Classical Corner Classical Music Corner

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

  1. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    New release from Marston Records. Just got this email:

    [​IMG]

    We are excited to announce that our second volume of Lotte Lehmann's recordings is nearing completion, and is now available for pre-orders at Lotte Lehmann: Odeon Electrical Recordings, 1927-1933. If you are an All-Preferred or Vocal-Preferred customer, or have placed a pre-order directly through us already, you do not need to order online and will receive your copy automatically. We hope to have the set finished and ready to mail by the end of October.

    Lotte Lehmann (1888–1976) was a lyric soprano with a beautiful, rich voice, combined with impeccable musicianship and an innate skill for poetry and storytelling. This six-CD set presents Lehmann’s complete electrical recordings for the Odeon label, all made in Berlin between 1927 and 1933. Lehmann embraced the new medium of electrical recording to her full advantage, while still in her vocal prime. Remembered especially for her portrayals of Wagner and Strauss roles and as a consummate interpreter of German Lieder, her Odeon electrical recordings do not disappoint. Here, Lehmann expands her more famous repertoire to include selections from French and Italian opera to operetta, popular favorites of the time, and some lovely hymns and chorales accompanied by organ. This collection offers selections from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Die Walküre, and Lehmann’s only recording of Isolde’s Liebestod. Selections from Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Arabella may also be enjoyed. Many gems are included on this set, including: “Leise, leise” from Der Freischütz; “Komm’ Hoffnung” from Fidelio; “Porgi amor” from Le nozze di Figaro; “Kennst du das Land” from Mignon; and Rosalinde’s two songs from Die Fledermaus. There is also a substantial selection of Lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Strauss. The recordings have all been meticulously remastered from original pressings, adding luster to Lehmann’s incomparable singing. The set is completed by a substantial booklet containing an abundance of photos, a biographical overview by Dr. Daniel Jacobson, essays on the recordings by Michael Aspinall and Gary Hickling, and a technical note by Ward Marston.

    We look forward to hearing from you soon, and thank you for your continued support.

    Best regards,
    The folks at Marston
     
    Bubbamike, Walter H and crispi like this.
  2. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    They wouldn't be. For one thing, they were made during broadcast performances before an audience in Studio 8-H, not as dedicated sessions in the splendid acoustics of Orchestra Hall. For another, they were "first experiments" with the medium, a learning experience for the engineers and proof of concept never intended for commercial release. A shame stereo didn't come along a few years earlier (or Toscanini didn't remain active a few years longer), but there it is. At least he did get to make recordings on continuous tape, unlike Serge Koussevitzky, whose recordings were all by the older "start and stop every 4 minutes" method to accommodate release on conventional 78s.
     
  3. Bassist

    Bassist Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I have bought RCA's Toscanini Conducts Wagner set and the Last Concert set on Arkadia. I am genuinely blown away by these recordings. These will certainly earn a place next to the Abbado "Orchestral Music" cd, my beloved Knappertsbusch and Kubelik recordings of Parsifal, the Goodall Ring cycle and the Bernstein and Bohm recordings of Tristan & Isolde. So thank you very much once again for the steer.
     
  4. violarules

    violarules Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Everything I have read says that his final concerts were in Carnegie Hall, so the engineering team very well could have chosen a setup much like they used for Reiner and the CSO. However, I do understand they were still experimenting with the medium and the multi-mike setup was what they most likely had been using for a while for AT (you can certainly hear many spot mikes being used in AT's final years), so they just sent those mike feeds to a 2 channel mixer, I'm guessing, instead of using a more minimalist approach that would give a better sense of the space.

    AT's final concerts were on March 28 and April 4, 1954. The fantastic "Also Sprach" of Reiner and the CSO was recorded on March 8th of the same year. It's just a little sad to think of what the sound quality could have been, given contemporaneous efforts by the same recording company, and, in that case, the exact same engineering team of Mohr/Layton who recorded both AT and Reiner.
     
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  5. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying Schubert's D894. This is my favorite performance of this work and my favorite Schubert sonata. I found out a year or so ago that it was the pianists favorite Schubert sonata as well. The sound here is quite nice and the performance is gorgeously intimate at times, at others incredibly powerful. This performance can also be found in a later issue from Richter's The Master series on Decca.
     
  6. HowardLive

    HowardLive Forum Resident

    Location:
    Napa, California
    I have to agree. I only discovered this performance a few months ago while watching the documentary "Richter the Enigma," and it took only a few chords of this performance (the first-movement coda) before I had to get a copy of my own.

    If any performance can be said to stop time, this is the one.
     
    George P likes this.
  7. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Toscanini's name came up recently, reminding me that I was due for a second listen to this set. Just finished symphony 1, better than a cup of coffee!
     
    JuniorMaineGuide likes this.
  8. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying this CD, which I found in the used bins today.
     
  9. JuniorMaineGuide

    JuniorMaineGuide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boulder, Colorado
    Academy? PRX?
     
  10. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Academy. :)
     
    JuniorMaineGuide likes this.
  11. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    I imagine that's not bad, for a couple of second stringers. ;)
     
    George P likes this.
  12. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    :laugh:
     
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  13. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying Mazurkas from the above set, recorded in the 1930s. It is Rubinstein's first of three recordings of the works. It also happens to be my favorite of the three. I listened to 17 of the Mazurkas from the third set, which is highly acclaimed, but to me this early mono set has more character and style. I also like that the sound of the room is captured in the 1938-39 recordings. The 4 Scherzos make a nice finale for the set.
     
