A few of my fav's at the moment...... and yes MQA masters. Chopin: Works For Piano & Orchestra Masters Strauss, R.: Four Last Songs; Orchestral Works . Masters The Chopin Project CD quality The Tokyo Gala Concert (Live) Masters Absolutely love this Tokyo Gala Concert. Cheers
That performance sounds nothing like Toscanini to me, though I confess I haven't heard it in a very long time. The recording of the Ninth which really does emulate Toscanini is the Munch/BSO RCA Victor Living Stereo from 1959. One of my favorites.
These guys are amazing players. I think it's easier to follow the voices on the two guitars than with one keyboard.
Out in the car today, I came into the middle of Beethoven's first pno. cto. when I turned on the radio--more properly, I came into the middle of the first mvt. cadenza. The recording turned out to be this, as listed in the station's online playlist: Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Concerto No. 1 Key: C Opus: 15 Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symph Orch Lars Vogt, piano Angel/EMI, 56371 First and last mvt. cadenzas were unfamiliar and really wild. Anybody familiar with this recording? With Vogt, a new name to me? A pleasant bonus was that for once Rattle, generally a conductor I avoid, got a move on and didn't drag the thing out to some un-heavenly length. Quite the surprise all 'round, and a recording I may seek out for my own collection. I guess that was some sort of karma making amends for our area's other FM classical station's having inflicted "Summer" from the "Four Seasons" led by Karajan on me earlier in the day.
If it's anything like his 1963 recording of Beethoven's pastoral symphony, then it must be a very chilly summer indeed.
I haven't actually heard the recording, but if I'm not mistaken he uses cadenzas written by Glenn Gould. Maybe I will check this one out as well.
Yes, I'm somewhat familiar with Lars Vogt. He made a few nice chamber recordings. Lars Vogt - Wikipedia
Currently listening to... BACH: The Art of Fugue/Musical Offering - Sir Neville Marriner/Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Philips Classics CD)
Columbia MQ 582, 7-1/2 ips, 4-track reel: Serkin - Beethoven: Three Favorite Sonatas (Moonlight, Apposionata, Pathetique) I know that Beethoven dismissed that famous 1st movement of Piano Sonata no. 14, and claimed he didn't understand why it was so popular -- "Surely I've written better things!", or words to that effect. False modesty concerning a work that for most composers would be their lifetime's crowning achievement, or, ho-hum, just another day at the office for Ludwig van?
Now listening to Antonín Dvořák, Czech Suite, Op. 39 Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Libor Pešek The first movement is pure poetry, and the entire work has an extraordinary delicacy and musicality.
I did the same with the Erato box that I have recently bought . He is mostly known for his 9th Symphony, and I wanted to know better the other numbers. Among his works, I like very much the Tone Poems, the Piano Concerto in Gm op. 33 (wonderful) and the Cello Concerto in Bm op. 104. There is a lot of his chamber music I still have to listen to...!
Now there's a surprise! I'm sure you'll be astonished that I have it played by Friedrich Wuhrer. Dvorak wrote a lot of lovely music besides the chestnuts that always bob up on the radio. That said, I think it took him a while to find his true voice, and in general later tends to be better with this composer. That's especially true of the string quartets; I bought a complete cycle because I'd never heard any other than the "American" and maybe one or two others, and what I found was the first, oh, say, half of them were not all that appealing. Then they started getting better and better from that point forward.
Conducted by von Karajan? Was it this set? (I think we discussed this before. . .) I have it, but have not listened to it nearly enough.
Yes, it is, and yes, I think we have. If it makes you feel any better, I can say the same thing about how often I've played it.