Classical Corner Classical Music Corner

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George P, May 29, 2015.

  1. dale 88

    dale 88 Errand Boy for Rhythm

    Location:
    west of sun valley
    Bach
    Organ Works
    Karl Richter
    DGG, 1964, 1967, 1969
    3 discs
    On a new organ at Jagersborg near Copenhagen
    [​IMG]
     
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  2. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    My work notified me yesterday evening that we would be given the day off today on account of an impending snow storm. Deeply disappointed, as you can well imagine, last night when I got home I turned to Darius Milhaud for some suitably somber music to mark the occasion:

    Le Boeuf sur le Toit--Darius Milhaud and Orchestre du Theatre Des Champs-Elysees--Nonesuch H-71122 (LP 3-1958)

    Le Carnival d'Aix--Carl Seemann with Darius Milhaud and the Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg, Vox CDX 5109 (CD)

    Scaramouche--Philippe Corre and Edouard Exerjean--Pierre Verany PV 786091 (CD)

    Formats are the recordings' original forms; I actually played them from storage on my computer server (rips for the CDs, needle drop for the LP). Aside from enjoying the music, I was struck by how well-recorded it was in all three issues, but particularly in the orchestral ones. I don't remember for sure, but I think the LP, like the Carnival CD, was the work of Pierre Verany (licensed, in that case, by Nonesuch). I gather he was one of those highly respected pioneers of stereo recording, like Rudy van Gelder? I don't know that I have any recordings with his name attached other than these two of Milhaud.

    Incidentally, Le Boeuf (to which a collector friend and I used to refer irreverently as "The Boof on the Roof") sounds spontaneous and carefree, but it actually follows a remarkably rigid, calculated structure of key sequences. Like the Carnival, it also exemplifies yet another of those compositional dead ends into which music wandered in the 20th c., polytonality; not something I would necessarily want to hear every day, but Milhaud manages to make it work wonderfully well in the context of those two pieces. Great fun.
     
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  3. Zafu

    Zafu Cosmic Muffin

    Just picked up a NM vinyl copy of this 1971 performance. Breathtaking.

    [​IMG]

    Highly recommend. But full disclosure …I’m a romantic :tiphat:

    Zafu
     
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  4. Daedalus

    Daedalus I haven't heard it all.....

    In the CD player this morning( and through the STAX phones). I am enjoying these performances but, according the the critics at fanfare magazine, I should not be. As a casual listener of Bach-they sound fine to me. [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2022
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  5. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    I just finished listening to a set that has sat on my shelves since 1991, as far as I can recall unplayed: Tchaikowsky's first string quartet, performed by someone billed as "The New York Philharmonic Quartette" on Concertone Records album no. 8, 3 12" 78 RPM disks. I can find next to nothing about either the performers or the label; what little turned up about the latter, combined with the few other of its issues that I own, suggests it's a relatively late label that primarily issued light classical and "popular classical excerpts" type material. I was scratching my head a bit about what a relatively obscure work like the Tchaikowsky 1st qtt. was doing in such environs until I reached the second movement, and then it dawned: Aha! That's the source of the "andante cantabile." The set did not get listed in The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia. It did make it into The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music, but as Royale set 33, not on Concertone. Whether the two labels were related I can't say.

    The records seem quite thin and brittle--for those who are familiar with them, rather like Mercury's late 78 RPM pressings--but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the surfaces were quiet and the recorded sound very good. Much better than I would have expected from a tiny, budget label of its era. (Each record in the set is marked with a 75 cent price.) Certainly much better than I've observed for any Royale record ever to come my way.

    The performance is a winner--spirited but with relaxed romanticism where called for and full sonority as appropriate. Aside from that ubiquitous second movement, I can't claim much familiarity with the work, but I can say that on first (or close to it) acquaintance I found it much more appealing than the 2d qtt., which I met for the first time not too long back--see an earlier entry in the thread. I can see myself returning to this one in the future. Incidentally, one way in which the jury remains out: the work is distributed across 6 record sides. The Roth Quartet also recorded this piece on 78s, and its traversal took 4 records, which would put it at either 7 or 8 sides. I don't have that set, but assuming the NY Philsters aren't taking things at a breakneck tempo (which they don't seem to be doing) or the Roths weren't real slugs (not likely, given what I've heard of their other work and the economics of 78 issuance), the Concertone set may well present a cut score. At the least, it probably omits a repeat that the Roths included. That said, the conclusion of the 1st mvt. and the beginning of the 2d share a side for Concertone; if the Roth set assigned each a separate side and included a filler on side 8, that would put it at 7 sides without necessarily messing with the score. At some point I guess I'll need to investigate further.
     
