Gurn's Classical Corner

[Leo K.]

A friend of mine is burning me a copy of this, and I'm real excited to hear it:



Does anyone have this and what are their thoughts? Among hearing this composer for the first time, I'm looking forward to my first clavichord recording!

[Gurn Blanston]

A friend of mine is burning me a copy of this, and I'm real excited to hear it:



Does anyone have this and what are their thoughts? Among hearing this composer for the first time, I'm looking forward to my first clavichord recording!

Oh, you're gonna like that. I think Sonic Dave has that too, and also Que and Antoine. We like odd stuff...   Seriously, if this is your first go at a clavichord, do it right. The instrument is, by its nature, very quiet. Leave your player at normal volume, don't crank it up to compensate. You sort of have to let your mind switch over and accept it at lower volume. As for the music, I found it very entertaining. Especially the 2nd disk, which is like fantasias (he called them something else, IIRC, but they are fantasias). I liked those a lot.

[Leo K.]

Oh, you're gonna like that. I think Sonic Dave has that too, and also Que and Antoine. We like odd stuff...   Seriously, if this is your first go at a clavichord, do it right. The instrument is, by its nature, very quiet. Leave your player at normal volume, don't crank it up to compensate. You sort of have to let your mind switch over and accept it at lower volume. As for the music, I found it very entertaining. Especially the 2nd disk, which is like fantasias (he called them something else, IIRC, but they are fantasias). I liked those a lot.

Great! I'm glad to hear your thoughts, and glad to hear it's a good recording of music and clavichord  I'll listen to how you suggest, with the volume at normal setting. This will be my chill-out disk after work tonight.

[Leo K.]

I bet it is!

I remember the first time I heard a fortepiano, on the Hogwood/Levin Beethoven piano concertos set. Those are beautiful recordings of those works, still my top choice as a complete set. The sound of the fortepiano was intriguing to say the least. The revelation was the sound of the 4th Concerto, and how the fortepiano sounded with the orchestra. I suddenly heard a work I haven't really heard before. The exquisite sound was breathtaking.

I then bought some of the Melvin Tan/Norrington Beethoven piano concertos when they were released as individual disks. Although the sonics weren't as good, I thought the 4th Concerto sounded more evocative of Beethoven's time, and I'm not sure why! But I prefer the Tan/Norrington 4th Piano Concerto a little more, despite the fortepiano being a little too far back in the mix 

Another thought, that comes from listening to Tan's and Norrington's performance of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto.

Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto has such a soothing pastoral quality.  The music is soft, gentle...it questions in a state of surrender.  The main theme evokes the 5th symphony, turns the motto of the 5th inside out towards a quieter reflection.  This piano concerto doesn't feel like a journey towards a goal.  The still-life meditation of the middle movement (strings and piano only) seems surrounded by Vienna itself, as heard in the allegro movements (subjectively how I hear it).  The short central movement is the heart of the concerto.  The music is almost operatic, proceeding like a recitative, except we never hear the aria that usually follows the recitative.  A radio program once compared this middle movement with Ives' Unanswered Question and it was very interesting to hear a comparison of these two works. As in Ives's Unanswered Question, the strings never answer the piano's interior questions, rather the answer is hidden by the question itself.



My oh my, do I love this work! 

[SonicMan46]

Funny, I work in Radiology too! But I am a clerk, not a tech or a radiologist, though  I wondered about your Avatar!

Hi Leo - good observation of the avatar!     Yep, I'm a Professor of Radiology (becoming an Emeritus at the end of this June - more time to listen to music!) in the Abdominal Section of the Department of Radiology at Wake Forest University Medical Ctr (big department, 50+ MD faculty, 40 residents, & about 20 fellows, not to mention all of the techs, PhDs, Masters, and so many others!) - I've done primarily GI, GU, and abdominal US (hence another log in name for me & my license plate, GIRADMAN) 

Gurn & Leo - that Muthel recording w/ van Delft on clavichord has been on my 'wish list' for months - have not located a copy at the price I wanted to pay but will continue to look! Now the Muthel that I do own is shown below (the 2-disc MDG release is excellent, BTW!) - Dave 

 

[Leo K.]

