New Releases

[Roasted Swan]

Thanks for the tip, but I still buy physical media. I'm old-school.

In the main so do I absolutely but for something like this - another! DSCH cycle that's not filling a major gap I find this a more viable option....

[Roasted Swan]

I listened recently to this new release....



Hopefully forum members know by now I'm not someone who delights in barbed comments and put-downs.  But goodness me I can't remember the last time I heard such compromised playing from a nominally "professional" player.  Clearly much of the time as listeners we can debate our subjective reactions to this or that performance.  Rarely in recent years has it been so patently clear that someone simply cannot play the music in question at a level that merits preservation on a recording and sale to the public.  If you don't believe me this can be found on Spotify (and other streaming channels I assume).  Jump to the best/worst track which is the last one - an Ysaye arrangement of a Saint-Saens Piano Etude to get some sense of the struggles going on here.

Even more head-scratchingly bemusing is the fact that this same disc seems to have received very positive reviews elsewhere (at least according to the violinist's website where they are reprinted).  This player also has a quite extensive discography on the Et'cetera label and what seems to be an impressive playing CV.  Buyer Beware!!!

[Roasted Swan]

I haven't seen this new release mentioned - perhaps I missed it......

https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/the-korngold-symphony

[pjme]

Now I have to try to remember if Koechlin symphony no 1 is based on string quartet no 2, or vice versa. I like Koechlin string quartets. But don't generally like Koechlin orchestral music.

Indeed, yes, Koechlin's first symphony, opus 57 bis (1926) is the orchestration of string quartet nr. 2 (1911-1915). This work is scored for a very "normal" orchestra - unlike symphony nr. 2 (ca 1944!) where he pulls all the stops - percussion, brass, organ, saxes, oboe d'amore...used sparingly however, even the 4 ondes Martenot .

You can listen to an old recording of nr. 1

http://www.rene-gagnaux-2.ch/k_repertoire/koechlin_symph1_oprtf_rosenthal.html

A quick Google translation:

Quoted from Ludovic FLORIN's notes published on this page of the lydiajardon.com website:

"[...] Never officially created, opus 57 (which became First Symphony op.57 bis after orchestration in 1927) is an apparently experimental work, with specific research grafted onto each movement. In this perspective, the first movement would be a study of harmonies without a real theme, presented in the form of arpeggios with changing colors, a profoundly original thought in the musical panorama of its time. Since the initial Adagio, the tempo has not stopped slowing down, in a flat aesthetic of time close to the contemporary Heures persanes op.65 (1916-19). Far from any exoticism, this temporality, which Koechlin surely perceived during his travels in the Orient, is an integral part of his language.

Another time, chopped up this time, appears in the Scherzo which follows in a rhythmic study with always different supports. It This is a game in the strong sense of the term, through the use, among other things, of a metric of 11/8, still quite unusual in 1916. After a more sedate central passage (in 6/8), the introductory energy resumes more beautifully in a writing already close to its future orchestral conception.

The slow movement is a study of melodic variations on an ostinato of eighth notes. Something immutable emerges from it, through its simple writing without poverty, sometimes close to the chorale.

The finale is the most developed movement of the three quartets, with no less than 335 measures (some of which are in 15 beats!). Transcending the study, this is a masterful fugal demonstration without boasting, a feeling foreign to Koechlin's personality. Possessing a marked taste for this form of writing, it reveals the admiration that this Parisian of Alsatian origin had for the music of the great masters from across the Rhine, and in particular his true idolatry for Bach. The strings behave like a real orchestra with their double and triple strings, and incessant research into sound combinations. The first theme, frank and marked, which serves as the subject of the fugue, is soon superimposed on its counter-subject. A significant work of imitation follows. However, in certain places, Koechlin seems to deliberately disrupt a mechanism that seemed to him perhaps too well-oiled. And this, within a more or less latent polytonality of the most successful. Elsewhere, he gives the unfolding a deliberately archaic aspect by abrupt changes of tonality underlined by the open fifths of the cello. Suddenly, an Andante contrasts with his peaceful C major. It precedes the reprise of a music dominated by an "organized disorder". A true center of the movement, this chaotic summit is finally projected towards a sudden illumination, in a flamboyant E major. Little by little, in waves, everything calms down to leave the listener in the amazement of this quarter of an hour of intense listening. This is because Koechlin made no concessions regarding the realization of his dreams as an artist since his music is "both developed and interior, these passages being for people in no hurry and capable of following with attention and sympathy a fairly long evolution of feelings", as he himself emphasized in a letter of December 20, 1932. [...]"

Peter

[Mookalafalas]

Looks like a big-boy Giulini box is going to come out.

[pjme]

[akebergv]

Looks like a big-boy Giulini box is going to come out.