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  6. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Just enjoyed this great performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto.
     
  7. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    ][​IMG]


    And now enjoying the gorgeously sung Sea Pictures by Janet Baker from the same 2 SACD set.
     
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  8. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Spinning this Elgar Chandos double disc set.
    [​IMG]
     
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  9. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    It has been at least a year since I listened to that recording. I will rectify that tonight!
     
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  10. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying Brahms 3rd symphony from this superb set.
     
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  11. dale 88

    dale 88 Errand Boy for Rhythm

    Location:
    west of sun valley
    [​IMG]

    I am very glad to see CPE Bach being recorded by more pianists. I enjoyed this set and found on a second listen various things in the interpretations that appealed to me because of Hamelin's timing and rhythm. The notes are written by Mahan Esfahani who recorded Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Württemberg Sonatas for Hyperion Records on the harpsichord.
    Marc-Andre Hamelin
    CPE Bach
    Sonatas & Rondos
    Hyperion, 2021
    2 CDs
     
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  12. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    In the mood for some Brahms. Now enjoying his second symphony from the above box set.
     
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  13. dale 88

    dale 88 Errand Boy for Rhythm

    Location:
    west of sun valley
    An album of encore type pieces from the pianist Thibaudet.
    Dario MARIANELLI (b. 1963)
    Pride and Prejudice Suite (2005) [9:00]
    François COUPERIN (1668-1733)
    Le Tic-Toc-Choc No 6 from Ordre 18éme de clavecin (1722) [2:18]
    Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757)
    Sonata in F minor Kk.466 [5:19]
    Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828) transc. Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
    Waltz in G-flat D Anh.1/14 Kupelwieser-Walzer (1826) [2:21]
    Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)
    Waltz in A minor No 19 Op.posth (1847-49) [2:26]
    Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
    Consolation S.172 No 3 (1849-50) [4:43]
    Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
    Intermezzo Op 118 No 3 (1893) [5:35]
    Edward ELGAR (1857-1934) arr. Aldo CICCOLINI (1925-2015)
    Salut d'amour Op 12 (1888) [3:37]
    Gabriel PIERNÉ (1863-1937)
    Étude de concert Op 13 (c.1887) [3:31]
    Enrique GRANADOS (1867-1916)
    Quejas, o la maja y el ruiseñor No 4 from Goyescas (1911) [6:13]
    Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959)
    O Polichinelo No 7 from A prole do bebé (1920) [1:33]
    Francis POULENC (1899-1963) arr. Jean-Yves THIBAUDET (b. 1961)
    Hôtel No 2 from Banalités (1940) [1:45]
    Pierre SANCAN (1916-2008)
    Boîte à musique [1:39]
    Morton GOULD (1913-1996)
    Boogie Woogie Etude (1943) [2:16]
    Shura CHERKASSKY (1909-1995)
    Prélude pathétique (1920) [3:02]
    Earl WILD (1915-2010) after George GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
    Embraceable you No 4 from 7 Virtuoso etudes after Gershwin (1975) [3:00]
    Leigh HARLINE (1907-1969)/ Ned WASHINGTON (1901-1976)
    arr. Jesse KISSEL arr. for piano Jean-Yves THIBAUDET
    When you wish upon a star (1938) [3:41]
    Charles TRENET (1913-2001)/Walter EIGER (1917-1991)
    arr. Alexis WEISSENBERG (1929-2012)
    En Avril à Paris (by 1956) [3:06]
    Alec WILDER (1907-1980) arr. Bill CHARLAP (b. 1966)
    I'll be around (1942) [5:52]
    Samuel BARBER (1910-1981) arr. Jean-Yves THIBAUDET
    Adagio for strings (1936) [8:03]

    Thibaudet
    Carte Blanche
    Decca, 2021
     
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  14. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Did you, like me, remove the discs from the sleeves, never to reinsert them? Worst package design I can remember.
     
  15. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I haven't. I just try not to think about it.

    [​IMG]
     
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  16. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying my favorite LvB SQ, Op. 132, from the above set.
     
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  17. George P

    George P Notable Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    [​IMG]

    Now enjoying the Brahms 4th symphony from this box set.
     
