Listenin' to Classical Music and Conversation

2-LP set of synthesized Bach by Wendy Carlos issued in 1980. Nos. 1 & 6 and the 1st & 3d movements of No.2 were first issued in this set while the rest had been previously released. Producer: Rachel Elkind-Tourre. The cover woodcut is by James Grashow, who did the cover for Jethro Tull's 'Stand Up' LP.

 

By this Classical Music forums standards, you three are barely out of nappies........
Wee bairns

 

Helmuth is the correct German spelling (pronounced "hel-moot").

 

These were simply reissues from original German issues. I have these LPs in the German pressing (Cantate Records). The Nonesuch sonics are worse than the German originals which are good but not great.

 

Not too long ago I thought about getting one of those portable music players. It's not that I don't like the iPhone as a music player, but I spend my time away from home quite often and I would like to have expandable storage. So I decided to look into players with an external SD card slot. From the get-go, I ruled out everything Android-based; I'm looking for something with an elegant interface, but most importantly, less distractions. I don't want a music player to browse the internet or play games in a half-assed fashion. So all FiiO products didn't make the cut, mainly because some of them are Android, while the others have a really buggy and badly-designed interface. Which, as we shall see, is important to me. Somebody once said, design is not how it looks like, design is how it works. True.

Taking price into account as well, I ended up testing two products: a Sony (digital) Walkman and one from a company called Cowon. The Sony NWA45 had definitely the most solid interface, and was well-designed physically, but in the end I had to send it back because its output volume was ridiculously low. It turns out Sony is one of the few companies who actually hasn't managed to find a workaround regarding the EU's volume limit, so they religiously stick to it. I kid you not, this thing was quieter than the iPhone. Some classical recordings (BIS!) were way too low during quiet parts to be enjoyed.

The Cowon Plenue D was better in this regard, but it had other problems. It was pretty buggy, in that sometimes it showed artwork, other time didn't, sometimes it played gaplessly, other times it made audible clicks between tracks. Gapless playback is absolutely essential for classical. Not to mention the garish stock photos it showed as artwork when it couldn't read the embedded one. The device itself was very nice: small, lightweight but solidly built. Another flaw I noticed: my iPhone, even if it's not designed as a music player, has volume control buttons at the side of the device that you can instantly feel and hit through layers of fabric, like when it's in your pocket. No such dice on this device. Not to mention the fact that I didn't really thought the sound quality was that much better. It was a tad more refined, but almost too recessed in the mids. After a few days of experimentation I gave up. In the end, it was the buggy software that made me send it back. I don't get it how so many people online can be fooled into thinking that this is a good product.

Then, I realised that I had another device lying around, which I use for work. It's actually a professional TASCAM PCM recorder, but it takes SD cards and can play back whatever is on them:



So I had a little bit of fun for the past 3 days. I took inspiration from the vintage Deutsche Grammophon record catalogues I amassed, and decided to do something similar in digital form, but only with instant access to the music. I loaded up two 128GB cards with files, one with a '60s catalogue, the other with '70s releases, all ordered by catalogue number.

Thus, I created a folder structure based on the catalogue nos., and slowly filled in the gaps. As a source, I used the many lossless files I have in my digital library, all ripped from CDs or hi-res downloads. Sometimes, I mixed and matched: if I had several transfers of a recording, I would choose the best sounding one. Some of the stuff I left out: a lot of opera and vocal works I don't care about, but also rare recordings which either haven't been released on CD or are hard to find.

It's been an enlightening experience, to say the least. First, looking at it from a catalogue perspective is very educational, as you can get a feel about the order the records were released in, how they curated the repertoire, and how the artist roster changed over the years.

Secondly, using this as a player gets rid of all distractions, which is great. I even like that old-school LCD screen much more that I liked any of those fancy music players' colour ones. One disadvantage of the TASCAM device is that is cannot play gaplessly (it was never designed as a playback device anyway), so I couldn't just drop files onto it at will—I had to manually join movements, making all classical works single tracks. Thankfully, that takes only a few seconds using XLD on a Mac. That little annoyance turned into an advantage, however: it restored unity to these works. Suddenly, I felt I had more of an overall feel about the structure of a piece, instead of the structure of individual movements or tracks. It made me really listen from beginning to end. The sound quality of the TASCAM is amazing, by the way, which isn't surprising.

