Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #59)

New one to me--which is not hard to do, admittedly. Thanks! (And just as an observation, from what is in that article, must have come as a rude shock to somebody expecting Tchakowsky! )

 

Now playing the following CD from my Handel collection. I actually attended a concert by the English Baroque Sololists with John Eliot Gardiner at the Lincoln Center performing the same works in the early 80's ...

My CD cover actually has a white background.

 

The Telarc technique was based on the Mercury Living Presence series. The real issue is the amount of time recording engineers have to set up microphones prior to committing the performance for the microphones. There was a little more time for rehearsals back when stereo was a novelty.

 

By the way, is anybody else bothered by the practice of referring to concert or recital records as "live recordings"? Somehow, for me that conjures up images that all the others feature a bunch of corpses sawing or puffing away on instruments (with a skeleton playing harpsichord continuo up on the tin roof of the concert hall).

 

Can anyone recommend compositions by Maurice Ravel other than Bolero? I've already put in a request with the local library for his string quartet in F major.

 

I think that was true outside the context of recording sessions, too, wasn't it?

 

One way off the beaten track that I enjoy, and understand I'm no Ravel0phile, is the sonata for violin and cello. The scherzo, in particular, is a boatload of fun.

 

There's a wonderful riff on that in one of Philip K. Dick's novels—there's a telekinetic pianist in a recording session where the recording media is some literally living gelatinous goo. Sviatoslav Richter or Vladimir Horowitz for "Living Stereo" comes to mind.

 

I'm in the process of retagging my music collection, and I've taken your comments somewhat to heart for classical. My original tagging strategy held up adequately through several of phases of hard-drive ripping - first to iTunes simply for copying to an iPod, and later for use as my main music source with my Squeezeboxes. It really failed though with some of the mega-boxes.

The issue I needed to address was that with the Squeezebox, there are only a few fields useable for sorting - genre, artist, album, song and year. I pretty much ignore year. (Actually, I use it for non-classical, so the Beatles albums (e.g.) appear in order.) My first tier sort - artist - is a combination field of the composer (1st) and principal performer(s). My basic list would thus be alphabetical, first by composer, second by performer. I could then drill down to the "song." When I ripped my discs, I joined the movements of multi-movement pieces, so Beethoven's 1st Symphony becomes a single "song" - practical for some purposes, but frustrating for others.

When I had albums with works by multiple composers I used to include all of the composers as the part of the artist field. As I bought the mega-boxes featuring a performer, the number of those albums jumped up and it often became difficult for me to find a particular work, so I started breaking up albums by composer. However, I made sure to give those albums unique names (not - e.g. - "Symphony No. 9") and I can then use Squeezebox to re-assemble an album if I want to hear it in toto.

Finally, I realized that there is no perfect single solution for maintaining this database. For recital albums, which include more than 3 composers, I will use "Piano Rubinstein" e.g. in the artist field. There are still few enough of those that they are manageable.

 

Try the piano concerto. Martha Argerich does a nice job with it, but there are others.

I also like the Rhapsody Espagnol.

As for the Duo mentioned above, Gil Morgenstern, a friend of mine has a nice version:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/20th-century-duos-for-violin-and-cello-mw0001430205

 

Next to play: An old favorite from my JS Bach collection before I jumped on the HIP bandwagon ...

 

In the CD player: Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps - Igor Markevich/Philharmonia Orchestra London - Testament; 1951 mono recording (this dics also has the 1959 stereo recording). The remastering was done by Paul Bailey in 1997.

 

You can often get all or nearly all of his orchestral works on 3 or 4 CD's. Boulez has a couple of cycles, Martinon and Dutoit each one (sticking with just French conductors). His solo piano works usually fit on 2 CD's, likewise with any number of recommendable artists and performances.

 

I would suggest that any Ravel orchestral works set will contain a number of pieces. If you like his style and orchestration, you'll enjoy the music. Actually, Bolero is arguably his least hardy piece due to its inner repetition, although it has become famous and recognizable. I'd go for the Mother Goose (suite or full length). It's full of haunting, memorable tunes and achingly beautiful in its orchestration. I'd get the Pavane For a Dead Princess, a personal and early favorite: Menuet antique and the Spanish sounding Rapsode Espagnole and Une barque sur l'océan, which personifies romantic music to me. There's also the longer Daphnis et Chloé; sometimes only the second suite is contained on a disc. My favorite recordings (and there are many, many good ones) are by Andre Cluytens, a Belgian-born French conductor who just seems to have this music in his blood. Later ones by Jean Martinon are almost as good. I think part of Cluytens' magic is his early '60s ORTF French Radio stereo recording and orchestral sound. It's just perfect to me. But, it's conductor-proof music and Munch, Monteaux, Ozawa, Dutoit, Plasson, Slatkin, Ormandy, Jordan - I'm sure I left someone out!!! All are good music. I envy your first listen to it.

BTW, the string quartet is, while an early work, full of passion and an almost guitar-like rhythm. I've mentioned my extra fondness for the Quartetto Italiano on Philips, but there are all kinds of recordings and virtually none that aren't a pleasure to hear and a solid introduction.

 

X2 on Mother Goose. It's my favorite work by Ravel.

 

Both his piano concertos (played by Alicia de Larrocha) & his orchestration of Pictures at an exhibition (Chicago/Kubelik).

 

Thanks everyone for all of the Ravel recommendations! Our public library has a fairly large collection of his works, and with any luck they won't be too badly scuffed.

I hadn't realized that Ravel did the orchestration for Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. I've got the piano version as performed by Vladimir Horowitz, which is fantastic. It's been a while since I've heard the orchestrated version, but I remember really liking it.

 

Now playing the following CD from my Beethoven collection and it is a stereo recording ...

 

Now: Sibelius: Symphony 2, Op.43 - Vladimir Ashkenazy/Philharmonia Orchestra London - 4 CDs, Decca. This is one of the great Sibelius symphony cycles for me, along with the first Davis/Boston cycle and Karajan's 1960s recordings of the last 4 symphonies. I've never heard Osmo Vänskä's cycle with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

 

I rarely post video clips, but this one of Andre Cluytens conducting the French Radio/TV Orchestra in Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe gives a good sample of what to expect in Ravel's other orchestral works.

 

Agreed......



Of course some other Sibelius recordings exist which are near to me - inter alias the Leif Segerstam DNRSO Cycle recorded 1990-91, which rewards recurring listening with suprising insights into the world of Sibelius.....NP : Symphony 7, which is a perfect way to witness the forementioned impressions...

 

I think our Sibelius collections overlap somewhat. I also have Karajan, Davis (RCA and LSO SACD). Instead of Ashkenazy, I have Barbirolli, Berglund, Jansons and Jarvi (DG SACD) ...

 

I have far more Sibelius than the ones I mentioned, but those are special favourites. I prefer the Davis/Boston cycle to his remakes with the London Symphony Orchestra, which I also have; to my ears the playing on the former is better. Berglund made 3 cycles, with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; I have the first one. Beecham also made a few recordings of Sibelius symphonies which some people seem to like quite a bit. I have some of them, but haven't listened to them yet. I'd really like to hear the Vänskä Lahti cycle, it seems to be something special.

 

The SQ of this 1958 recording is surprisingly good ...

 

Just recently reissued - excellent recording.....