Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #35)

Popular Favorites of the Conductor's Choice in "S T E R E O - P H O N I C"

Hans Knappertsbusch

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Tchaikovsky, "The Nutcracker" Suite, Op. 71a

Schubert, arr Weninger: "Marche Militaire"

Weber, orch. Berlioz: "Invitation to the Waltz" (Cello solo": Emanuel Brabec)

Nicolai: "The Merry Wives of Windsor" Overture.

London Records Stereo CS 6192 All Time Popular Favorites 1960

 

Philharmonia Pop Concert

Philharmonia Orchestra

Herbert Von Karajan

EMI Angel Records 35327

 

Transcription of a talk recorded by Stravinsky for the Columbia Masterworks album:

"Apropos Le Sacre Du Printemps": "Stravinsky Conducts"

Notes published in Brouchure for:

Stravinksy Conducts: The Rite of Spring, Firebird, Petrushka, Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

Columbia D3L 300 (Stereo D3S 614). 3 LPs

Quote, "I conducted La Sacre myself for the first time in 1928 in a recording by English Columbia. I remember with more pleasure the first concert performance [April 5, 1914] of La Sacre conducted by Monteux. The musical realization was ideal. In 1937 or 1938 I received a request from the Disney office in America for permission to use La Sacre in a cartoon film. The request was accompanied by a gentle warning that if permission were withheld the music would be used anyway. (La Sacra, being "Russian," was not copyrighted in the United States), but as the owners of the film wished to show it abroad, they offered me $5,000. a sum I was obliged to accept (though in fact, the "percentages of a dozen crapulous intermediaries reduced it to $1,300). I saw the film with George Balanchine in a Hollywood studio at Christmas time 1939. I remember someone offering me a score, but when I said I had my own, the someone saying, "But it has all changed". It was indeed. The order of the pieces had been shuffled and the most difficult of them had been eliminated, though this did not help the musical performance, which was execrable. I will say nothing about the visual complement (for I do not wish to criticize an unresisting imbecility), but the musical point of view of the film involved a dangerous misunderstanding."

 

PS Creed

Thank your for inviting me over for some delicious Tuna Pizza con Vino.

I will certainly enjoy your musical highlights too.

Cheers, Long Play Fan

 

Yup I bought the same exact 2 sets at the time and fully agree with your assessment 100%!

 

I love the recording of the Mozart Piano Concerto #23 in A, K 488 with Neville Marriner and the ASMF. The LP is one of the more natural sounding discs of the seventies. That recording has been repackaged in a number of CDs and CD sets. Brendel's Mozart piano concerto recordings are among the best. The A major concerto in the 'Duo' package would be a great way to have this music on CD.



I pulled one of the Beethoven piano sonata LPs I got from Jay F off the shelf and on to the turntable last week. Getting the turntable properly set up [finally!] has reaped big rewards on LPs with marginal surface noise issues. I didn't appreciate his solo Beethoven before, but his performances of early Beethoven are very 'on' and worth seeking out.

 

Are those the Vox recordings, Robin?

 

Those are nice too, but not as well recorded [or refined as performances] as the Philips analogue cycle. The sixth sonata in particular comes to mind. Brendel is reminiscent of Kempff in his technical security and subtlety of phrasing.

 

Gramophone Hall of Fame

Apologies if this already has been discussed in this thread (quick search indicated it had not): Gramophone has released its first list of classical-recording Hall of Fame inductees. The complete list is here:

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/HallofFame?utm_source=Silverpop&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=Gramophone%20Newsletter%20May%202012%20Issue%20(2)&utm_content=Hall_of_Fame5_1

My first thought was that it's generally a fair list. Lang Lang is a little silly, but as it was based on fan votes (I think), it's not shocking.

The one serious omission IMO is Stokowski.

The usual British bias one sees in Gramophone & Penguin shows up with Barbirolli and du Pre, neither of whom I find objectionable, but nor are they more deserving than a number of others.

 

I have those recordings in my EMI mega-box. It's remarkable how many times he recorded some of those pieces (and I am not even including recordings for DG).

 

Funny, I also thought of Kempff when I was trying to find a way to describe Brendel. To me, the both practice restraint, but Kempff did so with a beautiful tone, producing subtle beauty. Brendel is more of the intellectual/modern school, one of the reasons why I don't care for his Beethoven. I think his style is great for Haydn, though.

 

I would rank Reiner and Szell over Stokowski (as well as over several conductors who made the list). I would have liked to have seen the Budapest String Quarter recognized. And, yes, the Brits do love Jackie.

But not bad over all.

 

It's interesting you say that, because you recommended Brendel earlier for Schubert, and to me the above qualities could not be more crucial for playing his music.

I think I might have heard Brendel once on CD in one of the (late?) Schubert sonatas (it came with a selection of his waltzes) but I don't remember much about it. I think Andras Schiff is a very good, poetic Schubert interpreter but IIRC you've never really warmed to him?

 

I suggested the live stuff. Brendel is one of those pianists who seems to play better live - at Schubert, at least.

