First listen to CD 15 from "Wilhelm Kempff - Solo Piano Recordings" on DG. Brahms: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Sonata No. 3 Scherzo
Not necessarily, maybe the license was time-limited and expired quickly or maybe it was a very limited edition. The set was released by an Italian label, Stradivarius. Just checked their website: Stradivarius - The leading italian classical music label They have a huge catalogue, but the Lucchesini set (STR 33669) is no longer listed.
Its search function is weird, it actually returns recordings released by other record labels in the search results. Tactus is the only Italian record label I am familiar with because I have bought many of its CD's for obscure baroque composers over the years ...
Ah! Romania and Count Dracula ... Love those 3 am shows starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula. @Wugged, were you into those shows? The Shadow of the Castle That Inspired DraculaWill Be the Site of an Epic Halloween Party
David Hurwitz's review of the big George Szell box: Finally, The Szell Box Review by: David Hurwitz Artistic Quality: 10 Sound Quality: 8 Go ahead. Pull out any disc at random. Chances are you’ll be holding a reference recording for the work in question. Based on the recorded evidence, George Szell was simply the finest conductor of the twentieth century. No one else approached him in the consistently exalted quality of the results that he achieved. His recordings of the Viennese classics: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, have been in the catalog nearly constantly since the 1950s, and deservedly so. They are stunning. In the romantic repertoire, his Schumann was legendary, his Mendelssohn perfection itself, his Brahms nearly so, and his Dvorák uniformly exceptional (including this happily remastered Piano Concerto with Rudolf Firkusny). He owned the two Brahms piano concertos. His collaborations with soloists–Fleisher, Graffman, Serkin, Casadesus, Browning and Horowitz (in a smoking live Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto)–were almost all spectacular. Although he played much more contemporary music than was preserved on disc, those recordings that he did make often became instant classics: works by Walton, Hindemith, Barber, Bartók, Kodály, and Prokofiev. His Ricard Strauss was incomparable and carried with it the imprimatur of the composer himself. The two discs of Wagner opera excerpts remain unequalled. Although he came late to Bruckner and Mahler, with the exception of a relatively tepid live rendition of the latter’s Sixth Symphony, the results there were otherwise equally persuasive. In short, the 106 discs in this attractively packaged box represent an unparalleled achievement in terms of musical excellence. Is everything equally good? No. Szell could sound overly controlled. His Janácek Sinfonietta really lacks the raw edge that the music demands, but even the vanishingly few lapses tend to stem from an unidiomatic musical approach, rather than from any diminution in the quality of the results that he obtained. I have often shocked colleagues by asking them to identify the artist behind these astonishingly brilliant accounts of theoretically non-Szell repertoire, such as Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, or Debussy’s La Mer. His motto seems to have been: “If you’re going to do it at all, be the best.” Most often, he was. Given the abundance of great performances in this set, we are spoiled for choice in coming up with representative works to sample. I have chosen two. The first is the Infernal Dance from the Firebird Suite, Szell’s only Stravinsky recording. It’s as exciting as any performance yet set down, but played with a precision and intensity that would make Pierre Boulez blanche (sound clip). The other extract comes from his Cleveland recording of Smetana’s The Moldau, which remains the only version in the catalog to realize the duetting trumpets in the closing bars as the composer actually wrote them–followed by a breathtakingly graded combination diminuendo/deceleration. It’s what great conducting, and great playing, is all about. The sonics for most of these performances have also been cleaned up nicely. The stereo recordings sound as good as they ever have, and even the early New York Philharmonic monos from the 1940s have plenty of detail and presence for the most part. Many collectors will already own a good chunk of the contents of this set, but that’s not really the point. To have all of the Columbia mono productions, Szell’s two outings as a pianist (in Mozart violin sonatas and piano quartets), the disc of interviews, and then all the stereo recordings too, all in original jackets–which Szell insisted on approving himself–is simply too good an opportunity to pass up. Get it while you can, and treasure it forever. https://www.classicstoday.com/review/finally-the-szell-box/
I love the Red Sox but am sick of Brady & Belichick. Belichick is my age & I just found out he was born here in Nashville. Mookie Betts & David Price are from the Nashville area. The Titans suck. So where am I going with this? Nowhere, I suspect.
Thanks for posting this. I actually finished reading this Hurwitz's review. To ensure Sony does not make the disappearing act on this box prematurely, it looks like I have to break out my credit card soon ...
I have a recording of the works by LeClair performed by the Ensemble Stradivarius on this French label ADDA, which might have gone belly up a number of years ago since I have never seen it on Amazon ...
Recorded in 1967 by the Amadeo label of Austria & issued by them & by MHS's Orpheus label in 1968. I have three of these LP volumes but the sound is so inferior to that of the compete set in my Decca CD box that I don't plan to keep the records.
I have Szell Beethoven Symphonies, Haydn Symphonies and Mozart Piano Concertos with Casadesus, and the lone LP recording of Rossini, all with the Cleveland Orchestra. They amount to 15 duplicates out of 106 CD's, though I think these original jacket recordings are probably shorter. My Sony Szell Beethoven Symphonies box has 5 CD's since they were artificially made longer to offer better values. I am sure the Beethoven Symphonies are spread across more than 5 CD's in the big box ...
This box is now available for under $159 before tax and shipping from a US domestic etailer. IIRC, this price is way better than every Amazon website has to offer ...
MHS also had the Beethoven sonata cycle by Robert Riefling, and I've heard that their issue is much inferior to the original on Valois. MHS LP mastering quality improved later on, but it was hit-and-miss in the sixties.
Here's a list of the Beethoven Symphonies (all with the Cleveland Orchestra, unless otherwise noted): Symphonies 1 and 2, 1964: disc 71 Symphony 3, 1957: disc 21 Symphony 4, 1947: disc 2 Symphony 4, 1963: disc 60 Symphony 5, 1955: disc 12 Symphony 5, 1963: disc 67 Symphony 6 (NYPO), 1955: disc 102 Symphony 6, 1962: disc 53 Symphony 7, 1959: disc 34 Symphony 8, 1961: disc 47 Symphony 9, 1961: disc 46
So that 5-CD Sony Beethoven box I bought probably has the stereo symphonies but the big box has some mono versions of the symphonies as well ...
How is my CD box related to your LP? I am just too lazy to look up the enclosed booklet in this box ...
Same recordings as my LPs & my CD box, which was issued in 2005 by Universal Classics Germany. It also includes early-70s Decca recordings of the Piano Concertos with the Weiner Philharmoniker/Horst Stein. 12 CDs & I only paid $15.95.
I've been a Pats fan since I moved to NE (Bledsoe era, I can't believe he is 46 I thought he would have at least another decade on him) and my enthusiasm with the NFL in general has been starting to wane mostly because of how much time it requires to dedicate to a game, which is a bit harder now that I'm older. Going from Canada to the US baseball was never big there unless you were from the Toronto area, so I never made the transition of getting into the Sox besides with friends. Looking forward to catching them in game 3 this Friday, more of a social thing for me though. Good luck to them! And your Titans too, it seems like every year the press like to hype up the Jags in the pre-season and they're finally good now.
