A little late night counterpoint with which to wind down. Gorgeous music with wonderful playing and audio quality.
I didn’t have a chance to look at it yet, but I will. Thanks for the reminder. Thread duty - Elgar Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 63 Davis Philharmonia Orchestra This is one of the best performances of the 2nd on record, IMHO. It’s a live recording and there’s an energy that simply isn’t found in Davis’ earlier account on Warner.
I am a huge fan of Scriabin's piano sonatas, particularly the middle and late sonatas. IMHO I have personally not found anyone to be really consistently excellent with Scriabin besides Sofronitsky, Richter and Horowitz who seemed to pretty much always record great Scriabin. Finished Bartok's first violin sonata (Richter with Oistrakh), recording from 1972 from the Melodiya Anniversary box. And coming up Schubert D537, Andrea Lucchesini.
FWIW, this is my favorite set of Scriabin sonatas: No one captures the darkness and brooding quality of these sonatas better than Ruth Laredo, IMHO.
The U.K. issue had the six LPs in a single box. Interestingly, the sides here are labeled 9-12. Recorded 9/74, Kingsway Hall, London. Producer: Christopher Raeburn. Engineer: Philip Wade. Issued 7/77.
I personally think that Richter and Sofronitsky can Horowitz is maybe a bit more colorful tonally and refined. I will have to revisit that Laredo cycle, I thought she was not that technically sound in some of the more difficult passages and played a bit heavy on the pedals with some mistakes that weren't edited. I do think they are nice interpretations and for my tastes I'll take these sort of less than technically perfect interpretations over ones that are meticulously played but lack some of the cataclysm, mystery and darkness.
I have often been disappointed by the mono versions of Living Stereo LPs, but this sounds pretty good. It would be nice to have a stereo copy, but in the meantime I played this one twice. The Ravel is one of my favorites & the d'Indy is growing on me. The pianist was Munch's niece & they recorded the Ravel three times. Recorded 3/24/58, Symphony Hall, Boston. Producer: Richard Mohr. Engineer: Lewis Layton. Issued 1959.
I have all three (London) volumes of these and agree about the odd labeling. It is made more confusing because the inserts (liner notes) in each volume refer to "sides 1-4," yet only the records in the first volume are labeled as such. I can only think that the record labels were numbered that way with the original intent of putting them all in a single box (as Decca did for the UK release).
She may not be as technically proficient as Richter or Sofronitsky, but I’m not looking for technical perfection, I’m listening for a performance that moves me and she’s the only pianist I’ve heard in Scriabin’s sonatas that has done this for me. I think one of the biggest problems with many classical listeners is they looking for performances that are ‘perfect’ or that are without flaws, but the reality is there are none.
Pettersson Symphony No. 7 Segerstam Norrköping SO The middle trilogy of Pettersson symphonies: 6, 7, & 8 are, for me, the pinnacle of his symphonic output. I think there’s too much of a sameness in the later symphonies and they really do wear me down with their persistent onslaughts of doom and gloom with no relief. It’s not that I don’t like darker hued music, it’s just that I feel a piece of music shouldn’t be tied down to single mood or emotion --- there should be a wider palette explored. I get that Pettersson’s life wasn’t a good one, but why make your listeners suffer for it? This is why I like the afore mentioned symphonies from him because of the myriad of emotions that are explored.
Listening to this '60s DGG record of Rostropovich performing the Schumann Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations. Rozhdestvensky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.
FWIW I find Ormandy very good in Russian and Scandinavian works. Of course Finland was part of Russia. I have Sym 1, 4 and 7 of his Sibelius.
Now listening on Spotify (new), The Peace Concert Versailles Yuja Wang Choeur De Radio France, Wiener Philharmoniker, Franz Welser-Möst
Actually, the box pictured was released in 2015. The Decca Analogue Years box was released in 2013 and makes no claims about being mastered from the original tapes.
We are on the same page, I am definitely not one of those people that wants technical perfection at the expense of a moving interpretation. I listen to classical only for my own pleasure and even enjoy dozens of performances that some find take too many interpretive liberties. For instance one of the better Beethoven piano sonata cycles I heard last year was Russell Sherman's when one piano critic brutally slammed one of the discs in the series and while I can see one or two of his complaints I felt his criticism missed the bigger picture in what Sherman was doing (easy to do when you don't listen to the full cycle). Another is I really like many of Celibidache's Bruckner symphonies while others in this thread find them terrible due to the tempi. I suppose my main issue is knowing some of the things that pianists can do to make difficult sections more manageable, and when it is done continuously (to me) it highlights problems. But exceptional complete Scriabin cycles are in very, very short supply. I am almost certain I would enjoy Ruth Laredo the next time I listened to her and emphasis on how much importance I place on all the subjective qualities you highlighted. With Scriabin's music there is also that aspect of synesthesia that he had in mind while composing them, I feel to really achieve these kind of colors (where I feel Horowitz really shone) is in clever/appropriate use of the pedals.
Are some of you listeners accomplished pianists or score readers who can notice a mistake in a Scriabin sonata? I also have Laredo's set which I enjoy.
A much needed three day weekend here, I ordered the Japan SACD of Richter's Salzburg recording of WTC. Hard to say without the set in front of me, I believe this was mastered by the same person that did the Eurodisc Recordings box set. I also have the original 80s CD, so a comparison will be in order.. The conversation part of the thread, had this album cranked up last night, an old favorite: I've been listening to Mosaiques recordings of Haydn's String Quartets, they are exceptional performances.
Listening again to this CD (I have the EMI labelled version) Dvořák Symphony No. 9, Cello Concerto Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Pappano Mario Brunello I attended the concert when Symphony No.9 was recorded and it was such a magnificent performance that I was left with a sense of wonder difficult to put into word. Sadly though, the EMI engineers failed to transfer all the emotions in the recording. The sound is messy and sometimes flat, with a lot of background noise (coming from orchestra members and Pappano himself, not the public). It was poorly registered and mixed. A pity, because this could have been a very fine performance, not setting new standards, but very fine indeed. The Cello Concerto is certainly better recorded than the symphony although it has its flaws.