    Wes H, drh, Eigenvector and 2 others like this.
  14. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying some more early Rubinstein recordings of Chopin. These come from 1928-1935 and represent the pianist's first of three recordings of the Polonaises. As is usually the case, the liner notes are wonderful, with large excerpts from the pianists own writings about his recordings of the works. In the notes, he reports that after hearing back his 1928 recording of the Barcarolle, he had tears in his eyes, as electrical recording was in its infancy and he had yet to hear his playing and "the sound reproduced faithfully the golden tone of the piano reproduced so beautifully." When they reissued the Rubinstein set, they omitted all of these wonderful liner notes and I think that was a big mistake.
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2019
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  15. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying Rubinstein's first of three recordings of the Chopin Nocturnes. Tempo is faster than I am used to, but it is fitting for early evening listening. Ward Marston's open transfers allow a great deal of the pianist's tone to shine through.
     
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  16. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    All this listening to Rubinstein's Chopin reminds me that it's been far too long since I played his recording, with Heifetz and Feuermann, of the Beethoven Archduke Trio. To this day that remains my favorite account of the piece, although I need to go back and give Cortot & co. a listen with fresh ears.

    So many records, so little time!
     
  17. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    Lately I have been enjoying Herbert Von Karajans 1977 Beethoven symphonies. I also own his 1963 set on SACD as well as the 1955 Philharmonia set, but I have come to enjoy the performances and sound quality from 1977 best. For those that care about different masterings, I have compared a couple of the old 80s Galleria CD issues with Japanese SHM-CDs from 2014. For me the SHM discs are superior and I love the way they sound. They are detailed and maintain the hall ambience while not being too bright, and the sound has decent weight to it and good low bass when required. I own three of them, Symphonies 2 and 4, 7 and 8, and 9. I was somewhat surprised to strongly prefer the SHM discs to the older ones, because normally with classical music I prefer original issues to remasters which usually just sound too bright to me. Anyone else a fan of Karajans 77 Beethoven cycle?
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2019
  18. TonyACT

    TonyACT Boxed-in!

    I have the Pastoral on the Galleria CD you mention and it has always been one of my favourite versions.
     
    bruce2 likes this.
  19. TonyACT

    TonyACT Boxed-in!

    I bought the Toscanini Complete RCA box some years ago and haven't looked back. I knew next to nothing about him at the time except for a sampler CD and comments from the fine folk here. I've since explored lots of enjoyable older recordings from a variety of labels.
     
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  20. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    With the exception of his 6th, I've always been a fan of the performances in his 63 Beethoven cycle but I am not a fan of his 77 Beethoven cycle. Glad you are enjoying it, though.
     
    bruce2 likes this.
  21. violarules

    violarules Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    I ran across this in a google search: a supposedly true Stereo Toscanini/Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. I am very well familiar with the official release of this, but I am intrigued. I am currently at work and can't listen with headphones to decide whether this is true stereo. The source is supposedly an experimental Stereo broadcast. It seems at least one station simulcast one channel in FM and the other AM, and if you had two radio sets, it would create stereo. However, I have no idea how this would have been preserved for posterity.

    Any takers to listen on headphones and see if there is real separation, or if it's just a dodgey reprocess job? There are some minor performance differences from the official CD release, which makes me think it might at least be a true radio transcription.

     
  22. violarules

    violarules Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Okay, sorry all. For some reason simply trying to cut and paste an archive.org link (not an mp3 link) is being weird for me. It is easily found on Google: Toscanini Saint-Saens Organ Symphony - Stereo. Thanks for trying!
     
  23. Daedalus

    Daedalus I haven't heard it all.....

    I am listening to Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Symphony Orchestra. Performed by USSR State Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rozhdestvensky. Also on the disc is Schonberg’s Pelleas and Melisande symphonic poem. These are 1971 recordings. This disc is part of the Legendary Soviet Recordings box set which I purchased from Amazon Japan. It contains a wealth of great performances in good sound. A must for fans of Russian artists.
     
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  24. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    I assume you mean this?

    I'm on my way out to work, so had time to listen to only a couple of minutes, but here's my quick impression: yes, a bit more spacious, but little if any in the way of stereo imaging. The source admits to diddling the files for more ambiance, so I'm not sure how much of the "spacious" is spurious. Absent that, sounded like a "diddled" equivalent to the mono from the big RCA box.

    I'll try to give it a less frantically rushed listen tonight for a more measured response, but I just couldn't wait. Thank you for calling attention to it!

    [edit] Ack! The link didn't post for *me*, either. No time to fix now. Sigh....

    [another edit] OK, one attempt at a quick fix. https:/archive .org/details/SaintSaensSymph301

    I put a space between "archive" and the succeeding period. If this shows up, delete that space to get the URL.
     
    George P likes this.
  25. violarules

    violarules Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Thanks, yes the link shows up... not sure why it's difficult to post a link to archive.org...

    But, after listening last night on headphones, I agree it's probably just a futzed-with mono version. It ain't half-bad, though. And the very end has almost no ritenuto, which sounds like maybe a different performance than the official release, but I may be wrong on that. There is a smidge of directionality, particularly in the cymbals, but that could just be digitally created (or re-created, that is).
     
    George P likes this.

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