Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #12)

Finally another "Knüller" - old but good - CD 1 in Mono the rest in Stereo, CD 7 with the Smetana quartet / Octet..
Brilliant tonal quality as so often and the czech have that talent for strings - esp with Dvorak, Smetana and Janacek.. hard to find, like the other DG classic sets from the fifties and 60ies........check the bins...

 

Your right index finger?

 

Close, but you can do better

Now for something totally different: what do you folks think of Jeno Jando (the guy who has recorded pretty much any piano piece in existence for Naxos)?

While I obviously respect him as a enormously gifted individual and an oustandingly competent musician... he just doesn't click with me.
There's nothing I can point my finger on, but I always end up feeling like something is missing.

One thing I find interesting is his approach to the dreaded K331, in the infamous Rondo he goes all raging rock'n'roll, in spite of decades of performances that are usually mellow and sometimes deliberately "childlike" (I can't come up with a better word... heeeellppp pleeease?)

Nota bene: I SOLD my copy of that album. Interesting, yes. Pleasant, no

 

Now playing:

• Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor 'Resurrection' - Paavo Jarvi/Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra with Natalie Dessay, Alice Coote, Orfeon Donostarria [Virgin Classics 2010, new release]

Preceded by:

• Reger: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1-4* + Three Suites for Solo Cello - Alban Gerhardt with Markus Becker* (piano) [Hyperion 2008 2CD, if you like Brahms chamber music and J.S. Bach cello suites, check this out]

 

Now playing this exemplary SACD, which arrived today. Any appreciation?

 

I have the disc and think it is great. I also have some RK on Chandos by him. I like them because they are not too nationalistic sounding.

 

A real barnburner of a disc. If you like Mahler, you gotta like this. The funderal march would have made Mahler stand up and listen.

 

what do you think of the new Mahler #2? Is it up there with the greats?
Great Reger disc BTW.

 

Jando is plain vanilla piano. He's consistent and dependable but really nothing special IMO. I'd be very happy if I could play as well as he, but so many others are special, so I don't spend any time listening to his performances.

 

Reger post by Eddie made me go to this one this afternoon. Played by one of the greatest pianists alive today.

 

Wow, this thread is movin' fast. I need to catch up. Just received and now playing:

 

No need to even comment on that choice!

 

Re Hamelin Reger

I think that disc is still available from BRO, need to pick it up. The Cello Sonatas + Suites for Solo Cello discs are superb. Really really digging this. Found for $2 (!) in not-trashed condition over the weekend. What else is good from Reger? The liner notes mention he had over 100 opus numbers by age 34. Wow.

Now playing Keilberth Bayreuth 1955 Die Walküre on Testament. Saw it yesterday at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Two down, two to go for my first complete Ring cycle. Saw all operas individually starting February 2009 but the impact and resonance is far greater within a span of eight days, not to mention small changes and improvements to cast and production and sound improvements to the acoustically-challenged hall. James Conlon is bringing home the orchestra big-time and 67 year-old Placido Domingo nailed his Siegmunde yesterday. Who cares if his TelepromTer is a little noisy sometimes??

 

Reger's string trios on Naxos are the bomb.

 

Gets a from me as well!

 

I'm sure I'm partly to blame!
Which is a improvement as my Wife always says I'm fully to blame for about everything.
In this case I can't claim all of it.

 

I bet you won't be sorry.


Now playing for the first time:



RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez, Concert Serenade for Harp / CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: Guitar Concerto #1

Ernst Marzendorfer, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra / Reinhard Peters, Berliner Philharmoniker

Nicanor Zabaleta - Harp / Siegfried Behrend - Guitar

CD (Deutsche Grammophon, 427 214-2)



A trivial curiosity:

On Amazon, there are two cover images for this CD which are basically the same, but one says "Privelege" under the DG logo, while the other says "Resonance".

However, my copy, while still having essentially the same cover art, says "Musikfest" in the same location.

OK, I'm sure these are all budget DG lines, but why so many? And if these were reissued during different time periods, I wonder why they didn't change the cover art along with the budget line's name?


Anyone know?

Anyone care?

 

Theory: same product line (=same product code), different brand name for different regions/periods of time?

Decca is doing this too.

Most releases with the Philips logo are being rebranded as Decca, while keeping consistent with everything else, product code included.

 

Currently spinning one of the most super human piano recordings ever.

 

Excellent choice. I bought this set at the recommendation by George.

 

I attended a concert by Claudio Scimone and the I Solisti Veneti in NYC in 2000. It was a great baroque concert ...

 

But that was Trevor Pinnock conducting a different ensemble ...

 

I have enjoyed all the Julia Fischer's recordings on PentaTone. I just enjoy her performance a bit more than I do Hilary Hahn.

 

Great nocturnes on that one.