Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #33)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, Jan 11, 2012.

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  1. Collector Man

    Collector Man Well-Known Member

    Very true. indeed. A timely warning to others that have overlooked this risk .Even if someoine must go through every CD and vinyl boxed set....get rid of any sponge foam sheets used for box and case padding. RIGHT NOW! I did, years ago.
    The sponge foam as you said , pscreed - first shrinks, changes color and then goes sticky.:eek: Finally it adheres . Remember too, traditionally the silver label area of CDs have much thinner protection than the playing side, if one was forced to attempt cleaning such sticky residue. I can only assume some of the newer typical 'paint coated' CD label areas may have much tougher protection.
     
  2. Collector Man

    Collector Man Well-Known Member

    If we were to compare the seven symphonies of Prokofiev against those of Sibelius, we would find a interesting point. Sibelius slowly pared away in his scoring until he produced and had that very lean 7th symphony. It is in fact his '8th symphony' if we also acknowledge his youthful and large Kullervo Symphony which he never allowed to be performed during his lifetime.Other than the neo classical style 1st symphony of Prokofiev, Prokofiev never really developed along a similar progressive line. He was just producing more of his same usual symphonic output, by the time he finished his 7th Symphony.
     
  3. Collector Man

    Collector Man Well-Known Member

    It is a really good set and a steal bargain at the price.. It is from around 1962 if my memory is right. Then Sutherland was in fresher voice to play a young girl This set is vastly better to Sutherland's later second version of it she did with her husband, Richard Bonygne conducting. He glaringly badly misjudged. IE: Bonygne turned the first act of Rigoletto not into something by Verdi, but for all the world -blatantly, by Donizetti. a composer he is known to absolutely adore.
     
  4. ShallowMemory

    ShallowMemory Classical Princess

    Location:
    GB
    Was playing:
    Sibelius Piano works played by Havard Gimse
    six Bagatelles op.97,Eight Little Pieces op.99,Five Romantic Piieces op.101,Five Characteristic Impressions op.103 & finally Cinq Esquisses op.114
    Naxos 8.555853 *Made in Canada*

    Haydn Cello Concertos 1 &2 plus Boccherini Cello Concerto in B flat
    Capella Istropolitiana, (Cello) Kanta with Breiner waving the baton
    Naxos 8.550059-2
     
  5. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    There is a new Beethoven sonata cycle in the works, on EMI, from a pianist who has yet to release any other recordings. Her name is HJ Lim. Not surprisingly, she's quite attractive. I'm not going to hold it against her, of course. But I do find it tiresome and predictable what the major labels do these days in terms of artist signings. The next time I see EMI or DG with an ugly, fat pianist, I'll know she's the real deal.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    :laugh:
     
  7. Collector Man

    I agree with you 100 per cent. I also have the London/Bonygne opera recording. I do believe it is the magic that conductor Nino Sanzogno weaves
    that makes it an outstanding recording. This Rigoletto is a favorite of mind due to the outstanding cast.

    Cheers, Long Play Fan
     
  8. Hope you get to collect and listen to this gem.

    Columbia Stereo Masterworks MS 6754

    Debussy: La Mer - Afternoon of a Faun
    Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2

    New York Philharmonic

    Leonard Bernstein, conducting

    Produced by John McClure

    Review: Bernstein presents a outstanding 24:15 min La Mer. NYP manages to display musical colors and shades, that are missing in other recordings. Just Superb!

    Info: Grey label "Stereo 360 sound". No Library of Congress number.
     

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  9. Rose River Bear and Doctor VanHooser

    I came across this LP in my collection. Is this also the Nowak Version.

    Looks like Bohm and Walter hold the record for longest TT recording.

    Columbia Odyssey Y32981 Stereo L of C 74-750271

    Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major "Romantic

    Columbia Symphony Orchestra

    Bruno Walter, conducting

    TT: 65:19 mins

    Side One:
    1. 18:40
    2. 15:38
    Side Two:
    3. 10:58
    4. 20:43

    Review. LP in great playback condition. No pops, sratches, or mares. Groove is quiet with no surface noise. Walter and his orchestra do a fantastic job. This is my second favorite version of Bruckner Symphony No. 4. Sound is lush and powerful. Record belonged to a local FM Classical Music Station KOGO-FM.
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    LOL. You are correct.

    I don't so much mind the endless stream of pretty young women it's more the cover photos, I've seen some and I'd have been embarrassed to ask them to pose like that. It's ok to put some ugly bloke doing anything on the cover but if it's a women she has to have a sexy frock on and look sexually available.

