Primephonic. "The trios owe their style more to the first part of the nineteenth century, rather than when they were written. That said, they don’t strike me as outmoded, just not overladen with Romantic angst. If I was to cite Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn as style guides, that shouldn’t hide the fact that Mayer definitely has her own voice. She also has the gift of melody, which raises her above the throng of many forgotten composers." MEYER - Piano Trios CPO 555029-2 [DJB] Classical Music Reviews: July 2017 - MusicWeb-International
In my heavy rotation the last couple of weeks, a live recital of Backhaus from 1966, including an exceptional BWV 893 in B Minor and honestly the best performances of Mozart's piano sonatas I've ever heard. Also nearly finished the Melodiya Rachmaninoff Collection, another very fine box from Melodiya. As well as Kempff's final complete Beethoven cycle recorded live and some of his transcriptions of JS Bach as encores. What I posted from the classical mega box thread about this CD
Recorded 6/2-4/97, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk, England. Producer: Steven Epstein. Engineer: Charles Harbutt.
I have about 80% of all the Vocal music that Mozart wrote but I mainly listen to the late Piano Concertos and Serenades and Divertimentos particularly with wind instruments for instrumental. One must remember that few composers composed great instrumental music before 30 even Beethoven (I'm leaving out solo piano). As far as I know Korngold was the only child prodigy with an exceptional grasp of the instrumental music of his day. However if there wasn't Haydn I would listen to Mozart's chamber music more. I do feel that often Mozart's instrumental works are played less well than the vocal music.
IIRC, Don Giovanni and Magic Flute are the only two Mozart operas in my collection and they are on LP. I think I have most if not all Mozart choral works ...
I received this set in the mail today and started with No.5. My original set fell victim to the great LP purge in the 90s. I've enjoyed it on CD and SACD, but the LPs have an organic quality that digital just can't match. A resplendent performance.
I have Magic Flute (Bohm, Fischer-Dieskau, Wunderlich) and Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail (erm....... Bohm and Wunderlich again ). Not bad for a non-fanboy
So...you collect music you don’t really like? Just to have it? Not being snarky, I’m honestly curious...
I do slowly grow into the music over time. I have significantly warmed up to Bruckner Symphonies over the past half-dozen years and now have at least 8 Bruckner Symphonies cycles ... Over 3 decades ago, Mahler and Bruckner recordings were no-touch for me.
Fair enough. I asked because I do enjoy Mahler quite a bit, and I probably only have 2 or 3 more complete cycles than you!
My point is, at the time you never addressed why you collect Mahler. You did sort of answer @HiResGeek. I'm not being critical of how you spend your money, it just baffles me.
Mahler is no Beethoven, I agree. But then, who is? (I probably have somewhere around that many LvB cycles as well.)
It’s weird for me to see Bartok lumped together with Berg, Schoenberg and the generally unlistenable (IMO) serialists. He’s far more listenable, his later works in particular are quite tonal. I’ve listened to his music so much at this point it almost sounds like Haydn to me I used to avoid his music, but I had an “aha” moment with his Concerto for Orchestra played by Kubelik/BSO, and then with his piano concertos played by Anda with Fricsay conducting. Now I’d rank him at or very near the top in terms of my favorite 20th century composers. I’m with you on Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and the like, though. The 12-tone stuff does nothing for me.
I like Bartók's orchestral music and his piano concertos very much. Especially the Concerto for Orchestra and the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta are pieces I keep returning to. I don't know his chamber music and solo piano works very well, even though I have four complete string quartets sets and Zoltán Kocsis' complete solo piano set; I should do something about that.
Bartok has grown on me over the years. Fortunately for my bank account, I haven't had to spend hundreds of dollars on his music for that to happen.