Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #2)

Today's purchases:

Barbirolli conducts English String Music CD (Elgar: Intro and Allegro for Strings, Serenade in e minor, Elegy, Sospiri; Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme for Thomas Tallis, Fantasia on Greensleeves) (EMI) .... recordings from 1963/66

Wagner - Preludes CD (Toscanini; Lohengrin, Parsifal, Die Meistersinger) (RCA Victor; Toscanini collection Vol. 48) .... recordings from 1946/49/51

Orlando di Lasso - Singphonic di Lasso CD (CPO) - this is German/French/Italian songs

 

I have well over 7000+ recordings in classical music and have fewer than 10 recordings between Grimaud and Jensen. You do the math as there is no point to argue. If you look over carefully the postings by the majority of subscribers to this thread, you should realize you are in the distinct minority who do not care for the past masters. I read an interview with Colin Davis, who is in the twilight of his career, he has never been more pessimistic about the future of classical music. I just happen to agree with him.

 

These past masters are great.

 

Now playing: Wagner Transcriptions
Zoltán Kocsis

 

Well, first, can you tell me where you got the impression that I 'do not care for the past masters'? Is it because I am not a big fan of Horowitz? Many people are not fond of his willful interpretations, even if he did 'nail it' quite often in his the beginning of his career. My most recent post extolled the grand pianism of Percy Grainger from 1945, and last night I saluted Artur Schnabel. My favorite pianist is Paderewski. No one in their right mind is going to listen to dodgy 90 year-old needledrops if they don't love the music. To state that I do not appreciate the past masters is plain false. Moreover, I recently bashed phenom Lang Lang, who I find vulgar and superficial. He is the only classical pianist in recent memory to appear on any of the late night talk shows. I just found it curious that you seem to reserve nothing but grimaces and groans for current classical artists when you showed sexy covers of Grimaud and Jansen in the last few days. C'mon, it's funny! Like a Haydn piano sonata!! I'll leave you with my opinion about pessimism: it is largely a self-fulfilling prophecy. To wit, your negativism is based on an unfavorable review of a recording by Sir Colin Davis, one who allegedly shares your point-of-view.
PS. I saw Jansen play Tchaikovsky's violin concerto with Edo de Waart conducting the LA Phil last spring. As masterful and vital a performance as she is beautiful.

 

Mendelssohn

Now playing:

• Mendelssohn: Octet - The Cleveland Quartet and Tokyo String Quartet
  Orig. RCA Red Seal vinyl 1977, as yet unreleased on CD, TTBOMK.

 

Neat, I've got that disc as well. You should check out this CD of organ transcriptions, it's quite beautiful and unique (the Wesendonck songs sound really great in particular):

 

Now playing (and very much enjoying!) a 60's UK HMV pressing of-
Edwin Fischer Great Instrumentalists 13 on EMI HQM 1174 Bach, Handel, Mozart & Schubert.

 

Multi-tasking

Now playing:

• Bartok: Piano Concerto No. 3 - Vladimir Ashkenazy with Sir Georg Solti/London Philharmonic Orchestra
  Decca 'Ovation' remaster 1996, recorded Kingsway Hall, February 1978.

Now reading:

• American Record Guide
  Nov./Dec. 2008 issue.

Now watching:

• Classic Arts Showcase, KCET-TV/Los Angeles (on mute).
  www.classicartsshowcase.com
  Excellent program of short clips, 2-12 minutes in length, of all varieties of the cultural arts--ballet, orchestral, recital, opera, classic film, music video, etc. Broadcast from satellite feed, usually after midnight till off-air esp. on weekends. I 'unmute' when I seeing something that looks good...like Anna Netrebko or Helene Grimaud, harhar.

 

Mine too! I mentioned it in the thread I started on intro to classical.
I still remember those heavy Telefunken LPs. As I recall, the Mass in b Minor came in a set with five sides. The third disc had a blank side.

(I now have the CDs)

Now listening to Bruckner's Mass No. 3
Jochum, Bayerischen Rundfunks
DG CDs originally recorded in 1962

 

I heard Garrick Ohlsson in an all Scriabin recital last night and was blown away. Unfortunately he does not seem to have recorded very much.

I have no Scriabin in my collection and could use some suggestions.

 

I have the complete sonatas by Ogdon and Ashkenazy. Both are superb! Ogdon may be more poetic and I think on a budget EMI as well. Ashkenazy is more intense, more "Russian" and has better sound, being on Decca. The sonatas are wonderful, covering so much ground and never boring.

For individual performances, I have to recommend Richter's electrifing performance of the 5th sonata:
http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Noctur...=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1226843564&sr=8-8

Sofronitsky is usually mentioned as being one of the top interpreters of Scriabin, but he hasn't clicked for me (yet?) Horowitz has some great Scriabin performances.

 

Thanks. I will definitely check out this CD. I love organ works and have 4 sets of complete Bach organ works and the complete organ works by Buxtehude. I am still trying to complete the set composed by Johann Ludwig Krebs, which are only available on the small UK label Priory. Unfortunately, availability is often an issue.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Ludwig_Krebs

 

Digital technology has really brought to the listening public some of the gems (i.e. master tapes) which have laid buried in the vaults of these venerable record companies such as EMI, DG, Philips, etc. Many of these tapes simply could not have been transferred to the old analog medium like LP's or cassettes with satisfactory results. So in spite of the much maligned over-compression and oversampling "tricks" some purists accuse record companies for practicing, we the listening public are still the winners.

 

This is a great performance.

IMHO the DG Originals 2-CD is the one to get for the best performances of all three Bruckner Masses. I still haven't found any other performance that can compete with Jochum in the expression of the serene religiosity of these works.

 

Everybody who is interested in Bruckner should check this:

http://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Symphonies-8-9/dp/B00000IYMP

 

Indeed, a pianist or an ensemble sometimes performs works in concert that neither has ever recorded (in the audio medium). A case in point is the 1984 New Year Concert given by HvK and the BPO which featured an all Bach program (available on a Sony DVD). The Bach violin concertos with HvK on the keyboard, Anne-Sophie Mutter on the violin and the subsequent performance of the Magnificat were quite outstanding, even though HvK and the BPO are not exactly known for baroque works.

Here is the complete piano works of Scriabin I have, I think it is a pretty decent CD set.

http://www.amazon.com/Scriabin-Comp...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1226850356&sr=1-2

Garrick Ohlsson seems to have a good number of CD's issued under the EMI label. I believe he also happened to be a student of the late Claudio Arrau.
For some reason, there are not many recordings of Scriabin works by the established pianists. I have a Scriabin CD by Horowitz.

 

Ohlsson does a terrific job with Debussy's Etudes, perhaps Debussy's most difficult-to-play/appreciate work. I'll have to listen to his Scriabin.

 

I have 3 sets of complete JS Bach Organ Works on CD performed by Werner Jacob, Peter Hurford and a third set by Hans Fagius (part of the 155-CD set featuring the complete JS Bach Works issued by Brilliant Classics). I enjoy the set by Peter Hurford very much. He was a tremendous organist. I also have a 4th set on LP by Lionel Rogg.

The Buxtehude set I have was performed by Spang-Hanssen.

http://www.amazon.com/Buxtehude-Com...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1226851393&sr=1-1

I do not know much about Olivier Messiaen since I generally shy away from modern composer. Works of Sibelius and Shostakovich are just about the latest creations in classical music I would listen to.

 

The 1976 Neville Marriner/ASMIF recording of Handel Messiah on Argo also has the classiest LP cover design IMO.

 

I think I have this recording on LP.