Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #32)

I have the budget LP box that DGG put out in the eighties. The recording is in exquisite stereo. I much prefer the sound of the Schubert sonata series to Kempff's Stereo Beethoven series. The SQ of the Schubert set is almost as good as the mono Beethoven set, which is miraculous.

 

I enjoy Ameling also and that reminded me I have a Brilliant box set in my leaning tower of things yet unplayed. I will pull it out and play it soon. It is Ameling and Gerard Souzay with Baldwin as the accompanist on 4 CDs of Faure songs. From the 70's on EMI. You can see I haven't even removed the plastic shrinkwrap

 

I just ordered his complete Ravel. I am really looking forward to it!

 

G'day,

I have a 4LP box set of this, it's quite superb although my vinyl is a bit beat up. Might have to spring for the CD version.

--Geoff

 

Haydn
String Quartets
Pro Arte String Quartet
Testament

Just ordered this early Christmas present for myself.

 

Deutsch Grammophon 2531 094.recorded 2/79,Herculessaal,Munich.
producer & recording director:Werner Mayer.tonmeister:Klaus Scheibe.
music quite different from the Nocturnes.

 

More on the upcoming Kempff set. Unfortunately it looks like stuff that is easily available in other sets.

Terrible translations on this page. http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/music/messages/18/189918.html

 

Not to me knowledge; it's always been over $300. I was referring to the Wand set.

 

Now playing the following CD, which arrived yesterday for a first listen (the first listen of the original LP from which this CD was remastered occurred when I was a college freshman many moons ago) ...

 

Now playing:

• Dvořák: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in B minor, Op. 104 - Mstislav Rostropovich; Evgeny Svetlanov / USSR State Symphony Orchestra [BBC Classics 2002, Remastering: Paul Baily (Re:Sound), Recorded in mono, not by the BBC but by a member of the audience, at Royal Albert Hall, London, August 21, 1968 — the day of the Soviet invasion of Prague — electrifying, what an allegro Allegro!]

From liner notes:

 

Alles gute zum Geburtstag

Happy 241st, Ludwig van Beethoven!

Just finished playing Toscanini's April 28, 1935 Missa Solemnis with soloists Martinelli, Rethberg, Telva, Pinza, the Chorus of the Schola Cantorum, and the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York. Released on Richard Caniell's Immortal Performances label, liners by the wonderful vocals critic John Steane (he died last summer, rip). Don't listen to the Missa enough, great stuff in the hands of Toscanini.

 

Frank Kozik

P.S. La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Feliz has this Kozik bust of LvB, #15 of 20 (last one!), sitting on the shelf for a cool $5000. Bronze. Ooohh, would look nice. Love the derby! I'd buy one made of chocolate, foshizz.

 

TGIF!!

Now enjoying Brahms Double Concerto from these dudes.

 

And those are some cool dudes, look at Wolfie's hipster specs!

 

Ah man, that's so cool. Real horrorshow.

 

My most recent pair, basically.

 

I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in

The Missa Solmenis is Revolutionary stuff. Have to say that Zinman's recording may very well be my favorite. Toscanini also chose the more correct "Classical" tempos. One shouldn't linger too long in this work. I guess I'll celebrate with selections from the Brilliant Beethoven Box I picked up this year. And another play of this:



If there were a top ten poll of my favorite musicians, Beethoven would still be at the top. I know in my heart of hearts that Bach was the greater composer, but Beethoven "speaks to my condition."

 

Viva Rubinstein!

My present arrived early today. I'll be breaking into it tonight.

Review to follow.

Cheers, Dave

 

Very nice. Enjoy. Would you mind listing the technical credits?

Now playing a new arrival from Japan. My last Fifth (honest)...till Honeck's Pittsburgh one next year on Exton:

• Mahler: Symphony No. 5 - John Barbirolli / The New Philharmonia Orchestra [Esoteric 2011 SACD, Recorded July 16-18, 1969, Watford Town Hall, London, Producer: Ronald Kinloch Anderson, Balance engineers: Allen Stagg & Stuart Eltham, SACD mastering was carried out on July 14, 2011 at JVC Mastering Center, Producer: Motoaki Ohmachi (Esoteric Company), Mastering engineer: Kazuie Sugimoto (JVC Mastering Center) — the famously slow opening Trauermarsch now even slower in hi-res!]

From Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra blog page:

 

I have to agree, I think my best purchase of the year has been MOG. I think MOG is quite similar to Spotify ($9.95 per month 320/k streams). I have very stubbornly refused to download or have anything to do with streaming for years. When I read that they are now streaming 320k quality I decided to give it a try.

It completely changed how I buy music. It's like I now have a try before I buy pass. It doesn't have every release that's on my list but it probably has most. I really enjoy historical recordings. Now I can hear if a release has acceptable (to me) sound and if the performance is compelling.

This week I've been checking out a lot of Doremi and BBC releases. I've had a nagging suspicion that the rather expensive Beethoven Quartet performances of the Shostackovich String Quartets might be something special. I sat spellbound for hours listening to them and they're now at the top of my list to buy. I could say the same about the Doremi 5-cd of the Gilels/Rostropovich/Kogan trios. I've loved the 2-cd DG release but the Doremi has Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and much more. They don't have the entire Doremi catalog but at least there are many that I can now hear before buying. The BBC releases have a tremendous variety of one of a kind performances. I've had a ball checking out artists that I wouldn't normally buy.

MOG is going to end up costing me much more than $10 a month. My list of things to buy has probably quadrupled.

 

Found this OOP set tonight used for a fair price! Now playing 24 preludes.

 

The following purchases were made this evening ...

 

Last evening and earlier today, the following purchases were made ...

 

Back to early music - now playing the following CD, which arrived today for a first listen ...

 

Forgot to post my thoughts on this opera.

I was somewhat disappointed. The singers were, almost without exception, phenomenal. Beautiful voices, well suited to the parts. Peter Mattei, whom I'd not heard before, is a physically imposing Don with a very rich voice. Maybe a little lacking the sinister edge, but a great singer, a real pleasure to listen to. The women are all superb, Anna Netrebko, Barbara Frittoli (long a personal fave, no disappointment with her), and Anna Prohaska, whom I'd also never heard before, was absolutely lovely in "Vidrai carino."

The problems were the staging and the conducting. Between the two of them they pretty sucked the life and joy and humor out of the opera. The staging isn't appalling, it's just stupid (until the very last moment, but it isn't enough to redeem it). The Don and Donna Anna are seen lounging lovingly in the opening scene. The idea of course is that she's a faker, protesting her innocence, not recognizing him, etc., but it doesn't work; it just throws the whole story out of whack. Leporello's list isn't a scroll he keeps with him; it's just a set of tallies on the back of a wall. It looks dull and it isn't funny. There are other incongruities, not worth listing. The Don's party looks like something out of "Eyes Wide Shut." The theme of the production, which includes some fourth-wall breaking and a curtain-sized mirror, seems to be that we watch, we're collaborators, etc. -- somewhat like what you'd come across in run-of-the-mill criticism of reality TV. I'm instinctively adverse to any production that seems to want to make a contemporary social or political point. This one seems as if it was considering one but didn't deliver, and definitely was not visually impressive (on a movie screen), despite the curtain-sized mirror, which, to be fair, probably was pretty cool in the opera house. Barenboim conducted forcefully but without zip. I almost forgot he was there. He let the singers sing, and they sang well, but he didn't move things along.

This review, which I just came across, seems pretty well on the mark, though he's prepared to give the production more credit than I would: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3f1c66aa-2257-11e1-923d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gkywUQ7c

What hurt it even more was that the bonehead projecting the film (or video or whatever it was) in my local theater threw it up there in 2.35:1, when it clearly should have been projected at 1.85:1. Everybody looked 30 pounds heavier -- and in a production in which everybody is constantly taking off clothing, that's definitely a negative -- and poor Anna Netrebko, who clearly had gained a little weight recently, looked even bigger.

To sum up, great singing, but I don't think it'll be a must-see if it comes out on home video.