Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #27)

This thread (and the 26 that have preceded it) is for all things that relate to Classical Music. Feel free to post what you're listening to, recordings you recommend, recent classical purchases, classical concerts, discuss classical works, classical composers, etc.

Also, beginners are especially welcome. Feel free to post any questions that you may have about classical music and/or classical recordings. This includes requests for recommendations for recordings of particular works/composers, etc. We have lots of friendly and knowledgeable members who will be glad to help you out.

And as always, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to all of the regulars (you know who you are) that have made this such and enjoyable and informative experience thus far! You guys are the best!



http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=253924&page=50

 

First post

 

Dang!

 

Last night ...

Ligeti
String Quartets and Duets
Arditti String Quartet

Holy Moly Batman! Ligeti's String Quartet No. 1 "Metamorphoses nocturnes" (1953-1954) is a masterpiece. I was going to describe it as atonal Beethoven, but that doesn't quite get it. Late Shostakovich in a parallel universe? Or how about Bartok turned up to eleven? Great stuff -- the rest of the album is extremely interesting. Thanks George for the recommendation.

 

My pleasure! Glad you enjoy it as much as me. Their Schoenberg is great too!

 

I have Haydn's Sturm Und Drang symphonies by Trevor Pinnock. It's great music. I'm searching for a good set of London Symphonies played on period instruments, if you have a clue...

I've got Schubert's Unfinished Symphony on the Furtwangler box. Listened to that just once, I must go deeper, I know, but I'm on Verdi/Puccini/Mozart these days.

 

Actually, the first time I heard the Ligeti was in concert, together with the Grosse Fugue and a Bartok Quartet (and ending with Beethoven's Op. 135).

 

Ligeti is probably my favourite composer of the latter half of the last century, his ear for sensuous original sounds was unparalleled during his time and just as innovative and influential in his era as Debussy was in the late 19th/early 20th century as Messiaen was in the middle two quarters.

I'm not sure though if I'd describe Ligeti's music as "atonal", though I'm not convinced "tonal" would fit it either - his music is certainly easier on the ear than most of the Viennese atonal/serial stuff never mind the ultra-inaccessible stuff from much of the 1950s/60s avant-garde.

 

Taking the girlfriend to her first classical music concert (we've been to a few operas) at the end of the month at Hollywood Bowl. Vassily Petrenko will conduct the LA Philharmonic in Glinka's Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, the Sibelius Violin Concerto (concertmaster Martin Chalifour, soloist) and Dvorak Symphony No. 9. I think that's about as good a first concert program as it gets.

Warming up with a spin of one of my choice scores of the last few years: Camilla Wicks's awesome early 50's Sibelius VC.

 

An awesome piece of vinyl and performance. I had it many moons ago and had to retire it due to skips.

 

Picked this up yesterday (Hybrid SACD):



Only about halfway through thus far but very much enjoying both the performance and the excellent SACD sound.

 

Great sonics..not my favorite performances but still a great disc worth owning.

 

Tonight ...

Mozart
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. [size=+3]27[/size] in B-flat, KV 595
Emil Gilels, piano
Wiener Philharmoniker
Karl Böhm

 

The best 27th on record IMO.

 

What great programming...

I suppose they had to end the concert on a lighter note

 

Now playing the following CD, which arrived today for a first listen ...

 

Tonight...

Schoenberg
Suite, Op. 29
for 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano
Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4
string sextet for 2 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos
3 pieces for Chamber Orchestra

Members of the Ensemble InterContemporain
Pierre Boulez

 

Now playing CD3 - PC Nos. 26 & 27 from the following set for a first listen ...

 

I like his Mozart PCs.

 

I knew I had reached some radical level of improvement in the sound quality of my playback gear when I played the first movement of the DGG Bernstein/NYPO recording of Mahler's Resurrection symphony yesterday:



. . . and the sound was fabulous, all the brass keening without a trace of congestion, all orchestral sections imaging in specific spaces, a vivid capture of a vivid performance. Now I'm torn between all of Bernstein's commercial recordings of Mahler's Resurrection.

 

Good luck with the concert, Petrenko is great.
Also very rare disc that Sibelius, I 've been trying to get a copy for a while now but when it shows up I am always outbidden.

 

Mahler
Symphony No. 2 in C minor "Resurrection"
Gertrud Bindernagel, soprano
Emmi Leisner, alto
Berliner Staatskapelle
Oskar Fried
(recorded 1924)
CD3 and CD4



This is the famous acoustical recording of the second, conducted by a man who knew Mahler, who invited Fried to conduct the "Resurrection" in concert. This recording was just 13 years after Mahler’s death when he was still seen as a radical modernist. By that time Fried was considered a specialist on this symphony, so this is an enormously important historical document.

The huge technical difficulties involved with acoustically recording a symphony this grand should not be underestimated. These technical demands account for most of the strange things one hears here, such as what sounds like hand clapping for the rute, and what sounds like a trolley car bell being substituted for the triangle. The crash cymbals sound more like a starter pistol. The organ is MIA. Surprisingly the harp is clearly audible.

Generally speaking, the tempos are brisk and the playing seems clipped. What is most surprising is the wayward intonation problems, and sloppy ensemble cohesion. A good part of the problem here must be attributed to the recording conditions, which of course were far different than the normal concert stage. On the other hand, if this is an example of typical top level orchestral playing, then we’ve come a long way since. For me the high point is alto Emmi Leisner, whose deep German "frau" sound is perfect for this part.

I don’t know how this release differs from Ward Marston’s master of this recording for Naxos. This disc’s sound is very noisy and distant. Picture yourself standing next to a steam locomotive that’s constantly releasing steam from its overload valve, while you’re listening to this music on your iPhone.

 

Also this morning ...

Sibelius
Finlandia, Op. 26
The Swan of Tuonela, Op. 22 No. 2
Valse triste, Op. 44
Tapiola, Op. 112
Berliner Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan
(1984)

 

Nice morning at the local record store. Occasionally, a box or two of new additions appear in the classical section, and today I was fortunate to find one I've been looking for:

Sir Malcom Sargent - London Symphony Orchestra
Everest LPBR 6053 (Mono)
Moussorgsky Pictures & Night on Bald Mountain

Record in NM condition! The inner sleeve with a fine plug of the 35mm recording setup that Everest was using during the Belock years. I have the stereo original, but have wanted the mono, and there it was. The mono record lacks the STEREO legend at the top of the front cover, but is otherwise identical.

 

Hey Soundproof, can you post a picture of the label when/if you get a chance?
I am always confused with Everest, their different labels drive me crazy.