No kidding! But a beginning keyboard student will hardly appreciate WTC's ... Indeed, Chorzempa played this WTC's set on organ, fortepiano and harpsichord.
By your response I have to assume you have heard this recording. I might have bought it just for the novelty however, the reduction of such a massive work to a string trio just strikes me as odd. However, I like the symphony so much, I might get it to see what they transcriber has done with it. What has the transcriber/arranger done with it? I probably won't buy it based on your opinion if you think it is that bad. Edit-I cannot find this recording available anywhere. Not even on the Decca website. @RiRiIII can I ask where and when did you purchase this CD? It appears to be OOP.
@Rose River Bear, How many versions of the Elgar Enigma Variations do you have now? A more up to date count for my collection is 10. I have wanted to get the version by Colin Davis on Philips. Unfortunately, I have yet to come across a CD version. However, there is a SACD version on LSO Live I can get.
A quick count I show 15 versions. It may be higher as there may be some on conductor compilations I have. The Colin Davis LSO SACD is probably the version I play the most. Even with 10 versions, IMO it is worth getting the Colin Davis LSO.
This seems appropriate today. HANDEL: Messiah (London version of 1743) - Academy and Chorus of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Neville Marriner (US London Jubilee CD)
For those of you who look for this set on vinyl records, I highly (albeit humbly) recommend the version below, from 1974. I only have stereo playback here, but it sounds stunning! Zero experience otherwise with this label Connoisseur Society; the pressing is ultra quiet too. Cut at Sterling ("PR"?).
I have that one (on Argo vinyl). The aria by the alto "He was despised..." is incredibly beautiful and moving!
Well, since we're on Messiah, here's something I did for Christmas a couple of years ago: all the excerpts Edison released on diamond disc records back around World War I, played on a machine of the period--so I guess in that sense it's a "period instrument" recording. The link takes you to an article I wrote with background info and biographies of the singers; the article in turn links a YouTube video of the music. I've posted this before, but not recently, and I offer it in case anyone who joined us since then might be interested. Apologies to those who have already seen it. [TNT-Audio Vintage column] Edison Messiah
Now enjoying Op. 76 and Op. 116 from the above box set. Angelich is one of my favorite living pianists.
Hi, George, Thanks for sharing that. Know anything about Isabel Mourao? I've finished my Tchaikowsky odyssey and started in on a 7-LP Grieg box, photo (not mine) below, which as you can see prominently gives top billing to Guiomar Novaes--but turns out to be all Mourao except for the concerto (Novaes) and the Norwegian Dances, op. 35 (Walter & Beatrice Klien). The bit I've learned from some desultory browsing online is that Mourao's still with us, albeit pretty old, I think, and as you'd expect from her name, she's Brazilian. Aside from this cheapie Grieg box, all drawn from Vox recordings, I have her only in a single LP of music by somebody named Lacerda on a label called Discos Marcus Pereira, which I've never played even though it's been gracing my shelves since 1998. I can say that I'm finding her Grieg much more appealing than Ponti's Tchaikowsky. So far, what I've heard is three pieces from a collection called "Moods," a couple of short riffs on Norwegian folk tunes, incomplete traversals of the opp. 47 and 68 Lyric Pieces, and the Holberg Suite in its original piano guise--up until which I didn't know Grieg wrote it first for piano, orchestrated it later. In these she plays with appealing tone, appropriate feeling, and good spirit when it's called for, and in the one direct comparison I've made, a "Halling" from op. 47, she's a bit more incisive than Gieseking (Angel LP) and decidedly livelier than Gavrilov (DG CD). I guess I should pull out that Lacerda record once I get done with the Grieg. Oh, by the way, the records with the concerto do not state "mono," which leads me to believe they may be recycling the lousy fake stereo issue that I have on another (Vox) LP. If so, I won't bother copying them, as I also have a mono issue on Vox, and I'll turn to that one instead.
To hear Gary Graffman's take on Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3, I listened to this Ormandy box. I was not immediately taken with his performances. However, the Manfred Symphony from Ormandy is appealing. Eugene Ormandy Philadelphia Orchestra Eugene Ormandy conducts Tchaikovsky. Sony, 2013 12 CDs
Here is my most recently acquired Ormandy box and this will be it for a while since I have no intention to get his new, all mono big box. While I have no problems with listening to piano works in mono, orchestral works in mono just sounds too thin to me ... I have heard lots of praises for this Sibelius box as Ormandy also had a special friendship with Sibelius. So even though I have just under 15 Sibelius cycles, I still went ahead for this incomplete set ...
I have most of what is in that set on separate CDs. Mostly from the Centennial Japan Editions. I like Ormandy and the PO renditions for the way the strings sound.
Now enjoying the best set of Rachmaninov Etudes Tableaux that I have heard. Great transparent sound too.