I saw them live playing some Beethoven String Quartets a few months ago (Don't remember which ones, I have to check the program) and they were wonderful!
Family holidays sometimes leave you a bit out of touch with what your favourite artists are releasing. Two days ago, I was a little shocked that the Alpha classics label had released this wonderful release at the end of August. Now I'm very much enjoying catching up with the latest installment in Hannigan and De Leeuw's work on turn of the century compositions. In contrast to their Satie: Socraté release which was dedicated to a single very late work, they've chosen six composers' very early work (between ca. 23-32 years old), all from the Viennese school. Perhaps the youthfulness of the composers is belied by the choice of repertoire and De Leeuw's playing which could be a little more sprightly. Tempi are on the sedate side. Hannigan is simply prime Hannigan, accentuating her strengths and tastefulness. Mahler / Hannigan / Leeuw - Vienna Fin De Siecle - ALPHA CD Grooves Inc.
I tried every which way to get the image to work. I almost always use Discogs for cover images and it's not been entered there yet. Linking to Amazon sourced images doesn't seem to work as I remember it doing. Do you have a first opinion on the release by the way?
I usually copy images from Amazon or AllMusic and paste them here. As for Barbara Hannigan, I can hear that what she does is excellent, but it's not really my thing.
CMC field trip! This past weekend my family and I traveled a couple of hours south to Richmond, Virginia, where my daughter was in a figure skating competition, and because she had no events Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of spending some time with our very own Wes of the CMC. I'm happy to say that in person he is every bit as gracious and companionable as you'd expect from his postings here, and he has an ideal listening setup, with an impressive array of gear in a light, airy space making for just the right atmosphere. Quite the extensive collection of music, too! He treated me to selections on both vintage Empire and contemporary Thorens turntables, each with its own character, and also a thing or so on CD. I had brought my laptop with a copy of the external drive from my home server, which Wes was able to patch into his system, meaning I could contribute as well as consume. Given the time constraints, we listened more to individual mvts. than full works but still managed to cover a pretty varied array. We exchanged Beethoven Emperors, in each case the 1st mvt.: he played Stephen Bishop under Colin Davis on Philips; I contributed Friedrich Wuhrer with Heinrich Hollreiser from '50s Vox (as reissued in the Tahra CD box). We also exchanged 1st mvts. of the Schubert "Arpeggione" sonata; mine was Emanuel Feuermann/Gerald Moore (1937, my own dub from 78s), his Gary Karr on double bass with Harmon Lewis, pno. That was really interesting--I'd never heard the work on bass before, and the larger instrument certainly makes a different sound world from the more usual cello. Among one-offs, I played the 1st mvt. of the Kreutzer Sonata (Max Rostal/Franz Osborn); Wes offered up a female vocalist whose name eludes me but who convincingly demonstrated how well his setup can yield "you are there" results, and he ended the session with a lively bit of a Haydn sym. under Raymond Leppard. So: a big, public thank you to Wes for the hospitality and a memorable afternoon!
No Glenn Gould? But seriously, very cool, David! Sounds like a lot of fun. I've met a few members here, and a few from another forum I frequent. It's always an enjoyable experience. I actually wish we all lived near each other so these meetings could be much more frequent. If you ever in NYC, please let me know.
For those who like and appreciate great LP sleeve art , take a look at these collections of Classical Music album designs. Brilliant. 50 Most Creative Vintage Designs for Classical Music Records Vinyl Gallery: Vintage classical album cover graphics
This site, linked to the 50 LP sleeve site, may have been "click bait," but it had some fun quotes, like Vaughan Williams on Mahler: "A very tolerable ..." well, I won't spoil it for those who don't know it already (as I didn't). The 20 Harshest Composer-on-Composer Insults in Classical Music
It was, indeed, a memorable afternoon and I was delighted that David was able visit while in town. David is very personable, exceptionally knowledgeable about audio gear and classical music, and we hit it off right away. As I walked David through my house, somewhat sheepishly revealing how my classical LPs have consumed whole closets, walls of rooms, and sit in boxes under tables or crammed into various nooks & crannies, he didn't flinch or roll eyes; instead, he nodded with an understanding that only a fellow collector would have. He didn't see mania, he saw music. That extended to our listening session where we were both selecting recordings based uniqueness of performance, rather sonic spectaculars. It was only when I pulled off the grills from my KEF speakers to answer David's question about the complement of drivers, that I pulled out a vocal "audiophile" CD that would highlight the naturalness of the midrange--the feature that most attracted me to the KEFs. And that's when I strayed from classical, which is why David can't recall the singer's name (Rebecca Pidgeon). I loved the fact that David could bring his huge library of music on a laptop and call up any piece in an instant. We had a great time, not only listening, but just talking about classical music and audio gear. Hours passed in a flash. So, David, if you're ever in the neighborhood again, you've got a standing invitation to drop in. Next time, though, bring that concerto for harmonium!
