I have to admit to finding the sound of the harpsichord unpleasant. I have only heard them in recordings and maybe to hear one live would help but it's something that hasn't happened...........yet. A few years ago I was lucky enough to visit the beautiful Isola Bella in Lake Maggiore and see this fabulous example. I asked if it was ever played but I was told it was only played only to be tuned but not for audiences, even in the music festivals held there. Seems such a shame to me but maybe it doesn't sound as good as it looks.
CD1 TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1, Op.13 "Winter Dreams" New Philharmonia Orchestra Kingsway Hall, London, 1975 Symphony No. 2, Op.17 "Little Russian" Philharmonia Orchestra Abbey Road Studio, London, 1977 Riccardo Muti I figured it about time I caught up with some Tchaikovsky I have neglected for too long. Some beautiful music to be heard here, for sure.
First listen to new arrival "Cipriano De Rore - Le Vergine" performed by The Hilliard Ensemble on Harmonia Mundi France.
And now a recording from 1955. A young Vishnevskaya. Wonderful performance! And a young Avdeyeva( she made her debut at Bolshoi in 1952). Petrov started with Bolshoi in 1940. Possibly the greatest recorded version available-based on performance quality( not sound quality).
Getting geared up to see the symphony performing Shostakovich's 5th, so I'm playing my only performance by Previn. This is a 70s repress
Listening to "Night's Black Bird" performed by Fretwork on Virgin Veritas. Works by Dowland and Byrd.
CDs 2 & 3 TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 3, Op. 29 "Polish" Abbey Road, London, 1977 Symphony No. 4, Op. 36 Abbey Road, London, 1979 Symphony No. 5, Op. 64 Kingsway Hall, London, 1978 Romeo and Juliet Abbey Road London, 1977 Philharmonia Orchestra Riccardo Muti I'm so happy I could snag this little box recently. Great sound and playing.
Have this great recording also, for years there was no commercially avaliable recording of Mahler 5 conducted by Horenstein. But now there are even 3 recordings avaliable.
HIP pioneer Gustav Leonhardt died 10 years ago, reason for Warner Classics to release a 35CD-box: At the moment Amazon Italy has the lowest price: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09HLW6FL3?tag=heidonet0b-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1
Now enjoying Mozart: Piano Concerto No.27 and Concerto No.10 for Two Pianos. Emil and Elena Gilels (father & daughter) Karl Böhm leading the Vienna Philharmonic -- or what sounds like a very scaled-down selection of its members. DG LP/ 1974 / German pressing
Listening to "Ravel - Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte / Miroirs/ Gaspard de la Nuit" performed by Anna Vinnitskaya on Naive.
Now playing: Ludwig van Beethoven - An die ferne Geliebte: Lieder - Peter Schreier, András Schiff - recorded 1994
Now playing: La Bonne Chanson: French Chamber Songs (Ravel, Chausson, Martin, Delage, Saint-Saëns, Poulenc, Fauré) - Anne Sofie Von Otter, Bengt Forsberg - recorded 1994
Thomas Beecham famously quipped that “The sound of a harpsichord – two skeletons copulating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm. ” That about sums up what I think of the harpsichord too! I can tolerate the instrument as background continuo in Baroque music but I shy away from the harpsichord as a featured or solo instrument. If you want to torture me to death...tie me up and force me to listen to some Scarlatti sonatas played on the harpsichord...I would not last until the end of the record.
Currently listening to Prokofiev pieces from Romeo & Juliet, pieces from Cinderella, and three pieces for piano, Op. 96, Frederic Chiu, piano, Harmonia Mundi CD:
I just dug this out in my collection and decided to give it a spin. I've not played it for a long time and I don't know why because the music and the sound quality are both superb. In my mind this is how Liszt's solo piano should sound.
Well, I'll be...a recording by VL that isn't just flash and surface brilliance! She actually plays quite beautifully and sensitively. I was at first concerned about the 18:07 timing of the Bach-Busoni Chaconne, but it's mainly the outer sections that are a bit slower than usual. Qobuz 16/44.1.
Sorry to hear of your disability The Beecham quote really is a funny line, but I suspect it was based on hearing one of the big, iron-framed monsters Wanda Landowska and her contemporaries played (Wikipedia: "huge seven-and-a-half foot long instruments with foot pedal-controlled registers. These were large, heavily built harpsichords with a 16-foot stop (a set of strings an octave below normal pitch) and owed much to piano construction.") And yes, they sound just like Beecham's description. I think both Beecham and you might have a better experience with a better (and more historically accurate) instrument, such as a 16th or 17th century Ruckers or similar. It's a much lighter, and more pleasant, sound. Just my nickel...