Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #54)

Well, I took the plunge and decided that I needed another hulking box set. No. 632 of 3000.



I am only passingly familiar with Britten, but enjoy what I know. I figured this was a chance to get something that will likely turn into a hard-to-find item. And it looks beautiful.

Now giving Disc 59 a spin - String Quartets.

 

... and I had believed: only good ol' phonograph is of any worth...

 

Now playing:
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Trio No.4 Op.70/1 "Ghost"
— Jos van Immerseel, fortepiano, Vera Beths, violin, Anner Bylsma, violoncello (Vivarte/Sony Classical)

 

Listening to Op. 70 No. 2 as I type this. (Kempff, Fournier, Szeryng)

 

Love it.
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/classical-music-corner-thread-51.333398/#post-9599772

 

Now playing some more Beethoven:
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonatas No.29 Op.106 "Hammerklavier" & No.32 Op.111
— Alfred Brendel (Brilliant Classics/Vox)

 

Interesting reading, thanks.

 

Now playing:
Johannes Brahms – Symphony No.1, Tragic Overture
— Philharmonia Orchestra — Carlo Maria Giulini (EMI / Warner Classics)

 

EMI will be destroyed by those morons at WarnerMusic for good ...

 

Hi there, I have a couple of questions regarding the forthcoming RCA Living Stereo Vol. 2 box .......

As someone who has only ever had a handful of classical CDs, I have found box sets such as the first RCA set, the first MLP box, and the Decca Sound a great way to delve deeper into classical music.
From looking at the discs in this second box would it be worth the purchase if you don't already own any of these performances ?
I've been looking for opinions on the net but all I seem to find is experienced classical collectors saying that they have much of what is in this second box already in specialist box sets and they won't be purchasing etc ..... I have none of these.
Also some comments seem to suggest that the performances are ok but it is more for those with a nostalgia kick.
I know that people have their preferred performances, conductors, orchestras etc ...... I'm not at that stage yet, I'm just wanting to get a feel for different composers and works.

RCA Living Stereo Vol. 2 ............ http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/RCA/88843003502

 

I was looking at this RCA Living Strereo Volume 2 offer, coincidentially on the Presto site - also - just today. I am sorely tempted even though I have a few of the said listed CDs. At $102 (Australian dollars) for 60 discs (under $2 a disc!!!)....it is a complete steal. Being a long time classical collector dating as far back to the early 60's, I can confirm there are many many notable recordings in this bulk release - I immediately recognise. And certainly capable of holding their standing in today's world.
Note too, how Volum e 1 of the same "RCA Living Stereo" sets - containing the same large number of CDs - is listed at a far higher price.
As you have already stated , not 'doubling up in any way' in collected repertiore so many of the works on offer..............Verdict : "Go for it" If only in the 'old days', vinyl collectors have the same low price offers for such top flight material
What an amazing inexpensive way to investigate various composers works.....

 

Thanks for the advice, and yeah it seems silly not to grab it at that price. I'm in !! Not released until mid April now as well ....

 

Well I seriously doubt they are going to send agents into my record closet and take my EMI records away. So Warner can do very little to me. However for those expecting super duper digital remasters of the EMI catalog uhh buy a turntable.

 

A couple of thoughts. First the discs in Volume 1 were all remastered at SoundMirror for their SACD releases, and the remastered versions were used for redbook as well. That remastering received broad-based (although not unanimous) praise. Query whether Sony will be doing that for Vol. 2.

More significantly, the RCA and MLP boxes all but omit music from before 1800. Virtually no Mozart, very little Bach (except for a recording of his "Mass in B Minor" that would not be most people's first choice), little or no Handel, Vivaldi or Haydn. I think the Decca box, which I do not own, has a broader scope, but if I were to suggest a next set it might be one of the several very good boxes devoted to Baroque music. That would still leave out Mozart and Haydn, but would fill in part of what's missing.

 

Anyone knows who has done the mastering for the recent W. Kempff releases by Eloquence (Australia).

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/s/Wilhelm+Kempff+Edition

I got a few discs and they sound great but there is no info in the booklet about mastering. Some of these, like the Mozart for instance, have been released before from DG, in the Originals series.

 

For one thing though, having 2 CDs from Decca of Kempff playing Chopin, I concluded they contained some of the most 'ratty' strange playing of Chopin I have ever heard.
Kempff was certainly in fact, most definitely not a Chopin player.
I beleive this same material is what was used for the Decca Eloquence Kempff/ Chopin release,here.

 

Yeah he was most certainly not a Chopinist. I like some of his Chopin, like his Barcarolle for instance, but his playing of the other pieces is mostly strange.
I got the two Mozart double cd sets and Kempff is great in these. His phrasing is impressive in its detail and finesse. In two of the recorded concertos he was 81 years old
Anyway, If I understood you correctly, you say that these contain the same mastering as the previous releases?

 

Well, maybe not--time will tell. At least one English classical music industry one-time insider, formerly of EMI and the BBC, seems rather less pessimistic, if somewhat guarded:

[Edit: by the way, Coop, if you haven't explored his blog already, you might enjoy some of his reminiscences about working with Karajan.]

[begin quotation]

That photo shows the charismatic Scott Ross taking a trip across the rooftop of Chateau Assass in Languedoc where he recorded Jean-Philippe Rameau's complete harpsichord music in 1975. Last week Iexpressed one wish for this year's Rameau anniversary: that Warner Classics reissues Scott Ross' masterly interpretation of Rameau using with the original dress convention defying artwork. Now Warner has contacted me with the excellent news that the complete 1975 recordings are being reissued this autumn. They were non-committal about the artwork, but it will be good to have Scott Ross' Rameau in new CD transfers to treasure alongside his monumental Scarlatti set, irrespective of the picture on the packaging.