A good thing about re-ordering these works back into the form they were originally released on LP is that they become re-contextualised. Many of these recordings were reissued on CD in a haphazard fashion, sometimes breaking the unity of the original record. Other times, mega CD boxes tend to obscure tracks. For instance, I have had Monique Haas's Complete DG Recordings for a quite a while, but never did realise there is a great and charming album of Haydn Piano Sonatas hidden in there. Putting it back into the original catalogue, in the original running order, has brought it back to life, imo.

So that you can get a feel for this, here is a list. I made it as small a text as I could, so it doesn't take up too much space. Sorry for that. I had to keep the folder names brief, since the TASCAM can only display a limited amount of characters. Here is the past 3 days' work—the '60s STEREO list, followed by the '70s list (containing both DG and Archiv). Work in progress:


STEREO 135 000

024 Schneiderhan VIVALDI Baumgartner (60)
041 Markevitch Jochum BEETHOVEN Ouvertüren (61)

STEREO 136 000

001 Böhm STRAUSS Zarathustra (59)
002 Foldes KLAVIERABEND (58)
220 Trio di Trieste HAYDN BEETHOVEN (61)
226 Fricsay MOZART Nachtmusik (60)
236 Anda Schneiderhan Fournier BEETHOVEN Fricsay (61)
257 Karajan DELIBES CHOPIN-DOUGLAS Ballettmusik (61)
485 Vásáry CHOPIN Walzer (65)
486 Vásáry CHOPIN Nocturnes I (65)
487 Vásáry CHOPIN Nocturnes II (66)

STEREO 138 000

001 Jochum SCHUBERT 9 (59)
002-3 Fricsay BEETHOVEN 9 (58)
004-5 Jochum BRUCKNER 5 (58)
009 Janácek BRAHMS Quintett Bernáthová (58)
016 M Haas RAVEL MIHALOVICI Rostal (59)
017 C Seemann BACH (59)
018 Böhm BEETHOVEN 7 (59)
025 Karajan STRAUSS Heldenleben (59)
033 Maazel RESPIGHI MUSSORGKSY (59)
044 Morini Fricsay BRUCH GLASUNOW (59)
054 Trio di Trieste MOZART RAVEL (59)
073 Markevitch DEBUSSY ROUSSEL (60)
075 S Richter MOZART KK 20 PROKOFIEFF KK 5 (59)
076 S Richter RACHMANINOFF KK 2 (59)
078 Fischer Fricsay BEETHOVEN KK 3 (60)
078 M Haas HAYDN (60)
080 Karajan BRAHMS DVORAK Tänze (60)
081 Fournier Gulda BEETHOVEN (60)
082 Fournier Gulda BEETHOVEN (60)
083 Fournier Gulda BEETHOVEN (60)
084 Anda CHOPIN Préludes (60)
111 Anda BARTÓK KK 2 3 Fricsay (60)
112 Böhm MOZART 32 35 38 (60)
113 Böhm BRAHMS 1 (60)
