Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #45)

Now playing CD3, the last CD of the following set ...

 

Not exactly..bought a Cal-King mattress from some outfit out your way. It was mfg. here locally & delivered without tax. If the dealer does not have a "physical footprint" in my state, no tax. May not be fair but...

 

Let's see when Amazon will start collecting sale tax when we order our next CD. I will likely just buy from MDT and Presto if this law is actually enacted ...

 

Amazon just opened a huge distro center here so tax is on. Big story in the local press at the time & the fallout. They will not collect tax from out of state Marketplace dealers. Your original statement is coming true.

 

How many B&M music stores are left in your town? Other than BestBuy, there are no more music stores left in my town ... LOL.

 

Basically, just Amoeba & Rockaway, & they are aways to reach & just as well. BB gives me the hives to enter.

 

Anybody seen a tracklisting for this new gigantour box set http://www.amazon.co.uk/Produktion-...ner-Minkowski/dp/B00BCSBU4E/ref=pd_sim_m_h__9

 

Sweetness. I wonder if any/how much overlap there might be between this and the 'All Baroque Box'....

 

Disc number 8...



To Joh. Brahms dedicated D minor quartet op. 34 is pretty heavy - composed in deep sorrow just few months after two of the Dvorak children had died. Another quartet is a gem, a beginning of fabulous period in Dvorak's life, especially every formalist would love this great A minor quartet (op. 16). - Oh, and yes: I do know the name should be written not as "Dvorak" but as Dvořák. Sorry for that.

 

I had that Debussy Double on loan from library. Perhaps not the best possible recordings of Debussy's orchestral works but great great value, in my opinion. All the essential stuff on two records. I'm still considering whether to buy or not (because there's already so much of his music as LP's and cd's)...

Two nice violin concerto recordings from 2012. It's funny how many great & talented young lady has entered the scene during the last 10-15 years.



Alina Ibragimova is a newcomer for me. Quite promising record. I certainly will expect a lot from her in the coming years.



I remember Baiba Skride's one of the first recordings (J.S. Bach's solo violin works) for a big(ger) record company because of the unconventional cover: She wore jeans in a very relaxed way. During the ten years she has made a series of nice records. However, she haven't gained a status of Julia Fischer or of Hilary Hahn, at least not yet. And then there's Lisa Batiashvili, Janine Jansen and many others... In seventies a female violinist playing the greatest concertos was a rarity. Not anymore.



Haas Quartet's Dvořák record came out already in 2011 but I got it at my hands only last summer, I guess. Sticker at the cover tells something about the quality?

 

Now enjoying this recent gift (thanks, RRB!) and I must say, I like it a lot more than the Florestan on Hyperion. It's more intimate, more chamber-like. The Florestan is much more symphonic in it's interpretation.

 

Perhaps CD sales should still be tax exempt since this so called remedy is too little too late but Amazon has been selling a host of other things ...

 

Other than Naxos Historical, the regular Naxos line does occasionally has some excellent recordings ...

 

Yes, and that is one of them.

Now enjoying Bruckner 8 from:

 

Happy Sunday everyone. Haven't been posting much because I didn't want to keep posting the same two cd's over and over again as I have been obsessed with them the last two weeks. Both are magnificent. Glad the Emerson Bach (which is new to me) showed up this week to give me a reason to take the Scarlatti out of the cd player. Recommendations for your favorite Piano version of Art of the Fugue are welcomed as always.

 

I only really know one, but I love it a lot: Tatiana Nikolayeva http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Kunst-Fugue-Johann-Sebastian/dp/B000002ZS9



The cover may not look like much, but it's a beautiful performance.

I've seen the Emerson String Quartet version recommended a couple of times here. One of these days I will give it a try. I also like the Savall/Hespèrion XX a lot.

 

Just ran across something interesting - DG is looking for help compiling a Berlin Philharmonic retrospective 50 CD box set.

 

This is an excellent performance by the first lady of Bach from the former Soviet Union. I have owned this twofer for a few years ...

 

Lutoslawski
Fanfare for Los Angeles Philharmonic
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Paul Crossley, piano
Chantefleurs et Chantefables
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Symphony No. 2
Los Angeles Philhramonic
Esa-Pekka Salonen
(TODD-AO Scoring Studio, Los Angeles, 1994)

 

That looks like a great CD, John. Upshaw is great!

 

Ah, what the heck, I just ordered a copy.

 

You are free to choose at CMC since there is no HIP police that will hound you here ...

 

That she is George. She sings in French poems by Paul Desnos, a French surrealist who perished in Theresienstadt in 1945. This song cycle features some in nursery rhyme style and others in traditional French surrealist poetry.

One, titled L'Alligator translates to

On the banks of the Mississippi
An allegator is lurking.
He sees a little black boy passing
And says to him: "Good day, my boy."
But the negro says to him: "Good night,
Night is falling, it's getting dark.
I am small and I'd be wrong
To speak to an allegator."
On the banks of the Mississippi
The allegator is vexed,
For he wanted to eat
The tender little black boy for his midnight supper.

Lutoslawski's brilliant accompanying music is dark and light at the same time.

 

Now Playing today's used classical vinyl purchase: Sibelius Symphony #4 - Karajan - Berlin Philharmonic

 

Indeed!

I checked also whether there's any news on 20/21 Series. Yes, after couple of years, they've managed to release a new disc of modern music: Brief Encounter by André Previn (2001). I remember that there were high hopes in late 1990's when DG started the 20/21 series. Berio, Carter, Lindberg, Takemitsu, and of course Boulez, Boulez, and Boulez... Though such modern stuff is Aramaic pour moi, I still have considered it enlightening to try to follow what goes on among contemporary composers. (Otherwise all modern music that I listen will be jazz and pop only - and especially the latter is so stereotypical [or 'formulaic', as a dictionary says] that there's not much gems to be found anymore.) However, poor has been the destiny of DG's 20/21 Series...

http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/result?IN_XXSERIES=TWEONE