Now playing: Antonín Dvořák - Serenades Op. 22 & 44 - Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner - recorded 1981
Now playing: Vagn Holmboe - Chamber Symphonies - Lapland Chamber Orch., John Storgårds - recorded 2011
Now playing: Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartets Nos. 8, 7 & 3 - Borodin String Quartet - recorded 1990 CD 2 from this set:
I’m back!!! Sorry, I just couldn’t stay away forever. I’m still active on other forums of course, but I figured that it just wasn’t right for me not to drop by! To the annoyance of many I’m sure.
NP: Penderecki Lacrimosa Magnificat Kanon Jadwiga Gadulanka (soprano), Wiéslaw Ochman (tenor), Peter Lagger (bass) Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Polish Radio Chorus Of Krakow, Krakow Philharmonic Chorus, Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra Penderecki From this new acquisition -
A bit earlier: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - The Complete Recordings [Disc 1] Make no mistake, this is a masterful score. Howard Shore did a remarkable job composing these works. I haven’t heard his Hobbit trilogy scores yet (they’re still in their plastic wrap) as I seem to not be able to move past The Lord of the Rings.
NP: Vasks Concerto No. 2 for Cello and String Orchestra, "Klatbutne / Presence” Sol Gabetta (violoncello) Amsterdam Sinfonietta Candida Thompson A hugely satisfying work. Utterly gorgeous. A must for all Vasks fan I’d say.
New birthday arrival in the player for a first listen: Debussy - Preludes Books 1 & 2, 'Les soirs illumines par l'ardeur du charbon' - Jean-Efflam Bavouzet This is the roll-up set of all Bavouzet's Debussy discs on Chandos. This isn't a packaging design I've met before - a clamshell cardboard box containing slim flimsy pseudo-digipacks. The digipacks have the facsimilles of the original release booklets attached to the front flap (albiet with new uniform cover art), and the rear flap has a half-width pocket rather than a spindle. The rear has a prominent crease running down the cardboard so you can fold it back slightly to make getting the discs in and out easier. As for the playing, wonderful so far!
By the way-concerning the sound quality on the Bernstein Remastered box set-so far with the exception of one disc I have been very pleased with the decisions made. These remasterings generally are allowed to breathe in that they have not been deadened. So you will know that these are analog tape sources which is as it should be I think. The disc that had some problems to my ear in a listening session yesterday( as I try to recover from bronchitis) contained some very apparent tape smear/distortion. At first I wondered if my tweeters were at fault. I checked the notes in the book and found that this particular performance required a different tape source because the original tape was unusable! But-they wanted to include it. I was listening yesterday through my Yamaha 3000 and Klipsch Lascalas( super revealing) but if was using Stax electrostatic phones-I certainly would have picked up the problem. There are some voluptuous sumptuous performances contained herein-iconic Lenny.
An intergalactic program of my own creation: Holst: The Planets -Intermission- Ligeti: Atmosphères Penderecki: Kosmogonia Langgaard: Sfærernes Musik (“Music of the Spheres”) From these recordings:
Recorded 3/1, 3/15 & 4/1, 1959, Broadwood Hotel, Philadelphia. Issued 1959. Ormandy had previously recorded the two Overtures (the second by Glinka) for Columbia in 1946. My 6-eye copy has a price sticker on the back from Harvey's Department Store, $5.98 list, $4.49 sale price. When I was a boy in the late 50s/early 60s I would ride the bus from our town to downtown Nashville (a 60-mile round-trip) to shop with my Grandmother. Harvey's was one of our stops, where we sometimes ate lunch & where she often bought something for me, usually a book. If the shopping trips had continued into my teens, she might have been buying me LPs.
MS 6109, issued in celebration of 60 years (1900-60) of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Recorded 1/25/59, Broadwood Hotel, Philadelphia. Producer: Howard Scott. Ormandy had previously recorded the Symphony for Columbia in 1950, issued on ML 4400.
@Mirror Image welcome back! I've been following GMG and TC due to your recs and thank you for that! I've noticed you've taken a deep dive into Penderecki lately so I have to ask, have you grabbed any of the late 80s Polskie Nagrania Muza CDs ever in your long tenure as a 20th Century Contemporary Classical fan? I don't own many (certainly not enough) but the original cd comp releases of Penderecki vol. 1 (St. Luke's+) and vol. 2 (Utrenya 1 & 2) are sublime as you get Henryk Czyz and Andrjez Markowski among others, and I assume the other volumes are probably just as good and are future purchases of mine. K. Penderecki* - Volume One: St. Luke's Passion & Threnody · Polymorphy · String Quartet · Psalms Of David · Dimensions Of Time And Silence Url: K. Penderecki – Volume One: St. Luke's Passion & Threnody · Polymorphy · String Quartet · Psalms Of David · Dimensions Of Time And Silence (1989, CD) Shared from the Discogs App Krzysztof Penderecki - Volume Two: Jutrznia/Utrenja Url: Krzysztof Penderecki – Volume Two: Jutrznia/Utrenja (1989, CD) Shared from the Discogs App
And here's the inner sleeve that came with my 2-eye pressing. Apparently Columbia was trying to head off competition from "any other recorded form" to their LPs. I guess they were worried about prerecorded tapes....or maybe tape copies of LPs?
Thread duty: Finally found some Cliburn I can enjoy (no offense to anyone's sensibilities, I just prefer Entremont and Browning most times than not). Currently playing on CD: