Schumann / Grieg: Piano Concertos Clifford Curzon (Grieg); Friedrich Gulda (Schumann) London Symphony Orchestra Olvin Fjelstadt, cond (Grieg); Volkmar Andrae, cond (Schumann) Bartok: Orchestral Works Budapest Festival Orchestra & Ivan Fischer Philips
Yes, well, this particular set I own is the reissued one from a few years ago, but, as we all know too well, these sets come and go so fast. One of the problems with collecting classical music or trying to build a collection if you’re just starting out, will always be availability it seems.
Nice! I love those symphonies, but I prefer the Wergo set with Kubelik et. al. Of course, outside of the numbered symphony cycle there are several others worth checking out if you haven’t already like Symphonische Hymnen, Sinfonia Tragica and Symphony l’oeuvre.
One of the great Honegger symphonic recordings, IMHO. For the complete cycle, I still love Baudo’s on Supraphon.
Yes the Wergo set is special, had it for about 30 years. See I got it in a Cookshop where the owner was selling of his vinyl, he introduced me to so much great music.
I have that set, but I haven't listenened to it nearly enough. When it comes to Shostakovich I mostly listen to the string quartets. I do remember the 11th symphony being an early favorite though. Which other symphonies from the Kondrashin set stand out in your opinion?
I love Shostakovich’s SQs a lot as well (my go-to set of SQs is the earlier Borodin Quartet’s cycle on Melodiya). Some standout performances so far in this Kondrashin set have been the 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th. I haven’t listened to the whole set and have been slowly working my way through it. I also love Rozhdestvensky’s symphony cycle on Melodiya. His cycle would be my #2 choice. Of course, his set is way out-of-print.
I'm so glad that Qobuz has this set. I'd love to have the CDs, or better yet, the SACD set that was briefly available, but I don't want to have to take out a loan to buy it.
Hah! I know the feeling. It seems this set goes in and out-of-print rather quickly, but if you want to buy the physical set, you probably won’t have to wait too long as it’ll be reissued at some point I’m sure. In 2026, if we all can hopefully live that long, will be an anniversary year for Shostakovich: 50 years since his death (1976).
I've always wondered what that word meant. Now I know: Definition of Glagolitic : written in, constituting, or belonging to an alphabet of which the invention is attributed to St. Cyril in the 9th century a.d. and which was formerly used in writing various Slavic languages but is now used only in Catholic liturgical books in a limited area along the eastern coast of the Adriatic
What I love about Janacek is his use in his great choral and opera, for me the best bits, is the the odd rhythms of Slavic speech. I have now heard three operas in English, great nights out, but could not wait to get back to my Supraphon LPs.