Listenin' to Classical Music and Conversation

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by bluemooze, Feb 22, 2017.

  1. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    I know what you mean. I didn't realize it at first, that performances could be so different. :)
     
  2. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    Listening to "A Wondrous Mystery - Renaissance Choral Music For Christmas" performed by Stile Antico on Harmonia Mundi.

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  3. ubertrout

    ubertrout Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I think I've said it here before, but my favorite line is very NYC-centric: Why Do they call it the Bruckner Expressway? Because it's long and boring and doesn't go anywhere.

    I think with Bruckner it's vital to hear a performance where the extremely long melodic lines are the focus - one reason Karajan was at his best with Bruckner.
     
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  4. layman

    layman Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    1st listen:
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    Initial thoughts: really nice recorded sound...light and breezy performances...the 1st Symphony delights but the 3rd Symphony lacks the emotional weight, the passion, drama and gravitas of my favorite recording:
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  5. ubertrout

    ubertrout Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    This makes total sense, but the sense of immersion that surround offers can be wonderful. But too many SACDs are the Northern South German Chamber Radio Symphony in a live recording conducted by a maestro who at best beats time adequately. The goal is to get both the performance and the sound, but that's rare.
     
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  6. layman

    layman Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    :D
     
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  7. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    I'll suggest Rudolf Serkin/Ormandy for Schumann's Piano Concerto if you haven't heard it.
     
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  8. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    First listen to CDs 2 & 3 from "Bach - St. Matthew Passion" performed by Collegium Vocale Gent led by Philippe Herreweghe on Harmonia Mundi.

    Featuring Ian Bostridge, Franz-Josef Selig, Sibylla Rubens, Andreas Scholl, Werner Gura and Dietrich Henschel.

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  9. DeepFloyd11

    DeepFloyd11 Lady Eclectic

    Location:
    Canada
    I kind of agree with your wife! I mean I don't know how vast your collection is, but once you have multiple copies and versions of anything - it's time to take a deep breath and sleep on it. I have a hard time with my husband sometimes about the same issue (he has probably anywhere from 15 K - 20 K LPs) and a few thousand CDs.
    My classical LP collection grew quickly because of the 2 summer dollar sale and I have around 800 LPs. I don't think I will be adding much more to it - but the very odd thing I was not able to find but want to own. I can always use Discogs for that to treat myself once in a while.
    I'd rather save our money to travel while we are young and mobile enough to do that....so yeah. I am also not overly happy when my husbands spends too much on more LPs.....:help:
     
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  10. DeepFloyd11

    DeepFloyd11 Lady Eclectic

    Location:
    Canada
    Have a wonderful and safe trip! Enjoy the season and the food that comes with it! :wave:
     
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  11. bigstar87

    bigstar87 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milwaukee
    from the Charles Munch RCA Album Collection:
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    I normally listen to mono strictly on speakers but it sounded very good on headphones, excellent remastering; I love Casadesus with Szell (which I listened to a couple of months ago in the Szell box) but this was pretty good too
     
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  12. Mr Bass

    Mr Bass Chevelle Ma Belle

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    Arguably even the Second Viennese School of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern plus Korngold, Zemlinsky, Schreker and others were attempting to carry on the Germano Austrian tradition. WW 2 finally killed it.
     
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  13. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    A Christmas gift for yourself?

    I bought mine a few years ago. My Christmas gifts for myself is a HP desktop running Windows 10 Pro and the following box, the last Complete Bach Cantatas box I am likely to buy

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  14. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Wow.....20,000 LPs. That is amazing and must be filled with great recordings.
    I need to count but I think I have around 5,000 CDs. I sold all of my LPs around 5 years ago. I just moved a few months ago and the boxes of CDs and DVDs was an issue again....will we have space etc. Luckily, we have a spare room in the garage for my collection. I freeze when I look for something but what can I do.
    I have actually come to the conclusion that more performances of the works I like is something I can pass on. I wish I had not bought multiple versions of the same works over the years and instead bought CDs of works that I did not have.
    We are retired and I really should not spend like I did when we were working. I have spent enough on new equipment so it is time to cool the purchases.
     
