Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #67)

Somewhat unrelated but does anyone here know when vol 2 of The Pavarotti Edition will be released?

 

I really enjoy Price's recording with Leinsdorf and the New Philharmonia. It was a pleasant surprise on this disc, as I bought it for the Zarathustra.

 

For Vier Letzte Lieder don't forget the Lucia Popp/Klaus Tennstedt recording for EMI.

That one and Isokoski I like the most.

 

Yes, I forgot Popp, she's also great. She did another recording with Michael Tilson Thomas.

Also, there's an interesting piano version with the lovely Barbara Bonney.

 

Any love for Ashkenazy's Pictures At An Exhibition?
I have to admit he can be a bit heavy-handed at times, but can't deny it's an exhilarating performance.

 

You didn't get a copy of that single disc that his wife was selling awhile back?

There's only one other Natan Brand release, a two CD set on APR that has the aforementoined Pictures at an Exhibition.

 

Pictures at an Exhibition.

 

Don't want to elaborate further since this is a family channel ...

 

I missed the boat on that single disc that his widow was selling a while back ...

 

I don't know if it has been mentioned but I just read on the latest Issue of Grammophone that Aldo Ciccolini died on February 1st.
He was 89 years old.

RIP.

 

It was posted on the last thread ...

 

Now playing CD5 - Two JS Bach Cantatas BWV 207A and 206 from the following box for a first listen ...

 

Looks like I will be listening to Chailly's Brahms on Spotify. The Blu-Ray disc won't play. There were a number of reviews on Amazon citing problems, but they were from back in November. I figured Decca would have corrected the discs by now. Guess not.

 

That's what happens when you get your news from the press and not from internet, you get outdated....

 

For those who need to have it in every format, von Karajan's 1963 Beethoven cycle is now available on HDTracks. Reports indicate it's the same mastering as the SACDs, but it's a lot cheaper.

And the EMI - I mean Warner's - cycle is also available there.

 

I already have the 1963 cycle in both redbook and SACD formats ...

 

Recorded 5/19/78, Grosser-Saal, Musikverein. Production: Werner Mayer. Tonmeister: Gunter Hermanns. Released 1979.

 

I don't think I have ever owned a DG cassette ...

 

Talkin' about sonic pleasures!



Strauss sure was able to get everything possible out of the orchestra. Can't tell what happens musically in the Alpine Symphony, but it's very breath-taking listen. This should be listened to with stereos, and preferably at full force, but it's also with headphones quite a "trip".

 

Now listening to "Music Of The Gothic Era" performed by the Early Music Consort Of London led by David Munrow on Archiv.

This was the first early music album I bought (on vinyl); had never heard music like this before and enjoyed it a lot.

 

Since she hasn't been mentioned yet, don't forget about Elizabeth Schwartzkopf in Vier letzte Lieder. Both recordings from EMI are great, the second slower and I suppose somewhat more 'mannered' but it's still my favorite version of the work. George Szell directs the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra:

 

He/we go UP the mountain. Then he/we go DOWN the mountain.

I've had the HvK recording (a gift) pretty much since it was released as the very first classical CD. I think I've played it twice. I've also heard it live by the NY Phil. I just cannot get into the Strauss tone poems. And for some reason, for me, while learning to appreciate Bruckner is worth the effort, learning to appreciate Strauss is not.

 

Now some big-band Haydn: Symphonies 95; 98; 104 - Colin Davis/Concertgebouw Orchestra - Colin Davis - Haydn: The London Symphonies, Vol.1 - 2 CDs, Philips; disc 1

 

This is one of my favorite recordings of Strauss' Four Last Songs!
I have an Angel (US pressing) LP that, contrary to what you would expect, sounds incredible.

 

K.175 and 238 today.