126 Amadeus BRAHMS DVORAK Amerikanisches (60)
127 Fricsay DVORAK 9 (60)
645 Kempff MOZART KK 23 24 Leitner (62)
650-2 Ungarisches Streichquartett BARTÓK (61)
657 Mrawinskij TSCHAIKOWSKY 4 (61)
658 Mrawinskij TSCHAIKOWSKY 5 (61)
659 Mrawinskij TSCHAIKOWSKY 6 (61)
669 Fournier SAINT-SAËNS LALO BRUCH Martinon (63)
670 Haskil MOZART KK 13 KS 2 Baumgartner (61)
672 Argerich SPIELT (61)
675 Maazel RAVEL L'Enfant (61)
692 Karajan LISZT Cherkassky (61)
693 Maazel FRANCK Sinfonie (62)
707 Kempff MOZART KS (62)
708 Anda BARTÓK KK 1 Fricsay (61)
709 Fricsay MOZART 29 41 (61)
710 Margrit Weber Fricsay RACHMANINOFF TSCHEREPNIN (61)
712 Markevitch BERLIOZ Fantastique (62)
713 Anda BEETHOVEN Diabelli (61)
714 Oistrach BACH BEETHOVEN VIVALDI (61)
753 Schneiderhan Starker BRAHMS Fricsay (62)
755 Fournier DVORAK Szell (61)
767 Karajan MOZART Requiem (62)
770-3 Kempff BEETHOVEN KK 1-5 Leitner (62)
778-9 Hotter SCHUBERT Winterreise Werba (62)
782 Richter HAYDN 94 101 (62)
783 Anda MOZART KK 17 21 (62)
802 Karajan BEETHOVEN 3 (63)
803 Karajan BEETHOVEN 4 (63)
807-8 Karajan BEETHOVEN 8 9 (63)
811 STOCKHAUSEN (62-68)
815 Böhm MOZART 40 41 (62)
822 S Richter TSCHAIKOWSKY KK 1 Karajan (63)
824 Anda MOZART KK 22 6 (62)
828 Fricsay KODÁLY STRAWINSKY EINEM Margrit Weber (63)
831 M Haas DEBUSSY Préludes I (63)
853 Zabaleta MOZART REINECKE Zöller (63)
860 Kubelík SCHUMANN 1 4 (63)
869 Kubelík MOZART Haffner (63)
870 Anda MOZART KK 16 23 (64)
872 M Haas DEBUSSY Préludes II (63)
877 Böhm SCHUBERT 9 (63)
879 Dieskau MAHLER Böhm (64)
888 Anda SCHUMANN GRIEG KK Kubelík (64)
894-5 Amadeus BEETHOVEN 7 8 9 (60-63)
898 Amadeus BEETHOVEN 13 GF (63)
900 Amadeus BEETHOVEN 15 (63)
907 Richter BACH Orgel (64)
908 Kubelík SCHUMANN 3 (64)
917 Anda MOZART KK 20 18 (65)
918-9 Jochum BRUCKNER 8 (64)
922 Karajan DVORAK 9 (64)
923 Karajan DEBUSSY RAVEL (65)
924 Karajan BRAHMS 1 (64-65)
925 Karajan BRAHMS 2 (64-65)
926 Karajan BRAHMS 3 HV (64-65)
927 Karajan BRAHMS 4 (64-65)
928-9 Karajan BRAHMS Requiem (64-65)
930 Ferras BRAHMS Karajan (64-65)
959 Kubelík MENDELSSOHN Sommernachtstraum (65)
961 Ferras SIBELIUS Karajan (65)
973 Karajan SIBELIUS 5 (65)
974 Karajan SIBELIUS 4 (65)
986 Fournier VIVALDI COUPERIN STRAWINSKY (65)
988 M Haas Paray RAVEL (65)
999 Schneiderhan BEETHOVEN Jochum (62)