Here's the contents of the Warner Guilini box, based on info from Fnac:


  Guilini: Complete Remastered Studio Recordings on Warner Classics


  1 Beethoven

    01 Symphony No 6 in F Major Op 68

    06 Egmont Op 84 Overture


  2 Beethoven

    01 Symphony No 7 in A Major Op 92

  3 Beethoven

    01 Symphony No 9 in D Minor Op 125 Choral


    4 Beethoven

    01 Symphony No 8 in F Major Op 93


  5 Beethoven

    01 Piano Concerto No 3 in C Minor Op 37


  6 Beethoven

    01 Violin Concerto in D Major Op 61


    7 Beethoven

    01 Mass in C Major Op 86


    8 Beethoven

    01 Missa Solemnis Op 123


    9 Berlioz

    01 Romeo Et Juliette Op 17


  10 Boccherini, Haydn

    01 Overture in D Major G 521

    02 Symphony in C Minor G 519

    06 Symphony No 94 in G Major Hob I 94 Surprise


    11 Haydn, Boccherini

    01 Cello Concerto No 2 in D Major Hob Viib 2

    04 Cello Concerto No 9 in B-flat Major G 482


    12 Brahms

    01 Symphony No 1 in C Minor Op 68 I


    13 Brahms

    01 Symphony No 2 in D Major Op 73


    14 Brahms

    01 Symphony No 3 in F Major Op 90

    05 Tragic Overture Op 81


  15 Brahms, Weber

    01 Symphony No 4 in E Minor Op 98

    05 Der Freischutz Op 77 Overture


  16 Brahms

    01 Symphony No 4 in E Minor Op 98


    17 Brahms

    01 Piano Concerto No 1 in D Minor Op 15


    18 Brahms

    01 Piano Concerto No 1 in D Minor Op 15


    19 Brahms

    01 Piano Concerto No 2 in B-flat Major Op 83


    20 Brahms

    01 Violin Concerto in D Major Op 77


    21 Britten

    01 Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes Op 33a N

    05 The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra Op 34


    22 Bruckner

    01 Symphony No 2 in C Minor


    23 Bruckner

    01 Symphony No 9 in D Minor


    24 Cherubini

    01 Requiem in C Minor


    25 Debussy

    01 La Mer

    04 Nocturnes


    26 Dvořák

    01 Symphony No 7 in D Minor Op 70


    27 Dvořák

    01 Symphony No 8 in G Major Op 88

    05 Scherzo Capriccioso Op 66 B


    28 Dvořák

    01 Symphony No 9 in E Minor Op 95 From the New World

    05 Carnival Overture Op 92


    29 Dvořák, Saint-Saëns

    01 Cello Concerto in B Minor Op 104

    04 Cello Concerto No 1 in A Minor Op 33


    30 Falla, Ravel

    01 El Amor Brujo

    14 Rapsodie Espagnole

    18 Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte


    31 Falla, Ravel

    01 El Sombrero De Tres Picos

    06 Miroirs M 43 Iv Alborada Del Gracioso

    07 Daphnis Et Chloe Suite No 2


    32 Franck

    01 Symphony in D Minor

    04 Psyche et Eros


    33-34 Gluck

    01 Iphigenie En Tauride


    35 Mahler

    01 Symphony No 1 Titan


    36 Mozart

    01 Piano Concerto No 9 in E-flat Major K 271 Jeunehomme

    04 Piano Concerto No 21 in C Major K 467


    37 Mozart

    01 Requiem in D Minor K 626


    38-40 Mozart

    01 Don Giovanni K 527


    41 Mozart

    01 Le Nozze Di Figaro K 492


    42 Pergolesi

    01 La Serva Padrona


    43Rossini

    01 La Cenerentola Overture

    02 Tancredi Overture

    03 La Gazza Ladra Overture

    04 Semiramide Overture

    05 Guillaume Tell Overture


    44 Rossini, Verdi

    01 L'Italiana in Algeri Overture

    02 Il Barbiere Di Siviglia Overture

    03 Il Signor Bruschino Overture

    04 La Scala Di Seta Overture

    05 La Forza Del Destino Overture

    06 La Traviata Act 1 Prelude

    07 La Traviata Act 3 Prelude

    08 I Vespri Siciliani Overture


    45-46 Rossini

    01 L'Italiana in Algeri


    47 Schumann, Saint-Saëns

    01 Cello Concerto in A Minor Op 129

    04 Cello Concerto No 1 in A Minor Op 33


    48 Schubert, Brahms

    01 Symphony No 8 in B Minor D 759

    03 Variations on A Theme by Haydn Op 56a St Antoni Chorale


    49 Schumann

    01 Symphony No 3 in E-flat Major Op 97 Rhenish

    06 Manfred Op 115 Overture


    50 Stravinsky

    01 Suite from Petrushka

    10 Suite from The Firebird


    51 Stravinsky, Bizet, Ravel

    01 L'Oiseau De Feu

    07 Jeux D'Enfants Op 22

    12 Ma Mere L'Oye


    52 Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky

    01 Symphony No 2 in C Minor Op 17 Little Russian

    05 Night on a Bald Mountain


    53 Tchaikovsky

    01 Symphony No 6 in B Minor Op 74 Pathetique


    54 Tchaikovsky

    01 Romeo And Juliet Fantasy Overture

    02 Francesca Da Rimini Op 32

    06 Symphony No 5 in E Minor Op 64


    55 Verdi

