Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #15)

Now playing CD10, the last CD from this set for a first listen ...

 

The tone is surprisingly rich compared with what I remember of some Haydn keyboard works performed by Andreas Staier on harmonia Mundi ...

 

That's because there aren't any--it's a stand-alone concert overture that Beethoven wrote for the opening of a new theater. The overtures that do have other numbers are The Creatures of Prometheus (ballet score), Musik zu einem Ritterballet (same, early and seldom played, never, to my knowledge, separately), King Stephen (incidental music to a play), The Ruins of Athens (same), Egmont (again, same), and, of course, the Leonore/Fidelio group (opera). Other concert overtures include Coriolan and Name Day.

As to favorite recordings of the C. of the H. Overture, I'm fond both of Kurt Masur with the Gewanhausorchester Leipzig and Toscanini with the NBC SO.

 

the Abbado cd has the "Consecration of the House" Overture (which according to the notes is based on the "Ruins of Athens" Overture) followed
by 10 numbers for chorus,soprano & bass soloists,receiter & orchestra.
no.3 is a very catchy "Chorus of Dervishes".
i just listened to Toscanini's recording of the Overture from 12/16/47.
haven't listened to any Toscanini for several years,so i need to readjust.
1 min 13 sec faster than Abbado, & it makes a rather brutal 1st impression.

 

I'd never heard that the C. of the H. was based on the R. of A.--I'll need to listen to the two together, as I don't remember much similarity. Those following numbers, if they include the Chorus of Dervishes, are from R. of A., which also is the source of the famous Turkish March.

 

Would have added as an edit, but time had expired:

Should have looked it up first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consecration_of_the_House
Evidently, a number of the R. of A. numbers were adapted to follow the overture for the first performance; first, another hand altered some of the texts (to Beethoven's disapproval) and then he responded by modifying some numbers and composing the new overture. I'd never heard that--so I guess this falls in the category of "you learn something new every day." This the first time I've heard of other pieces' being associated with the overture, and certainly I've never heard a performance of the overture that included them.

 

Now playing for a first listen. Some cool girls lush post-romantic and modern industrial sounds here, expertly recorded. Another lovely bargain bin find.

 

I have some Dead Can Dance SACD's that have record like packaging.
Color outside sleeve/cover art......color insert/booklet and then a paper sleeve over CD....just like records had.

 

Be a little bit before I get back in CD Collecting mode.
Had to get some cell phone issues out of the way.
T-Mobile sux I found out the hard way.....I went with Verizon.
I got a LG Chocolate Touch phone.....which is not only a excellent phone but a nice Camera and MP3 player!

 

I've been checking out the back and forth on Beethoven cycles, looks like I'm the outlier of the group as far as David Zinman's Beethoven is concerned. I agree that his Ninth is a bit of a mess but other than that Zinman's Beethoven cycle reminds me of Toscanini's sets as regards tempos and intensity. The playing is far more refined and the sound is much better. The two-disc set of overtures has more relaxed tempos than the symphony set and the performance of the Consecration of the House Overture strikes me as possessing both Handelian pomp and the kind of forward momentum we've come to expect from Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra.

There's no oddities of tempo choices in the piano concerto set with Yefim Bronfman. Anyone not yet familiar Zinman's Beethoven should check out the disc with the third and fourth concerti.



The Zinman/Tonhalle recording of the Missa Solemnis is also a favorite. Others may be a bit put off by the quick tempos, but I feel that this work, strangely enough, has greater emotional impact at these tempos than when it's slowed down and loved to death.

 

Now playing:



I haven't really warmed to this Rite. It's beautifully played and recorded, but is somehow lacking in the tension, drama and sense of foreboding that my other two versions offer (Gergiev/Kirov and Chailly/Cleveland). The Petrouchka is lovely though.

 

My hands down favorite is Stravinsky's SACD, savage and in your face.

 

What year was that recorded, and how's the sound quality?

 

I like this one enough that I never looked for another. Maybe one other, though I can't remember by whom.

 

I have the original Columbia LPs of those, they sound excellent.

 

They were recorded in January of 1960, at Columbia's 30th street studio. The sound is close up, and like some of the Mercury's contemporaneous recordings this SACD is very challenging to reproduce. As regards sound quality, it's my favorite of the Sony SACDs derived from historic materials.

 

IMHO there is nothing better than the Composer conducting/performing His own works.

One of my Favs I own....
It's either old Art Work or very hard to find....haven't seen this cover on Amazon in a LONG time.

 

I'm not suprised to hear that at all. My favorite Rite is Dorati. It's in his Mercury Living Presence box.

 

Saw this deal on the GMG forum

5 CD's of English viol music for $13.99. I effing love having Prime.

 

Fretwork is a great chamber group. Those recordings they made for Virgin classics are well worth picking up. Managed to record a couple of the group's concerts. Wendy Gillespie is on the first CD where I'm listed as audio engineer.

 

I like his Detroit re-make even better:

 

Damn it.....another to put on my HUGE round to it list!!

 

My favourite of the three I'm familiar with is Chailly/Cleveland. Gergiev is might impressive but a bit over the top. Chailly is spot on

 

I'll have to look into Chailly's version, I'm very impressed with his Mahler. Agree with you concerning Gergiev.