Classical Corner Classical Music Corner

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, May 29, 2015.

  1. shnaggletooth

    shnaggletooth Senior Member

    Location:
    NJ
    I'm currently taking piano lessons, and learning how to sight read is a challenge, even for "easy" pieces like Schubert's "Standchen". From what I've read about Richter, even though his father was a musician, he was still largely self-taught as a pianist and could quickly sight-read long, complex pieces before he finally got some formal instruction. This guy was a genius.
     
    George P likes this.
  2. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Not sure if any of you have ever played around with WMP 12, or the Windows Media Player that came with Windows 10. I have been ripping many CD's in the FLAC format after deleting the previous MP3 version within WMP. I also downloaded some free app that is supposed to ensure FLAC compatibility, i.e. WMP would automatically recognize the FLAC files. I also ripped 115 CD's to a 32 GB USB thumb-drive for my 16-year old nephew who likes classical music, all within my WMP (never got to use EAC, which appears to have a relatively steep learning curve). Here is the tricky thing. I tried to rip the Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 5 & 6 from the following twofer last night. Unfortunately, the first two movements of T5 are on the same disc 1 as T4 and the last two movements from T5 are on disc 2 with T6. I was not able to recompile them on my computer, i.e. putting all the T5 tracks together and assigning them to the same album. I suppose I was really bumping up against some copyright issue. When I tried to create the playlist from the "rearranged" T5 tracks, I got the message "WMP did not recognize the file format". This could mean the WMP could only deal with the MP3 format, but I am not sure. Anyone here cares to share some insights or experience?

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
    Kundera the joke. likes this.
  3. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I only know about his Bach WTC's ...
     
  4. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    According to the reviews I've seen Edwin Fischer's interpretation seems to be pretty good. I'm not a fan of Bach-on-piano and I've never heard his WTC.
     
  5. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have read and completely impressed with both Sviatoslav Richter and Lorin Maazel, both had photographic memory and could perform or conduct without any scores. George, you are the resident expert on Richter and should be able to confirm. I recently read up on the biography for Lorin Maazel and came away very impressed ...
     
  6. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Sorry Stuart, but this lies outside of the scope of this thread. Can you please start a new topic on this in Music Corner or the Hardware Forum?

    Thanks.
     
  7. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    But anachronistic would mean that he plays in a style that is not of his time, no? When in fact he does, which is exactly what you bemoan. Something is anachronistic when it there is a chronological mismatch.

    Anyway, I understand now what you mean, linguistic details aside.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2018
  8. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    I know perfectly well what anachronistic means, thank you. What I mean is that it sounds anachronistic to today's ears (mine at least), it's a playing style of the pianists' heyday, days long gone (= the pre-war era and maybe the early post-war years).
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2018
  9. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    Sorry. Didn’t mean to be rude.
     
  10. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    That's OK, no harm done :)
     
  11. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    A while back I posted about this rather mediocre performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto:

    [​IMG]

    I dearly love this piece so I was determined to see if I could find a Michelangeli performance that is decent. There are two on this Warner box:

    [​IMG]

    Not only is Warner's usual dreadful mastering of historical recordings present, but Michelangeli sounds like he is playing under a heavy dose of sedatives. The orchestra is very poor in the second performance as well.
     
  12. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I can't say I am surprised. I find Michelangeli's icy cold perfectionism to be poorly suited to romantic music. Love his Debussy, though.

    Have you heard Richter, Kovacevitch, Annie Fischer or Serkin in the Schumann concerto?
     
  13. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    That's why I was looking forward to hearing his take, which would be different from all others I have :) I enjoy his Debussy very much as well, and one of his live recordings of Scarlatti.

    I do like Richter's studio and live from the Melodiya box, but not heard the other two. Which Annie Fischer and Kovacevich CD/box do you recommend? I am a big fan of Annie Fischer.

    So far Serkin with Ormandy remains my favorite. I was humming it for days after discovering it!
     
    George P likes this.
  14. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    This for the Annie Fischer, which also has the complete Barenboim Beethoven concertos:

    [​IMG]

    And this for the Kovacevitch:

    https://www.amazon.com/Grieg-Schuma...mann&dpID=31N6GnQsYzL&preST=_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
     
    Marzz, Kundera the joke. and hvbias like this.
  15. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Thank you very much as always George! I found a way to sample the Annie Fischer/Klemperer, I will be playing it loud tonight. After weeks of headphone only listening I am very pleased to have the Harbeths back in action. It's such a massive difference listening to classical on headphones vs speakers. No other genre makes me so happy to listen to music on speakers, even just solo works for violin or piano just sound so much better and nuanced.
     
