Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #52)

Magnapans and piano are a perfect pair.

 

Unfortunately, Maggies will not work at my house since they have a large footprint even though I have a good number of high powered amps.

 

Celebrating New Year's Day listening to Russians play Russian music...



It's all so full of aural umami: hard-edged trumpets, untamed growling low brass, wobbly horns, and the sometimes squawking woodwinds sounding like hungry ravens. And then there's the strings, playing with absolute precision and intonation. Plus, sound quality is surprising.

I have new-found respect for the Fourth, a piece that never did much for me in the past.

 

This is the twofer that everyone and his cousin have in their classical music collections ...

 

My version is a record club box of three LPs made in Italy. Not DGG's finest hour.

 

I have this one:



Do I need both?

 

I own yet another version

 

I think the other twofer is more acclaimed.

 

While compiling my top 10 releases for the year for the year by year top 10 thread, I decided to do my top 10 classical releases for the year.

In no particular order

John Zorn - On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits
Roomful of Teeth - Roomful of Teeth
Kuniko Kato - Cantus
Jean Kopperund & Tom Kolor - Extreme Measures II
Stile Antico - The Pheonix Rising
John Zorn - Shir HaShirim
New York Polyphony - Times Go By Turns
The Nash Ensemble - Bridge: Phantasy Piano Quartet; Cello Sonata; Violin Sonata; Folk Tunes
Mariusz Smolij - Eugene Zádor: Divertimento; Elegie and Dance; Oboe Concerto; Studies for Orchestra
Jereon van Veen - Simeon Ten Holt: Solo Piano Music, Volumes I-V

 

I believe the two DG versions are the same.

 

Happy New Year's Day to all mit schlag; now playing this very champagne-and-cake-like 1973 Columbia vinyl pressing as a classical dessert:

 

These are recordings done in mono in Vienna in 1956 with Sanderling conducting the 4th & Mravinsky conducting the 5th & 6th... The other set was done in stereo in 1960 in London while the orchestra was on tour... Both are rightly famous, as well as later performances by Mravinsky.

 

Currently spinning......

 

What do you think of the Hywel Davies work on Cantus?

 

Yeah, but what did you think of the Pynchon?

 

was gonna say, is that the new one?

 

Yup.

 

I love it but boy do you need a quiet environment to listen to it. That really goes for the entire album. I imagine it takes a great amount of skill to play a marimba that softly.

I've read Gravity's Rainbox and I found it a bit of a slog.

 

Listening to the album Fellow Traveler - The Complete String Quartet Works of John Adams played by the Attacca Quartet for the first time. Great album for those who like modern music that's easy to listen too.

 

For those who like minimalism, I highly recommend the 5 disc set of Simeon Ten Holt solo piano music in my top 10 list. It's really fascinating music. I was hesitant in buying it because I thought it might be a bit to much minimalism for me, even though I like quite a bit of the minimalism I've heard. There's a lot of nice variety to the music though. I've really enjoyed listening to it. It's available on both MOG and Spotify for streaming for anyone who wants to check it out.

 

I love ALL Pynchon, and his writing about NYC and the rupture of 9/11 here is brilliant, but this is old Tom in his most shaggy-dog stoner fable mode. It sits happily down next to Inherent Vice, under the big Brockengespenst shadow of Gravity's Rainbow — to me maybe the greatest novel of my lifetime.

 

Second, maybe even third tier.

 

George

Annie Fischer's recording from the complete Hungaroton set?

Thanks and best wishes,

Alex

 

It has been reissued since then, but 25 years after its release I finally found it cheaply priced. In those early CD times and before the collapse of USSR, Mravinsky recs were not easily obtainable. Philips had licenced and issued in 1988 this one recorded in 1981 as well as Shostakovich' 8th:

 

I don't know about George, but I'll vouch for the Hungaroton set.