Picked up working through the monstrous Karajan box again today. Been loosely working through chronologically, but it's basically pulling out the book, flipping through, and stopping when I find a piece or composer that catches my eye. Now playing: Stravinsky Le Sacre du Printemps from the 60s portion of the box.
Just finished listening to the CD as I needed to stop at the completion of Cantata No. 212 to prepare an early dinner. I popped in the CD/ROM for the first time to look up on the soloists and it appears Christine Schäfer was the soprano for these cantatas. I thought it was CS from the voice but neither the printed libretto nor the CD label provides this info. The CD/ROM confirms it was her. I suppose CD/ROM has come to the rescue as it is just pretty unwieldy to provide all the required info in print. Can't say I am a big fan of these CD/ROM's as there is no capability for intelligent search ...
Have been listening more to CDs, mostly when I drive. My car doesn't have Bluetooth, USB port. It's a Japanese import, so Benzo's radio stations are set to Japanese frequencies and he can't pick up local FM stations. But he has a CD player (and Harman Kardon 6 CD changer in the trunk) and a very nice sound system. So my classical CDs have a home now to be enjoyed in. This morning I drove and listened to this.
My favorite American-born pianist. BTW, there is no CDP in my 2018 Honda CRV and the digital player I use when I walk does not appear to work through the car USB port ... So I heard it has been bitterly cold in the land of Calgary ...
The complete Karajan DG/Decca box is a bit too much for me, both musically and financially, but I hope to get the 1960s box soon. I'm not a big Karajan fan, but I must admit that I do like quite a few of his recordings from that decade.
How big is that 1960's box? I have most of the Karajan 1970's recordings but his best recordings were made during the 1960's ...
Ohh yeah. Nasty for the last while. We actually had a mild winter so far, milder than usual. I was away to Mexico City for 9 days and when I got back it was an astounding - 30 C (-22 F). YUCK! Since then it's been consistently hovering around - 25 C for lows and - 20 C for highs......
82 CDs, "original jacket"-style. While the 1950s with (mostly) the Philharmonia Orchestra weren't bad, on the contrary, I agree that the 1960s were his prime years, with a great orchestra. As the years went on many of Karajan's recordings became too slick for my taste (for want of a better description), though his Bruckner and Mahler from the 1970s and early 1980s were excellent.
Looks like the price tag could be $150 - 200 ... Unfortunately, getting the 1963 Beethoven Symphonies cycle for the third time (already have one redbook version and an SACD version) is just not the most exciting idea ...
Sometimes neat things happen on these internets. I post my LPs on the Classical Music on Vinyl FB page. After I posted this one it was commented on by none other than the producer, Steven Epstein. He gave us some information (as best as he remembered) about the recordings & we had a nice, multi-person exchange with him.
The copy of the 1960s set I hope to get soon cost me 120 euros plus shipping from Germany. Nice price
Looks like the box is already on the market for some £200.00 on Amazon UK. So your 120 euros plus shipping from Germany is indeed a great price ...
First listen to CD 9 from "Charles Munch - The Complete RCA Album Collection" on Sony. with the Boston Symphony Orchestra: Brahms - Concerto No. 2 - Arthur Rubinstein
Issued 1969, with this unfortunate cover. Coordinator: Teresa Sterne. Engineer: Carl Volkers. This is well-sung, but I enjoyed the German choirs more.
IIRC, Teresa Sterne was the one who put Nonesuch on the map as a serious publisher of classical music at a budget price ...
I'll confess, it's the one part of my collection I look at periodically and wonder if I'd taken a blow to the head before buying it. Fortunately, the price was more than reasonable given that I picked it up both when calling in a debt AND during one of eBay's site-wide sales that happened to coincide with a deal ImportCDs was running through their eBay account... At least I can say I didn't break the bank, but it certainly wasn't cheap (though the price per-disc was insanely inexpensive). I just knew that I liked what I'd heard of Karajan's work while sampling and that picking up one of the individual sets while waiting to get the others would have likely left me scrambling to track down one or two that had gone out of print in the interim - and that, me being me, I'd want everything I could get my hands on ultimately. I can see how his recordings could see "slick" as you put it. In some ways, Karajan's interpretations strike me as architectural diagrams. You get the sense of the moving parts and their relationships without necessarily getting the full emotional impact. It probably sounds like I'm damning with faint praise here, but it's an approach that sometimes really appeals to me. Now playing: Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 2, 4 & 5 from the Szeryng box.
