Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #61)

I'm not sure this is the most savage of all Rites, but it surely is a sentimental favorite because my trombone teacher plays on it. Also best cover art of all.

I think I posted this before. I get a huge charge from Bernstein rehearsing a student orchestra:

 

Thanks - I play Spotify through my Squeezebox, so searching becomes a guessing game. Tetzlaff Quartet led to the Sibelius but nor the Mendelssohn/Berg

 

That Sibelius & Schönberg CD could be interesting, to say the least... The eClassical info on the October release is:

http://www.eclassical.com/mendelssohn-string-quartet-in-a-minor-op-13-berg-lyric-suite.html

Christian Tetzlaff can be a robust player but perhaps the ladies of the band smoothen him out? Next, I must find that Sibelius & Schönberg cd as well as also a couple of years old Zehetmair Q's Schumann cd (I once took a copy of the library cd but it has turned out to be a steady performer so it'a about the time to get silver disc).

 

This Prokofiev Sinfonia-Conertante and Sonata for Cello are very much worth hearing in my view.
Han-na Chang
London Symphony Orchestra
Antonio Pappano
EMI, 2003

 

Why do you feel compelled to take a dump on so many people's choices? We aren't submitting them for your approval--we just want to share what we are listening to and enjoying. Just because you think it, you don't have to type it and share it.

 

I'm not criticizing anybody, I'm just expressing my opinion on a particular recording, what's wrong with that? I think it's much more interesting when people express their personal opinions, and I encourage others to do that, it makes for better and more interesting discussions. Nobody should take offense at disagreements about particular recordings or pieces, it's kind of the whole point of a musical forum, isn't it?

 

Understood. Respectful disagreement has been a hallmark of this thread since its inception. And I think there is an implicit "IMHO" in virtually all of our statements. However, when responding directly to someone else's opinion with such sharp language, you can give the impression you are disparaging the other person's taste or judgment. It would have been different if someone had simply asked for your impression of the performance. Or if you had initiated the discussion.

 

Fair enough.

 

That's not quite true, there have been vicious comments and personal attacks in earlier instalments of this thread, that's why I left for a while. Having said that, I totally agree with the rest of what you said

 

It breaks out like a flu, usually ends with somebody storming out in high dudgeon. I adopt a position akin to Macca's position on talking about LSD to Fleet Street. If you won't talk about it, then I won't. But usually I try to maintain a sense of humor about it. This thread has been quite fruitful as far as I'm concerned, I've been alerted to a lot of great music on this thread.

 

Good thing I got an anti-flu jab earlier today

 

Nowadays I keep my big mouth shut when someone is jubilant over some performance I absolutely dislike (or worse). Works much better that way

 

It's easy enough to add "in my opinion" or "for me" to any opinion so it seems less condemning of the OP's post.

 

This is the CD I have ...

 

Thank you for saying that, John. That was certainly my goal in starting this thread. I thought that this well-moderated forum would be a good place to civilly discuss classical music. I have yet to find a place where folks are more respectful to each other and that is a big reason why I have stuck around for all 61 installments of this thread.

 

Has to be by Edvard Munch. I read a good biography of him a couple of years ago. After a period of tormented alcoholism he lived for many more years in semi-seclusion.

 

A question for those who are more familiar with Gustavo Dudamel: is his recording of Beethoven's 5th sym. with the Bolivar Youth Or. considered a typical example of his work? Last night, as I was driving home, our local NPR affiliate ran it, and I was interested to hear it given that I'd never heard this much-discussed conductor's work before. Sad to say, though, with the caveat that one must always be cautious about drawing conclusions from a b'cast on a car stereo, I was underwhelmed. His take on the first mvt. reminded me of what a contemporary critic wrote (or, at least, the paraphrase that I remember) about Toscanini's account of the Coriolan Overture: essentially, that it had fire but not much weight. So with Dudamel: plenty fast, but not much sense of power. The remaining mvts. struck me as pretty routine run-throughs up to the final coda, which committed one of my concert-hall cardinal sins, shifting into noticeably higher gear to get the audience more excited than is really merited and maybe spur an ovation.

