Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #7)

I heard it on the harmonia mundi website, which is hinky. The opening movement of op. 100 played all the way through, but I couldn't get it to do it twice.

The sound there is very nice. http://www.harmoniamundi.com/#/news?view=grid&id=highlight

 

I concur. It works quite well in, say, 95% of cases. Moreover, amazon.de offers for some titles not 30-second but 1-minute samples. Also, there are samples on the Deutsche Grammophon site and many other sites as well. Naxos even offers a free trial access to more continuous samples - for a limited period of time you can listen to 1/4 of each track.

 

The problem with the Amazon sampling system is it plays about 30 secs for each track but it does not restrict how many times you can play any given track. I would say go for it if you liked what you heard ...

 

I'm glad to hear you guys say this. I have read a lot of people online say that samples reveal nothing. I definitely disagree, especially in cases where I know a given work.

OTOH, a recommendation from a source that has been on the money many times in the past is perhaps most useful. Those sources are hard to find, though.

 

Indeed, hearing is quite subjective, which is something many of these self-anointed experts at some other forums do not recognize that they feel the world is obligated to follow their opinions. You cannot go wrong with what is pleasing to your ears ...

 

Exactly. All I actually need from the most of samples - a glimpse of conductor's approach, orchestra/soloists condition and overall sound balance. Very rarely these things can not be heard from even shortest samples. But even more subjective things (such as excitement and freshness) can be found there, not effortlessly, but can.

Any trusted examples, George? (Hope, it isn't against the forum's rules.)

 

Some time ago, I inherited three sets of Bruckner, one by HvK, the other by Wand (I think), and I can't remember the third. Everyone said, "Oh, well, if you like Mahler, you'll like Bruckner." Not true in my case. So I just have a couple of individual Bruckner CDs at the moment. Sold the rest. But I've been listening to some of Herreweghe's Bruckner on the HM website, and it really sounds intriguing. Maybe this is the year.

And how bad can an outfit called "L'Orchestre des Champs Elysses" be? (I'm one of those people who think everything sounds better en Français.)

 

Indeed, I do not treat reviews at Fanfare as gospels since they reflect only one person's opinions.

 

I started to appreciate Herreweghe earlier this year when I bought his St Matthew Passion, followed by an older recording of his Mass in B on Virgin Classics. I have no experience with him as a conductor of non-baroque music. Not sure if he has the same magic like John Eliot Gardiner or Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who are equally at home with both baroque and classical periods ...

 

I ordered these from mdt.co.uk today. I read somewhere else that harmonia mundi is opening its own webstore this winter, but I doubt they'll have better prices.

 

His first St. Matthew Passion is my favorite, and my intro to HM. It's one of those recordings I can listen to for weeks on end. I got the newer one a few years ago, but I don't like it as much. It's probably the imprint phenomenon.

I like everything I've ever heard by Harnoncourt: Mozart, Beethoven, and of course, Bach.

 

Congrats! Mdt.co.uk rule when they have something on offer. I ordered Mozart's Requiem on Linn and Mahler's 4th symphony on Channel Classics last week from them. Unfortunately, my order's shipment seems to be postponed until they are back from the Christmas/New Year vacation, but whatever...

 

Jay, Relaxed. You have not overpaid. I checked out Hyperion website and MDT website and their prices were virtually identical when Hyperion announced that 50% off sales a while back. Righttt, it was more gimmick than anything else. Like the Macy's old trick, they jacked up their list prices 50%, then turned around to offer a 25% discount. The last thing record companies want to do these days when their industry has not been doing well is to undercut their retailers ...

 

I think tomorrow may be the last day MDT ships its orders to most countries and it will be closed until 1/4 for the holidays. US e-tailers have no such practice.

 

MDT is having what seems like a permanent sale on HM this year. Which I like.

 

Can't complain about this since it gives us time to order what we want in a leisurely fashion. You can do some comparison shopping with Presto Classic as I find Presto sometimes has better prices than MDT for box sets.

 

Wish I had seen this earlier. The Schubert Trios are a couple of dollars cheaper on Presto.

 

Oh well, so maybe tomorrow?..

 

JPC, a German e-tailer is what I avoid. While it may have the best prices for a given CD set, its exorbitant shipping charge to the US will wipe out all price advantage for you. Presto has a fixed $3.95 USD shipping charge for the first CD or CD-set. I ordered the 200 years of Versailles, a 20-CD set and paid only $3.95 for shipping since that was the only item I ordered. Shipping charge at MDT works differently. But at 75 pence per CD, I am not sure if I may end up paying £15 for shipping for the set. But even at £10, it is $16 USD at current exchange rate ...

Have you ever ordered from Amazon UK? It occasionally has some great prices for newly released CD sets and reasonable shipping charge. George and I ordered the Karajan Symphony Edition from Amazon UK for a song ...

 

BTW, Presto Classic does not have price advantage over MDT across all labels. You have to let your mouse do the walking to check out prices and the shipping costs. Early this year, I paid $25 to get that Harnoncourt 60-CD Complete Bach Cantatas set and 3 other CD singles at MDT. That was a steep price to pay for shipping. I paid about $120 or $130 USD for the Cantatas set. I could not bring myself to pay $350 to buy the set from a US e-tailer. The set is now selling for $500 on Amazon US.

 

Andrei, what is the local time in Riga now?

 

Now playing CD1 from this set

 

All I Do Is Hang My Head And Moan

Not yet, but tell me why?

A little over twenty years ago I made half° of a New Age classical compilation of piano music for the "Celestial Harmonies" recording label called Largo II. The Chopin Nocturne op. 9 no.1 b-minor recording I selected was performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy. I'm happy that I had access to that particular rendition, with yummy sound-capture* from the good folks at Decca/London sometime in the seventies. Also got to include the Clifford Curzon performance of the slow movement from Schubert's Sonata in B flat.

Of course, nowadays everybody can make their own soundtracks this way, eh?

°The other half was produced by Ellen Holmes of "Adagio Recordings."

I've heard that the miking involved a pair of small diaphragm omni condensers flared about ten/twenty degrees apart on a wide stereo bar, about twenty inches apart & aimed into the harp or a little above and past the harp, positioned three to six feet back from the tail of the piano on a short stand.

 

That's Why They Call It 'En "F" Able'

Mick Jagger is a particularly exemplary representative of this syndrome.