New Releases

[JBS]

1. Ooh, another Naive Vivaldi to add to the list.

2. Naxos is being quite impressive with the way it's handling additions to its Beethoven catalogue.

Remember Naxos is coming out with its own Complete Beethoven box, so it's fair to assume most of these will show up in that.

[Madiel]

Remember Naxos is coming out with its own Complete Beethoven box, so it's fair to assume most of these will show up in that.

Yes I'm aware, but I'm more likely to want (if I want any of it) some of the individual releases, of parts of Beethoven's outputs that don't get a lot of love.

[André]

In October DG will be releasing a box with all of Beethoven's symphonies with Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker:

[asin]B07TJKC26B[/asin]

It's out, with 44 short clips to sample (on Presto Classical). Sounds like classic WP stuff. I didn't detect a single original touch in these 22 minutes, with solidly mainstream tempos the norm, but the sheer sound of the orchestra in their comfort zone gives goosebumps.

[Todd]

Looks like MGT is going contemporary for her next yellow label issue.  I'll bite.



Yeah, I'll have to.

[Roy Bland]

[Mandryka]

I thought that Quatuor Hanson's earlier Mozart disc was not well recorded, boomy bass, maybe it was just the system I was listening on so if someone says so I'll give it another chance because I'm interested in chamber performances of the concertos.

I thought that Quatuor Brentano's earlier Mozart disc was lovely, irreproachable, but not more than that. And there are thousands of other lovely irreproachable recordings of this stuff. So who cares?

I thought that Zehetmair's early Bach was a bit too pretentious, almost caricatural, at times I imagined him flicking his  head back going into raptures, the new one will probably be more mature.

Looking forward to Lang Lang Beethoven, whose Wanderer Fantasy I've been playing.

I hadn't heard of Matthieu Gaudet before but it turns out that he's recorded a Davidsbundlertanze, so I may use this new release to make his acquaintance.

[Todd]

[Todd]

Can't believe I missed Trio Owon and Hengelbrock in my normal weekly sweep of new releases.  The others are easier to understand since they are Korean market only.

The Hengelbrock and Dong Min Lim go to the top of the priority list.  The Trio Owon recording may prove trickier to source, but it seems destined to end up in my collection.

[Brian]

The Weinberg trio is a really intense work, one of his best that I've heard so far. It and the Shostakovich on one CD (I assume that's a twofer) would be enough to freak anybody out.

If that jumps on streaming I'll have to compare the Tchaikovsky to the super-good new Gluzman-Moser-Sudbin version (paired with Babadjanian and an encore by Schnittke...cuz, you know, Schnittke wrote such charming encores).

[JBS]

The Hengelbrock and Dong Min Lim go to the top of the priority list.  The Trio Owon recording may prove trickier to source, but it seems destined to end up in my collection.

What works are on the Hengelbrock?

[Todd]

[JBS]

Thank you...to be honest, now I know the contents I am less interested. I was hoping for more Schumann, and not really interested in another "Unfinished"...

[Todd]

Thank you...to be honest, now I know the contents I am less interested. I was hoping for more Schumann, and not really interested in another "Unfinished"...

I generally don't go out my way for new recordings of the Unfinished, but Hengelbrock's Great C Major is currently my reference, beating out all the better known titans of the podium.  His Schubert First is so good it's ridiculous.  He's one of a very small number of contemporary conductors I buy without thinking about it.

[amw]

Music for violin and electronics including:
Carola Bauckholt - Doppelbelichtung
Jan Smørdal - flock foam fume
Henrik Strindberg - Femte strängen
Malin Bång - ...när korpen vitnar
Natasha Barrett - Sagittarius A*

The latter two are my main reasons for being interested in the album (the Barrett work is about 30 minutes by itself) but it should all be interesting at very least.

[Roasted Swan]

It's out, with 44 short clips to sample (on Presto Classical). Sounds like classic WP stuff. I didn't detect a single original touch in these 22 minutes, with solidly mainstream tempos the norm, but the sheer sound of the orchestra in their comfort zone gives goosebumps.

