Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #30)

It does not appear Furtwangler ever recorded a complete Beethoven Symphonies cycle with one orchestra ...

 

Well, I do not care much for Schoenberg and Bartok. I also do not like "modern" classical music. My CD collection has no rooms for the likes of Messiaen and Stockhausen ...

 

That's correct. I think the EMI set is something the label cobbled together.

 

I see in the last few minutes you've changed your avatar. A second ago I was looking at Bert and then posted a reply to Stuart and now it's whoever that guy is. Who is it?

There is a lot of Schumann, the symphonies maybe most notably, that isn't for everyone. But the Piano Concerto? Isn't that like the Beatles of classical music?

Sounds as if you and I like a lot of the same Brahms. I don't know his chamber music well. (I don't know anybody's chamber music well.) I'd add Symphonies 1 and 4, and the VC, one of the best of them all.

 

I went through about a dozen, but reverted back to Ernie, since he's more fun! I think you saw the Moriz Rosenthal one or the Richter one.

Sure, but two things:

1. The rest of his stuff is more challenging, or at least was for me at first.

2. Not everyone likes the Beatles.

I should check out the VC. 1 and 4 are a bit too boisterous for me.

For chamber works, Shostakovich is king, IMO. Such depth, darkness and playfulness. Marvelous!
Beethoven is close behind and
Schubert is close behind him and
Haydn and Mozart are up there as well.

 

Seriously?



I am going to see the Emerson Quartet Friday night. All Mozart. Actually I'd have liked to see some other composers on the program, but they can't be missed IMO in Philadelphia regardless of the program. I do also have a fair amount of chamber works on disc as well, I just overlook them too much. Need more time!

Here's what I had on earlier tonight:

Enormous frequency range, very bright, early digital recording.

P.S. My bad, I confused Bert & Ernie.

 

The 2 Grieg Piano Cto I have.

 

Yes, I'd like to hear them in other repertoire, specifically modern repertoire. I wasn't happy with their late Beethoven Quartets.

So true.

Believe it or not, only the solo piano genre is more important to me than the String Quartet genre. I absolutely adore them.

No worries. They both wear striped shirts.

EDIT - I actually do have the Brahms VC and I did enjoy it, now that I think about it. I also have the double concerto and enjoy that one too.

 

That must be one of the very few Chesky Wild CDs that I don't have. The others are all great!

 

At the moment, I'm spinning Bruno Walter and the Philharmonic Orchestra of New York playing Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Columbia Masterwork ML5124. Quite an impressive score - and brand new to me. My son-in-law does renovation work down in Florida and passes on any "old unwanted" vinyl from his clients to me. This one is a keeper.

 

I have found Walter to be a very consistent, reliable conductor.

 

Yes, you can find them here

Beethoven-9-Symphonies

 

Their first CD for Sony Classical was released today. I got it via Amazon Prime. I do not like the recording, made last January by Da-Hong Saetoo at LeFrak Hall, Queens College, NY. Weird-sounding perspective, it sounds like a multi-track multi-channel recording mixed for stereo, and airless. Then again, I was listening on headphones, which I do not prefer. I'll have to see how it sounds on the rig. But it is in keeping with other Saetoo recordings I have heard — they were all not very good in the same kind of way.

Prussian Quartets, K. 575, K. 589, K. 590

 

And in their tradition, great sound as well. To make it even better, it should not be hard to find.

 

Furtwaengler never ever recorded a complete Beethoven cycle for commercial release. EMI had some trouble to locate a 2nd so as to have a complete Beethoven cycle by the great Maestro, to release for their famous LP series "References" in the 80s. So they included his only existing air check of this symphony, made in London on 3 Oct 48 with the VPO.

 

I think I read this right but there's a Furtwaengler 9th symphony released from a live performance from 1944 that has Adolf Hitler in the audience.

 

I really hope that your room mate will be more than happy with the performances.

