Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #60)

Don't know about the sound on this set, but the symphonies got rather mixed reviews. I've only heard the 2nd, years ago back in my LP days, and I liked it. Don't have any of Karajan's 1976-1981 EMI versions on CD, I have his 1960s DG versions of 4-7 (I know 7 isn't included here).

 

I read somewhere that Karajan didn't like the 3rd.

 

The DGG version of the 7th more than suffices. Yeah, I think it weird that Karajan never took on the 3d. Dare I say it may have been too subtle for him?

The sound of the later EMI recordings of the 4th and 5th is fine. There is greater focus in the recording of the 4th for EMI, also some grain and exaggerated upper partials that results in the later EMI recording sounding appropriately cold. The 5th sounds more "normal" in that regard. I currently have the edition posted below, better sounding than the DMM copies I owned in the 1980's. There's an earlier mono recording of the 4th for EMI, Karajan and the Philharmonia, never heard it.

 

I haven't heard them, but this one certainly sounds good. Some might think that the tympani is too prominent, but it certainly intensifies the climatic moments. I don't normally care for EMI recordings--somehow they seem a little "boxy" to my ears--but this one sounds quite transparent.

 

I think it's exactly a question of culture, culture as education in the original sense of Paideia, teaching certain values, skills and knowledges (Wissen) from generation to generation. Trying to delineate a progression from, say, Bach to Beethoven to Brahms to Bartók to Britten - i.e. from person to person - just won't work. There are breaks and such.

Earlier you wrote differently: "the best one can get to 'informed interpretation' of the great classics is to listen to the likes of Furtwnagler, which today's musicians play nothing like, and they certainly are not informed by anything except shallow technocratic education." (http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/classical-music-corner-thread-60.380909/page-25#post-11114155)

It was conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste who said some 10 or 12 years ago, that it's a shame the national cultural traditions are dying away. For him the point was that there isn't anymore such more or less clearcut national traditions of playing that once was. Like a work by Chopin or Debussy: Russian pianists played them differently than French, who played them differently than German, who played them differently than English pianists etc. Saraste saw the development of musical education and extensive recording as main factors behind the standardizing process. Also, of course, the publics have been integrating into one big western (and today, global) public, or audience. And when this is recognised, it's also a question of mass media as one central factor behind the development.

He, Saraste, didn't say anything about weakening artistic quality - today, after all, there are more first rate performing artists than there were in the middle of 20th century. Women weren't accepted into many orchestras in those "traditional days", and there were only few female soloists. It's different today, and I consider it nothing but cultural richness. But there is certain change in perceiving (the arts, the performances etc.), and that is dependent on the developments I tried to sketch above. No such giant figures like Furtwängler, or Klemperer, or Toscanini, or Walter, are present anymore. From that it doesn't follow, that there isn't musicians of the same artistic calibre anymore.

 

This recent Karajan Sibelius set is newly remastered from the original analog masters, so that may account for the better sound.

 

I opened a thread about that some time ago, if you are interested

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/karajan-official-remastered-edition-emi-warner-2014.381212/

 

Thank you, guys, for recommending the Günter Wand box The Great recordings.


(Sorry, that was bigger than I expected.)
I usually let the new ceedees play also as background music - the point is to hear that they are technically OK. The Beethoven symphonies are listened to by now, and the first Brahms CD too. Really quite entertaining playing. I would have hoped for slightly more powerful Ninth, but the little I know of Wand made me not to expect power and extreme effect on me. Not disappointed at all. And the best, I guess, is yet to come: the Bruckner by Wand.

 

Wand's set of the Beethoven symphonies is the best that I have heard!

 

Listening to Biber's Rosary Sonatas performed by Andrew Manze, while reading Henry James' The Wings of the Dove. Somehow they seem to go together perfectly.

 

(CD RCA 09026 61930-2 made in Germany 1993) - IMO Wand`s best Beethoven recordings are these live performances of Symphony 5+6 taped in Hamburg 1992, where he (at least based on own measures) really cuts loose....

 

This set is always so tempting (a great price from U.K retailers at Amazon Marketplace) but I already have six complete sets of the Quartets (Alexander, Borodin, Emerson, Italiano, Takacs, and Vegh) and two other partials (Belcea, Tokyo); I can't listen to everything...

 

I hear ya! In fact, I'd say with Vegh and Italiano, you're already set.

 

I bought the box from Amazon UK about a month ago but have not gotten around to listen to any of the CD's yet. The box is actually a little smaller than a typical LP jacket, i.e. L x W ...

 

Now playing CD13 from the following box for a first listen ...

 

Found this at a thrift today…got it for 50 cents. 5 mono LPs, and I bought it because there's some Klemperer in there (I have never come across his reading of the Tchaikovsky 5th on LP anywhere) and of course because it was totally cheap. The discs are Angel, pressed at the Scranton, PA plant especially for Time Life. I have to say that the person who owned this before certainly put in the listening time…the LPs pop quite a bit, but are on the whole still in good shape. The Klemperer Tchaikovsky is really, really well done, and does NOT feature overly slow tempi…in fact, the first movement is very buoyant and full of life. The booklet that comes with it is dated 1969, and the set is:

Wagner, Prelude and Liebestod from "Tristan und Isolde," Philharmonia/Klemperer, and also
Siegfried's Funeral March from "Gotterdammerung," Philharmonia/Klemperer

Brahms, String Sextet No. 1 in Bb Major, Op. 18 (Yehudi Menuhin and Robert Masters, violins; Cecil Aronowitz and Ernst Wallisch, violas; Maurice Gendron and Derek Simpson, cellos; And also, Three Intermezzi, Op. 117, Moura Lympany, piano

Offenbach, "The Tales of Hoffman," Act 2, L'Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire/Cluytens

Johann Strauss II, "Tales from the Vienna Woods," "Im Krupfenwald'l" and "Emperor" Waltz, Vienna Philharmonic/Kempe

Wagner, Bridal Chamber Scene from Act 3 of "Lohengrin," Vienna Philharmonic/Kempe

Saint-Saens, Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61, Nathan Milstein, Philharmonia/Fistoulari

Bruckner, Mass No. 3 in F minor (Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus), Berlin Symphony Orchestra/Forster (Christa Ludwig sings mezzo in this one!)

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Philharmonia/Klemperer

 

I have this set but haven't cleaned & played it. I paid $1.

 

The UK pressed London should still be pretty common in nice shape.I used to see it a lot at the thrifts.The complete LP in the "LP longbox" is a bit harder to find.

 

Scroll Victors sound incredible.Please join us here.A big chunk of what we talk about is classical music.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/78rpmclub/

 

Richter plays the Marcussen organ in the Jaegrsborg-Kirche near Copenhagen. Both church & organ were built in the 1940s. Deadwax gives date of 1964 for recording, which sounds quite good. Supervision: Dr. Manfred Richter. Toningenieur: Heinz Wildhagen.

 

Now: Beethoven: Sonata for Piano and Cello 3, Op.69 - Vladimir Ashkenazy and Lynn Harrell - 2 CDs, Decca; disc 2

 

While Karl Richter was an excellent organist, I don't believe he recorded many JS Bach organ works. I have his organ works recordings on both LP and CD ...

 

I need to find time for a second spin of this CD, which I bought a few years ago at the recommendation from George ...

 

The "Moonlight" sonata has noise issues in the first movement and some near de-railing in the finale. Horowitz, Gould, Fischer, Arrau and Andre Watts are all much better. The Pastorale is for the ages, one of Schnabel's best performances. Annie Fischer gets a lot more out of the quirky 16th sonata.