sorry for the bad image, but it is Berg - Wozzeck - C. Kleiber - Baeryisches Staatsoper - Theo Adam as Wozzeck - 1970.
I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but it appears to be getting a release very soon. My copy shipped on Wednesday, as I am a subscriber. Looks to an interesting and exciting set! Landmarks of Recorded Pianism 52073-2 (2 CDs) | $36 PIANO This release features a collection of what might be called piano orphans: commercial and non-commercial recordings of great pianists that simply have never found their way onto compact disc. Among these treasures are fifteen minutes of Dinu Lipatti playing Scarlatti and Brahms that have only recently surfaced; an unpublished disc of Alfred Cortot playing the “Russian Dance” from Petroushka; and previously unpublished excerpts of the Tchaikovsky first piano concerto played by Vladimir Horowitz with the Philadelphia Orchestra, recorded during a 1932 concert conducted by Fritz Reiner and recorded as an experiment by the Bell Telephone Laboratory. This is Horowitz's earliest known concert performance and is in amazing sound for that time. It is unfortunate that the entire concerto was not recorded, but hearing these excerpts will be a revelation for Horowitz fans. Also included are live concerto performances by Lev Puishnov and Guiomar Novaes. We feel certain that piano enthusiasts worldwide will treasure this 2-CD set as nothing like it has been heard since Gregor Benko produced his acclaimed Landmarks of Recorded Pianism LP forty years ago. Marston Records | Future Releases
I actually have that work as well, but conducted by Boehm. I don't have any favorites, so I guess I will just list my other operas: Purcell - Dido and Aeneas - Lewis, Janet Baker Mozart - Figaro - Boehm Beethoven - Fidelio - Klemperer Verdi - Rigoletto - Bonynge Verdi - Aida - Karajan Debussy - Pelleas - Karajan Korngold - Die Todt Stadt - Leinsdorf Wagner - Lohengrin - Kempe Wagner - Das Reingold - Solit
Continuing on my journey through the Beethoven symphonies via the above box set. Now enjoying the third symphony.
I can’t see that there's been any discussion here of After Bach, the new album from Brad Mehldau. Although Mehldau is best known as a Jazz pianist this album has five excerpts from the Well-Tempered Clavier interleaved with some interesting modern contrapuntal pieces by Mehldau occasioned by them. The final piece - “A Prayer For Healing” - sounds to me very like Keith Jarrett but, other than that, the connection with Bach is well sustained and I'd recommend the album to those who normally skirt anything that threatens to “jazz up” the Baroque.
This is a great resource for those like myself new to classical music but its perhaps too long a thread to get through easily but I can use the search function! Im listening to Dvorak No.9 today on Naxos which sounds great to me but I hope to buy that Decca boxset (Rowicki) advised somewhere above. thanks for keeping such a vast information resource going and keep up the good work.
Just enjoyed a first listen to this unique 2CD set. Lots of great unpublished gems from great pianists like Cortot, Lipatti, Rosenthal, Horowitz, Nyiregyházi and Pouishnoff. And lots more from lesser known pianists. They really left no stone unturned, even including incomplete recordings and finishing with an argument in the Vox studios between Novaes and the staff, all while she practices/plays the Chopin Berceuse. The liner notes are, as always, fascinating and educational.
$65 at .com or 40EUR - VAT + shipping at .de - https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00WFMVJ0G It's very good but I can only listen to a single disc per session.
I occasionally visit the Good Music Guide forum, but it seems to have disappeared - I keep getting an error message. Does anybody have any info?
I have been digging into this recent arrival this past week: Debussy: L'Oeuvre pour piano. Alain Planes. Harmonia Mundi.