Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #34)

Has this recording been remastered to CD?

 

The vinyl version of the Dutoit The Planets was also a excellent test piece for how good a turntable set up was; in reproducing deep steady quiet bass.

What a shame London/ Decca did not go on recording with Dutoit and the Montreal orchestra. That combination's Ravel orchestral series were a standout. When we look back at some of the conductor/orchestra combinations we took for granted in times past, many of today's: make a collector wince.

 

I'll have to check it out. Though my favorite all around is still one of the Boult recordings. Unfortunately my LPs are in storage while I am between houses and so I can't tell you which one.

 

so so true - & how many of those Dutoit concerts I missed (just down the road..)

 

Checking data bases I cannot come across a release on CD yet, for Sargent's version of The Planets. Rest assured though, it was an admired version in the days of vinyl.

 

Sadly it looks not, but he did other recordings of The Planets, but even those are hard to come by. If you're interested this (from 1965 according to AllMusic) is still available at a reasonable price and The Enigma Variations make a good coupling:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planets-BBC-So/dp/B000025U4N/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1329011283&sr=8-11

 

EMI actually has not released an Icon box for Sir Malcolm? This is shocking!

 

Sorry I duplicated my comment.

 

I probably have fewer than half dozen recordings by Malcolm Sargent between my LP and CD collections ...

 

i have this on a Classic Compact Disc reissue,which lacks info & credits for
the original sessions & the remastering.i also have it in a Decca box from 2006,Zubin Mehta-A Seventieth Birthday Tribute.i might even have it on LP.one day i'll have to compare.

 

Now playing the following SACD, a post New Year arrival from across the pond for a first listen. This SACD was supposed to have won the Gramophone Label of the Year Award ...

 

First spin of this CD.

Not one of the better Arbiter releases, IMO. Sloppy technique and a very non-heroic Beethoven.

 

This is a beautiful recording indeed ...

 

It did and won a few other awards!

I'll hafta add this to my bucket list....
IF it's a SACD Hybrid and can be played on a regular CD player as well as SACD?

 

Indeed, that is exactly what a hybrid SACD is, playable on both redbook CDP and SACD player. I got burned twice, as the first two SACD's I bought turned out not to be hybrid and as such I could not play them for several years until I bought my first universal player in late 2010 ...

 

Now playing CD9, the last CD from the following set for a first listen ...

 

Now playing CD1 from the following WTC I, which arrived today for a first listen ...

 

THE PLANETS: Transcribed for organ by Peter Sykes RAVEN OAR-380 DDD
The Great Skinner Organ, Girard College, Philadelphia.

 

More about Girard College Chapel:

Gustav Holst: The Planets, Peter Sykes, Organist RAVEN OAR-380 DDD 1995.

Review: Extremely wide range recording. Will test not only your speakers, and subwoofer, but also your walls and windows!

One-of-a-Kind CD.

QUOTE:

"Stephen Girard was born and raised in Bordeaux. He was a fatherless boy, a merchant, a mariner and a extraordinarily successful financier. He was one of the wealthiest men in America during the early 19th century, and is best known for his magnanimous gesture of granting an $8 million loan to the United States of America treasury so that the nation could continue to fight the War of 1812. Upon his death in 1831 Girard left $7 million, an astronomical estate. His will allotted $5 million to the founding of Girard College with the intent to provide formative education to fatherless boys."

"The organ named Opus 872 was built by Ernest M. Skinner. Only one more large masterpiece in such acoustics would be built during his remaining years for the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Thus, the Girard College organ stands as the final essentially intact E. M. Skinner organ of heroic proportions in fitting acoustics, its creator's last word on what a great organ could be."

 

When it comes to "The Planets" this one is definitely my fav!!

I have the original I got when it came out in 1987 and the newer one pictured.
Newer one I got out of town on a bargain table ULN for $3.



Would definitely be interesting to hear this done with a organ!!


.

 

Sir Adrian Boult owned this music. He premiered the music in 1918 and made a digital recording of it in 1978 [the back-up analog master was used instead]. That last recording of Boult:



. . . has a fantastic recording job. "Mars" is extraordinarily slow, giving the impression of unstoppable machinery. I must have owned the Malcolm Sargent recording at one point, have owned a number of his issues as 78's. I recall his instructional film of Britten's "Young People's Guide to the Orchestra" from my first year of college. But of all the British conductors of the era, Boult was identified with the music of Holst.

I haven't seen too many UK EMI pressings over here, but I did once own the Boult/London Philharmonic Orchestra on the UK issue. Wonderful LP, well worth tracking down. The CD is great sounding as well.

 

I've read Schiff uses a Bosendorfer, which at times can sound more like a fortepiano when compared to Steinway. How does the piano sound?

I really like Schiff's Mozart Piano Concertos with Sandor Vegh on Decca. A little reverberant, but really elegant sounding.

 

Impressive. I did not know Philly has such landmark ...

 

I have detected no lack of dynamics that is quite typical of most performances on fortepiano except the recent releases by Brautigam on BIS ...

 

Now playing CD2 from the following WTC I, which arrived today for a first listen ...