Time for some back-to-back Brahms works: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Hélène Grimaud, piano Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Andris Nelsons String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36 The Raphael Ensemble From this OOP set - Nänie, Op. 82 Rundfunkchor Berlin Berliner Philharmoniker Abbado From this OOP set -
Szymanowski, Debussy: String Quartets Quartetto Prometeo Brilliant Classics Interesting pairing, but good performances nonetheless.
Are you a recent Brahms convert? I can't seem to recall a single time you posted about Brahms prior to your hiatus. Anyhow, if you are: welcome to the party! I'll also suggest you look for Abbado's 1970's Brahms cycle on DG. It's worth investigating if you are a fan of the conductor.
I am, indeed and, thanks! Brahms has been a composer I really enjoyed earlier on in my classical listening, but he had kind of fallen out of favor. And then began a long period where I was quite simply indifferent to his music. Over the last six months or so, I've made tremendous progress with the composer and as a result of this, I ended up buying A LOT of recordings of his music, although I was already pretty well covered for his orchestral, concerti and choral works. It was his chamber and solo piano music that I definitely needed to build up my collection, so I bought the Complete Chamber Music box set on Hyperion (and several other chamber releases on Hyperion not included in this set), the Emerson Quartet's SQ cycle, the Belcea Quartet's SQ cycle, many recordings of the Violin Sonatas et. al. Yeah, I went a little crazy, but Brahms is proving to yield so many rewards and it's in the area of re-listening where he yields the most. The last Brahms symphony cycle I bought was the Robin Ticciati/Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Linn, but I haven't even broke the plastic wrap of this set yet. I need to give this set a listen --- maybe tomorrow!
More Brahms and last work for the night: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 Martin Fröst, Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn, Maxim Rysanov, Torleif Thedéen
sounds great for a nearly 70 year old record, recorded in 1952, this is a repress a few years later Budapest String Quartet, Beethoven* – The Complete String Quartets Of Ludwig Van Beethoven Label: Columbia Masterworks – ML 4581 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Repress Country: US Released: Genre: Classical Style: Romantic, Classical
I had only heard his Symphonic Studies previously. I like these Symphonies a lot. These are mid-Twentieth Century works, some parts are bit astringent but mostly lyrical and not atonal. Alan Rawsthorne: Symphony No. 1 (1950) Symphony No. 2 "A Pastoral Symphony" (1959)* Symphony No.3 (1964) Charlotte Ellett (soprano)* Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra David Lloyd-Jones RAWSTHORNE Symphonies 1-3 NAXOS 8.557480 [EM]: Classical CD Reviews- March 2005 MusicWeb-International RAWSTHORNE Symphonies 1-3 NAXOS 8.557480 [GPJ]: Classical CD Reviews- April 2005 MusicWeb-International
NP: Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 Scottish Chamber Orchestra Robin Ticciati From this set -
Édouard Lalo; Symphonie espagnole, For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 21 Maurice Ravel: Tzigane, Concert Rhapsody For Violin And Orchestra Ida Haendel, violin Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ancerl
NP: Schoenberg Die glückliche Hand, Op. 18 Sigmund Nimsgern (bass) BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra Pierre Boulez From this OOP set - Schoenberg continues to be a source of inspiration for me. I particularly love his 'Free Atonal' period where works were written in a kind of stream-of-consciousness as if it were a hallucination of some kind. One of my favorite composers.
Brahms: Haydn Variations; Symphony No.2 Vienna Philharmonic & István Kertész Decca A classic set. Kertész' tragic death in a freak drowning accident robbed us of one of the great podium talents of his generation. Apparently, the Haydn Variations on this set were completed without a conductor by the VPO as a tribute to Kertész - he died in the midst of making these recordings for Decca.
Now playing: WA Mozart - Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 20 - Gardiner/EBS, Malcolm Bilson (fortepiano) My kids are driving me utterly nuts at the moment. Need something calming.
Pretty dead in this thread... NP: Gershwin Piano Concerto in F Freddy Kempf, piano Bergen Philharmonic Andrew Litton
Brahms: Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor, op.102 The Cleveland Orchestra & George Szell David Oistrakh, violin; Mstislav Rostropovich, cello Capitol [24-96 LP rip, LDX 78495, French pressing, 1972] rec. Severance Hall, 1970 I've never liked the sound of these recordings on CD, and this rip does sound better. Capitol/EMI were never at the front of the class when it came to sound quality, IMO. The vinyl is pretty quiet- but it wasn't declicked, so there are some pops and clicks here and there - the real vinyl experience
