Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #69)

I have the reissues on vinyl in transit of his Bartok Concertos. I love the Bartok 2

 

Did you get the Speakers Corner? I am thinking to order them just to compare. My tulips pressings are a little noisy.

 

How do the discs in the recent Fricsay omnibus box stack up by comparison? I got a copy of that recently (won it in a drawing, in fact); have transferred it to my server but have only started dipping my toes into listening to it.

 

Funny, Moravec did nothing for me, not in Beethoven and not in Chopin. I still have the CDs, so maybe I should try again; the last time I tried was ages ago.

 

Yes, I got both of the new SC reissues. For me SC has an excellent rack record for improving on originals

 

That's the funny thing with classical music and personal styles. I can't for the life of me get Schnabel. I mean I get him as a significant artist in his day and I get the importance of his Beethoven cycle and that it was the first ever recorded. But I can only liken him and many others from that era to actors like Chuck Heston. Fun to watch but clearly dated.

Edit: By the way, that is just my personal taste. Not meant to be a stab at anyone elses love for Schnabel. Clearly i am in the minority on him

 

Or maybe you just don't like Moravec? Nothing wrong with that. As wonderful as his Chopin Preludes and Ballades are, his Nocturnes are overrated. And his Pathetique sonata is the best I have heard, but in other sonatas he isn't among my favorites (the Appassionata for example.)

I am following a poll I started on another site that asks people their 10 favorite conductors. Abbado's name keeps coming up, and I don't like him at all, but that doesn't make me wrong. Nor are they wrong for liking him.

 

Oddly enough, overall no. But I like variety.

By the way, I made it through the entire Kempff stereo cycle while traveling. Most of it I found impressive. The single biggest disappointment was the "Tempest," and some of the movement late sonatas did not appeal to me.

 

Agreed, have never been disappointed by a SC release.

 

Sorry, I don't have it (yet) so I cannot tell. From the digital versions that I have heard the worst IMO is this one:

 

That's what I have. I don't recall the SQ being particularly good or bad, but I have never heard any other version of it.

 

Now that you mention it, I've never come across a Moravec recording I really liked, so I guess you're right.

Funny, for me Abbado was one of the better late 20th Century conductors. He seems to be better liked in Europe than in the U.S., or at least that's the impression I often get.

 

It is not bad per se but worse than the 2-cd Anda Great Pianists of the 20th c. I am not sure if there was another cd reissue before the Originals.
The problem with this particular series (The Originals) is that they use the Original Image Bit Processing filter, which sounds very artificial to my ears.

 

I've mentioned a number of times that I bought DG's big box. Definitely a mixed bag, but it includes some very good performances.

 

Yes, saw your posts and I agree that the box is a mixed bag - like many of that kind of boxes. Like you said, lots of goodies, though.

 

Chandos Records has announced on their Facebook page that the label's founder Brian Couzens died this morning. I'll dig out a favorite Chandos to play today. Maybe one of the Jansons Tchaikovsky symphonies.

 

I have the Concertos on CD in 'The Originals' series & the Rhapsody in an 'Original Masters' box.

 

I have to hit 'Dislike' for your use of "dated". Almost nothing anyone says about anything on here riles me, but I hate "dated" & when I am World Dictator I will outlaw its use.

 

Schnabel was good looking, funny and talented. I'm sure he dated a lot.

 

Dunno if you wanted that to spread over here, but I'm game to play, or if you want feel free to export my response over there. Here's my list:

Willem van Hoogstraten
Julius Pruwer
Oskar Fried
Oswald Kabasta
Georg Schneevoigt
Max von Schillings
Josef Stransky
Ossip Gabrilowitsch
Kurt Woss
Howard Barlow

So there you go! Thanks--this should be fun.

Er?

What's that you say?

Oh--"ten favorite conductors," not "ten favorite long-forgotten conductors"?

My mistake. Sorry!

All right, all right, forgive me my little fun. What prompted it was something in the notes for a 78 set that I recently bought, Victor M-365, Elly Ney in Mozart's K. 450 concerto with a "chamber orchestra" conducted by none other than--Willem van Hoogstraten. Of him they state, "The present concerto is one of the most charming left to us by Mozart. Of those who perform it it is not necessary to speak in detail. The whole musical world knows Willem van Hoogstraten, and America particularly remembers him for his activities as conductor here."

Hmmm......

Actually, some of the others fall into the category of "conductors who led my favorite recording of precisely one work." (And one is a pure joke; Stransky was nothin' special, at least in the acoustic Columbias in which I've heard him.) I'd be interested if anyone else around here can name people like that, conductors who for them led one recording that eclipses all others but who never quite seem to live up to that achievement in anything else. (For what it's worth, the ones above in that category for me are Oswald Kasbasta in Dvorak's "New World" Sym.; Oskar Fried in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique; and Kurt Woss in Beethoven's 7th Sym., that last being a good example of what George said earlier about a sense of struggle with the notes going well with Beethoven's music. I might add in passing that Pruwer's obscurity somewhat surprises me, considering that he was a member of Brahms's circle. And, yes, I do have at least one recording, often quite a nice one, by every one of those gentlemen. They're out there, folks, if you just want to take the time and effort to hunt 'em down.)

 

Now listening to "Victoria - Missa O Quam Gloriosum/Hymns & Motets" performed by Ensemble Plus Ultra led by Michael Noone on Archiv.

 

Mostly the world knows Willem van Hoogstraten (if at all) as the husband of Elly Ney, yes? His work in the USA did leave some trace, though. In 1923-24, when Western Electric was developing their system of electrical recording, they made some test records of New York Philharmonic radio broadcasts. Some of those were conducted by Hoogstraten (the ones that weren't conducted by Mengelberg.)

 

Now listening to "Beethoven - Piano Sonatas" performed by Arthur Schnabel on EMI.

• No. 8 "Pathetique"
• No. 14 "Moonlight"
• No. 15 "Pastorale"
• No. 21 "Waldstein"

 

There's a lengthy Willem van Hoogstraten bio on Dutch Wikipedia. He was a Dutch violinist/conductor (1884-1965) who lived most of his life in the U.S. and Germany and had links with the Nazis. His ex-wife, Elly Ney (1882-1968), was a member of the Nazi party and was banned from performing after 1945 because of it.