Too much of anything is not bad at all, provided this much is not provided for the sake of the quantity and the achievement per se, only. Dudamel is very good IMO and if any recordings of this cycle will circulate I will be happy to listen to them. However, all Mahler symphonies in such short period is a strange appointement. Even if Dudamel and his orchestras will be so well prepared to achieve the required orchestral technical standards (as ensembles, not as players), it will be tough for the audience to absorb and enjoy and digest their listening experience. This is purely human and cannot be controlled.

So, IMO, the longer it takes to experience music (in our case but it applies to anything - e.g. in a museum with paintings), especially since we are speaking about a major composer's lifetime accomplishement (OK, 95% of it) the better for the artists and the audiences and the works.

 

I cannot doubt/critisize/evaluate the financial merits of this cycle and I do hope that these will be met, but I am a little conservative for the artistic ones. It is not prejudice, but it must take some time to get mature especially with such complex itineraries. The result will show.

 

Two orchestras are performing the symphonies over a span of three weeks: LA Phil (1, 4, 6, 8, 9) and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra (2, 3, 5, 7, 8). The only new works the LA Phil will have to learn are the Sixth and Eighth, as they have played the others under Dudamel. Bolivar knows at least the Second and Fifth already, as they have played them in the past. Both orchestras will team up to play the Eighth, along with a huge group of singers. This special performance will wrap the series on Feb. 4 at the Shrine Auditorium (not Disney Hall), and for once the Symphony of a Thousand will have 1000 performers. The singers will include soloists Manuela Uhl, Kiera Duffy, Anna Larsson, Charlotte Hellekant, Burkhard Fritz, Alexander Vinogradov, along with the following 16 choruses, all led by LA Master Chorale director, Grant Gershon:

Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pacific Chorale, Angel City Chorale, Angeles Chorale, Choir of All Saints Church, Chorus of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Chamber Choir, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Robles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus, Pasadena Master Chorale, Pasadena Pro Musica, Philippine Chamber Singers – Los Angeles, Renaissance Arts Academy, Vox Femina Los Angeles.

Dudamel's Mahler 2 performance at the Proms got savaged by critics a couple months ago. I've seen his First (very good) and Ninth (okay) in concert so far.

 

My entrance to the Brahms world was his Sonatas for cello and piano and especially this recording with Serkin and Slava for DG:



It opened my understanding to his compositions. These sonatas are IMO his best output by far in chamber music (along with the Piano Quintet op. 34 in the following defintive recording with Rubinstein and the Guarnieri SQ):



These both recordings were the base of my Brahms collection.

I hated initialy the Brahms symphonies as teenager/student due to some poor live performances I attended back then. Compared to Beethoven his style looked to me purely academic and elaborated. After leaving some years so as to reevaluate, I went back and enjoyed the recordings. Grand Style a la Klemperer, Giulini, Furtwaengler or Modern a la Toscanini, Szell et al. It is a mater of personal taste, but in the case of Brahms the conductors' approach is definitive. It alters the whole conception of the works, IMO. Now the symphonies are always in my play lists!. Cannot leave without them.

The piano sonatas are not understood by me (I even attended an all Brahms piano sonatas 1-3 recital in Salzburg 2002 with non other than K Zimerman, and was bored to death), but the late piano pieces are amazing (Lupu, I agree is magical - he made a complete Beethoven PCs cycle under Marriner in Athens years ago and after each of the 3 days it lasted, he played late pieces by Brahms as emcores; in one case he had a memory lapse and went on by improvising!).

We cannot love everything by everybody. This is sure. However, I am sure that even minor composers compared to Brahms, have written something that we can like and is worth our attention. Of course this is not mandatory.

 

Enjoying some Scarlatti for this rainy morning.

 

Here you go, the 'Nazi Ninth'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2itdv1aEpG4

Furtwängler - Beethoven's 9th Symphony - For Hitler's Birthday (20th April 1942)

 

For his symphonies, they managed to make little impression here until I heard Reiner's 4th (which I've probably mentioned in this series of threads already). I gather some think it a bit heavy-handed? No matter; it worked in way that "unlocked" it for me. Recorded for Reader's Digest by Kenneth Wilkinson and put out in lovely sound by Chesky on CD and LP.

 

Alle Menschen werden Brüder?

But I didn't see Hitler. Looks like he didn't attend in person.