Hi Leo - good observation of the avatar!     Yep, I'm a Professor of Radiology (becoming an Emeritus at the end of this June - more time to listen to music!) in the Abdominal Section of the Department of Radiology at Wake Forest University Medical Ctr (big department, 50+ MD faculty, 40 residents, & about 20 fellows, not to mention all of the techs, PhDs, Masters, and so many others!) - I've done primarily GI, GU, and abdominal US (hence another log in name for me & my license plate, GIRADMAN) 

Gurn & Leo - that Muthel recording w/ van Delft on clavichord has been on my 'wish list' for months - have not located a copy at the price I wanted to pay but will continue to look! Now the Muthel that I do own is shown below (the 2-disc MDG release is excellent, BTW!) - Dave 

 

That is awesome to hear man! I also help the Ultrasound techs in my job. I'm the "go-to guy" for problems relating with dictation, reports, or image problems in our software 

Speaking of Beethoven, this is my favorite recording of this work. I don't believe this is the greatest recording of the 5th for all time, but it's my own personal favorite 



Personally, I have always been entranced by the epic second movement in this recording, a music suggesting wandering in a grand landscape.  A military sounding fanfare interrupts the flow during the course of the argument, a foreshadowing of the triumph in the finale.  The introspective woodwinds are a total contrast to the extrovert brass and timpani, a questioning over all that has appeared before, or perhaps resignation, and the soft wandering of the quieter sections foreshadows the pastoral pastures of the 6th symphony. 

I wish I could accurately put into words the Maazel/VPO sound...which is almost empty or "isolated" in tone...I often envision an individual alone in a sunlit landscape, like a landscape by Salvador Dali.  Another word that comes to mind is "un-relational".  The drama is always forstalled by a drop in energy or excitement...maybe "depression"...yet when the power, or energy is called back into being, the performance as a whole feels overwhelming and gigantic...even spiritual...but the performance never rests but keeps searching, or wandering.  The performance is more philosophical than dramatic.

I listened to this record on cassette back in the day, with this cover:


(the cover with the "Jawa" on it)

...this has been my favorite Beethoven 5th for over 20 years 

[Que]

A friend of mine is burning me a copy of this, and I'm real excited to hear it:



Does anyone have this and what are their thoughts? Among hearing this composer for the first time, I'm looking forward to my first clavichord recording!

Leo, below a previous comment I made on the set. It's my favourite clavichord recording sofar. I quite like the music: quirky and expressive. If you do so as well, try Georg (Jiri) Benda's sonatas (Box set by Sylvia Georgieva (harpsichord) on Praga would be my rec.)

Very nice, and it grows on me. Written in the "transitional" style, akin to Georg Benda & CPE Bach. Müthel's style is particularly willful, and I like that. The combination of the rather timid nature of the clavichord with such impulsive music, is an interesting touch in this respect. Van Delft gives it his best: propulsive and expressive. Another bonus: the clavichord is a notoriously difficult instrument to record, but that is a succes here.

Samples HERE.

Q

[Leo K.]

Leo, below a previous comment I made on the set. It's my favourite clavichord recording sofar. I quite like the music: quirky and expressive. If you do so as well, try Georg (Jiri) Benda's sonatas (Box set by Sylvia Georgieva (harpsichord) on Praga would be my rec.)

Thanks for your comments Que!

I had a listen to this clavichord recording last night, and this morning, and I'm LOVING it.  The timbre is so organic, so textured, and the music has a wonderful, like you say, "willful" and quirkiness that is engaging, and also, beautiful stretches of calm and atmosphere. I'm very happy to add this to my collection.

[Leo K.]

Has anyone heard Reicha's fugues for piano? Thoughts? It looks very intriging, and the recording below uses a fortepiano 



After hearing a Rejcha mass, I'm very interested in hearing his keyboard music.

[Lethevich]

Has anyone heard Reicha's fugues for piano? Thoughts? It looks very intriging, and the recording below uses a fortepiano 



After hearing a Rejcha mass, I'm very interested in hearing his keyboard music.

That collection alone makes Reicha one of the most important classical period keyboardists IMO - it's surprisingly complex and so inventive

[SonicMan46]

Has anyone heard Reicha's fugues for piano? Thoughts? It looks very intriging, and the recording below uses a fortepiano 



After hearing a Rejcha mass, I'm very interested in hearing his keyboard music.

