Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #37)

Continuing with the American theme, here are a few other things I listened to today:


String Quartet


Douglas Moore's "Pageant of P.T. Barnum"


"Sure on this shining night"

 

I owned the 60's series a DGG twofer. The performances were boring - as if the orchestra was simply going through the motions. I struggled for a long time to find the "perfect" set of Brahms symphonies. Ultimately I concluded there are two distinct ways of them successively: passionate energy (Szell) and Teutonic profundity (Klemperer).

 

I think that was the 70s recordings.

 

"We'll fix it in the mix."

The CD of Symphonies 2 and 3 really is fine, catching HvK and the Berliners before Karajan went all "Whiskey-a-Go-Go" on us and started recording to 16 track and getting fussy about the make-up on the album covers*. There's all sorts of ways to play Brahms. This one is lithe and transparent. It's graceful, which is quite rare in performances of this music:








*

 

Yuck. I take it the actual music is better?

 

DO judge an LP by it cover

It's everything bad anybody ever said about HvK. Even the stuff that isn't true. The cover really sez it all.

 

You're right. It was a typo. I had been trying to recall if I owned the 60's set on LP.

 

That EMI cover is awesome.

 

LP in this case, so the cover is slightly different. But you get the idea....

 

Are any other HvK Strauss recordings worth getting? I'm not a major RS fan but I do enjoy Till Eulenspiegel, Der Rosenkavalier, what snatches I've heard of Salome and Elektra and funnily enough the often maligned Alpine Symphony.

 

I find his 70s stuff to be mostly crap and his 60s stuff to be mostly awesome!

 

Der Alposymphonie

The Rosenkavalier with Schwarzkopf is one for the ages:



The digital recording of Eine Alpensinfonie is highly regarded as a performance but dreadful as a piece of engineering.

 

The cheap twofer on DG is great!

 

Sturgeon's Law applies

" . . . and that's the way it is, Tuesday, July 3, 2011 . . . "

 

Sorry, of which works?

 

http://www.amazon.com/R-Strauss-Zar...id=1341327922&sr=1-5&keywords=Strauss+Karajan

 

My brother gave me the Alpensinfonie shortly after it came out. I believe it was DG's first CD. In nearly 30 years, I've listened to it twice. I'm just not a fan of his later tone poems.

Love the Rosenkavalier though.

 

I agree, it's fresh. Kanye von Karajan.



This just doesn't have the same impact.

 

Ah! Von Karajan and his misplaced 'inner visions of things'
Von Karajan's Der Rosenkavalier is one of the most over rated recordings in living memory. For a start V,K;s version has 'cuts to the score ' then one has to suffer Schwartzkopf's with her tight, mannered, over focused voice production- with that strange sneering nasal "sssccchhhmmminnee" like sound on full display. His taste in lead female singers, then as time went on, became increasingly misjudged and at times, became clearly appalling,,..more often than not. Who can forget his debacles casting Katia Ricciarelli a lyric soprano as Turandot? Or perhaps several other examples (from his own discoveries) from Helga Dernesch - a pushed up mezzo masquerading as his EMI Isolde or DG Brunnhilde. A singer who quickly and correctly reverted back to her proper fach - mezzo.
Not even V.K's first-up use of a 32 channel 3M digital recording machine could hide the acidic 'paint stripper' tones coming from the singer (yet another one of his casting discoveries!) that he used, for his Kundry character on his complete DG Wagner's Parsifal.

As for the Strauss' Alpine Symphony...there are many other versions out there, that would wipe the floor with V.K's version with spectcular sound to boot. Such as Solti's very late analogue version with the Bavarian forces. They play within a inch of their life for Solti...and listen to THAT Decca sound..when it comes time for the big Storm scene.

P.S All recordings above mentioned, I am familar with - they are on my shelves, for reference : as well as countless rival versions with which to make comparisions.

 

His Parsifal is the recording that really hooked me on opera

 

Well that's a shame, because with all its faults and longeurs, I always want to hear Der Rosenkavalier in its full glory, warts and all - I can't understand why even to this day, so many conductors who seem to think they know best insist on recording/performing it with cuts. If you haven't got time to do the whole work live then don't do it at all. I think you and I will have to agree to disagree on Schwartzkopf though, I love her voice.

Ah well, I'm not that bothered because I was simply curious as to whether HvK had done good stuff with Richard Strauss, because he seems to be better suited by all accounts to some composers than others (he isn't so good with Mozart, and according to some, even Brahms). As it turns out, I believe my Dad already has a pretty decent historical recording (but full score and good SQ - can't remember the personnel offhand) of that work which I can always borrow every now and then.

 

I love this boxset:

 

See also: "Tortoise Wins By A Hare!"

Nobody's perfect!

 

Like Buttah

I'm sure that swell but let's not forget to get your hands on the Reiner/CSO SACDs before everybody else finds out.

Isn't that the 1959 VPO/Karajan Zarathrustra in 2001?