Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #65)

I have his Marriage of Figaro in a Philips LP box, which I had a first and only listen close to 30 years ago ...

 

While I do not have the Complete Haydn Symphonies by Dorati, I do have the set on Nimbus by Adam Fischer. The Hogwood set is excellent IMO and a smaller ensemble is the way to go instead of a full (modern) orchestra for Haydn Symphonies. I have always viewed Haydn as the bridge between baroque and classical periods and movements in many of his works do have traces of baroque elements embedded in them ...

 

I like him a bit more than I do van Cliburn ...

 

This is quite an interesting collection of conservative Russian piano pieces. It uses four different pianists, but they all seem up to the considerable challenges presented to them. The sound is good, if not quite audiophile quality. The mics seem a bit farther away for two of the pieces that have an enormous dynamic range!

 

Here is another excellent Philips LP box by Colin Davis in my Mozart opera collection ...

 

I have heard some works by Kabalevsky on my local NPR station and found them quite delightful, though I do not yet have any recordings of his works in my classical music collection ...

 

Every concert I've been to where the NSO plays either Mozart or Haydn, almost half of the orchestra leaves the stage.

 

I have one or two of Bolet's Liszt LPs on London from the 80s,which are excellent.I didn't think Bolet recorded that much for Decca/London.The one I can readily pull out is the Etudes D'execution Trancendante from 1986.

 

Were these recorded after 1990 or so?I have never seen any LPs by Sir Colin on RCA.Mostly Philips,some Decca on Argo and L'oiseau-Lyre,and a couple of early EMI/HMV LPs,but no RCA.

 

One of the more unusual records I have by Bolet is the 1973 Prokofiev Concertos #2 and 3 on the Genesis label,with Ainslee Cox and the Nuremburg Symphony Orchestra.

 

Many of the CD's in that box were recorded with the Dresden Staatskapelle. I think he started to record with RCA pretty much after the CD format had completely overtaken the LP format ...

Below is what I found on Amazon for this RCA box.

The First Complete Collection of
The Maestro's RCA Recordings

Specially Priced 51-CD Limited Edition Box Set

In celebration of the astounding career of conductor Sir Colin Davis, who passed away last year at the age of eighty-five, Sony Masterworks is proud to release Sir Colin Davis The RCA Legacy, the first complete collection of all of the Maestro's RCA Recordings. The RCA Legacy enshrines his relationships with the three orchestras with whom he was most closely associated during his later years: the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle and the London Symphony Orchestra. For Davis, music always represented "a kind of alchemy that could transform reality into imaginative possibilities," as indeed he transformed himself from an orchestral clarinetist into a world-class conductor. That imaginative alchemy is evident throughout this collection. Along with interpretations of the three composers to whom he was always most devoted Berlioz, Sibelius and Mozart - The RCA Legacy collection also includes notable versions of Mahler s Forth and Eighth Symphonies, Brahms A German Requiem and complete recordings of Wagner's Lohengrin, Verdi's Falstaff and Beethoven's Fidelio. The 51-CD box set includes all of the recordings that Sir Colin made for the RCA Victor label between 1988 and 2000, and preserve what is widely considered to be the Golden Age of one of the world's most gifted, respected and much-loved conductors.

 

The work on this recording is a Rondo, written as a test piece for the first Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. It's quite a virtuoso workout!

 

All CD issues. I have the Sibelius set with the LSO [my favorite, overall] and the excellent Mozart Overtures collection.

 

Guess they really don't like the music.

 

Philips had a budget CD box out many years that included Davis' versions of the three Mozart/Da Ponte/Davis operas. As I had owned the two you referenced on LP (and missed them) I grabbed it. No libretti, but I have those from other recordings. I also had the Bohm Figaro on LaserDisc. I see MDT has the DVD (no Blu-Ray) on sale for about $15, so I plan to pick that up.

 

Having my coffee with the Tallis Singers (currently performing Gombert from "Sacred Music in the Renaissance Vol. 3" )

 

...and, of course, if Symphony no. 45 is on the program, it all does.

 

Continuing my march through the Decca Analogue box. Finished the Scriabin/Ashkenazy orchestral music disc. Now on to Kertesz conducting Dvorak tone poems.

 

Actually, I'm not into songs. Except orchestral songs à la Mahler & Strauss (with female voices). So I just can't get a grip of die Winterreise.

 

Same here. I tried several times, but no.

 

Maybe you should check out this version:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/arts/music/18pianos.html

It was actually quite good.

 

Haha!

"Ontological-Hysteric Theater" sounds like some wacky "postmodern" enterprise. Otherwise that seemed to be a cheerful event. Funny! Though I have nothing against the dark tones.

 

My digitization priority is to start with the operas so I can listen to them in a more convenient format. Time to bring back the CD changer ...

 

or

?

I have both CD's in my early music collection ...

 

It's a 4 CD best of the aughts set, that includes all 8.