Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #64)

I have the following box still in shrinkwrap and another box with only 6 CD's I bought back in the 90's ...

 

I've worked on the clarinet part in the trio. The first movement is good; the slow movement is lovely; the third movement doesn't do much for me. I read somewhere that Beethoven felt he should have written another movement.

He seems to be in his woodwind phase about then In addition to the trio (Op. 11), you have the quintet for piano and winds (Op. 16) a sonata for piano and horn (Op. 17 I think) and the septet (Op. 20). After that, not so much.

 

They do, but my impression is that they tend to be voiced somewhat more brightly. Steinway's "monopoly," I think, has always been strongest in the United States; in Europe, Steinway, courtesy of the company's Hamburg branch, is a frequent choice, but so are names like Bechstein, Bosendorfer, and (in France) Pleyel, among others. The "golden age" pianists were particularly partial to Bechstein, I believe. Of course, during that period in the United States Mason & Hamlin had its following, and Baldwin was always a contender as well, although neither achieved the omnipresence of Steinway and both eventually fell by the wayside. Various successor companies have tried to bring back Mason & Hamlin in recent years with, I gather, somewhat indifferent success (commercially; supposedly the new M&H instruments have been of high quality). Probably didn't help Mason & Hamlin that it was part of the Aeolian empire, for years sort of the "sick man of the piano industry."

 

BTW, Steinway is now owned by a New York hedge fund manager who claimed to be a major piano lover ...

 

The Original German name is Steinweg:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grotrian-Steinweg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steinway_&_Sons

 

Now listening to "Beethoven - Piano Sonatas Nos. 8, 10, 12 and 13" from the "Aldo Ciccolini - Enregistrements EMI 1950-1991" box set.

 

Anyone plans on getting this box? Martha was hot ...

 

S

She led the ensemble from the concertmaster's chair...what a finely tuned machine that group was that night.

 

I did not know if Iona Brown was still with the ASMIF by the late 80's ...

 

Gee, did anybody welcome you to the thread? I guess your post got lost in a fast-paced bit of discussion. So: Welcome!

Can't say that I'm the world's greatest Delius fan, but I think of his works I've heard I like the piano concerto best. Since you're listening to other Delius concerti, you might want to check that one out. Oh, and if you have any interest in historical recordings, look up some of the Delius ones led by Sir Thomas Beecham. Back when nobody else was paying much attention to this composer, he went to strenuous lengths to put him on the map and more or less set the standard for all who followed.

 

Thanks and yes, I do know the Delius PC but somehow these string concertos really speak to me right now.

 

I heard them once in concert, and I fully agree: regardless of whether it was the most "exciting" or "dynamic" group I've ever heard, their sense of ensemble was absolutely uncanny. Meet them on their own terms, and they were a real marvel and made terrific, healthy music.

 

True. Except I would have expected the manufacturer to do that.

 

T+A.

 

I believe they've made several compilations from the New Year's Concert and other recordings. (I have few weird Reader's Digest LP's probably from sixties, haven't listened to them in this millennium though...)

 

Same here, though I have only couple of his cello concerto recordings (du Pre & Lloyd Webber).

How's Elgar?

 

You might want to check out some of Christopher Nupen's videos. This is the one I have.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Trout-Greatest-Christopher-A13CND/dp/B006W3HGIS

I bought it for "The Trout." It's from 1969 IIRC and features a performance of Schubert's Trout Quintet by Du Pre, Barenboim, Perlman, Zuckerman and Zubin Mehta (on bass).

 

I have that on laserdisc!

 

Is T+A a German or a Dutch company?

 

My Willi Boskovski's VPO New Year Concert LP set was probably purchased in the late 70's or early 80's and I doubt I have listened to the set more than once ...

 

It's often one of my recommendations to people who want to get into classical music. The piece, itself, is a great introduction, and you can feel the joy and enthusiasm shared by the performers. It is not the greatest performance in the world (not sure how much actual rehearsing went on), and the sound is what you would expect from a 1960s TV documentary, but sometimes that doesn't matter so much.

 

Didn't WQXR merge with WNYC a few years ago? The combined entity is now an NPR station IIRC ...

 

Do you still have a working Pioneer or Toshiba laserdisc player?