Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #32)

1. Virgin Classics
2. Harmonia Mundi
3. ECM
4. Hyperion

 

Hello all. Finally a Classical Music forum topic I can reply to without sounding like an idiot.

Naive
Harmonia Mundi
DG
Sony

 

I like Naïve a lot, too. Make it No. 5 on my list.

 

All these are great labels for new releases. I would also like to add Linn on the list, they have some very interesting recordings with great sound.

 

Tacet.

 

Now playing:

 

I was listening to Barber (altbeit not the piano concerto) on Saturday. Slatkin on EMI. The violin concerto (which I discovered through ballet) and several of the Essays for Orchestra. Marvelous music.

 

There's no such thing as a bad clarinet solo (unless I'm playing it).

 

I don't know that one, but I bet it sounds great.

 

So MDT has the Mercury Living Presence box for $131 including shipping but not VAT. Fifty redbook discs plus a bonus disc.

I just ordered it.

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//4783566.htm

 

Hey! I resemble that. We trombones have a lot more going on than those honky bassoons. Orchestral fart noises if you ask me.

 

The British Medical Journal came up with an interesting theory: The middle period of Beethoven's string quartets (composed while his deafness increased) have notably less higher notes than the ones before or the ones composed when he was completely deaf. It seems that he avoided the notes that he couldn't he anymore. Here's a video explaining that study: Beethoven's deafness and his three styles

 

I forgot ECM, and Jordi Savall's Alia Vox.

1. Hyperion
2. Chandos
3. BIS
4. ECM
5. Harmonia Mundi
6. Alia Vox

 

That doesn't really explain anything though (maybe their less than perfect English made it a bit far for me to follow); it just basically states than Beethoven used fewer higher notes in his middle period than his early and late. Actually Beethoven used more higher notes in his late works than in any other period of his life, particularly in the string quartets and piano sonatas, and it would have been nice to have had a bit more insight as to why that might have been so.

And as for Beethoven using his "inner ear", if he was (IIRC) completely deaf, surely even that wouldn't have functioned? It was more about using his creative imagination based on a lifetime and the experience of creating music, much of it when he could still hear - many of us who can read music, especially those who have perfect pitch (as Beethoven surely did) are able to "hear" how music sounds when they read a score or as composers when they dream of combinations of sounds in their head, without actually hearing anything in the literal sense.

Though I did like Beethoven's caustic comment "the treatment really worked, the belly improved but the deafness got even worse", a nice example of his dark humour and ability to see the funny side even against the most extreme adversity.

 

Holy Moly! Oskar Fried's acoustic recording of Mahler 2 on 78RPM now at $3400US!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/110803945640?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

It's rather a statistical observation (how many high notes at what stage of his increasing deafness) and the conclusion is hypothetical. But it makes sense to me that as long as he could still hear the music he wouldn't feel so comfortable using notes he couldn't (even if he "knew" what they sounded like). After he had turned completely deaf it didn't matter anymore, he had to rely totally on his imagination/experience and so the high notes returned. Could all be coincidental, but it makes sense to me.

 

Referencing RCA Victor LM-2085 © 1957

I've been a collector of classical LPs since 1958. I have 4 monophonic LP copies of this legendary recording. The last "4th" copy of RCA Victor LM-2085 was collected, like the rest, from a local thrift store. This last copy "stands out" due to a very unique reason.

Prior to the start of the music, there is "15 seconds of narration " spoken by a male voice with a "British" accent. I was made aware that this recording (as were others) was recorded by the London/Decca team headed by Producer John Culshaw, for RCA Victor, in Paris. France. I purchased this unique LP for only $1.50. By the way, the quality of the groove is in excellent condition, with a quiet surface. Let me quote the narrator at this time.

" 4G2RP12. The Rite of Spring. By Igor Stravinsky. The complete ballet in the original edition. Pierre Monteux conducting the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra. Recorded in the Salle Wagram Paris. Original Master. "

The actual serial numbers, located in the dead wax area, are "hand written" **, not pressed as would be done via a mechanical stamping device.

Side 1 reads: G 2RP - 9807 22S ** ( "A1 R " are not hand written, but stamped )
Side 2 reads: G 2RP - 9808 ** ( "A1 R " are not hand written, but stamped )

Here are my questions regarding this "Master Recording" of The Rite of Spring Ballet.

(1) How did this LP get into public circulation?
(2) Who did this LP belong to?
(3) How many were produced and circulated?
(4) Where was this LP pressed (USA, France, England)?
(5) Who inscribed the "hand written" serial numbers in the dead wax area?
(6) What does 4G2RP12 22S mean?
(7) The 4 is only referenced in narration and not referred in text
(8) What is the monetary value of this unique LP with narration?

Thanks for your kind assistance in answering these and another other anwers you
might be able to share with me.

Cheers, Long Play Fan

 

I'm sure they weren't referring to the actual anatomical inner ear, but rather using the term to describe his "mental" ear as you are describing it. I certainly don't have perfect pitch, but if I know the music well enough I can "hear" the music in my head as I read the score. And Beethoven could most certainly hear the music in his head as he wrote the notes down on the score.

I agree that the point of this exercise is missing with this little production. Maybe the actual article points out the significance of Beethoven's use of higher notes both before and after his deafness. But for all we know maybe Beethoven was infatuated with a lovely cello player during his mid period. Another characteristic of Beethoven's mid period was that often there were no pauses between movements. Do we attribute that to his growing deafness also?

I have always felt that only a deaf genius with a touch of madness could have conceived the Grosse Fuge Op. 133 in 1825's musical world.

 

ONE MORE QUESTION REGARDING

RCA VICTOR LM 2085 STRAVINSKY "The Rite of Spring" Ballet MASTER RECORDING.

(8) Who is the narrator, who speaks with the British accent?

Note, I am more interested in the answers to my questions than the actual value
of this "collectable" LP.

Does anyone on SHMF have a "Master Recording" LP of this type, or know of anyone.
My goal is to fine answers to all of my questions. If you can direct me to a good source to fine answers to my questions that would be appreciated.

Cheers, Long Play Fan

Cheers, Long Play Fan

 

1. Alia Vox
2. BIS
3. Harmonia Mundi
4. Naive
5. Alpha
6. Glossa
7. Winter and Winter

These labels probably provide most of my purchases/

 

Or Szell and Haydn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._93_(Haydn)

(It really must be heard.)

 

now listening

 

I've also always thought that paradoxically, Beethoven's complete deafness played a key part in what made his late music so great. I don't know how much composing he did at the piano if any, but I'm pretty sure that even with his perfect pitch and genius to be able to conjure all sorts of groundbreaking and visionary music in his head, when he could actually hear he would have tested it on the piano or with whatever ensemble he was composing for every now and then. Take something like the Hammerklavier sonata, there are some very strange dissonances and his sprawling use of form is unconventional even for him to say the least, to the point of perverseness. I'm sure if he was able to hear, it probably would have come out more polished and less loosely-written whilst he could "correct" the odd chord/harmonic change and tighten things up a bit after being able to step back and hear it properly as a whole. Yet by being "better", I don't think it would have anything like the power and revolutionary impact that makes it still astonish listeners almost two centuries on.

 

Time for thread 33 (and 1/3)