Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #31)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, Nov 12, 2011.

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  1. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    So the rest of the time yoy have some kind of adjustment on the bass and/or treble?
     
  2. Graphyfotoz

    Graphyfotoz Forum Classaholic

    Location:
    South-Central NY
    Absolutely!! :righton:
    I have a growing number of Herreweghe conducted works in my collection!
     
  3. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I needed a little Xmas that wasn't "Holly, Jolly Xmas":
     

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  4. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have a number of recordings by Choir of New College/Higginbottom myself - mostly Christmas music ...
     
  5. Bronth

    Bronth Active Member

    Location:
    Riga, Latvia
    Hi all! Now revisiting CD 2 from my avatar set. One of the main contenders for my best classical buy of the year (should we start a new thread?).
     
  6. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I'd prefer to do it in this thread GREAT idea! I'll have to think what mine was.

    Have you heard Geiseking's pre-war Debussy?
     
  7. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Let the number of posts hits 1000 - only 68 more to go ... :righton:
     
  8. Bronth

    Bronth Active Member

    Location:
    Riga, Latvia
    OK, let's compose our personal Tops 5 or 10 including both new releases and reissues released in 2011. :wave: Of course, Stuart's Top 100 or 500 will qualify too. :goodie: :laugh:


    No, I haven't yet, despite all the praise.
     
  9. Bronth

    Bronth Active Member

    Location:
    Riga, Latvia
    You mean, that you reserve some, say, 800+ posts of the future thread #32 for you Top of the best 2011 releases exclusively? :winkgrin:
     
  10. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    :laugh:

    Thanks for clarifying, as I was wondering if stuff that was "new to me" was OK for the list.

    It's all (CD releases, anyway) OOP, unfortunately. I believe it was only issued on an (over NR'd) 2CD set on VAI and a Pearl CD, which was amongst those that were cursed with the bronzing issue. Hopefully it will pop up on Naxos historical.
     
  11. Bronth

    Bronth Active Member

    Location:
    Riga, Latvia
    Actually, there's room for such a nominee too. :edthumbs: Say, we may do a single all-inclusive top or 3 separate ones for best new releases, reissues and "personal discoveries". Or just name a clear winner in each nomination if a top is "over the top" for some of us. (BTW, there's at least one case when I can hardly relate item to only one nomination - Brilliant Classics big boxes which may contain both old and brand new recordings.)


    I'll try to search youtube for some samples later. :wave:
     
  12. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    No, I meant let this thread hits 1000 posts before we move to thread #32.
    We are almost there. Perhaps thread #32 should be the Christmas Thread. :righton:
     
  13. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Back to early music, now playing CD6 from the following set for a first listen ...

    [​IMG]
     
  14. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I've yet to compare his pre-war to his later recordings, but I have read that he was quite a different pianist before the war.
     
  15. Tangledupinblue

    Tangledupinblue Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Change of topic here, but does anyone enjoy reading earlier music criticism (from books, journals, internet etc.) of composers, eg those that were largely vilified during their lifetime?

    The Lexicon of Musical Invective can be a great read, as you know you're not taking much of it seriously, especially with much of it written over a hundred years ago (it's baffling that Schumann was so heavily disliked in England, whilst Chopin was quickly accepted, because I've always seem him as by far the more advanced of the two). If you think some of the bashing on here of recent and current popular acts is over-the-top, you ain't seen nothing yet - George Bernard Shaw's attacks on Brahms pre-date trolling virtually a century before the term was coined.

    Although some of it can be major facepalming even today, as in this disgraceful Rachmaninov critique from Grove's 5th edition (this is actually two fifths of the original article):

     
  16. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Perhaps the disdain exhibited by the Grove's writer had to do with Rachmaninoff's close association with the Hollywood? Just my guess ...
     
  17. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    For this evening

    My order from across the pond ...

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    from Amazon US MP ...

