Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #62)

Now listening to "Bach/Vivaldi - Overtures/Sinfonias/Concertos" performed by the Freiburger Barockorchester led by Thomas Hengelbrock from the "DHM 50th Anniversary Edition" box set.

 

Just ordered the following box with an Amazon UK seller (bypassing ImportCD's after numerous crushed CD cases even though it has the best price) this morning. This should bolster my Giulini's collection ...

 

Returning to my DGG shelves today.

I'm playing the LP version of this great album:

 

In the middle of Bruckner's Third Symphony, early version, Kent Nagano and the Deutscher-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. This is my first audition of the SACD in full surround. Great performance, sound is predictably spectacular:

 

Haven't knowingly heard her work, but this is why I got into collecting original 78s and doing my own transfers. Back in the days of LP, everybody's work was awful. Things actually are much better nowadays, I suspect in part because the digital tools available to the best of today's transfer artists make the old analogue ones look like stone axes and flint-tipped spears.

Speaking of doing my own transfers, I've been plinking away at the Schnabel Beethoven sonata sets for some time now, off and on. One could make a case that, with all the commercial transfers out there, I'm offering up the quintessential example of leveling my jousting spear at a naturally-powered grain grinding station, but sometimes the "do it yourself" approach can force one to notice things that otherwise might slip quietly by. In this case, it's a matter of steadiness. For most pianists, when I'm joining two sides, I can very readily start tapping out the beats, as if they were set by a metronome, and settle on just exactly where side x+1 "fits" relative to side x. (Exception: some artists liked to do a little rallentando at the end of each side, but the rest of the side is absolutely steady.) Not necessarily so with Schnabel. His beat "averages out" to a set level, but at any given point he may be on it or ever so slightly askew, not in the sense of a student who can't keep a steady tempo but, I think, in the old, Romantic sense of the "melos," the ability of the music to breathe like a living thing. I wonder if that's why Schnabel's Beethoven at its best seems so natural compared to that of so many others?

Anyhow, that's something I'm sure I never would have noticed if I weren't down in the trenches transferring my old shellacs in person. Now, Heaven help me, I'm thinking about taking a break and doing Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in a 1928 recording by the Bruno Kittel Choir, all 22 sides of it.

 

Now playing:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Sonatas No.6 K284, No.7 K309, No.8 K310
— Lili Kraus (Erato/Warner Classics—Les Discophiles Français)

 

OK, the sound is hardly an audiophile's dream, and the person who recorded inexplicably drops the level about 50% for a moment in the Liszt, but what playing! He was certainly in fine form that day, and he hits very few wrong notes, which is even more amazing in view of the extremely difficult pieces he played on that recital. Berman is one of my favorite pianists, and I was lucky enough to see him twice in concert.

 

Fantastic compilation. So may gems. I am so glad that Warner/Erato decided to honor Kraus' legacy!

 

R. Strauss: Metamorphosen
Wagner: Siegfried-Idyll
Baermann: Adagio for clarinet and strings Brymer
Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht

Academy of St Martin in the Fields/Marriner



from

 

Just discovered there's a nice article discussing the Missa generally and this recording (among others) in particular at this site, to which George kindly directed our attention earlier: http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics3/missa.html

 

Today's trip to Rasputin's— was looking for my "Please Please Me" LP, mono on special order, and some surround SACDs. Came out with a big stack of cheap classical titles including some real classics—Václav Talich Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Dvorak's "The Wild Dove", "The Noon Witch" and "The Water Goblin." There's an Arabesque CD of Schnabel playing Schubert, including D.960. And, at $3 a pop, the most expensive classical CDs in the batch. There's Brahms 2 & 3, E, Power Biggs playing Bach including the Toccata & Fugue, Claudio Abbado and the Chicago Symphony in Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and Simon Rattling around in Bruckner's 7th. Those four set me back $3. Looks like a fire sale.

 

From that article:

• David Zinman – Luba Orgonasova, Anna Larsson, Reiner Trost, Franz-Josef Selig; Schweizer Kammerchor, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich (2001, Arte Nova CD)
  
  Here, we have a "hybrid" approach to the Missa Solemnis, which combines modern instruments with the balances and style of the early Romantic era.
• The timing alone announces the special nature of this recording – less than 66 minutes! – although it's hardly a surprise from the same forces that brought us a 59-minute Beethoven Ninth. Yet, it never sounds rushed, but rather ardent, as the tempos, while fast, are fully integrated into a convincing fabric, with sufficent respites to prepare for the next jolt of energy, and many wondrous features along the way – the Christe Eleison takes off like a heady waltz, the winds add lovely grace notes to the Gratias section of theGloria, and the Gloria and Credo fugues boast superb clarity, despite the delirious tempos, the density of the writing and the considerable number of voices (90) and instruments (70) used. The voices and an especially prominent organ dominate the texture to impart a "churchy" sound. My only disappointment is that, despite thunderous drums, the military outbursts have diminshed impact. Overall, though, Zinman and his Swiss players bypass the gloss of the past to impart a thrilling sense of consistent vitality and fresh discovery, making the work vastly accessible – which, after all, is what Beethoven had intended. Among modern recordings, this is an ideal introduction to the glories of this fabulous work.

 

Saturday afternoon listening:
Wagner's Parsifal - London/van Mill/Weber/Windgassen/Uhde/Mödl/
Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele/Knappertsbusch
(1951)



Which is your favorite rendition of 'Parsifal'?

 

If you're comparing CDs and DVDs to books, that might explain the difference. The UK doesn't charge BAT on essentials and they consider books essentials so no VAT.

 

Karajan is my imprint version and still my favorite.

 

I have the Karajan version of Parsifal as well, but the version by Kubelik is excellent IMO ...

 

I posted this question on the GMG site, but thought I'd also post it here. I'm interested in the upcoming big Pierre Monteux Complete RCA box, but I've been warned about the bad sound quality of many of the Monteux RCA recordings; no specifics given, though. I'm more familiar with Monteux's later Philips stuff, not so much his RCA recordings. Any opinions/comments?

 

I have a few of his recordings on London and Philips and the SQ is quite good. However, those recordings were made in the late 50's through the early 60's. I should have a few of his recordings on LP, which I have not listened to in years but believe they are on Philips. I would be leery of the SQ of the RCA recordings as well ...

 

Back from the Jeremy Denk recital, which I enjoyed. His merger of short works by Schubert and Janacek into a "suite" was very successful in my opinion.

 

I have a few of the previous 90s Monteux Edition CDs with SF recordings from the 40s & the sound quality is not so hot.

 

Weiss' fantastic and intricate lute sonatas:



Brahm's 2nd Piano Concerto with Zimerman and WP/Bernstein

 

I have discs 1-3 in the Weiss/Barto series. I've listened to a number of others on Spotify.

 

Thanks. I know about Monteux's Philips recordings, I do have several myself. I was wondering about the sound quality of his RCA recordings, especially from before the "Living Stereo" era.

 

NP:

J.S. BACH - Trio Sonatas, BWV 525-528
Holm Vogel, organ
Capriccio 10 037




This is a lovely recording, with an upfront sounding organ in a nice, small acoustic environment. The presence of this recording is such that when I close my eyes, I can imagine that the organ is right there in the room with me.

 

Here is a new talent to keep an eye on.
http://www.haochenzhang.com/
I saw him play Mozart piano concerto #20 last night with the Pacific Symphony. He has the potential to be one of the greats.