It was arranged by conductor Lawrence Leonard. Leonard was the conductor of Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and conducted the performance of Procol Harum with the orchestra that was released on an LP. The recording of the piece on Cala is the premier of the work. There are a few other pieces by MM on the disc that I did not have so I purchased the CD for those and the premier of the "concerto". I just listened to it and it is enjoyable. Leonard takes passages from the original piano version and incorporates them in an interesting way with the orchestra. The orchestral sections sound mostly like the Ravel orchestration but with some changes in the arrangement.
Thanks for the info. I haven't heard the Van Kempen version enough to say whether I would recommend it on musical grounds. I was reporting on it as interesting "rare repertoire".
New Annie Fischer release on Hungaroton. I don't have a lot of information, but this seems very interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Chopin-Fischer/dp/B08DDTHHSL/
Now enjoying the Beethoven violin sonatas from this box set. The playing is crisp, youthful and expressive. Sound on my current system is a lot better than on my prior one, which had a thinner, more digital sound.
Looks like there will be a recording of D959 in this set! I love the work and have many recordings of it, though I am very excited to hear Annie's take on it, and to hear her play Chopin, even if it is only one work.
I had sworn to myself I wouldn't order any more CDs for a while, since I have so many I haven't even played yet. I placed a pre-order for this one yesterday.
Now enjoying some Mozart in the morning, as played by Moravec/Marriner from the above CD. Great, clear CD sound and gorgeous playing on this one.
from Landmarks: 40 Years of Chandos Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 Mariss Jansons Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra Chandos, 1984 This was the start of Jansons set of Tchaikovsky symphonies on Chandos. Listening again, he has great control of the orchestra. The dynamics are great, and the crescendos etc are marvelous. I don't know, but will assume that this disc is using the 2008 remastering. Years ago on this thread, there were partisans for the sound of the original mastering on the 1984 disc made in West Germany. I have that disc, but can't find it at the moment. Below see how young Jansons is on the 1984 back cover.
Started a voyage tonight: the Fine Arts Quartet performing Beethoven's op. 18 no. 1-3. They make up the first 2 and 2/3 sides of a complete cycle. The records originally were on Concert Disc, but my copy is a Murray Hill repressing, all in a single big box. As they are worth next to no $$$ in that form and take up a significant amount of shelf space, I'm thinking to copy them all to hard drive and then dispose of the LPs. One ear-opening experience: When I started out, I couldn't help but notice the sound quality was pretty uninspiring. About midway through no. 2, I abruptly realized I had not reset the preamp from mono to stereo after playing a mono LP a few days ago. I hastened to remedy that oversight, and the recording positively bloomed; not just a matter of imaging (missing in action in mono, natch), but of tonal quality and even evidence of distortion. Even in that rather shabby guise, suddenly everything went from iffy to excellent. I wouldn't have expected that much difference, but there it is. If the Beethoven set turns out well, next up will be two other big Murray Hill boxes: a complete set of Tchaikowsky's piano music and another of piano music by Grieg. Longer term, I have in mind to try the same approach to my fairly substantial holdings of Musical Heritage Society pressings. We'll see how far I can get with all this before 78 withdrawal sets in....
"Pre-emphasis" is a term I've started seeing a good bit lately. I gather it's a bad thing. What is it, and what classical labels engage in it? Coming back to Beethoven quartets (and the actual topic of the thread ), do I remember correctly that the Fine Arts Qtt. cycle is not especially highly regarded around here? Anybody have any comments about it? I'll confess the voyage into copying these records is also a voyage into the music itself; I've never explored these works in any sort of systematic way and probably haven't even heard all of them.
There is a huge thread about discs with pre-emphasis here. Here are a few links: Search Results for Query: pre-emphasis | Steve Hoffman Music Forums This is what Wiki says about it: Emphasis (telecommunications) - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emphasis_(telecommunications)#Red_Book_audio
Well, no sooner did I start on the Beethoven quartets than I'll need to make a detour. My first encounter with the Beethoven violin sonatas (and my first complete set of them) was by Gruenberg with pianist David Wilde on CRD. I should really go back to them and play them again; I haven't had the set out in years and years. Interesting to see that Gruenberg studied with Max Rostal; Rostal was my "great discovery" a year or two back, thanks to a wonderful collection on the Melo Classics historical issue label, and I've been avidly collecting his records ever since. Curiously, although it was still a fairly recent release (digital stereo LPs), I got the sonata box from the bargain bin at an Atlanta record store, where it cost me some relative pittance, like $5 or so. That was an exciting day.
And he also just so happened to play with The Beatles on several recordings including A Day In The Life.
I'm a big fan of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, but I had never heard of this release until recently. Now spinning: Wagner / Sibelius / Turina / Wolf / Puccini / Berlioz / Dvořák: Orchestral works. Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, DG.
Haven't heard of David Wilde before. Then again, I imagine you own a ton of stuff I've never heard, David.
OK, then, I'd like to tell you all about him. I'd like to--but I know nothing beyond that he recorded the piano side of Beethoven's violin sonatas with Erich Gruenberg! [five minutes elapse] Fortunately, he does have an article in my favorite online reference resource, Wikipedia, "The Encyclopedia anyone can edit." Here are some highlights, which were all news to me: Wilde is an English pianist and composer, now 85 years old (but see below). He was a piano student of Solomon and another Solomon student, Franz Reizenstein; he studied composition with Hindemith and Vaughan Williams. He won first prize at the Liszt-Bartok competition in Budapest in 1961, and at her invitation he thereafter studied with Nadia Boulanger, who had been a member of the jury. He also won "several major prizes" that the article does not specify. As a teacher he was Professor of Piano at the Music Academy in Hannover for the last 20 years of the 20th c. and since then has been Visiting Professor in Keyboard Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Of Wilde's compostions, Yo-Yo Ma recorded "The Cellist of Sarajevo" (1992), dedicated to Vedran Smailovic, for Sony, and the State Theatre of Lower Saxony produced an opera, "London Under Siege," in 1998. Wilde is noted for composing works to protest human rights abuses. In addition to the Beethoven violin sonata set, Wilde has recorded a sonata for violin and piano by Reizenstein (his teacher, as you'll recall from above), a concerto composed for him by Thomas Wilson, and unspecified music of Chopin, Dallapiccola, Busoni, Liszt, Schumann, and Brahms. In the past, he has recorded for HMV, l'Oiseau Lyre, Lyrita, Saga, and CRD; he "now records exclusively for Delphian Records of Edinburgh." How much of the foregoing is up to date (including, I suppose, whether the man is still alive) appears to be open to question, as the article includes the statement "A Beethoven recital is due to be issued in 2010." So there you go!