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  15. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I am just about done with collecting classical recordings. With 3 Complete Bach Cantatas box and over 7,600 CD's and a few thousand LP's, I do not need to add many more ...
     
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  16. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    I've not quite reached that point yet, I'm still interested in complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas sets and am currently listening to audio samples of Stewart Goodyear's complete set for the second time. It took me a while to get used to his tempo choices, but I liked most of what I heard. Maybe next year :)

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  17. Mr_Vinyl

    Mr_Vinyl Forum Resident

    Truth be told, many people feel that way. Of course, there are many others who feel that Strauss would be the last one because of the timeline, but for me - and I love Strauss - I tend to think of him as something of a Brahms, someone who saw the path laid out in front of him, but resisted taking that path.
     
  18. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
    I read Thomas Mann's novel 'Doctor Faustus' last year. The subtitle is 'The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, Told by a Friend'. You might say that in large part it is about the "fate" of German Music.
     
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  19. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Now playing CD1 from the following twofer from my JS Bach collection ...

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  20. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
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    I played this twice & still I'm not sure what I think. Maybe it's that Igor was considered such a genius that everything he wrote was a masterpiece, while a lot of his later music fails to really impress me. On side two he conducts The Columbia Symphony Orchestra in his arrangement of music from Tchaikovsky's 'Sleeping Beauty' (recorded 12/17/63, Manhattan Center) and The CBC Symphony Orchestra in 'Scenes de Ballet' (3/28/63, Massey Hall, Toronto). 'Jeu de Cartes' was recorded 3/13/64, Severance Hall). Issued 1964. Producer: John McClure.
     
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  21. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
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    1974 reissue of a 1965 release. I like the more radical 'Venetian Games' (1961) better than the earlier pieces (1954 & 1958). Sorry about the price sticker.
     
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  22. Octave

    Octave Shake Appeal

    This is such good advice, I took it a couple years ago! :righton: I was lucky and found an outstanding deal on a slightly damaged copy; it includes most (iirc) of the recommendations of Yasujiro from ~p. 1502 of this thread. However, I must say I don't care much for the way the discs are housed in that Pavarotti FIRST DECADE set. Suspending the discs from little foam buttons---am I remembering this right?---again big cardstock pages...it seems like a terrible design decision. But you are right about everything else about that set. Lovely.
    I also ordered the TROVATORO/Bonynge recommended above.
    Thanks btw for that DVD advice.

    I went through that series this year and really liked it. More generally I have really enjoyed everything I've heard on that label, including discs of Fauré and late Beethoven sonatas.

    Idle curiosity, what CD player do you use? I moved so many times from ~2003-2008 (exactly as many as you, maybe even a couple times more!) that I should know better than to own anything ever again. But here I am, asking about audio gear.

    Some recent listening:

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    Samuel Barber: VANESSA (Steber, Gedda, Elias, Tozzi, Resnick, cond. Mitropoulos - rec. 1958)



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    Jean Francaix: [CHAMBER MUSIC] (The Gaudier Ensemble - Hyperion)

    Enjoyable light music. I think I am going to get into Francaix's sensibility, if these pieces are at all representative.
     
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  23. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    Well, if you have this set, you already have the finest of Pavarotti...so from now on, you could freely explore further :) Actually, even in some of his later and "controversial" recordings, Pavarotti is always performing up to very high standards, so you really can't go wrong with anything he ever recorded.

    As a side note, because I can see that you appreciate beautiful singing, let me give you one other recommendation about the "third" of the three tenors. Jose Carreras was in already a severe vocal decline when he hit the mainstream fame in 1990, but for a brief period during the 70's no one, even Pavarotti, could rival his outstandingly beautiful and captivating sound. So if you're curious, check this fantastic CD of his first recital (plus bonus tracks from his second):

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  24. Daedalus

    Daedalus I haven't heard it all.....

    I have become judicias in my collecting as well.
     
  25. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    “He who offers this record for sale infringes Copyright” :) Good, I guess if you’re a “she”, you’re off the hook.
     
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