Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #30)

1. I love these two pieces as much as any other, save the Brahms in B-flat, and I love them equally; as a result I have a ridiculous number of recordings. Whether coupled together or no, in both I have Andsnes, Arrau, Solomon, Cziffra, Fleisher, Gieseking, Katchen, Kovacevich, Lipatti, Lupu, Michelangeli, Perahia, Richter, Rubinstein, and Zimerman. In the Grieg I also have Curzon -- did he record the Schumann? -- and in the Schumann I also have Anda. I love Anda so I should look into his Grieg with Kubelik. I had no idea Freire had recorded them until reading Eddie's post. Right away I snagged a used copy on Amazon.

2. My favorite recordings of the Grieg are Michelangeli and Lipatti, and maybe also Cziffra; my favorites of the Schumann are Lipatti and Anda. Interestingly the only Schumann I have heard by Michelangeli is the recent release with Barenboim and I think it's lackluster. These are similar pieces but perhaps that is indicative of a difference right there.

Among modern recordings in terrific sound Andsnes may be best.

3. As always the why is the hardest for me to explain. All of those cliches about how hard it is to write about music seem to apply especially to me. (Which is another way of saying I simply lack the skill.) Anyhow in Michelangeli's Grieg there seems the most noble command, especially in the opening -- it is breathtaking. In Lipatti there is always perfection of the line, not in a mechanical sense but in the sense of you-cannot-imagine-it-being-played-better-any-other-way, in the middle movement of the Grieg and the finale of the Schumann, most notably perhaps. Cziffra's Grieg I remember surprising me with the tenderness of its slow movement; you expect pounding, almost unhinged virtuosity with him but this shows another side in a way that cannot but seize your attention. Anda's may be the hardest to highlight but I remember very clearly when I first heard it; I was driving home from my grandmother's with my father -- not ideal for listening, but he has a nice, quiet ride -- and when it came on I was blown away by how perfectly judged it all was right from the start. Very well-balanced sound too IIRC.

Anyway I hope nobody quizzes me on what I think of the others . . . it's always embarrassing when you have a poor recollection of something you own!

 

The same here. But I am now going through the following big box and should be able to share some of my listening experience ...

 

This is a great one, recorded August, 1954 performance with the Philharmonia Orchestra, recorded at the Lucerne Festival. A must own



This 1942 performance is by far the most dramatic and impassionate of all Furtwangler's 9ths.

 

Did Furtwangler ever record Beethoven Symphonies Nos 1, 2 and 8?

 

Yes, there is a 1 from 30 Nov 1952 with the VPO, available on M&A; and the 1 on the EMI set from the same year, also with the VPO, and also from November 1952, but a few days earlier, according to the notes (I've not compared these side-by-side but the timings are similar). There is an 8 on the EMI set, from 1948, with the Stockholm Philharmonic, and an 8 from Salzburg on Orfeo from 1954.

To my knowledge the only 2 is on the EMI set, from October 1948 (VPO).

For all I know though there may be thousands of each. Keeping track of Furtwangler recordings, especially Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner, is almost impossible.

 

Listening to the Bach disc by Petri. Boy could that guy play the piano!

 

There is a great discography somewhere online, but it's late and I am trying to encourage Stuart to befriend google.

 

No wonder I'm always embarrassed!

Well little wonder there - you can see the guy has eight hands.

 

I love that retro cover.

 

The battle of the Prokofiev Piano Concerto #3s.

I am going to both. Anyone else in L.A. doing the same?

http://www.laphil.com/tickets/performance-detail.cfm?id=4624

http://www.valleyperformingartscenter.org/calendar/mariinsky-orchestra/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Toradze

Toradze, who specializes in Russian composers such as Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky has recorded for the Philips and Angel/EMI record labels. Most notable is his 1998 recording of Prokofiev's five piano concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra for the Philips record label. From this set, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 was named by International Piano Quarterly as "historically the best on record" from among over seventy recordings.[4] Other recordings,

 

This one is one of the best. I fully agree. It was later reissued in France in 2004:

 

This Toradze Prokofiev is very good indeed. However, if anybody want to experience the extremes of human musical performance, then they should listen to Mitropoulos conducting from the piano this Prokofiev's 3rd piano cto. He recorded it commercially in the 40s for Columbia with the Philadelphia O and 2 or 3 live performance survive as well (with the NYPO). Mitropoulos made a sensation on the 30s in Berlin when he replaced non other than the indisposed Egon Petri on the piano conducting the BPO. After this he played and conducted it all over Europe. Even Prokofiev made a public statement that Mitropoulos from now on owned this composition.

 

A nice cycle. My classification would be:

M1: average
M2: very good, epic
M3: on top - one of the best
M4: not good
M5: on top - one of the best
M6: good
M7: excellent
M8: excellent - one of the best
M9: on top - one of the best
M10: excellent - one of the best

 

at

http://fischer.hosting.paran.com/music/music.htm

 

Re Freire's Grieg PC with Kempe / Munich Phil

Good to know it is not impossible to find.

Now playing:

• Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D minor - Waltraud Meier (mezzo-soprano); Klaus Tennstedt / London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Eton College Boys Choir [ICA Classics 2011 2CD, Recorded by the BBC at Royal Festival Hall, London, on October 5, 1986, Remastering: Paul Baily (Re: Sound)]

 

No, def. not both. I hope to see Wang, probably will get a balcony seat to the Friday morning coffee concert. Planning to attend the entire Mahler Project in Jan/Feb 2012, so saving every penny right now.

 

MMMM...Mahler.

 

Them's fighting words (re Brahms - I'll let you get away with Schumann)

 

I've tried Brahms so many times. Honest I have. Even new versions of the Symphonies and PCs since I met you all, but I find it so boring. The chamber music is better than the orchestral, but even with that, it's rare when I can sit through an entire disc.

I tried. I really did. Someone once told me I "couldn't understand Mahler unless I first understood Brahms." So I tried again. Nothing. Boring. Just not for me. But I tried. "Can't understand Mahler unless..." What sanctimonious bull****.

Schumann...nah...not even one CD. Not going through the Brahms experience ever again.

 

Has anyone heard Zagler' s Mahler on Telarc? Any opinions? I got the SACD of the 5 last week but did not have time to listen to it yet.
I am kind of surprised that I haven't heard his name or any of his performances mentioned before.

 

Boy, big test for the Dude. Three weeks and all 9 symphonies? Have you heard anything about whether any will be broadcast or recorded?

 

But why? Is the world coming to an end and they are in a hurry? What they are trying to prove, is beyond me.

 

*sticks fingers in ears and sings LALALALALALALA*

 

I think you meant Zander. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?field-keywords=zander+mahler&url=search-alias=aps&x=0&y=0 I have heard a couple of his Mahler Symphonies. They didn't make much of an impression either way.

 

Schumann - if you can tolerate Brahms' chamber music try Schumann's romances for oboe on Spotify.