STEREO 139 000

001 Karajan SCHUBERT 8 BEETHOVEN (65)
003 Karajan BARTÓK Orchester (66)
004 Karajan MOZART Nachtmusik (66)
009 Fournier Karajan STRAUSS Don Quixote (66)
010 Karajan MUSSORGSKY RAVEL Boléro (66)
011 Karajan BRUCKNER 9 (66)
014 Karajan STRAUß I (67)
020 Karajan SCHOSTAKOWITSCH 10 (67)
022 Karajan RIMSKY-KORSSAKOFF Scheherazade (67)
023 Eschenbach BEETHOVEN KK 1 Karajan (67)
023 Ferras BEETHOVEN Karajan (67)
028 Ferras TSCHAIKOWSKY Karajan (66-67)
031 Karajan OPERA INTERMEZZI (68)
032 Karajan SIBELIUS 6 7 (68)
034 Anda BRAHMS KK 2 Karajan (68)
037 Karajan SMETANA LISZT (68)
038 G Seifert Karajan MOZART Horn (69)
040 Karajan PROKOFIEFF 5 (69)
043 Karajan SCHUBERT 9 (69)
044 Rostropowitsch DVORAK TSCHAIKOWSKY Karajan (69)
106 Trio di Trieste SCHUBERT (65)
113 Anda MOZART KK 26 12 (66)
117-8 Jochum BRUCKNER 9 Te Deum (66)
125 Wunderlich SCHUMANN Dichterliebe Giesen (66)
128 Fournier ELGAR BLOCH Wallenstein (67)
131 Jochum BRUCKNER 1 (66)
132 Jochum BRUCKNER 2 (67)
133 Jochum BRUCKNER 3 (67)
134-5 Jochum BRUCKNER 4 (67)
136 Jochum BRUCKNER 6 (67)
137-8 Jochum BRUCKNER 7 Psalm (67)
146-8 Kirkpatrick BACH WTC 2 (69)
149 Kempff SCHUBERT Impromptus (66)
156 Böhm MOZART Concertante (66)
159 Böhm MOZART 34 31 26 (66)
160 Böhm MOZART 39 36 (66)
162 Böhm SCHUBERT 5 8 (66)
181 Kubelík DVORAK 8 (66)
196 Anda MOZART KK 14 24 (66)
208-9 Karajan BEETHOVEN Missa (66)
219-0 Wunderlich SCHUBERT Giesen (68)
300 Kempff BEETHOVEN KS 8 14 21 (68)
316 Kempff SCHUMANN Papillons (67)
317 Argerich CHOPIN KS 3 (67)
319 Anda MOZART KK 13 19 (67)
321 Richter BACH Orgel (67)
323 Kempff SCHUBERT KS 21 (67)
325 Richter BACH Orgel (67)
331 Kubelík MAHLER 1 (67)
332-3 Kubelík MAHLER 2 (69)
337-8 Kubelík MAHLER 3 (67)
339 Kubelík MAHLER 4 (67)
341-2 Kubelík MAHLER 6 10 (67)
345-6 Kubelík MAHLER 9 (67)
349 Argerich PROKOFIEFF RAVEL Abbado (67)
358 Fournier HAYDN Cellokonzerte (68)
362 Jochum ORFF Carmina Burana (68)
368 Fournier SCHUBERT MENDELSSOHN SCHUMANN Fonda (68)
383 Argerich CHOPIN LISZT Abbado (68)
393 Anda MOZART KK 15 11 (69)
406 Böhm MOZART 28 29 (68)
440 Yepes RODRIGO Alonso (69)

STEREO 198 000

006-7 Walcha BACH Kunst der Fuge (62)
179 Kirkpatrick BACH Inventionen (61)
186 Fournier BACH Suiten 1 2 (61)
187 Fournier BACH Suiten 3 4 (61)
188 Fournier BACH Suiten 5 6 (61)
190-2 Richter BACH Messe (62)
272 Richter BACH Ouvertüren 2 3 (61)
273 Richter BACH Ouvertüren 1 4 (61)
311-2 Kirkpatrick BACH WTC 1 (63)
487 Richter BACH Brandenburg 6 3 1 (68)
488 Richter BACH Brandenburg 2 4 5 (68)


And here is the '70s list:


STEREO 2530 000

021 Kamu SIBELIUS 2 (70)
027 Karajan STRAUß II (71)
035 Richter BACH Cembalo (70)
038 Abbado DEBUSSY RAVEL (70)
055 Szidon GERSHWIN MACDOWELL Downes (70)
065 Karajan BARTÓK STRAWINSKY (73)
066 Karajan METAMORPHOSEN (70)
068 Karajan HONEGGER 2 3 (73)
069 Yepes Melos BOCCHERINI (71)
075 Kubelík JANACEK Sinfonietta (71)
078 Tilson Thomas TSCHAIKOWSKY 1 (70)
082 Böhm MOZART Posthorn (71)
102 Steinberg HOLST Planets (71)
112 Argerich TSCHAIKOWSKY KK 1 Dutoit (71)
126 Karajan MENDELSSOHN 3 (71)
133 Gilels Amadeus BRAHMS Quartett (71)
137 Abbado SKRJABIN TSCHAIKOWSKY (71)
141 Fournier Fonda CHOPIN FRANCK (71)
142 Böhm BEETHOVEN 6 (71)
143 Böhm MOZART Requiem (71)
147 Kempff Szeryng Fournier BEETHOVEN (70)
156 Trio di Trieste BRAHMS 1 (68)
169 Karajan SCHUMANN 1 4 (72)
185 Kempff SCHUMANN Carnaval (72)
189-0 Kubelík MAHLER 5 LIEDER Dieskau (71)
191-2 Richter BACH Goldberg (72)
193 Argerich LISZT SCHUMANN (72)
196 Michelangeli DEBUSSY Images (71)
199 Karajan OFFENBACH GOUNOD Ballettmusik (71)
207 Kempff Szeryng Fournier BEETHOVEN (71)
211 Yepes VIVALDI Kuentz (72)
213 Amadeus HAYDN 7 letzte Worte (72)
235 LaSalle DEBUSSY RAVEL (72)
236 Michelangeli CHOPIN Mazurken (72)
238 Kubelík MAHLER 7 (71)
244 Karajan AUFFORDERUNG ZUM TANZ (72)
258 Gilels BRAHMS KK 1 Jochum (72)
259 Gilels BRAHMS KK 2 Jochum (72)
280-4 LaSalle NEUE WIENER SCHULE (71)
285 Eschenbach Frantz MOZART KS (72)
290 Böhm MOZART Haffner (72)
291 Pollini CHOPIN Études (72)
317 Kempff SCHUMANN Kreisleriana (73)
336 Barenboim BRUCKNER 4 (73)
348 Kempff SCHUMANN Kinderszenen (73)
349 Karajan STRAUSS Don Juan (73)
368 Karajan STRAUSS Janowitz (74)
402 Karajan STRAUSS Zarathustra (74)
408 Kempff Szeryng Fournier BEETHOVEN (74)
410 Kempff SCHUMANN Waldszenen (74)
411 Böhm MOZART Klarinettenkonzert (74)
415 Kubelík DVORAK 9 (73)
416 Karajan MENDELSSOHN 4 5 (73)
417-9 Milstein BACH Violine solo (75)
432 Karajan ORFF De temporum (74)
476 Gilels GRIEG Lyrische Stücke (74)
485-8 Karajan SCHÖNBERG BERG WEBERN (74)
516 Kleiber BEETHOVEN 5 (75)
530 Argerich CHOPIN KS 2 (75)
537 Abbado STRAWINSKY Oiseau (75)
540 Argerich RAVEL Gaspard (75)
541-2 Karajan MAHLER 5 Kindertotenlieder (74)
553-4 Karajan Kollo Ludwig MAHLER Lied von der Erde (75)
560 Kempff LISZT (75)
635 Abbado STRAWINSKY Sacre (76)
648-9 Karajan BRUCKNER 8 (76)
653 Rostropowitsch SCHOSTAKOWITSCH Ozawa (76)
655 Gilels BRAHMS Balladen (76)
659 Pollini CHOPIN Polonaises (76)
674 Karajan BRUCKNER 4 (76)
706 Kleiber BEETHOVEN 7 (76)
721 Argerich CHOPIN Préludes (77)
828 Karajan BRUCKNER 9 (76)
884 Karajan STRAWINSKY Sacre (77)
894 Böhm BRAHMS 4 (77)
918-9 Karajan BRUCKNER 7 (77)
959 Böhm BRAHMS 1 (76)
960 Böhm BRAHMS 2 (77)
966 Abbado MAHLER 4 (78)
990-1 Karajan MAHLER 6 (78)
992 Böhm BRAHMS 3 Ludwig (77)

STEREO 2531 000

049 Mutter MOZART V 3 5 Karajan (78)
055 Karajan RESPIGHI Roma (78)
087 Abbado STRAWINSKY Pulcinella (79)
088 Argerich BACH (80)
101 Karajan BEETHOVEN 1 2 (77)
103 Karajan BEETHOVEN 3 (77)
104 Karajan BEETHOVEN 4 (77)
105 Karajan BEETHOVEN 5 (77)
106 Karajan BEETHOVEN 6 (77)
107 Karajan BEETHOVEN 7 (77)
108-9 Karajan BEETHOVEN 8 9 (77)
110 Perlman BERG STRAWINSKY V Ozawa (79)
124 Kleiber SCHUBERT 3 8 (78)
131 Karajan BRAHMS 1 (78)
132 Karajan BRAHMS 2 (78)
133 Karajan BRAHMS 3 (78)
134 Karajan BRAHMS 4 (78)
136 Karajan MOZART 32 35 36 (78)
137 Karajan MOZART 38 39 (78)
138 Karajan MOZART 40 41 (78)
194 Pollini BEETHOVEN KK 5 Böhm (79)
197 Pollini BRAHMS Quartetto Italiano (80)
200 Michelangeli DEBUSSY Préludes I (78)
208 Yepes RODRIGO Navarro (80)
232-3 Abbado MAHLER 6 (80)
274 Böhm MOZART Hornkonzerte Högner (80)
295 Karajan BRUCKNER 6 (80)
302 Michelangeli BEETHOVEN KK 1 Giulini (80)

