Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #39)

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"The stunning new release of the grand piano by renowned Danish designer Poul Henningsen,
originally created in 1931, is also a hand crafted Blüthner instrument."



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Very cool.

 

IMHO It looks frankly hideous. It would look better, if in addition : was trimmed with lurid flashing neon tubing and promoted as some punk band's 'baroque sound keyboards'.

 

Just a reminder of the latest blind comparisons. Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert's Erlkonig.
I have added 4 performances of Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert's Gretchen am Spinnrade for the fun of it.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=293259&page=2

 

Now playing CD2 from the following twofer, a recent arrival for a first listen ...

 

Been enjoying this one a lot this week which was new to me, while I always expect Argerich to display her great talent, musicality and personality I wasn't expecting her to play Bach like this. Just pure Bach with of course great piano technique.

 

Would love to hear her take on the C minor Partita and B minor English Suite, particularly the former's capriccio and the latter's opening prelude, which are fine examples of Bach's keyboard writing at his most excitingly virtuosic. I've heard she often favours breakneck tempos (you should hear her Scarlatti if you haven't already done so!) - does she play those movements very fast?

 

here's an even better sounding British EMI pressing:HMV ASD 2400,released
1968.producer:Brian Culverhouse.recorded in Usher Hall,Edinburgh.the Smyth
Overture(from her opera) is the most 'serious' piece here,but they're all worth
hearing & very well-performed.

 

Listened to the Mravinsky Stereo Tchaikovsky set for the first time last night. Electrifying.

I had bought the mono set years ago, when DG released it as part of their Legendary Performances series, leading me to believe that was the version to have. But it pales in comparison.

I also listened to Bohm's Mozart 35-41. It doesn't replace Szell as my go-to (and, not coincidentally, my imprint), but I preferred Bohm's take on the slow movements. Every slow passage featuring the oboe melted my heart. On the fast movement the Berlin Phil seemed a bit sluggish when compared with the Cleveland.

It looks like Sony may have remastered the Szell 35, 39, 40 set using DSD. Despite George's qualms, I can say that the recent remastering of Szell's Haydn was a huge improvement over my old Odyssey set. My current versions of 39-41 is from a 20 bit remastering circa 1991. I may have to purchase the new version.

By the way, due to a hiccup on my Squeezebox, the Bohm discs were conflated with my Walter set of the same works. Boy, the SQ of my Walter set - on Odyssey - is poor.

 

My resistance to SONY's remasterings has been with the recent box sets. You are referring to a single disc remaster, correct?

Now enjoying a first spin of this mono CD:

 

Now playing CD2 from the following set for a first listen ...

 

How was Op. 2?

 

Placed the following orders with various Amazon MP vendors over the past few days ...

 

Excellent so far - OP. 2 made up the first 2 CD's. But I am not in a position to compare this set with other sets by Kempff, Gilels, Backhaus, Fischer and Gulda, etc since it has been a while when I last listened to the other sets.

 

Baby got Bach

It was thick and juicy, as I recall.

 

(me too)

 

Now I am wondering if I should pull the trigger on this set. The price is right. George, what are your thoughts?

 

I've only heard his early Vox set, which is supposed to be his best, yet I haven't yet warmed to it.

For the concertos, I like:

1. Serkin/Kubelik on Orfeo (amazing performances by a master who knew these works inside and out, great sound)

2. Sherman/Nuemann on Vanguard (lovely, lush romantic readings in great sound)

3. Backhaus/Schmidt-Isserstedt on Decca (as good as he is in the sonatas, he's even better in the concertos, IMO. OOP but well worth seeking out.)

 

The CD's in this Brendel's Beethoven set were probably all released under Philips previously.

I actually have one of the 2 twofers by Hungerford ...

 

It's easy for me to understand where Arrau was at. He heard Beethoven through the filter of Liszt, Arrau was an inheritor of the Liszt tradition and approach to the keyboard. The closer a given piece by Beethoven sounds like the "Romantic Era" the more "on" Arrau's playing will be. So Op. 2 gets bogged down in an attempt to make the piano's sound more "lush', when getting the piano to sound lean and fast [like Kempff, Brendel or Gulda] or harsh and powerful [Schnabel, Richter, Fischer] is more to the musical point. I recall Arrau's performance of Op. 4 and Op. 10 #3 to be pretty powerful, his "Moonlight' and "Appasionata" performances are winners, as are most of op. 90 through 111. But his version of op. 2, #1 was prettified to the point of losing most of its innate energy.

 

Right.

But he only recorded the sonatas, right? Great recordings, too bad he didn't live to complete the cycle.

 

I have noticed another twofer, also released under the Vanguard Classics label, which includes the lesser known sonatas ...

 

That set is worth it if you're into the sonatas. After a while, many of the lesser known sonatas start to make their presence known.

 

Whenever I recommend something I haven't heard in awhile, I like to give it a spin and see if it is good as I remembered it. This set is even better than I'd remembered. I'd say it's an essential purchase for Beethoven fans. Amazing!

Grab a copy while you still can. http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Russell-Sherman/dp/B000HRME3C

 

Just a reminder of the reminder

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=293259