Favourite Purchases of 2012

[Que]

Time for the traditional end of the year thread!

This thread is about your favourite purchases of the year - and they do not need to be new recordings.

With all due respect to our resident reviewers, that is more of a reviewer thing.... Personally I buy few new recordings and hardly ever "new" recordings in the year of their issue.

Anyway, I browsed through all my posts of 2012, and here are my favourites in random order:



Predictably, a lot of Baroque and Early Music! And it was a good Mozart year for me.

Of these, I think the Hogwood set of Mozart symphonies, Vernet's Bach organ music set and the organ music set by Merulo were the most significant amongst my discoveries.

Q

[Brahmsian]

Without any question, this is my favourite purchase of 2012

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A few other favourites of the year:

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[Mirror Image]

A few of mine:

[TheGSMoeller]

My favorite purchases from recordings released in previous years. With my top choice being a tie between Minkowski's Berlioz and Artis Quartet's Webern...

 

The rest in random order...

         



Now recordings released this year. Top honors easily going to Vinikour's Rameau harpsichord works.

[North Star]

Random order.
Part one:

[North Star]

Part two:

[North Star]

And part three:







I know there's a lot, but I honestly couldn't trim it down more - every album/box is desert island material.

[Mirror Image]

I know there's a lot, but I honestly couldn't trim it down more - every album/box is desert island material.

That's exactly how I feel about the purchases I posted, which isn't even a quarter of all the purchases I've made this year.

[Drasko]

Made very few CD purchases this year. At least makes picking favorites relatively easy.

[Karl Henning]

And part three:







I know there's a lot, but I honestly couldn't trim it down more - every album/box is desert island material.

Karlo, it's downright scary how many of these I either owned before this year, or acquired this year myself : )

[North Star]

Karlo, it's downright scary how many of these I either owned before this year, or acquired this year myself : )

Well, Karl, it shows that you've had some influence (and Luke, too) - good for you that I like them 

[StLukesguildOhio]

In spite of what follows, I have actually been cutting back this year. Honest! No really.



Among my favorite purchases this year have been a number of recordings of 19th/early 20th century French music. I am especially fond of the Ernest Ansermet recordings released on the budget Australian label, Eloquence. He captures my ideal of Ravel and Debussy, etc... far more than Boulez, who ignores the sensitivity of touch and sensuality in favor of a "harder" modernist sound that I find foreign to these composers.



Among my French purchases, I picked up a couple more discs of French songs performed by the inimitable Gérard Souzay. The Reiner/Offenbach disc was one of the few classical LPs that my parents owned... and it is simply delicious... as are Minkowski's recordings of Offenbach's operettas. Ibert was a real surprise. My studio-mate... and old tied-in-the-wool Modernist who insists that art must be serious and tragic absolutely despised Ibert's Divertissement which he called "Bug's Bunny and Spike Jones Music on LSD". THis is exactly what I loved about it. He's the perfect antidote for overdosing on Wagner, Brahms, and Beethoven.



Berlioz is one of those composers I have long underrated... sadly so. The Gardiner/Messe Solenelle simply rocks the walls... and the Gounod is just as fun. Along with Offenbach (and Massenet), I started to delve into the Viennese operettas. All of these discs... with Richard Tauber, Erich Kunz, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Otto Ackermann, etc... are simply Viennese bon-bons at their finest. Absolute joy.



My music collection centers upon the "German/Austrian Hegemony" as a member at another site sarcastically termed it. After that... the Italians and the French and the English. Only recently have I begun to dig deeper into the Russian repertoire beyond the "big boys" (Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, etc...). Last year I picked up the Gergiev Rimsky-Korsakov opera box set. I decided to add to this the Schwarz/Seattle recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov's instrumental music/suites from these same operas. Stravinsky's Le Rossignol was a surprise... and a real pleasure... as was Borodin's Prince Igor. I have long wanted a complete set of Rachmaninoff's piano concertos and a friend absolutely swore by Earl Wild. He was right on the mark. This is a stunning performance... and his Chopin Nocturnes are perhaps second only to Rubinstein.



I was inspired by a great documentary on Rostropovich to pick up some more recordings by the great Russian. His recording of Bach's cello suites was never my favorite... but this early live recording from Russia is quite phenomenal. I also picked up Starker's. You can never have too much Bach... especially when it's played this well. I finally got around to picking up the whole of Glenn Gould's WTC, Yehudi Menuhin's great youthful solo violin sonatas and partitas... as well as Kremer's eye-opening interpretation of the same.

[StLukesguildOhio]

Surprisingly I made few purchases of Medieval and Renaissance music this year... and only one disc, the Hilliards performing Gesualdo's 5th book of madrigals, made my favorites. I did pick up a good amount of Baroque music... beyond Bach. A discussion on Telemann on another site (beginning with the usual nonsense of how it all sounds the same) prompted me to pad out my collection of his instrumental works. Rachel Podger's work is stunning... both on the disc of solo violin fantasies, and the CPO disc of violin concertos. I only included a single of these CPO releases here... but they are all stunning. Obviously I developed an obsession with Baroque violin music with Biber, Tartini, Corelli, Baltzar topping off others that I purchased last year. The Robert de Visee disc of music for theorbe is especially unique.



I've slowed down in picking up much music that is wholly new to me, and have focused much more on alternative recordings of favorites... especially historical recordings. Kathleen Ferrier performing Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice on the hi-fi Dutton label was essential... as was Walter's last (live) recording of Mahler in Germany right before the war. I love Leinsdorf's Mahler 3... and the 1st is an added bonus. I picked up the Toscanini at the insistence of a fan... and I must say its has a genuine gravitas. The Busch Quartet performing Beethoven's quartets on Dutton... well what more can you say?   