    It's par for the course in rock and pop but you'd imagine the classical buyer to be a little more discerning.
     
  11. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    She's a bit crosseyed.
     
  12. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    It is a classic. :righton:
     
  13. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    That's how I knew this lady was something special right away :D:

    [​IMG]

    And she is. Great performance! :love:
     
  14. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Which looks sexy on her IMO.
     
  15. Tangledupinblue

    Tangledupinblue Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    I agree that Prokofiev's symphonies don't show the same kind of growth as Sibelius's - whilst Sibelius was already a complete master of the form by the time of his third, it took Prokofiev until his fifth when he was well past 50 to truly get a grip on large-scale symphonic writing, as before then his ideas were better suited for stage works like the ballet and opera rather than the kind of more intellectual abstract forms (but then the music is so marvellous and inventive that for the most part one can forgive any structural shortcomings in the earlier symphonies). But I disagree that he was producing "more of the same" - each symphony explores a completely different style and mood, light-hearted and humorous in the Haydnesque neo-classical 1st, uncompromisingly brutal in the (for the time) ultra-modern and constructivist 2nd, the darkly dramatic and foreboding 3rd, the more lyrical and balletic 4th (although IMO the least interesting of the seven), epic, grandiose with tinges of the bittersweet in the 5th, tragedy and irony in the 6th, and the child-like fantasy of the 7th.

    I respect that Sibelius was more accomplished as a symphonist, but personally on a purely musical level Prokofiev's symphonies just engage and move me more - it's the quality and vitality of his ideas rather than his mastery of the form that to me (and I imagine many others) put him at the forefront of the 20th century symphonic composers, along with Sibelius, Mahler, Nielsen, Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich.
     
  16. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
  17. jimsumner

    jimsumner Senior Member

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    In the aggregate, I would agree that Sibelius' seven symphonies are better than Prokofiev's seven symphonies. But Sergei's 5th and 6th are absolute masterpieces, IMO, as good as anything written in the genre by Sibelius, Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky or any of their contemporaries.


    The 6th should be much better known.
     
  18. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    The Sixth is original and innovative in it's own right. You are right, it is Prokofiev's masterpiece.

    Sibelius' symphonies to me are not better....just different. :cheers:
     
  19. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    I recently treated myself to some more TACET DVD-As. Listening to this one right now:

    [​IMG]

    Some beautiful sounds to be surrounded by.
     
  20. Tangledupinblue

    Tangledupinblue Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    I've said this before that 6 seems to be a really good number where symphonies are concerned - with the majority of the major symphonists who got that far my sixth happens to be my favourite of theirs - Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Nielsen, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, probably Sibelius (although I tend to gravitate towards the fifth).

    It's also interesting that with the clear exception of the Beethoven the mood of the above tends to be predominantly dark and tragic, but that may be just coincidental.
     
  21. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Wise move. But hasn't it been released already? MDT and Presto show a Jan 3rd release date.

    Since I have almost all of those performances already, I am going to pass. I spent a lot of money picking up the 2 Biddulph CDs, the 2 Pearl CDs and the APR 2CD of late recordings already. I wish they had issued a single CD containing the previously unreleased stuff.
     
  22. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    I don't know, actually . . . I think Amazon shows it as coming out Feb. 14 (Valentine's Day :love:). How is APR usually on sound? I can't remember offhand what else I have from them, but I know there's something.
     
  23. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Though they usually do great work, the APR is less important than the fact that Ward Marston did this set. I would buy without any fear of these being sub-par transfers if I were you.
     
  24. SBurke

    SBurke Nostalgia Junkie

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Ah, that's the key, I agree -- in fact I had read that earlier and already forgotten it. :shrug: Anyhow, good news.
     
  25. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    High Priestess, Empress and Star of the keyboard

    Lady pianists have this really weird habit of being really beautiful on some rarified plane where angels fear to tread. The guy pianists generally look more or less like pale bagels. Here are two examples that I have known and recorded. This photo doesn't do Jean Alexis Smith justice, but you get the general idea:

    [​IMG]

    Sarah Cahill, both a gifted keyboard player and the gal who took over my "Morning Concert" slot at KPFA:

    [​IMG]

    I think there is something really intense and a bit outside of what is usually called "Beauty" in these women—something that HJ Lim has in trumps and a couple two-three cards in the major arcana. But Martha Argerich embodies that quality:

    [​IMG]
     
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