I can say this. I strongly prefer the crispy clear dry recorded sound of the Hungarton Beethoven sonata discs. It draws me into the playing. Just sayin'.
I also think that these recordings revolutionized Schumann playing/listening. Prior to these recordings, Schumann's original orchestrations were accused of being overly thick or wrong...conductors such as Gustav Mahler and Georg Szell even re-orchestrated and "corrected" parts of the Symphonies. Gardiner's recordings were like a breath of fresh air and proved that the original orchestrations don't really need correcting but the style of playing needs to be closer to that of the early romantic period, the period in which the Symphonies were composed. HIP has truly revealed Schumann and I think this style of playing also does wonders for other early romantic composers such as Berlioz, Weber, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Schubert, Clementi, Czerny....
I had my first and only listen to the SACD verion in the early 2000's ... BTW, my Szell big box arrived yesterday. The outer box is in very good shape so the Szell box should be too ...
Did you not like this Mahler 4 or have you just not gotten around to listening again since you have a much bigger collection than me? According to this live map thing that UPS now provides, the truck with the Szell box is about a mile from my house. It's been in my area making deliveries this afternoon.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Egmont op. 84- Ah! Perfido op. 65 - Ouverture Leonore III op. 72a - Fantasie op. 80 Cheryl Studer/Bruno Ganz/Yevgeny Kissin/Rias Chorus Berliner Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado An excellent cd
First listen to CD 5 from "George Szell - The Complete Columbia Album Collection" on Sony. With the Cleveland Orchestra: Dvorak - Symphony No. 5 "From the New World" (was also No. 8 for a while )
I started listening to classical music in the Eighties, with a lot of Academy Of Ancient Music and English Concert, so I was exposed to HIP from the beginning, so to speak. Yesterday when I listened to the Richter/Kagan Mozart sonata, the violin was very noticeable to me. Thick and heavy with lots of vibrato.
I don't recall if I liked that Mahler 4 or not. Yeah, for me to get a second listen real fast, the recording has to make a real good impression ...
To my ears Mozart's sonatas benefit from lighter violin playing with much less vibrato, though the tone can sometimes get a bit too thin, as happened quite a lot in the early years of HIP. Good thing that HIP playing has evolved in later years. One of the earlier HIP ensembles that was always excellent was Trevor Pinnock's English Concert.
Listening to CD 49 from the "L'Oiseau Lyre - Medieval & Renaissance" box. The Sylvan And Oceanic Delights Of Posilipo performed by the New London Consort directed by Philip Pickett. Featuring: Patrizia Kwella (soprano), Catherine Bott (soprano), Andrew King (tenor), John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Symphony no. 10 LSO/Antonio Pappano Dedicated to Francesco Borromini and his wonderful architecture.
That is one big reason why the English Concert just killed the Goebel's MAK IMHO, i.e. the English Concert has always sounded a bit more lively than the MAK ...
I like the sound on those sonatas as well as the tone of the Bosendorfer. Played today, Handel's Judas Maccabaeus As well as Beethoven Op. 10/3, Liszt Sonata in B Minor and Haydn Piano Sonatas in A, G, E minor and C. Currently listening to Schumann's Symphonic Etudes Op. 13. All played by Ernst Levy on Vol 3 and 4 Marston releases. I have to fully agree with Marston's blurb on the back. For the pieces I am very familiar with Levy's playing is uncharacteristically unique and wonderful. 10/3 is a bit too anachronistic to be a reference performance but he is much more "normal" in the later Beethoven sonatas and continues to play them in his usual intensity.
Speaking Mahler in the previous page, one from the Szell box where the performances are much better than the artwork
I have it CD from Decca Sound box. Like all CD versions of this title, it is complete. I guess Strauss on New Year’s Day in Vienna is like the Rose Bowl parade here.