The Cologne radio Symphony Orchestra released a slew of live radio broadcast performances featuring amazing casts and conductors such as Erich Kleiber and Joseph Keilberth. The casts were virtually a troupe who continually worked together creating an incredible ensemble. The sound is amazingly clear for the period. I've also come to realize that Bohm may be the greatest conductor of Strauss' operas... in spite of the achievements of Solti and Karajan.



Here we find some discs that were real eye-openers. I've long loved Haydn's Creation... but was never overly fond of The Seasons... until Bohm unplugged my ears. I was also surprised to discover Haydn's wealth of lieder... and so well performed by Elly Ameling and Jorg Demus. I've long avoided Bartok's opera, Bluebeard's Castle... but the husband and wife team of Berry and Ludwig with Kertesz bring this internal psycho-sexual drama to life. I found myself comparing the work to Salome and Elektra. Another opera I have long avoided... or simply just never gotten 'round to... was Hansel und Gretel. I've owned the classic Karajan recording for at least a decade... but only listened to it this summer... and I could have kicked myself. I was absolutely blown away. Melodies abound like an opera of Mozart. Like Mozart's Magic Flute, the work suggests roots in folk-music and fairie tales... with a Wagnerian sensuality and spirituality ala Parsifal. I was so taken with the opera I picked up three more versions... this one being my favorite (so far) after the Karajan. Speaking of Mozart... I finally picked up a box set of his complete concert arias. These marvelous works add up to a body of brilliant music equal to another opera and then some. I also picked up a slew of Cosis... and Zauberflotes... so that I now have 6 or 8 recordings of all 4 of Mozart's "Big 4" operas. All three of these recordings are especially fine. Lisa della Casa, Christa Ludwig, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Leopold Simonneau, Bohm, and Karajan, and the latest Rene Jacobs... how can you go wrong?



My Toscanini-loving friend insisted I pick up his recording of Beethoven's 9th. I thought it was OK... but certainly not the best. At the same time, I purchased Fricsay's performance which was selling for somewhere around $2 US. This 9th kicks ass! I was so impressed I picked up a number of other recordings by Fricsay. His Don Giovanni is truly fine... although Krips' remains my favorite... but I've yet to listen to his Zauberflote. The Murray Perahia recording of Mozart's piano concertos is brilliant... and at the price, can't be passed up. The one musical period that I am the most ignorant of is the "Classical Era". Beyond Mozart and Haydn (and early Beethoven) I have but few composers. Boccherini is one I truly must get more of. His intimate chamber Stabat Mater is quite lovely and moving... while the Jordi Savall performances of his instrumental works have such feeling and energy. Kodaly... what can I say... I love these cello works. The Joseph Schwantner disc is the only new music to make my favorites... and some truly lovely stuff it is. The Hugo Wolf set sold for a ridiculous price of less than $15 US for 8 discs of his lieder by a variety of the finest interpreters. I'm still working through this marvelous set.



And then comes Wagner. I picked up the Pappano set on a whim... and because it was selling dirt cheap... and I found I was quite impressed... especially with Placido and Voigt. The Marek Janowski set is actually a damn-fine performance of the Ring... and grossly inexpensive. And then there's the Solti set... 36 discs that I have yet to listen to... and yet I know many of the recordings... certainly his iconic performance of the Ring... and this set may just be the biggest bargain I've stumbled upon this year.

[mc ukrneal]

I made a few more purchases this year, so here are a few of mine:


Then there was this one, which while not strictly classical, is a favorite:


Fianlly, an LP I've been waiting and waiting to be made on CD - still waiting. So I had it ripped to disc for me. It's a real gem...of Bach and Saxophone. I actually played several of these versions and they are huge fun to play.

[Conor71]

I bought a ton of stuff this year and a lot of it I still have'nt got around to hearing yet - I seem to have been enjoying stuff that I purchased a couple of years ago lately . Some of the sets I bought this year which I have enjoyed the most so far:

[marvinbrown]

  For me and especially this year, this is terribly easy..... 2012 was the year I rediscovered Haydn! After avoiding him for so many years and accumulating a collection of over 1000 CDs ranging from Bach to Shostakovich Haydn came crashing through my collection with impeccable style. These 2 recordings have become indispensable:

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  And

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  need I say more?

  marvin

[Sergeant Rock]

With my CDCDCD not responding to medication or reason, I continued to buy, on average, about 25 CDs a month this year. Haydn figured prominently, with boxed sets of Masses purchased (Weil, the Naxos set), the Auryn's quartet cycle, and Fey's ongoing symphony cycle. It's been a great year for Havergal Brian fans. HJ Lim's Beethoven cycle won't figure on anyone else's list--with good reason perhaps--but despite the bad press in general, and the mudslinging in this forum, she and Beethoven have given me much pleasure.

Restricting myself to ten:












Sarge

[trung224]

  Most of my purchases last year are box set. And here is fews of my favorites
Baroque music
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  Marzty's Bach is unexpected passionate, intense and individual.

Austro-German music
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Russian music
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French music
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Modern Music
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[Rhymenoceros]

I love this recording, especially Ravel's String Quartet:

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[Papy Oli]

Lots of great new discoveries this year, but here is a selection of recordings bought this year that I have really enjoyed :












This one below is my major winner of this year, completely opening my ears to the harpsichord world - outstanding !!



Not a bad year at all