Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #65)

I listened to the first few minutes through Senn 650s. I also played bits of Wispelwey and Ma. The miking on the Perenyi is somewhat more distant, and the piano is on the resomant side, but not enough to bother me. Mind you, this came after listening to the anemic SQ of Du Pre playing Franck and Bruch.

 

I hope you like it. I gather Macaulay Culkin actually performs in the ballet. I had thought he was a narrator.

 

I discovered Louise Farrenc a few years ago and have the following recordings ...

 

Not only have I not heard it, but Jack Brymer does not include it in his 30 page listing of the clarinet repertoire. And that has a lot of obscure stuff. It is on Spotify though.

 

Listened to it. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it is charming. And the sheet music is in print.

 

My favorite recording of the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra BAR NONE

 

Just got back from a trip to Goodwill…and I came back with 16 LPs…but my find of all finds is pictured below. I will say, my heart did indeed skip a beat when I saw this in the rack. LM 1001. $1. Year = Made

 

Near and dear to my heart, that one is--one of my absolute favorite records in my parents' collection when I was but a wee tyke. Of course, like all the best things, it started off life as a 78 RPM set, which I subsequently obtained: Victor DM 1147, 4 12" records. Nonetheless, you can bet that when I folded up my father's estate I made sure to snatch up that special LP and keep it as a remembrance of happy times.

A funny: I remember that sometime during my teen years, my dad remarked, upon hearing something or other by Offenbach, "Everything that man ever wrote sounds just like Gaite Parisienne!"

 

Haha, yeah, he was probably right. My favorite LPs are RCA's...I just like collecting them...love the Nipper logo, the high quality recording and pressing standards, the artwork, and just the historical "feel" they have, those mono LPs ushering in the Hi-Fi era and interest in owning and listening to great music in the home. I always wanted to find that first issue, to own the first one, and now it sits on my turntable. (contented sigh)

 

One of my finds today...the first true "Tulip" DG LP I've ever owned. Can't wait to listen to this tomorrow...something tells me that this music might be just a tad too heavy listening before bedtime

 

Hugo Wolf? Sunshine and roses.

 

Wasn't this a husband-wife team in this recording?

 

Only one I would add is the first Pablo Casals from 1936,I think.Have a partial set on Victor 78s,and all of them on British pressed dowel rod Angel "Great Recordings of The Century" LPs.

 

I have almost a complete run of original Living Stereo classical LPs.I really regret selling my 1s Reiner Pines though.I never got why Classic Records came out with their reissue series when they did,though.All throughout the 90s, Living Stereo classical and Living Presence were almost as plentiful as Andy Williams and Montovani records in the thrift stores,you could afford to be picky,and look for the best copies of almost every one.The only one I think I never found was the Reiner 1812.

 

I still have a few holes here and there in my 1950-56 Red Seal mono LP collection,but not many.

 

Yes. That's very very true.

I don't much talk about the number of discs anymore. The life is easier with "items" (like with "Ring": 12 cd's - one item).

 

I've liked a lot of those Cuarteto Casals' records I've heard. And they make some interesting programming choices. A group to watch their development.

 

Prompted by Dale's message:

 

Or Gounod's Faust, 28 Pathe acoustically recorded 78 RPM disks. (The famous and more finely-grooved Victor/HMV electrical set with Journet as Mephistopheles took only 20.) Can't talk about a Ring on 78s, because none of those operas was released in a single complete set before the LP era, although, with perseverance over a period of years, the diligent collector could cobble together most of Walkure by combining sets of the different acts with different casts, sometimes, I think, even within sets. On the basis of my own collection, in which I've made no such concerted effort, that would end up requiring the purchase of something like 30 records duplicating some selections across sets (in other words, adding a set of extended excerpts from acts I and II to a "complete" set of act II, etc.) Each of those records would have cost one Depression-era dollar. We sometimes forget just how much easier and cheaper it is to be a record collector nowadays!

But to return to your original observation, that's how I've catalogued my collection of analogue records for decades now (never have tried to catalogue the CDs), with each Faust set as one "item" and each selection from an LP of 12 or 14 collected arias also being one "item," and while I can give you a pretty good idea of the number of "items," I don't have more than a rough guess at the number of physical records. I lost track of that figure with any precision sometime back in the 1970s. And, really, who cares? For either figure, the real answer is "too many!"

 

I have the Opus Kura CD transfers. They did an incredible job, even better than the Pearl or Naxos transfers.

 

But only if the Naxos recordings were not reconstructed/remastered by either Ward Marston or MOT. No?

 

I have been listening to this set for a while now and I am getting more and more impressed by Bolet's playing. For some strange reason, I never came across the albums in this collection before, so this is my first exposure to Bolet's Columbia and RCA recordings. I 've heard Bolet in some of his later Decca releases but I was not impressed that much.
These Columbia and RCA are totally different.
Bolet's technique here is absolute perfection. But also the gravity of his playing and the intuition of interpretation are truly magnificent. My favorite cds from the box set are the legendary 1974 live recording from the Carnegie Hall, the Rachmaninov transcriptions, and the second recording of the Transcendental Etudes released by Ensayo.
Great music, great playing, price was only $24 from importcds, what else do you need!

 

I strongly recommend Bolet on Marston records: http://www.marstonrecords.com/bolet/bolet_tracks.htm

Another 6CD set is due out very soon.