    01 4 Pezzi Sacri


    56 Verdi

    01 Messa Da Requiem


    57-59 Verdi

    01 Don Carlo


    60 Vivaldi

    01 The Four Seasons
   

[JBS]

Something seems off with Nozze di Figaro (listed as CD 41): it was a complete recording on two CDs.

[akebergv]

Something seems off with Nozze di Figaro (listed as CD 41): it was a complete recording on two CDs.

Yes I'm sure you are right, as I also have that 2 CD version, but the CD numbers were what Fnac provided, and since I had no other source I simply used their info (with the addition of composers and with only the names of the works instead of including each track that they provided). Since the next CD, Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona is a short work that does not need a whole disc perhaps the Mozart opera spills over on disc 42 (but that is not what Fnac says).

[JBS]

Yes I'm sure you are right, as I also have that 2 CD version, but the CD numbers were what Fnac provided, and since I had no other source I simply used their info (with the addition of composers and with only the names of the works instead of including each track that they provided). Since the next CD, Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona is a short work that does not need a whole disc perhaps the Mozart opera spills over on disc 42 (but that is not what Fnac says).

The EMI recording of Figaro is over 150 minutes, so there's no room for anything else. Perhaps the Pergolesi is coupled with the Rossini overtures on CD 43.

[Roy Bland]

schubert/goedicke

[Mandryka]

[Mandryka]

I listened to 111, 109 and 110 yesterday. I had a feeling that some of her decisions don't sound justified enough, and yet it was impossible to stop listening. Further more. After Jin Ju I listened for the comparison 110 performed by Lucchesini, Pienaar and Gulda. Each of these three performances did not sound as convincing as before.

I think the op 110 from Jin Ju is indeed excellent. 

Did you listen to this?

[André]

Yes I'm sure you are right, as I also have that 2 CD version, but the CD numbers were what Fnac provided, and since I had no other source I simply used their info (with the addition of composers and with only the names of the works instead of including each track that they provided). Since the next CD, Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona is a short work that does not need a whole disc perhaps the Mozart opera spills over on disc 42 (but that is not what Fnac says).

I think they went for a duplication of the LPs, not the CD issues. Le Nozze was on 3 LPs. Some of these discs are under 40 minutes, corresponding to typical LP timings of the 1950s and 60s.

[Klavierman]

Beatrice Rana has recorded Bach's solo keyboard concertos (March release). Here is the first movement from BWV 1052.

[Daverz]

I'll be hearing Seong-jin Cho live next month doing the complete solo music of Ravel. If it's anything like his Chopin scherzos, it will be a memorable recital.

And speaking of Ravel, has anyone acquired the 6-CD Complete Music with Piano with Francois-Xavier Poizat? And if so, on your copy is track 6 of CD 1 (as listed in the booklet) missing from the disc?

The Poizat set was one of Jed Distler's Best of 2024 picks:

His print review:

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/ravel-complete-works-with-piano-francois-xavier-poizat (pay walled)

[Brian]

Odd that Jed did not write that review for CT. Also, although I've seen many glowing reviews, I've yet to be tempted because it is yet another set that claims to be complete while not actually being complete. It appears to be missing "La Parade" and the piano reduction of Daphnis. Four complete traversals (Thiollier, Tharaud, Dumont, Uhlig) have included La Parade, while Uhlig alone has done the 19-minute Daphnis reduction.

[Harry]

7-2-2025 to be released. Looking forward to it.

[DaveF]

7-2-2025 to be released. Looking forward to it.

Looks like they may have confused Frank Bridge's dates with those of his most famous pupil!

[Madiel]

Looks like they may have confused Frank Bridge's dates with those of his most famous pupil!

Well not just his dates, the Cello Sonata "op.65" is undoubtedly a work by Benjamin Britten. Bridge did write a Cello Sonata, but it wasn't op.65 and it certainly wasn't written in 1961.

The fact that it occupies 2 tracks does suggest it's the Bridge they are playing. But someone has done a woeful job there.