    George P and bruce2 like this.
  16. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    The Schumann Concerto I like is a recent recording by Stephen Hough on Hyperion from 2016. It is coupled with the Dvorak piano concerto and conducted by Andris Nelsons. I recommend this disc highly!
     
  17. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Just wondering what do you think of Barenboim with the Beethoven concertos? I haven't got around to hearing the Schumann yet, hope to make some free time for it some time this week.

    Last night I listened to Richter playing Debussy's Suite Bergamasque, the 1960 live Carnegie Hall recording. I have a much better sounding version from a live recording by Melodiya, they should have included these performances in the 100th Anniv. box. He plays the slowest version of Claire de Lune I have ever heard, but being Richter he still transfixes you in place!

    [​IMG]
     
    George P likes this.
  18. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I mostly picked up the Barenboim Klemperer Beethoven concertos because I had read good things about them and I wanted to get some Klemperer into my collection. To be honest, I don't think I've heard them more than once but I had sampled them a lot online before buying and liked them. There's a lot of competition obviously for the concertos and to me and number of pianists I would recommend ahead of him (Serkin/Kubelik, Backhaus, Russel Sherman being my current three favorites) but because it's included as part of that budget box I wanted to recommend it.

    Also, I should say that I mentioned Annie Fischer because she seemed like a logical opposite choice to Michaelangeli, as her performances tend to be overtly emotional and intense.
     
    hvbias and Wes H like this.
  19. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    IIRC, the following Sony box has this recording ...

    [​IMG]
     
  20. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I sampled some of the set when I got home from work today. I can say that the performances are deep, dramatic and passionate. The way they achieve this is by employing somewhat deliberate tempos, but that is Klemperer's way. For whatever reason, it doesn't bother me here, yet it bothers me in Klemperer's Beethoven symphonies.

    The orchestra is captured well in the recordings, but the piano is a bit dull.

    Still, I think for the money this would make a fine third or fourth set. I still place Serkin/Kubelik, Backhaus and Russell Sherman's sets ahead of this one. But with those sets you don't get Annie Fischer playing the Schumann and the Liszt AND Alan Civil playing the Mozart horn concertos AND Menuhin playing the LvB Violin Concerto AND Oistrakh playing the Brahms Violin Concerto - with the Klemperer set you do!
     
    hvbias likes this.
  21. Bachtoven

    Bachtoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Such a wonderful piece.

    [​IMG]
     
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  22. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Thanks very much for the detailed reply. I am not that familiar with Barenboim as a pianist, I have heard several of his recordings, they just never left an impression on me, not a condemnation on him, more my memory after hearing pieces from those I recall better. I've had Serkin's recordings in heavy rotation so I'll give it some time before I listen to more Beethoven.
     
    George P likes this.
  23. ToddBD

    ToddBD Forum Resident

    On the turntable tonight...one of my favorite mono LPs, the last few minutes of this recording are astounding, the CSO is cranking on all cylinders.
    [​IMG]
     
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  24. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    For the Beethoven concerti, also worth considering are these three:

    Fleisher/Szell--pretty much universally regarded as a classic, and rightfully so

    Rubinstein/Leinsdorf--not mentioned all that often, but Leinsdorf brought out a classical streak in Rubinstein, and the results, if not exactly what you usually think of when that redoubtable pianist's name comes up, make for some very fine Beethoven.

    Schnabel/Sargent--considering how often Schnabel's cycle of the Beethoven sonatas comes up for discussion, I find it odd how little attention is paid to his companion set of the concerti. If you have a tolerance for (good) 1930s sound, though, Schnabel is no less Schnabel when backed by an orchestra, and Sir Malcolm provides sympathetic backing. Schnabel's recordings of the last two cti. from a decade later, this time with Frederick Stock and the Chicago SO, tend to get less respect, but for the life of me I can't see why; they strike me as every bit as compelling.
     
  25. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Thanks, I'm swimming in Beethoven piano/orchestra music :winkgrin: Was really just curious about Barenboim since it's already a part of the box.
     

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