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  18. dale 88

    dale 88 Errand Boy for Rhythm

    Location:
    west of sun valley
    from a 1975 recording by Joanna Nickenz and Marc J. Aubort
    Mussorgsky:
    Pictures at an Exhibition
    Night on Bald Mountain
    Khovanshchina
    Borodin:
    In the Steppes of Central Asia
    Leonard Slatkin
    Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
    Mobile Fidelity SACD MFSL4004
    [​IMG]
     
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  19. Klavier

    Klavier Forum Resident

    Location:
    Abyss
    I thoroughly enjoyed it too, and I was pleased to hear the mics placed a little closer than usual. Not sure what the cover represents, though!
     
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  20. Klavier

    Klavier Forum Resident

    Location:
    Abyss
    I haven't played this in quite a long time. The Chaconne is a bit emotionally cool, but he perks up in the "Fantasia after Bach" and especially in the "Fantasia Contraupuntisica." It doesn't quite match Ogdon's demonic intensity, but it's a fine reading. Very good sound, too.

    [​IMG]
     
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  21. Daedalus

    Daedalus I haven't heard it all.....

    This morning: CD1 from Sibelius, Historical Recordings and Rarities. Recorded 1930. Clean, vibrant sound. [​IMG]
     
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  22. Daedalus

    Daedalus I haven't heard it all.....

    Kurt Sanderling-a great unsung conductor- with a very interesting life story.
     
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  23. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    A question for our guitar mavens (I believe they include @Marzz and @Bachtoven): What do you think of a guitarist named Ricardo Gallen? Somehow I ended up with a 2-CD set on a label called Sunnyside purporting to contain that performer's traversal of Bach's complete works for lute. I have no idea when or where I got it, but there it was in a distressingly large pile of discs awaiting transfer to my computer server. (Current project: a 150-CD megabox of Haydn on Brilliant, with similar boxes of Mozart and Bach lurking in the wings, all indiscreet accessions from a freebie CD giveaway event a while back. I just couldn't help myself. Sigh....) My curiosity aroused, I slugged the first disc of the Gallen set into my CD player for an audition, and I'll confess it didn't immediately grab me. The trial probably wasn't fair, however: it was, after all, first exposure, and this session was of the "one-piece-after-another-after-another-artificial-suite-never-intended-by-the-composer" persuasion that CDs make easy and almost mandatory, one reason I prefer listening from the server, where, as I have described elsewhere ([TNT-Audio Vintage column] On an Overgrown Pathé ), I break up such couplings.

    I'll add in passing that my having this recording is even more of a mystery because I usually avoid guitar recordings of lute music; the two instruments don't strike my ear as interchangeable. I know, I know--many or even most listeners think they sound much the same, but to my ears the lute has what I can only describe as a rounded, plummy sound that the guitar generally can't, or at least doesn't, replicate--maybe an analogue to the lute's rather pear-shaped body? I don't know, but I ordinarily reserve lute music for lutes, just as I reserve that of the French clavecinists for harpsichord. (Unlike, say, Bach's or Scarlatti's, with rare exceptions their output does not translate well to the piano, at least for me.) For what it's worth, I wouldn't want to hear the Concierto de Aranjuez or Suite Espanola on lute, so I do try to play fair!

    And speaking of Couperin, disc 2 of the Gallen set has as a "bonus track" a traversal on guitar of "Les Barricades Mysterieuses." We shall see.
     
  24. Bachtoven

    Bachtoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    @drh I haven’t heard that particular recording, but he is a masterful player, I have his recording of Leo Brouwer’s Sonatas for Guitar and his Naxos debut and I love both. I recall, though, that he recorded the Bach Suites on a small Romantic era guitar, which I don’t care for—their limited dynamic and tonal qualities don’t appeal to me. However, his extraordinary musicality and technique might override tonal issues.
     
  25. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Thanks! Looking at the program booklet, it indicates "Classical Romantic Guitar made by Arnoldo Garcia, Spain, after Fabricatore circa 1820," and the instrument does look rather small in a photo. So it seems even less likely than average to give a good approximation of a lute's bass-rich sound. An interesting tidbit: the producer is credited as Norbert Kraft. He himself is, or at least has been, a guitarist; I have a recording he did in that capacity of movements from the Fantasia para un Gentilhombre arranged for guitar and harpsichord.
     

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