Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #47)

Now playing CD8 - PC by Tchaikovsky and Grieg from the following set for a first listen ...

 

Happy 80th Birthday Claudio Abbado!

Perfect soundtrack would be :

 

Never heard of mr. Haggin but I've been with him the most of my "adult" life... Replace Beethoven concerto with Sibelius concerto and you get The Quartet of Violin Concertos. (Of Tchaikovsky's concerto I have to disagree with the fans of him, annoyingly sugary & fawning piece of show-biz entertainment )

For me perhaps the best of Mendelssohn is, along with violin concerto, in his string quartets (with a few exceptions). On a par with Brahms, Bartok, Shostakovich, and 'Voces intimae' + couple of late Beethoven ones... You folks are scared of putting bucks into something futile? Try first Arte Nova's (Henschel Q) or Naxos' (New Zealand SQ) Mendelssohn quartets.

 

I've soaked up so much music criticism, it's insane. B. H. Haggin, as I recall, was the mouldiest of Figs, one of those "Whatever it is, I'm against it!" Sorts. If it's fun 'n' games you seek, try the ever-ebulliant Nicholas Slonimsky. In any case, Tchaikovsky's VC is my kind of show-biz, violinistic hot dogging, particularly under Heifetz at his most hype.

As regards early achievers, Henry Purcell apperantly was born a very serious lad but eventually outgrew it. In any case, when it comes to "Late" styled chamber music, Purcell's Viol Fantasias—he was 21 when he wrote these—is up there with the greats. The young Purcell brought back the English art of writing for the viol, with works that rival the best of Dowland, Marais, Couperin and Byrd. The Hesperion XX recording is worth the coin, but this free [save the cost of watching a commercial] performance by Les Voix Humaines is well worth your attention:

 

No, more of "There are no sacred cows." He had nice (but not uncritical) things to say about Mahler at a time when Mahler was still pretty esoteric fare, and ditto Prokofiev; on the other hand, wouldn't give Shostakovich or Sibelius (who, at that time, surprisingly was the most popular "classical" composer in America, at least by some accounts) the time of day, and most famously he considered Brahms mostly a pompous bore. He was also a champion of what was then pretty advanced ballet. Interesting character.

 

Opera?

 

Not really my bag, but I do own and enjoy one of his operas (I forget the name now....)

I really like songs with one voice and piano, but Operas oftern seem too big for me, too much to digest. I have 3 or 4 on DVD that I plan to watch soon, though.

 

Off the top of my head, between video and sound recordings, I have 7 versions of Figaro.

 

Yeah, that's the Mozart Opera I have! I have this recording:

http://www.amazon.com/Nozze-Di-Figaro-Originals/dp/B000001GX8/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1372252325&sr=1-2&keywords=figaro mozart Bohm

 

Thanks for the Purcell music, Robin, it made for some nice morning music.

I probably mentioned this before, but once I took a few extra seconds to look at the organ console at Westminster. I imagined those ivorys were the same touched by Henry Purcell over three hundred years earlier. That's not likely, there must have been intervening renovations, but still I was thankful for the chance to fantasize.

This is entertaining:

 

Looks like I get those in the Abbado box I ordered.

 

Don't have that one, but I do have a video of the opera conducted by Bohm with a number of the same singers. Linking back to my Schubertiade post, Hermann Prey was the co-curator of that series. He had tried to do it in Vienna, but it didn't work their either.

 

Have you ever been to the Metropolitan Opera House? I went there during my one trip to New York some years ago for a production of Don Giovanni, and while I wouldn't consider Mozart among my favourite composers (though I adore certain works like the last two symphonies, several piano concertos and the clarinet quintet) and like you I'm not a great opera fan, it was one of the most enjoyable opera evenings I've been to. Excellent performance, acoustics, views and use of surtitles (positioned in front of every seat, rather than just over the stage like in other opera houses where you need binoculars and/or 20/20 vision to read them) in addition to, of course, one of the greatest operas of all time.

 

I don't go often, but I do from time to time. Never saw their productions Don Giovanni or Figaro. I saw Figaro in Berlin and DG during the Mozart Festival in Salzburg (conducted by Levine as it happens). Both were many years ago. However, the second opera I ever saw live was Cosi Fan Tutte at the Met in about 1971.

 

My Bruno Walter (The Edition) set just shipped from importcds!!

 

As a big Haydn adorer it was a pleasure hearing some of his rare piano concerts played to perfection by Marc Andre Hamelin - Good sound as usual on hyperion..

Besides that I am on a Otto Klemperer discovery - His Wagner Overtures are stunning even if the old recordings are not to todays standard the reading AND the music itself is nothing short of heavy duty and impressive to say the least. One of the rare classical CD's that make me relax , close my eyes and get lost completely.
The other CD by Klemperer i got yesterday is his cherished Mahler - Auferstehungs Symphonie - recorded at Wigan Hall by Martin Legge and his wife Elizabeth Schwarzkopf on lead vocals. Still have to hear that.

 

Hmmm. Mine hasn't. Still scheduled for next week (along with the Abbado). E

 

Have you heard Klemperer's Beethoven or Brahms?

 

Not exactly sure but probably not ...

 

Update

 

Highly recommended. Incredible strength. EMI has some cheap boxes. Less than 30 Pounds for Beethoven and Brahms cycles together.

 

I enjoyed the Brahms symphonies and the Beethoven PCs.

 

I need to pick that up. I am a big Hamelin fan.

 

This CD has 2 of my top 2 favorite instruments....bassoon and Theorbo. Very unique pairing I believe, but it works really well...I wish the Theorbo was atad louder in the mix.

 

What a great disc IMO.