Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #54)

Loving me some Bolet/Liszt

 

Welcome!

I am listening to Miles' Cellar Door Sessions as I am waiting delivery of Bartok's Complete String Quartets on SACD.

 

I have that in the Melodiya pressing (vinyl I mean). Two of the greatest violin sonatas ever. I also have performances by Oistrakh w/Richter and Vegh/Pettinger.

 

As someone who has the good fortune to live in the UK where it is still relatively easy to find quality collectible LPs (and even 1st press CDs) I can vouch for the fact that at least 90% of the market is driven by the Far East; namely China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. The USA and Germany also help drive prices up but invariably the high ticket items end up in the Far East.
Different markets have different tastes. China is more focused on works for the violin and piano plus the inevitable 1st pressings from the Golden Era of Decca, UK Columbia and HMV. The Korean and Taiwnese markets appear to go more for audiophile recordings.

Hong Kong seems to go for anything.A colleague of mine who used to work for BMG once released a Broadway show recording in the early 1990s and they decided to put Living Stereo on the cover as a bit of a joke. He couldn't believe it when they got an order from BMG in Hong Kong for 500 copies. Just because it said Living Stereo!

As has been noted elsewhere mint 1st pressings are the key to very high prices much like books and rock LPs and I suppose if you have spent a huge amount of money on high quality audio equipment you want the 'very best' recordings to test it and show it off. And without doubt many of these early recordings are pretty spectacular.

Rarity clearly plays its part for UK pressings as stereo equipment was expensive at the time so there were generally fewer stereo LPs bought in the early days. Also LPs cost the equivalent of £40 in today's money. I am not sure whether it is true or not but it is my understanding that in the UK when records were deleted they were physically destroyed and the vinyl recycled. Hence why there are literally only a few copies of certain albums in existence. However, in the States they just drilled holes in the records and put them in storage. Hence why I walked into J&R Electronics in New York last October to find a pile of almost new Living Stereos (some worth upwards of $100) selling for $4.99 each.

Regarding the Martzy question it seems to be generally fuelled by the wider market for Bach solo suites and sonatas and her recordings happen to be some of the rarest on a major label. Personally I find them pretty hard going but for a purist I imagine they are the closest to pure performance and expression.

 

Same for the solo suites for cello. Any near mint pre-1970 recording of Bach's cello suites is likely to go for $hundreds.

 

This is making sense to me. Some years back I sold my dad's small stash of old German photographic gear on eBay. Without exception, I ended up shipping all of it to Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. They must have a penchant for vintage cultural items from 50s–70s.

 

I just looked up the price they have on popsike for my Westminster Janigro recording of the cello suites. And indeed, it's selling for more than I would ever pay for it.

 

Took me a while to crack those. I have Tetzlaff and Andsnes. That disc includes the sonata for violin solo which is easier.

 

Performed by?

 

It's the Mikrokosmos String Quartet on Hungaroton - Bartok New Series.
I am listening to the first quartet right now and it sounds fantastic.

 

This is probably the best version of these works out there ...

 

This is excellent. Recorded in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 10/87. One of the C.P.E. Bach Sonatas is for solo oboe & is very interesting.

 

A satisfying combination. Except for Holst & Liszt, the composers are new to me. Recorded in the Church of Saint-Viateur,
Outremont, Quebec in 1996.

 

Hi,

Is this the one?

http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Brandenb...8&qid=1395819314&sr=1-19&keywords=pinnock+box

Thanks

 

A tip off to collectors. Presto Classical has just released an offer till May 28th of up to 60% in some cases of a lot of major label notable boxed sets. Recently I had made a resolution that I would resist such offers ...........but it was in vain. I have ordered 5 boxes..... The Levine Wagner Ring ( my 14th Wagner Ring!). Pletnev's Tchaikovsky Symphonic Cycle, The Art of Susan Graham, Haitink's Shostakovich Symphonic Cycle and the big box 'The Best of Maxin Vengerov".

 

Sure looks like it to me.

 

Yep. But I'd say listen before buying. I actually didn't like it much.

 

Yes - the Amazon price has increased since I bought it, but it looks like there are some deals from third party vendors.

 

Today's New York Times reports that the late Peter Schidlof's Stradivari viola (he owned it!) is being auctioned off with a starting price of $45,000,000. Should we pool our retirement funds?

By the way, the last reported purchase price (in 1964) was $81,000.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/arts/music/for-sale-playing-a-heady-tune.html?hpw&rref=arts&action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults#0&version=&url=http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&region=Masthead&pgtype=Homepage&module=SearchSubmit&contentCollection=Homepage&t=qry903#/viola/7days/&_r=0

 

Yikes! If you bought it and rented it out at $1,000 per performance you'd get your money back after only 45,000 performances.

Last night's listening:
Wofgang Amadeus Mozart – Overture Don Giovanni KV527
Karl Amadeus Hartmann – Concerto funèbre for violin and strings
— Theo Olof, violin — Kurt Sanderling

Alphons Diepenbrock – Lydische Nacht (arr. Reeser)
— Hans Vonk
Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 6 Op.104
— Sir Colin Davis

All with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO Live)

 

Now listening:
Claude Debussy – Printemps (arr. Busser), Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune (Andre Pepin, fl), La Mer— 3 esquisses symphoniques, La mer, Rapsodie pour clarinette et orchestre (Robert Gugholz, cl)
— L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande — Ernest Ansermet (Decca)

 

A pianophile's dream. I sure plan on making the trip.

San Francisco’s own Michael Tilson Thomas celebrates a milestone birthday this season, and he’s sharing it with the audience he loves. One of the world’s leading figures in music, whose first love was the piano, MTT brings some of the musical world’s best to you. On January 15, 2015, join MTT and a dazzling array of guest stars for a spectacular concert, and surprises yet to be revealed. And maybe wear a touch of blue? It’s the guest of honor’s favorite color, after all.
Conductor/Performers


Emanuel Ax
piano

Jeremy Denk
piano

Marc-André Hamelin
piano

Jean-Yves Thibaudet
piano

Yuja Wang
piano

Program
Liszt
Hexameron for Six Pianos and Orchestra

 

I wish we had a place like that here, but I am guessing the local population wouldn't support it.

 

This is a very exciting set. I couldn't stop myself from listening to all 6 quartets in a row last night

 

I just got the 2014-15 season program for my favorite haunt - the 92nd St. Y. Highlights include Jeremy Denk, Jonathan Biss, Marc Andre Hamelin (albeit not all in one evening ), the Jerusalem Quartet and guests playing Brahms, Jennifer Koh, the Romeros, the Assad Brothers and Alisa Weilerstein. Opening night will be a repeat of Christian Tetzlaff's marathon traversal of Bach's six works for solo violin, which I saw several years ago and rank among the 3 or 4 best concert-going experiences of my life. In all honesty, I am not certain I will see that again, as I would be expecting nothing less than perfection.