Listened to Beethoven Sonatas No. 24-27 last night. The enjoyment continues. Igor Levit Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas Sony 9 CDs
Massenet: Visions Royal Scottish National Orchestra Jean-Luc Tingaud, conductor Naxos, 2020 This is a pleasant listen to some orchestral music that includes a couple of overtures, an orchestral suite, and incidental music. The Invocation section of Les Érinnyes includes the famous melody sometimes called Elegie when played as a separate piece. As played here by Aleksei Kiseliov, cello, with the the orchestra, it is well done. I can't remember when I first heard that melody. It must go back to my childhood. Tingaud's direction is excellent, the playing of the RNSO is first-rate (especially if you remember its sound in the mid-8o's).
The "Elegie" is one of those pieces that used to be pervasive 'way back when but seem to have fallen out of fashion in more recent years. Checking my catalogue, I see that without having gone out of my way to accumulate them I have 16 recordings of it on 78s, almost all from the acoustic (pre-1925) era, mostly vocal, three or four instrumental (a cello soloist, an organist, otherwise violinists). Most are by big name artists--Caruso, Rosa Ponselle, Maggie Teyte, Chaliapin among other singers, Mischa Elman, Josef Hollman (major cellist at the turn of the 19th/20th c.), Lauri Kennedy (ditto, just a bit later, accompanying Marie Rappold, a soprano who recorded extensively for Edison, not much remembered today but who had a significant career at the time) among the instrumentalists. It shows up not a single time in my LPs and only thrice in my CDs (Tortelier on 'cello, Jeannie Tourel and one Francis Dudziak as vocalists; the Tortelier dates back better than 40 years and the Tourel almost 50). Fashionable or no, when well performed, it's a heart-rendingly beautiful piece of music.
VARÈSE: The Complete Works - Royal Concertgebow Orchestra and ASKO Ensemble conducted by Riccardo Chailly
This new 3CD set just arrived! Now enjoying a first spin. So far, the playing is spectacular and the transfers by Ward Marston are excellent as always.
David Alan Miller National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic Kevin Cole, piano Naxos, 2020 George Gershwin: Concerto in F Harbison: Remembering Gatsby Joan Tower: Sequoia Walter Piston: Symphony No. 5 This Gershwin performance doesn't do it for me.
I really enjoyed restoring this E+ condition record that a friend gave me, recorded november 3, 1938. Just goes to show how lovely UK Columbia 78s can sound!
I spent some time in the past couple of evenings with a new acquisition, Opus 9156 0693, a CD collection of operetta overtures performed by the Slovak PO under Kurt Woss. Collectors of vintage LPs will recognize that name as the conductor who figured prominently in Remington's catalogue from the early days of LP. I liked his work there, and I *really* liked it on the CD. He has exactly the right deft touch for this light repertoire, and the recording is vivid, absolutely top notch, worth 'way more than the three-bucks-plus-shipping I paid for it. A treat musically and audiophilically (is that a word?). Incidentally, I gather that the Nedbal work, given here as Vintage, is (to the extent one can say it's known at all, at least in this country) better known as something like Betrothal in a Vineyard. The Bat," of course, is our old friend Die Fledermaus, and Parisian Life is La Vie Parisienne.
My word, yes it does. Thanks for sharing that! The ubiquitous Walter Goehr apparently had a good feel for ballet music. He conducted the orchestra in the first recording of the Respighi-Rossini La Boutique Fantasque, and my memory (from having played it a good bit years and years ago, when I first got the set) is that it's an engaging recording. Hmm...a ballet featuring a toy shop...and it's Christmas Eve...I think I hear my turntable calling me! [Edit] Ooops! My memory is playing tricks on me--the toyshop comes to life under the baton of Eugene Goossens.
Oh, by the way, for the operaphiles among us, tonight (12/24/2020) marks the 100th anniversary of the last time Enrico Caruso sang in public, in a production of Halevy's La Juive at the Met. I've been dipping into my Caruso records a bit tonight in memory of the occasion.
And to you George. Getting in the mood with this. Feeling physically terrible but trying to get in the spirit. First time I played the CD for years. One of the oldest CDs in my collection.
I just finished making good on that threat. The recording is every it as lively as I remember it, if a bit more worn. A nice walk down memory lane, and a great way to end Christmas Eve. Merry, merry, happy, happy everyone!
Yesterday, for some reason, I listened to all of Brahms' symphonies plus his Tragic Overture and Variations on a Theme by Haydn. Lovely stuff.
I knew someone would ask! The order in which I listened: Symphonies No. 2 and 3, George Szell, Cleveland Orchestra Symphony No. 1, Karl Böhm , Berliner Philharmoniker Tragic Overture, Lorin Maazel, Berliner Philharmoniker Symphony No. 4, Karl Böhm, Wiener Philharmoniker Haydn Variations, Eugen Jochum, London Symphony Orchestra
Hi guys. Does anyone have experience with Philips Classics reissues? I've been doing some research for labels to look for, and a few times Philips Netherlands was recommended. I found this Debussy recording which was originally released by Philips Netherlands, but I prefer the artwork for this Philips Classics reissue, also from the Netherlands. The reissue has a different runout but lists the original's runout on its label. Not sure if that means anything. Is there anything telling me that this reissue will sound as good as the original, or is it just a shot in the dark?
