Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #68)

I think I have most if not all the SACD's by Sir Colin released by the LSO label ...

 

It was an average Vivaldi Four Seasons but that matters little to me since I already have many outstanding versions in my collection ...

 

CMC is very desolated this evening ...

 

Okay a short blog...'67 I am in a "music appreciation" class at junior college. Long narrow room with KLH compact stereo sound. I was not a fan of the species. Instructor drops needle on the D Major...a few bars in, am going..hey, WoW..had to buy the album through some mail order outfit. Started me on this rocky road. Still have LP, CD, SACD + many others & box sets.

 

coopmv, to answer your question, "Has any CMC member ever purchased from an Amazon US MarketPlace seller located in Japan? Do I have to pay any import fees other than the required $3.99 shipping?", no, you don't pay any extra fees. I've had quite good luck with the handful of Japanese sellers that I've dealt with. All have done an excellent job of packing so the discs aren't damaged.

 

Thanks for the info. I have bought from Amazon US MarketPlace sellers located in the UK a number of times and every transaction has turned out well, though I have never bought from MarketPlace seller located in Japan.

 

Welcome to the fold!

 

Now listening to "Historia Sancti Eadmundi - De La Liturgie Dramatique Au Drame Liturgique" performed by La Reverdie on Arcana.

La Reverdie includes nice notes/booklets with their CDs but the tiny size makes me miss the LP days when you (often) read them easily.

 

Now listening to CD 1 "Estampie: Instrumental Music From The Middle Ages" performed by Studio Der Fruhen Musik from the "Music From The Middle Ages" box set on Virgin Classics.

This group was among the early music pioneers way back in the 20th century.

 

I was looking LSO's own site few weeks ago and took just a short notice of that box; I believed already to have the (to me) important ceedees in the box. Now I realised that was not the case. Perhaps. Have all the Nielsen & Sibelius symphonies from LSO & Davis and some other hybrids too. But in that box are both "two much loved recordings in high-resolution SACD for the first time" and "previously unreleased material from the LSO Live archive", as the LSO site informs. Good reasons to order the box at that bargain price, even though I don't much like the boxes (LSO site: £ 50 + £ 9 for post, vs. Amazon: ca. £ 21-22 incl. shipping!).

 

Coffee break. Orion from the box

 

Now listening to "Brahms - Piano Sonata No. 3/Klavierstucke Op. 118" from "Helene Grimaud - The Piano Collection" on Brilliant.

 

Now: Chopin: 26 Preludes and other works - Martha Argerich - DG

 

If you've ever thought to yourself, "I love Russian music on the piano, but 'Pictures at an Exhibition' and 'Islamey' are just not virtuosic enough," then this is the disc for you! Lordy! Much of the "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy" would keep a duet busy, let alone a solo pianist! Kuleshov is a virtuoso very much in the Horowitz tradition. Very good sound, too.

 

Starting the morning with my version of Perspice christicola: Sumer is icumen in.

 

Now: Bruckner: Symphony 8 (Haas edition) - Pierre Boulez/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - DG

 

On the turntable during the last couple of days:



This is a famous recording and rightly so. Reiner was Bartok's student at the Budapest Academy and was very well acquainted with Bartok's work. He put his soul into this recording and it shows. This is IMO the most emotional version of Bartok's concerto, very different from Boulez's cold and analytic account with the same orchestra many years later (which I occasionally like depending on my mood BTW).

The record I played is the recent Analogue Productions reissue. Perfect virgin vinyl, flat record, high quality reproduction of the cover, and sound that to mine and many other ears (see Fremer, Pearson, etc.) seems to surpass the original pressings.

I have the sacds like many here and I like them, but they are nothing like these vinyl pressings. If you like these albums and you have a decent analogue system, do yourselves a favor and get them ASAP.

 

Now listening to "Emmanuelle Bertrand - le violoncelle parle" on Harmonia Mundi.

 

Also yesterday, I got the two sacds with the I Barocchisti/Diego Fasolis that I mentioned on a previous post. I just listened to the first sacd last night:



Man, these guys are fast! They play the 3rd concerto in under 10 minutes! My head started spinning, it was like listening to Malmsteen.
Anyway, the performances are not actually too bad, I kind of liked what I heard but I need to listen to them again.

Sound was not as impressive as I thought that it would be though. Very clear and detailed but there was a digital edge that I did not appreciate.

 

How do you like the recording? I bought it last year ...

 

The scherzo is a bit on the fast side, but otherwise this is an excellent interpretation, at least to my ears. The sound quality is OK.

 

Had that as a standalone, but it's now subsumed by the DG box of her solo work.

 

Yep. I'm hoping to get that box later this year.