Works by this minor English baroque composer Charles Avison are actually quite nice and are better known than when I first picked up the following 3-LP box around 1980 at my favorite b&m store J&R Classical in downtown NY ... I also have the CD version, the following Philips DUO
Now playing: David Diamond - String Quartets Nos. 3 & 8; Concerto for String Quartet - Potomac SQ - recorded 2000, 2001
On the turntable: Lennox Berkeley – Symphony No. 2 Op. 51 & Piano Concerto In B Flat Op. 29 HNH Records – HNH 4079
Recorded 9/27/78, Dom, Freiberg, East Germany. A c0-production with VEB Deutsch Schallplatten. Producer: Dr. Gerd Ploebsch. Recording director: Reimar Bluth. Engineer: Eberhard Richter. There is a short 'Karl Richter in Memoriam' essay by tenor Schreier about his friend & colleague Richter, who died in early 1981 at 54. A whole album with just tenor & organ is unusual, but both musicians are excellent. The name Schreier derives from "crier", as in "town crier", but the singer is certainly not a shouter, having a very clear & pleasant sound. This LP was sold at Boscov's, a department store chain based in Pennsylvania.
Now enjoying this album of Voices and Brass: Music by baroque German composers Heinrich Schütz, Johann Schein and Samuel Scheidt. Purcell Chorus of Voices and the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, directed by Raymond Leppard. Argo LP made in England Although the record label shows "(p) 1969" as the date of publication, the inner sleeve on my copy is dated "12-76" and I bought it new in 1978... so I'm pretty sure I have a repress. Still sounds wonderfully vibrant. The brass playing is very impressive; vocals are decidedly not HIP.
Noticing the "$2.99" sticker on the cellophane... That would have been a substantial discount for an Archiv (DG) LP back in '81.
I listened to roughly 2 of the 8.5 hours of this recording today. That’s about all my brain can handle in one day!
And? Was it a two hours well spent? Will you be listening to the rest? I'm asking because I see that the whole thing is only $11.09 for a FLAC download on Presto, so I wonder if it's worth it.
Oh sure! I've owned it for about a year and have listened it to a few times and enjoy it. That's a great bargain. In fact, the download has one advantage over the CD: one of the movements is about 100 minutes and requires a CD change, but you can listen to it uninterrupted via a download.
Switching to baroque guitar music now... Four Partitas by Georg Philipp Telemann. Narciso Yepes and Godelieve Monden, guitars DG LP / 1981 / German pressing Written by Telemann for two lutes; transcribed for two 10-string guitars by Yepes who performs here with his pupil, Godelieve Monden. Music is light and joyful. Recording has just the right amount of hall reverb to make sound full and lively.
Time for another trip to SF! Years ago -we stayed at the Stanyan Hotel near Haight looking onto Golden Gate Park. One child in a pack-the other in a stroller-we hit many of the playgrounds in our roaming about.
I have always liked Peter Schreier, who was considered the best export from the former East Germany. Schreier sang the role of the Evangelist in many versions of the Bach St. Matthew Passion, including one where he was the conductor himself. I am glad Karl Richter is being re-discovered. The HIP movement was really very harsh to someone who pioneered the performance of Bach choral works starting in the early 1950's. Richter was also a phenomenal keyboard player on both the organ and the harpsichord. As the son of a Lutheran pastor, he certainly lent a lot of authenticity to the many Bach choral works he conducted ...
The then prevailing price was probably $5.99 - $6.99 depending on the store, not including Tower Record ...
This LP has been one of my Desert Island Disks for decades…since I first acquired it when it first came out. I bought the big boxes of Yepes CDs hoping it might be in there. Unlike Yepes Ms Monden made few recordings. As far as I know it’s never been available on CD at least in the US nor via streaming. In fact it’s the reason that I acquired the software to transfer music from my turntable through my Mac to a flac file. Just a delightful listening experience. Methinks I’ll go listen to it now!
Archiv Produktion 2533 115, issued 1972. Recorded 12/20-21/71 and 1/3-5/72, Herkules-Saal, Munich. Production & recording supervision: Dr. Gerd Ploebsch. Engineer: Klaus Scheibe. My Heart Swims In Blood is quite a title. Might be good for a Heavy Metal album.
Columbia Masterworks M2 31313, 2-LP set issued 1972. No. 6 recorded in concert 10/67, Severance Hall, Cleveland. Produced by Robert Conrad for radio broadcast on the Cleveland Orchestra Syndication Service. Associate producer: Michael Charry, who was Assistant Conductor of the orchestra 1965-72 and Music Director of the Nashville Symphony 1976-82. Engineers: Vladimir Maleckar & Milton Cherin. Maleckar was Audio Supervisor for Cleveland Orchestra broadcasts & Cherin a Columbia engineer. The fourth side is filled with the long Adagio from the unfinished 10th and a short Purgatorio sketched in 1910. This side first appeared on Epic BC 1024 in 1959 and was recorded 11/1/58 in Severance Hall and probably produced by Howard Scott.
Suk: A Summer's Tale, Op. 29 Suk: A Winter's Tale, Op. 9 Andrew Mogrelia Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra 1999 Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 18 Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 6 in E flat minor, Op. 23 Evgeny Svetlanov Russian Federation Academic Symphony Orchestra 1991-93
I have to say, the final movement of Myaskovsky's 6th symphony was fantastic! They also seem to fly by, probably part of enjoying them so much. I was very surprised to see the 6th clock in at over and hour, when it felt much less than that. On to the 7th and 8th now, interesting that so many of his early symphonies are in minor keys. Of the first 10, only 2 are major, Nos. 5 and 8. Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 7 in B minor, Op. 24 Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 8 in A major, Op. 26 Evgeny Svetlanov Russian Federation Academic Symphony Orchestra 1991-93
One of my favourite performances of Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde is the recording with Peter Schreier and Birgit Finnilä, conducted by Kurt Sanderling and the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester. So now listening to this masterpiece.
