Wonderful, highly recommended! Alina Ibragimova is one of my favourites among contemporary female violinists, along with Isabelle Faust.
Plush but pleasing recordings made 9/14-16/76, St. John's, Smith Square, London. Producer: Chris Hazell. Engineers: Stan Goodall & Martin Atkinson. Issued in the U.K. on Argo, 6/77. This U.S. issue is from 2/78.
Sibelius Piano Quintet in G minor, JS 159 Jaakko Kuusisto (violin), Laura Vikman (violin), Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic (viola), Joel Laakso (cello), Folke Gräsbeck (piano) From this set:
I don't think so. I imagine a lot of the World Record Club recordings never made it to CD. The label was bought by EMI in 1965 & this album was reissued on their Classics for Pleasure label.
Now listening to audio samples from this Nonesuch CD, with works by Mozart, Chopin, Debussy and Beethoven:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Sibelius: Symphony No.2 Royal Concertgebouw & George Szell Philips And assorted bits from this box: Geza Anda: Troubadour of the Piano DG Namely the Bartok rhapsodies, the Schubert D960, and the Chopin Etudes and Polonaise Heroique. While he's famous as being the first pianist to record the entire Mozart PC cycle, it's too bad Anda's prime mostly spanned the pre-Stereo era, and that he's not more well-known for his other forays into the core repertoire. He made some absolutely brilliant recordings. The Brahms 2 with Fricsay and the Schumann PC with Kubelik (both included in this set) are two of the finest performances of either of these works, IMO. Particularly the Brahms, which I have on my short list.
Listening to "Berlioz - Beatrice ed Benedict" performed by the Chorus et Orchestre de l'Opera de Lyon led by John Nelson on Erato.
Elgar The Spirit of England, Op. 80 Teresa Cahill, soprano Sir Alexander Gibson, conductor Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus Scottish National Orchestra
Was listening again to audio samples from the Géza Anda DG set. His playing is certainly something to get used to, and I'm not sure it's really my cup of tea; it sounds very percussive to me - a bit too much so - and some of his tempo choices don't convince me. But then again, I've only heard samples. [edit] I liked the later performances of the Schumann pieces a lot better, but Beethoven's Diabelli Variations not at all.
Next, Géza Anda's 1950s EMI Schumann recordings as reissued by Testament. I prefer these recordings to the DG set mentioned earlier.
Leifs Hafís (Drift Ice), Op. 63 Iceland Schola Cantorum Iceland Symphony Orchestra Anne Manson How about some Icelandic music people? [Crickets chirping.] But, seriously, Leifs is fantastic and a little of his music goes a long way but his music is so distinctive and in works like his Requiem or Réminiscence du Nord, there’s a different side to this composer that I find rather compelling.
Enjoying these Quartets by Franz Schubert in the pre-dawn hours. Beautifully performed by the Juilliard String Quartet. Epic LP, mono, 1966.
Since jpc has some BIS releases for budget prices at the moment, I ordered some. Right now I'm listening to this CD with music by Ligeti for €5.99. It's a bit silly how they're marketing it on the success of Kubrick's movie, but it seems to offer a good introduction for a newbie to Ligeti like me.
I jumped back into The Radio Legacy Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra box set this morning. Right now I am listening to a 1951 performance of Brahms, Symphony 1 conducted by Eduard van Beinum. The CD also contains a Dinu Lipatti piano performance in a Bach concerto. The recording used was a “private recording”. Nice to have it -excellent performance from a pianist who did not leave too many recorded performances. And the Brahms? I am immensely enjoying it.