It does puzzle me why I don't enjoy Kempff's Schubert more. I guess I like my Schubert with more drama, more "bite." (See Richter and Sokolov)

I took some Schiff out of the library for a 2CD Schubert. I didn't even make it through the set. His Beethoven also has little effect on me. Haven't heard his Bach.

 

Too many people take classical music too seriously. I've actually had someone tell me that because I don't know music theory, I can't possibly enjoy classical music. I may not really know why something like Beethoven's 3rd was revolutionary, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it. I even enjoy a lot of modern classical music, and not just the retro stuff.

I do sometimes get sick of hearing the same pop classical. When I was buying the Great Pianists series, I got pretty sick of hearing Tsiolkovsky's 1st piano concerto and a whole CD of Sousa can be a bit much.

 

I like to have some sense of historical and theoretical context -- and I'd love to take a long survey course on the evolution of theory over music history, cultural context, etc. I've been hoping Taruskin's multi-volume history would do this but I kind of got bogged down reading the first volume -- more detail about chant than I really needed or wanted to know.

In any event, anyone who would actually tell you that you can't enjoy music because you don't know music theory is a horse's rear end. How much theory does one need? One semester? Four? A music major? A Ph.D.? I'd bet big that most composers would be more than happy to have their audience fill out with folks who can't even read music, if that's what it took.

 

For completists : offering all those sugary operatic lollipop desserts, have caused some bouts of musical tooth ache!

 

Brendel himself apparently prefers his analog cycle on Philips to his other Beethoven cycles; FWIW, I think I agree (although I've not tried any rigorous side-by-side comparison).

 

Well I'd say that argument works more than one way. I still maintain that those who can't get into classical music, don't enjoy progressive rock or like to claim that Pet Sounds is "overrated" (one of my dictionary pet hates), if they make a determined and committed effort to study music theory and/or even learn a classical instrument, this can really work wonders in enabling them to appreciate the finer points of music, and hopefully open their mind to stuff they previously dismissed as pseudo-intellectual, self-indulgent, pretentious, or critics' favourites for all the wrong reasons, far more likely due to ignorance than personal taste.

As someone who grew up almost from the cradle surrounded by classical music (even if I didn't get fully into it until nearly 10) this has been one of the biggest blessings in helping me to really appreciate music in depth from an earlier age than most, even if partly due to my parents' dislike of most popular music other than the Beatles, this somewhat retarded my enjoyment of other forms of music (chiefly rock).

 

Don't be fooled by such a rude statement.
It is not the real genuine people - serious about classical music , one has to worry about,,,,,it is the imposters...the 'pretend -serious mob ...(THE SOCIAL SNOBS!) those usually deemed "pi** - elegant!" you have to steer clear of. . With those so called pretentious music people you will find , is that they regard 'the classics' as some garment they don, for social one - upmanship. And if put to the test: the same snobs would be found having a musical knowledge - the size of a postage stamp. Any true person that has a real burning passion for the Classics : is only too delighted, meeting a person 'finding their way'. And only too willing to help properly ignite the enthusiasm : by mutually sharing the generated excitement with others, that they themselves personally feel.

 

The Vox recordings sound like they were made on the cheap with limited time for sessions. One encounters more slip-ups in that set than the later Philips LPs. Can't say as I've heard many of the Digital re-makes.

 

Thought you might with your large CD collection.

Nice. You'll have to check back with a review sometime.

Amazon.com has it right now for $68.27 That's about a $1.37 per CD. Wow.

http://www.amazon.com/Yehudi-Menuhin-The-Great-Recordings/dp/B001PKVFFI

Back in the day (1990s) a box set of that magnitude would have cost at least a couple hundred dollars or more.

 

I would love to learn more if I had time and found something that works for me. Aaron Copeland's book didn't do it for me. I really need something that that has immediate illustrations with music. Yesterday, I saw Peter Schickele's Beethoven's 5th as a sporting event video and that was great and informative. Finding something like that that was more serious would be great. I did listen to his radio program when it was still on the air. It was great.

Idiots like the person who said that to me are only worth ignoring. My passion is listening to music in general, not just classical. None of the 6 CDs I received today are classical. But since in the last month, I've bought the Mercury box, Teldec Bach box, and 2nd DG 111 box, I have a huge back log of classical to listen to. It's going to take me months to rip the Teldec box.

 

Coincidentally, I finished ripping my new Teldec Bach box today! I took the easy way out though and did it fast without really getting the metadata right, so cleaning it up may take a while. Though not as long as it will take to listen to it. Good luck!

I've bought only one other item this month, though it too was a budget-busting monster: Leslie Howard's Complete Liszt on Hyperion. I had held off for a while due to some lukewarm reviews of his playing on some of the better-known material. But, although I've heard only a sample of it so far, I'm very glad I got it. A real treasure trove.

Speaking of Liszt, I saw Garrick Ohlsson last Thursday in his all-Liszt program which he's taken around the country -- John, I think you saw him in NYC, correct? He's a phenomenal player. I don't think his performance will be for me the last word in the Sonata, which I've never completely connected with, but the brilliant pieces of the second half were terrific. Very personable fellow too, met him very briefly afterwards when I got his new CD.

 

Have yet to play this, but the box and LPs I just got sure look minty...