STEREO 2533 000

050 Richter CPE BACH 1-4 (70)
075 Melkus BACH Violinkonzerte (71)
147-8 Holliger ZELENKA (73)
157 Ragossnig ENGLAND Laute (74)
402 Pinnock BACH Toccaten I (78)
403 Pinnock BACH Toccaten II (78)
405 Münchner Baryton-Trio HAYDN (78)
408 Goebel PARNASSE FRANÇAIS (78)
424 Pinnock BACH (79)
425 Pinnock BACH Goldberg (80)
452 Richter Nicolet BACH Tripelkonzert (81)

STEREO 2565 000

99-101 Camerata Bern ZELENKA (78)
170-2 Goebel DEUTSCHE KAMMERMUSIK VOR BACH (81)

STEREO SETS

2707 062 Kubelík MAHLER 8 (71)
2707 101 Karajan BRUCKNER 5 (77)
2740 122 Amadeus MOZART Quintette (75)


I imagine I will expand the catalogue as some point, to include MONO recordings from the '50s, and the DIGITAL era.

 

Listening to the CD layer of this Hybrid SACD.

 

You may be right. I have not played any of his recordings in a while but the name Helmut Walcha keeps coming to my mind ...

 

Walcha's first name was indeed Helmut, no h at the end. Just checked again and it's usually spelt like that in German; looks like Helmuth with th is the exception. German posters, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Hey, as time inexorably marches onward, I'll take what I can get! Anyone willing to refer to me as "junior" for the foreseeable future as well? I haven't been carded when buying alcohol in years!

Wow! And here I thought I was excessively diligent in my work digitizing my collection and moving towards performing my own artwork scans...

Personally, I would probably have suggested a second generation Fiio device given your criteria. They're still readily available on eBay new, so nothing too hard to track down, and the X5 has two microSD card slots. The interface is no great shakes, but it gets the job done and offers gapless playback. Honestly, my primary gripe with it involves the fact that its library scan can be a bit sluggish and, additionally, transferring files using it as the card reader/writer takes a geolithic age. Nothing a USB 3.0 card reader can't fix, but it's definitely a gripe.

My lack of desire for a non-phone phone as my next player is what keeps me from upgrading to the newer X5, even though it looks sleek as all get-out...

 

Indeed, I think Helmut is more common. But both are correct, just like the triumvirate of Philipp, Phillipp, and Phillip.

 

Recorded at Manhattan Center, 4/9/62 (No. 83) & 5/7/62 (No.82). Producer: John McClure. Issued 1964.

 

Another Helmut, as in Helmut Schmidt ...

One of my favorite recordings, how many world-renown politician could play piano like Helmut Schmidt?

 

Yup. That was the chancellor of Germany. Kind of like if the President of the USA dropped in to accompany Hilary Hahn on her next album.

 

I don't think the 45th President of the USA would drop in and accompany someone named Hil(l)ary

 

Waiting for me when I got back from an Alaskan cruise was this LP, one of my all-time favorites that fell victim to the great LP purge many years ago (I bought it on CD when it became available). The sound and playing are both phenomenal. (He plays a groundbreaking transcription of Bach's 6th Partita BWV 830 and several lute works by David Kellner.) It was a nice antidote to two rather unpleasant discoveries: our luggage was never delivered from the port in Seattle to the airport (they finally decided to send them to us via FedEx), and my new computer would not boot. I took it back to Costco and got another one. So far , so good!

 

How about Philips, as in Philips the Dutch company? Is that the Dutch-specific spelling?

 

IIRC, Helmut Schmidt might have made more than one recording though I have not googled ...

 

You could be right, he has no great love for that name ...

 

Yes, it's Philips (1 l, though many people keep spelling it incorrectly with 2x l), pronounced "phee-lips".

 

And vice versa...

 

I have never spelled anything other than "Philips" when I refer to the Dutch company since I have been seeing that spelling my entire life ...

 

More from the Decca Sound box:

 

Still waiting for my CD copy , B., flying to Warsaw from a well-known S. American rainforest……….. Probably somewhere over the Azores at the moment...….