The orchestra's execution, for a youth orchestra, was probably at a very high level, but by the standards of a seasoned professional "grown up" orchestra it seemed pretty square. I suppose it is unfair to fault a youth orchestra for execution falling short of standards reached by seasoned professionals, except that I've seen reviews and such that made just such comparisons to the youth group's credit, and frankly I didn't hear it, much as the inspiring story behind this organization makes me wish otherwise. As far as the overall performance goes, when mounting a warhorse like Beethoven's 5th, you'd better be prepared to show yourself as accomplished in the saddle as dozens of predecessors on record, or moreso--again, maybe unfair, but also unavoidable. Dudamel's recording was a disappointment; I expected something special, given all the hoopla I've read and heard, but in the event it seemed at best "workmanlike." Probably not as weak as the traversal in the Josef Krips complete set, but also nothing to go out of one's way to hear again.

Which brings me back to the beginning: am I missing something? Or is this not one of Dudamel's better efforts? I'd love to hear thoughts from those who know his work better.

 

That is pretty much what many critics in my country were saying about Dudamel. I've watched a few of his performances on cable TV here and wasn't impressed either: apparently trying to excite the audience, but superficial and weightless. I don't understand what all the praise is based upon. I'm glad the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra didn't pick him as their new chief conductor.

 

Interesting. I remember being impressed by the disc at the time, though it was quite long time ago (both in the 5th and in the 7th). Basically, if the piece is played fast and loud (and with the right kind of weight and solemnity in the second mvt.), for me it's enough in most of the cases, and Dudamel surely delivers it, with a very enthusiastic playing by the youth orchestra. And I also thought that his tempos were well judged, which is especially important in the 7th. Maybe I should hear it again.

On the other hand, I wasn't impressed by most of his other recordings, for example his Mahler, a particularly uninspired recent 9th and an ordinary 5th. Same about the double album with the Sibelius 2nd (pretty good), Nielsen 4th (very ordinary), and Bruckner's 9th (he doesn't understand the piece).

but the disc with the Tchaikovsky 5th was quite good I think, and so the rite of spring.

 

By the way, which versions do you think have the kind of "weight" that you are talking about?

 

After thoroughly enjoying their fantastic Corelli Op.6 recording, I was eager to buy another disc by Gli Incogniti. Oh my, this is superb, too! Their lively playing and astounding virtuosity are just thrilling, as is Harmonia Mundi's fabulous sound. Ms. Beyer includes a wonderfully written essay about performing the pieces.

 

Now listening to "Mozart - Arias & Duets " from the "Sigiswald Kuijken & La Petite Bande Edition" box set on DHM.

Featuring Cristoph Genz - tenor and Stephan Genz - baritone.

 

Isn't he bieng considered for the job at the BPO? I was not impressed with the list of recordings he made I have found on Amazon - all warhorse music ...

 

Pentatone is supposedly re-releasing the MTT/Boston recording as a stereo/quad SACD in the coming year, should be exciting. The Bernstein is also excellent.

I don't get the love for the "Stravinsky Conducts" version though. If Stravinsky was a master conductor imparting through the orchestra, that would be one thing, but Stravinsky was pretty open about being a terrible conductor who was pretty much miming what Robert Craft told him to do after Craft had rehearsed the orchestra with Stravinsky advising. The result is to my mind extremely mannered, with the players wanting to give everything to aging legend, and the composer having specific intentions in the piece (albeit not necessarily the same intentions he had in 1911), but the composer just isn't truly connected to the ensemble.

 

You didn't look very hard, because the first page on Amazon has 5 out of 12 albums are non warhorse compositions and another album contains one warhorse and one non warhorse. I have no idea if any of them are any good.