Leo - I have a nice collection of Anton Reicha but most are his 'wind' compositions w/ an orchestral disc; I've seen the disc above and have other recordings w/ Tuma - so would be quite interested in this offering, esp. after Sara's comments - BUT, seems unavailable on Amazon USA - so for those who own or are searching for this recording, where is it offered?  Thanks - Dave 

[DavidW]

I have my eye on that Mozart Kuijken/Devos set on jpc.de because even with the shipping it's still a bargain.

So are there any other classical era recordings I should look out for on jpc.de to make the most out of the shipping?

[Gurn Blanston]

Leo - I have a nice collection of Anton Reicha but most are his 'wind' compositions w/ an orchestral disc; I've seen the disc above and have other recordings w/ Tuma - so would be quite interested in this offering, esp. after Sara's comments - BUT, seems unavailable on Amazon USA - so for those who own or are searching for this recording, where is it offered?  Thanks - Dave 

Gabriel also gave this a rave review, back in the day. if one were to thumb back 100 or 200 pages there it is. At that time it wasn't locatable either, although I seem to recall that one could get it at the manufacturer's web site. In Czech Republic...

[Gurn Blanston]

I have my eye on that Mozart Kuijken/Devos set on jpc.de because even with the shipping it's still a bargain.

So are there any other classical era recordings I should look out for on jpc.de to make the most out of the shipping?

I don't personally know right this minute, hf, but they frequently have sales that make s&h insignificant. That very disk set, for example. And Brüggen's Haydn set for peanuts, or Immerseel's Beethoven set. for $20. Just have to be in the right place at the right time. Not enough people read this thread to give you full advantage of the latest news. You mght try posting this in the "Recordings you are considering" thread, That seems to get this info out in front of the most people.

[Antoine Marchand]

Gabriel also gave this a rave review, back in the day. if one were to thumb back 100 or 200 pages there it is. At that time it wasn't locatable either, although I seem to recall that one could get it at the manufacturer's web site. In Czech Republic...

I bought my own set directly on Arta Records (http://www.arta.cz/), not just a manufacturer, but a proper (and excellent) music label. I bought several discs (principally Bach by Jaroslav Tuma) and the price was excellent (very, very cheap). They used a secure server (I paid with credit card) and had an excellent customer service.

[Gurn Blanston]

I bought my own set directly on Arta Records (http://www.arta.cz/), not just a manufacturer, but a proper (and excellent) music label. I bought several discs (principally Bach by Jaroslav Tuma) and the price was excellent (very, very cheap). They used a secure server (I paid with credit card) and had an excellent customer service.

Excellent news, Antoine. Unfortunately my poor memory doesn't extend back that far beyond mere essentials.   Tuma has a couple of other recordings I am interested in too, so maybe this is a chance to kill several birds....

[DavidW]

I don't personally know right this minute, hf, but they frequently have sales that make s&h insignificant. That very disk set, for example. And Brüggen's Haydn set for peanuts, or Immerseel's Beethoven set. for $20. Just have to be in the right place at the right time. Not enough people read this thread to give you full advantage of the latest news. You mght try posting this in the "Recordings you are considering" thread, That seems to get this info out in front of the most people.

Alright, will do.

[SonicMan46]

I bought my own set directly on Arta Records (http://www.arta.cz/), not just a manufacturer, but a proper (and excellent) music label. I bought several discs (principally Bach by Jaroslav Tuma) and the price was excellent (very, very cheap). They used a secure server (I paid with credit card) and had an excellent customer service.

Yes, I've been to that site a number of times and debated on a purchase of the 2-CD set of Reicha's keyboard works - maybe I should select a few more?

I have made previous purchases there of Tuma's recordings and agree that the site is perfectly safe - recordings shown below:  Bach WTC, Bach Goldberg Variations, and Bach Inventions & Sinfonias, the first 2 sets as CDs and the third as a MP3 download; all w/ Tuma on clavichord (the Goldbergs contain 2 discs; the other w/ Tuma on a harpsichord).   For the CDs (which were 6 total), the shipping to me in the USA was 220 Czech Koruna ($13.36 at today's conversion rate, so about $2 extra/disc).  Dave 

   

[Antoine Marchand]

   

All of those discs are excellent, dear "46"! 

[Leo K.]

Wow! This is a really fantastic CD 



A new composer to my ears, Christoph Schaffrath (1709 - 1763) but absolutely amazing music. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Schaffrath