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  18. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
    London Stereo Treasury STS-15246,recorded 5/14-15/65,Kingsway Hall.
    original US issue was on CS-6470/CM-9740,released 3/67.
    producer:Ray Minshull.engineer:Kenneth Wilkinson.well-performed & recorded,but somehow Schumann never makes much of an impression on me.
    Mendelssohn,on the other hand,i find quite pleasing.
     

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  19. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
    Richmond B 19069.Richmond was London's budget reissue label for older,mono
    recordings.oddly,the orchestra is misidentified:it's actually the LSO.recorded
    2/21/52,Kingsway Hall.issued on Decca LXT 2694 & London LL 574.this is
    the 1st time i've heard a Collins recording of a Sibelius symphony.i like it,and
    the sound is pretty good.unlike issues on London,this is a US,not a British
    pressing.lots of surface noise on my copy.i believe these sold for $1.98.
     

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  20. Rudolph Serkin / The Busch String Quartet - Brahms - Piano Quintet - MONO
    Turnabout - The Vox Music Group - U.S. - 1939

    [​IMG]

    The noise is very distracting. This LP must have been mastered from original EMI 78s. Wonder if there are any CD versions better than this, using better source material? Recording is from October, 1938.
     
  21. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    It's not hard to do better than a Turnabout LP reissue of EMI source materials. I've heard these on the EMI "References" series, the CDs, as I recalled, were a tad filtered but basically okay. George might know more about these issues, but the Pearl transfers of the Busch Late Quartets isn't about to leave my collection any time soon. Mind you, Pearl can be hit and miss. But the Late Beethoven Quartet box with the Busch Quartet is about as good as it gets with historical materials such as these.
     
  22. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    The London Treasury Series LP's were surprisingly well pressed given their budget price and I have a good number of them in my LP collection ... :righton:
     
  23. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I have the Pearl CD, which was transferred by Roger Beardsley, who isn't as good as many of the other transfer engineers who work with Pearl, but here he gets good results, I think. He opts for a more filtered sound than you will usually find on Pearl, but not so much so that the sound is dull. It might be just what you are looking for, but then again, it might not be, as the surface noise is present throughout the performance.

    Is this noise issue specific to this LP, or do you usually find the noise distracting on pre-tape recordings? If it's the latter, the only thing I can suggest is more exposure to stuff sourced from 78s. Unfortunately, that's the only way I know to get the ears used to music recorded during the shellac era.

    When I first heard a CD that used 78s as it's source, I laughed, thinking why on earth would anyone want to hear this noisy stuff, when there are so many great modern recordings? My ears couldn't take more than a few minutes of the surface noise so I avoided the older recordings like the plague. As time when on, my taste became more and more specific and I found that many of the older performers who recorded in the shellac era best matched my taste. I found that most of the major labels (EMI, DG, SONY, etc) usually sought to minimize the noise to the lowest level possible, which made listening to the music easier on the ears, but I quickly noticed that the tone of the instruments, specifically the piano, was significantly compromised, producing a dull sound. Luckily, there were/are mastering engineers and labels that are interested in preserving the sound/tone of the original performances. These engineers include Ward Marston (on his own label, on Naxos Historical, Pearl, Biddulph and other labels), Mark Obert-Thorn (Naxos Historical, Biddulph, Pearl and other labels), Seth Winner (Pearl, Masterworks Heritage and other labels) and others on labels like Andante, APR, VAI, Testament, Orfeo, Pearl, Biddulph and Naxos Hisorical. I'm likely missing some, but these are the ones that come to mind that I have found to do great transfers.
     
  24. George, I'm prety sure it's surface noise from the original 78s transfer. I found it quite distracting. It would one thing playing an original 78, but this is a transfer. I don't have a lot of experience with historical recordings pre-tape. Maybe this is about as good as it gets.
     
  25. Scott Wheeler

    Scott Wheeler Forum Resident

    Location:
    ---------------
    Yes if they are the English Decca pressings. The U.S. ones suck. The matrix will always tell you what you have.
     
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