Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #68)

Got this a few weeks ago for 75 cents. Recorded 2003.

 

On the plane back from Seattle today I listened to guitarist Eliot Fisk play his transcription of Bach's 3rd Violin Sonata and John Ogdon play Busoni's Fantasia Contrapuntistica.

 

Sorry... I was just wondering.

 

I had few of those eight hybrids in the box, but (with)in the box even those disks are, well... classier.

Quite simply, the package has been made with love. Sir Colin clearly was a beloved conductor within the LSO organization.

 

Listening to the Schubert division of the Wand box (have listened earlier the later symphonies, but now them all, disk by disk). After the first three, well, I'm not sure... The material ain't the best possible, but from Schubert anyway.

 

A beautiful box indeed. A lot of things not previously easily or at all available. For me who had purchased all Living Stereo and Mercury cds since the early 90s, this Decca Mono box offers by far the highest added value against the LSC and MLP ones.

Did you notice the extreme timing of many of the discs? CD #20 goes up to 84.52 min (85.20 acc to my Marantz SA 7001 KI SACD player) ! I think this disc holds the timing record now. Also dissapointingly enough, my 3 year old €1,500 Yamaha SACD CD-S2000 player cannot play any of them... Even my €100 Sony blu-ray player can.

 

Prepping for a 15 hour flight to India tonight. I hope half of it will be spent asleep, but that still leaves lots of time for music. My iPhone is loaded up with a nice variety (not just classical, but no ragas), but I actually hope to focus my attention on Kempff's Beethoven cycle during my trip.

In the meanwhile, starting to handle the pre-trip chores with the Anonymous 4 - "Miracles of Compostela."

 

Kempff's mono or stereo cycle John?

 

I only have the stereo.

 

I've owned both cycles, still have the mono set on vinyl, a few entries from the stereo cycle. There's small differences in performances and big differences in sound. The mono set is about as good as piano recording got in the early 1950's. The sonics of the 1960's recordings are reminiscent of Glenn Gould's—a little too close for comfort. However, my understanding is that there is a CD set of the 1960's Kempff Beethoven Sonata cycle that has been remixed/remastered to good effect.

 

I have the most recent release. The other set I bought recently - Arrau - is decidedly superior, but I know I can get used to the Kempff. Also, my listening will be primarily through Etymotic IEMs, and much of it will be on planes - I have a lot of flight time, and I hope my time on the ground will be doing something other than listening to tunes.

Edit - I meant the Arrau is sonically superior. I reserve judgment on the performances.

 

Arrau's set is amazing, decidedly 'Old-School' in rhetorical gestures and romantic embelishment. It's Beethoven à la Lizst and beautifully performed within that musical compass. And yes, the sound is great.

I think there's more Beethoven in Kempff's version, more awareness of the humor and also awareness of the nature of the instruments Beethoven had available. Much as Glenn Gould gets harsichord-like sounds and gestures into his piano recordings of Bach, I hear Kempff deriving a Forte-piano like sound from the modern grand piano. The bass pops out of the 'mix' much as the lower octaves of a forte-piano pop out.

 

Now playing:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Trios K254, K447, K496
— Lili Kraus, piano, Willi Boskovsky, violin, Nikolaus Hubner, cello (Erato/Warner Classics—Les Discophiles Français) , CD 13 from:

 

Wait a sec! Are you saying that the Yamaha won't play any single disk from the Decca Mono Box?

 

Initially, I thought that the problem was only for the ones with the extreme timing, but then I checked and none of these Decca mono discs can be pleayed indeed in my Yamaha!!! Of course I then tried various other discs, so as to be sure it wasn't a general failure of my player, and the Yamaha played them alright... Crazy?

 

Oh my god--I hate to fly, and the thought of a 15 hour flight makes me want to cry! I'm slowly trying to get over my fear by taking short flights and building up to a longer one. My fears weren't exactly alleviated by flying the day after that horrific German plane crash this week. Music helps, though.

 

Starting my Sunday with all three of Op. 31 -- Beethoven thinks outside the box.

 

Time for an old favorite:

 

I bought that fairly recently. It helped me come to grips with the last quartet. I still prefer the Alban Berg Quartet for 13 and 14.

 

It's a sad sign of the times that such stupefyingly monotonous "music" can win both a Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy. It's not even that well recorded (extremely murky...perhaps deliberately?). I want my 42 minutes and $20 back. (I bought it at the Seattle Symphony store.)

 

Looks like the Sequentia made many more recordings than what are included in the following box, which is in my early music collection ...



I wish a more inclusive big box by this group were available.

 

You paid less than 10% of what I paid for this CD. LOL

 

Now playing:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
— Symphony No.4 Op.36 — London Symphony Orchestra
— Francesca de Rimini — Symphonic Fantasy Op.32 — Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Borodin – Prince Igor—Overture — London Symphony Orchestra
Antal Dorati (Mercury Living Presence)

 

Check it out on Amazon UK:

 

I heard the SQ of the second stereo box is better (should be the same recordings though) ...