It is fashionable in some culturally commentated quarters to deride Warner Classic's due to its ownership by Ukrainian-born American Leonard Blavatnik. This ownership by Blavatnik's private conglomerate Access Industries is no more and no less contentious than the ownership of the much larger Universal Music(Deutsche Grammophon, Decca etc) by public conglomerate and no stranger to scandal Vivendi. But there are two significant differences between Warner and Universal. One is that Warner does not have the commissioning power of a clandestinely owned "independent" website to tilt the playing field in their favour. The other is that Warner is showing a real commitment to classical music which is evidenced by the quality of documentation and excellent sounding transfers in their first reissues from the recently acquired EMI catalogue; this commitment to the past as well as to the future is a refreshing contrast to Universal Music'srisible attempts to reinvent classical music as a sub-genre of pop. Ownership of priceless intellectual property by any profit hungry conglomerate is a serious cause for concern; but when there is good news let's shout it from the rooftops.

[end quotation]

That's from a blog by Bob Shingleton called (in tribute to Janacek) "On an Overgrown Path"; unfortunately, he recently announced that he's essentially retiring it. I generally found his ruminations on mystical Eastern religions progressively more tedious (and progressively more prevalent in his postings), but when on topic discussing classical music he was always thought provoking, even when (as was not infrequently the case) I was at least not entirely in agreement with him.

 

The RCA Living Stereo Volume 2 box would suit in any case, anyone NOT exactly (or as yet) 'into Baroque'.............. Then count me as a front- runner candidate.
What I am about to say is not meant to offend anyone............
Over the past 50 years ,since its first "cusp" - mainly on Archive and Telefunken labels - I personally did collect hundreds of what we could quickly call 'pre Beethoven'. ....No matter how much I have tried............ (it is still sitting on the shelves, mostly gathering dust). Including all those throat mouth wash gaggling Baroque operas, Oratorio exercises , the likes of bombastic performed Messiahs and Mass in B Minor's, with their false twee devoutness / or preciously named performing groups 'discovering' pieces from some never ending Noah's musical arc. Even if they are not from Vivaldi or Teleman producing musical scores according to the next infinite mile. .Let's also not forget those harpischords and white -anted fortepianos - sounding like some 3 year old's toy piano.
I would gladly drop 90 % or more of such examples in the dumpsters in favour of say, more R.Strauss, Mahler or Wagner .
. Blossom Dearie ..............we need you NOW once again to send up 'Music Antiqua' !
I suspect at times the reason the record buyers are swamped with Baroque releases...........is that, producers can charge full price as a great majority of it requires miniscule human forces or costs, to produce.
.

 

Perhaps the problem is exactly this:

Early HIPsters obviously have quite a lot of all sorts of difficulties? But hey, I'm in no position to comment on them 'cause I mostly don't understand that baroque stuff. Bach Family, Telemann and Vivaldi are great when it's a question of pure instrumental music. But there seem to be a bunch of individual recordings of more obscure background, that are quite listenable.

I would gladly dump 90% of all music in favour of Strauss Family & Mahler and other late romantics.

 

Perhaps the problem is exactly this:

Early HIPsters obviously have quite a lot of all sorts of difficulties? But hey, I'm in no position to comment on them 'cause I mostly don't understand that baroque stuff. Bach Family, Telemann and Vivaldi are great when it's a question of pure instrumental music. But there seem to be a bunch of individual recordings of more obscure background, that are quite listenable

I would gladly dump 90% of all music in favour of Strauss Family & Mahler and other late romantics.

 

Funny - I was just thinking about Ross' Scarlatti last night. I have a three disc set of selection. I haven't been able to pull the trigger on the complete set, but I wondered last night whether Warner might re-issue it in a budget mega-box.

35 disc of Baroque harpsichord. Seriously. I will certainly take a close look at the Rameau as well.

 

A 35-CD box of harpsichord is not easy to deal with ...

 

As stated above, Kempff was most certainly not a Chopianist. I actually don't think his style is best suited to Beethoven either. Not enough contrast, not enough tension. Beauty yes, muscle, no.

I really love his Bach and his Mozart. His Schubert can be good too, but I almost always feel something is missing.

 

Warner Music is not inherently more benighted than the other conglomerates. The issue is that Warner has always had a pop music focus. Warner Brothers, Elektra, Asylum etc were all pop music specialists. The only slight involvement with classical was their assumption of Nonesuch but that was mainly a budget reissue label with poor sonics other than the infrequent Aubort and Nickrenz recording. I am not optimistic about any of them quite frankly based on their various track records. Although Sony has paid more lip service to audiophile sensibilities their actual track record is highly mixed. Anyone remember all those CD sourced SACDS? The latterday EMI itself was going down the pop music lane with their compression and No Noise as was the latterday Decca. Now that they are subsumed under larger companies it will only get worse. Classical music is but 3% of the market. None of the execs at those companies listens to it in dedicated fashion I would guess. Is it any wonder that they fiddle with the masters so much if they listen to compressed pop music MP3s on their iphone and Love It? I think it will be specialty labels (or the occasional issue from Japan) that license this or that recording for issue that will attempt a better sounding product. That leaves out anything outside of the big sellers or cult favorites at least in classical music terms. Everything else will just be repackaged on fewer and fewer disks or just be available for download. You can buy it cheap or more expensive if they run the old master through the upsampler.