Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #70)

Now playing CD56 - JS Bach Violin Concertos by Tafelmusik/Jeanne Lamon from the following box for a first and perfunctory listen ...

 

My impression so far is while the performance obviously is no match for Simon Standage/English Concert, Monica Huggett/AAM, Henryk Szeryng/ASMIF, Authur Grumiaux, etc, it is a bit better than the likes of the Boston Baroque ...

 

Next to be on the CD tray, CD6 - Beethoven Cello Sonatas Nos 1 - 3 from the following box for a first listen ...

 

This is not an inexpensive box ...

 

And you'd be then eating every day in a restaurant? Nice!

I've never had any deep emotions about CD's. I could very well live without them - I would, of course, keep some sexy boxes, SACD's, and that handful of DVD-Audios I have -, as long as someone else would see the trouble to rip them all and especially to make the metadata right. Nice hirez downloads tickle my genitals more...

 

An old-school guy here, I need to be able to handle the media and do not care for the MP3 or even the hires files ...

 

I'm still waiting the press telling us that (both fiction & non-fiction) books are actually quite useless... Majority of population around me seem already be thinking so. At least the antiquarian and other second-hand bokshops are fuller than full of books in a way I just couldn't imagine some 30-40 years ago: corners full of piles of books that no one has guts to skim through anymore.

 

In that case I'm a stone-age guy: I find LP's great (as objects) but CD's are comparable to c-/vhs-cassettes...

 

Now listening to Erkki Rautio playing Bach's 'sei solo' Cello Suite II. D minor, BWV 1008.

Yesterday evening the conductor Hannu Lintu took couple of dance steps on podium while conducting the Finnish RSO (the light version, for pre-romantic music) on Beethoven's First. It actually is very danceable work. Today, back to bleak everyday mood.

 

No, it isn't, and it frustrates me because I have so much of its contents that I find it hard to justify the expense--but, of course, I don't have everything in it, meaning that I still want it. Complicating matters, about a year before it came out, I took several months off and on transferring and editing all my nearly-complete run of her 78s, which in my opinion embody her most appealing work--as I've noted in other discussions, admirable as she was later on, she just wasn't the same pianist as before her travails in WW II. All that work doing my own transfers of the records of most interest to me makes spending the $$$ on someone else's even harder to justify now.

A question for those who have the set: her first record was, I think, issued only on Odeon; it contained the Mozart "Turkish Rondo" from the Sta. K. 331 and Chopin's Waltz in E Minor. Does that appear in the set? As far as I've been able to determine, that is her sole 78 that I haven't yet managed to secure. I believe it was issued only in Germany.

 

The best features of an LP are the jacket, its art work and the "normal" sized booklet. Its convenience is nothing to write home about. It also gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling when you are handling it which the CD does not ...

 

Well, I don't know about that. You can get it from amazon.co.jp for about $50 shipped to the US. That works out to about $1.60 per CD.

 

I am fine with reading news or articles online, though there are exceptions ...

 

Yes, it has those two pieces there were issued on Odeon and the sleeve confirms that they were Lili Kraus's first recordings. They were recorded in 1933.

 

I hear you. That is why over the last few years I have purchased many historical recordings on the Naxos Historical label, which are quite reasonably priced and expertly remastered by such outstanding engineers like MOT and Ward Marston. 78 RPM recordings present too big a challenge at this stage of my life ...

 

Amazon UK is the only foreign Amazon site I have ever used. If it is $50 including shipping from amazon.co.jp, then it is not that expensive. Prices on Amazon US are a bit higher ...

 

Good to know, and maybe a factor in favor of breaking down and buying the set. Thanks!

 

Now playing CD19 - Cantatas Nos 58 - 61 from the following box for a first listen ...

 

Now playing CD18 - Schubert Symphonies Nos 5 & ^ by the Staatskapelle Dresden from the following box for a first listen ...

 

Now playing the following CD from my choral works collection for "probably" a second listen ...

 

Now playing the following CD by the incomparable Emma Kirkby from my Purcell collection ...

 

A rather pricey bit of vinyl ($35), but it sounds great, and of course Richter's playing is nonpareil.

 

IIRC, most classical music LP's are priced over $30 these days. I stopped buying vinyl in the late 80's ...

 

This is one of those "Supercut" audiophile pressings. I have to say that it has richer and more natural string tone than most of my CDs.

 

Now playing the following LP from my Handel collection. IIRC, this may be one of the very few original digital recordings made by Vanguard before it went into receivership ...