Hah! No Glenn Gould hit the turntable... Can you believe it?!? I'm making up for that today, George, since this is Glenn Gould's birthday-- he would have been 86. Annually on this date I play my original LP of the 1955 recording of the Bach Goldberg Variations. So here it goes. Happy Birthday, Glenn!
Better be careful what you offer--I might just take you up on it! Kidding aside, many thanks, and that goes the other way, too: if you're ever in the DC area.... In fact, having determined that's a "gap" in my collection, just bought a recording this evening. I misspoke on Saturday, by the by; the works aren't humoresques, they're bagatelles. A distinction without much of a difference, I suppose, but might as well put the, uh, record straight. For those going like this: , Wes has a lovely harmonium (popularly called a "pump organ"), an instrument once very much a fixture of the musical home but not one that drew much attention from the "great" composers. Dvorak is an exception, as he wrote a set of trios for harmonium and strings, and, spurred by my having seen it Saturday, that's what we were/are discussing.
Whatever they're called, I'll look forward to hearing the recording next time you're down this way. Maybe I can manage to patch up the bellows on that harmonium by then and you can hear it better. By the way, my invitation goes for anyone else on the CMC. If you're passing through central Virginia, send me a PM and let's see if we can meet.
We go to Richmond 2 or 3 times a year for long weekends but my wife would not like me sitting around talking about music.
One last Glenn Gould album this evening: Brahms 10 Intermezzi for Piano. The master Bach interpreter plays some highly romantic Brahms here. Recorded September/November 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio, NYC. Originally released April 17, 1961. Tonight I'm playing this 1980 German-made LP.
Krenek: JONNY SPIELT AUF (Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Lothar Zagrosek, et al - Decca, 1993) A fun night at the opera, on the surface very different sounding music from the seemingly stern/forlorn instrumental music I've heard from Krenek thus far. I liked it! More Stravinsky from the Sony/Columbia big box, including Symphony in Three Movements, or, "I Can't Get Started". For the life of me seems to anticipate a sensibility that I associate with a certain ~1980s-90s hip-hop/dj-culture, "cut-up" style of centripetal interruptions. I can listen to Bernhard Lang's "contemporary" neuemusik appropriation of this kind of music (cutting/sampling)---a direct response---and it still somehow doesn't sound as close as the Stravinsky (1945). Wild!
Superb! Couldn't wait for the CD of this so I opted for the download simply because it was available a few weeks earlier! I wasn't let down. So glad to see the Wolf/Goethe - Mignon get an airing and I think it's especially good.
I usually approach music for the first time hilariously ignorant of its context, to whatever extent this can be managed; and this is especially true with opera, where I almost never follow the libretto the first time I hear it. I'm not sure how productive this is, but it's not entirely borne of laziness. So it's only just now that I am finding out about the whole blackface thing: oof. Even that weren't the leasebreaker---and even if the lead were performed by a black man, per James Weldon Johnson's complaint at the time, and one could imagine Robeson doing something with this not unlike EMPEROR JONES---it would still seem like an irresponsible "provocation", stoking mobs for box-office returns. Of course there are a number of layers that I need to work through before drawing conclusions or stoking a bonfire. I still like a lot of the music, but "fun" isn't quite the word I'd use anymore. I'm more curious than ever why the Nazis hated it. Anyway, onwards: Copland: EARLY ORCHESTRAL WORKS 1922-1935 (Leonard Bernstein et al - Sony, 1991) also this: Krenek: LIEDER (Christine Schafer - Orfeo) Really liked this disc. I've enjoyed Schafer in a number of recordings of modern music. I will listening to her ~2001 Berg LULU with Levine/Met soon....supposedly a keeper.
He is indeed really good with the Brahms Intermezzi, I never would have thought to check him out for Brahms until someone in this thread or the other classical thread recommended it. It looks like Royal Mail lost my Maryla Jonas box set and this was showing at a fairly high price from several of the Amazon US sellers (they now have them again) I decided to quickly buy one again as many of these smaller Sony boxes do not stay in print that often. I've listened to all of a web FLAC a few times and really liked these performances. I am also looking forward to hearing this CD on the way (has some duplication with Marston's volume)
I was listening to the interviews in the last volume of the Josef Hofmann Marston disc. The one I found most interesting was the one with Jorge Bolet, he so succinctly and accurately conveyed the playing of some of the great pianists of his time. For instance saying that Horowitz captured the tension of the music. Or telling the interviewer that he didn't think Hofmann was properly captured on recordings which IMO might be why I am not a huge Hofmann fan. He also spoke very highly of Rachmaninoff as a pianist which I agree with. I have all of the Naxos volumes where he plays piano, are there others in good mastering worth seeking out?
This one is great! It was mastered by Ward Marston and the sound on the concertos is a bit more natural than Mark Obert-Thorn's work on those works for Naxos.