Sorry to be a naysayer but I'm not a great fan of Nelsons.  Clearly he's perfectly good but he is also lucky (Ok Ok I know; the better you are the 'luckier' you get!).  He gets to conduct the world's very finest ensembles and in well produced/engineered recordings.  I saw him conduct some standard rep with the Philharmonia a couple of years or so ago - he leapt around the podium with the energy and enthusiasm of a puppy.  The orchestra played very well but at the end of the concert I had no sense of any great let alone special insights.  And to be honest that is how I feel about his DSCH in Boston and much else.  I appreciate I am in a tiny minority with nearly everyone else praising his every move.  But there is no way I'd bother investing in another Beethoven cycle with him at the helm. 

[pjme]

Most interesting.
I hope that, sooner or later, his "Partita rapsodica" gets a good recording.

https://youtu.be/2yOz33OTgAw
https://youtu.be/oce33jSDz0w

[André]

Sorry to be a naysayer but I'm not a great fan of Nelsons.  Clearly he's perfectly good but he is also lucky (Ok Ok I know; the better you are the 'luckier' you get!).  He gets to conduct the world's very finest ensembles and in well produced/engineered recordings.  I saw him conduct some standard rep with the Philharmonia a couple of years or so ago - he leapt around the podium with the energy and enthusiasm of a puppy.  The orchestra played very well but at the end of the concert I had no sense of any great let alone special insights.  And to be honest that is how I feel about his DSCH in Boston and much else.  I appreciate I am in a tiny minority with nearly everyone else praising his every move.  But there is no way I'd bother investing in another Beethoven cycle with him at the helm.

Same with his Bruckner. It's a beautiful mansion, but it's uninhabitated.

[Brian]

Sorry to be a naysayer but I'm not a great fan of Nelsons.  Clearly he's perfectly good but he is also lucky (Ok Ok I know; the better you are the 'luckier' you get!).  He gets to conduct the world's very finest ensembles and in well produced/engineered recordings.  I saw him conduct some standard rep with the Philharmonia a couple of years or so ago - he leapt around the podium with the energy and enthusiasm of a puppy.  The orchestra played very well but at the end of the concert I had no sense of any great let alone special insights.  And to be honest that is how I feel about his DSCH in Boston and much else.  I appreciate I am in a tiny minority with nearly everyone else praising his every move.  But there is no way I'd bother investing in another Beethoven cycle with him at the helm.

Generally agreed. I like the Shostakovich a good deal, actually, and he has been a good accompanist on record, but I just attempted to listen to some of the Beethoven on streaming and kept giving up on various symphonies out of frustration. The slow movement of No. 2 sounded gorgeous, but the problem was that Nelsons favors tempos on the very slow side, a la Barenboim on Teldec, but he also glosses over inner voices, bustling orchestral textures, etc. - like at the start of the Eighth, when the movement really gets going, you can't hear much of the second violins, violas, cellos. The timpani on all the samples I heard were backwardly balanced, as if they didn't want microphones picking it up. Jan Swafford's excellent booklet essay compares the opening of No. 2's finale to a "hiccup" and relates the surprise of many listeners when they realize that that hiccup is the theme. But Nelsons doesn't seem interested in it, or at least, not interested in making the moment seem surprising or funny. It just sort of...passes.

[Biffo]

Generally agreed. I like the Shostakovich a good deal, actually, and he has been a good accompanist on record, but I just attempted to listen to some of the Beethoven on streaming and kept giving up on various symphonies out of frustration. The slow movement of No. 2 sounded gorgeous, but the problem was that Nelsons favors tempos on the very slow side, a la Barenboim on Teldec, but he also glosses over inner voices, bustling orchestral textures, etc. - like at the start of the Eighth, when the movement really gets going, you can't hear much of the second violins, violas, cellos. The timpani on all the samples I heard were backwardly balanced, as if they didn't want microphones picking it up. Jan Swafford's excellent booklet essay compares the opening of No. 2's finale to a "hiccup" and relates the surprise of many listeners when they realize that that hiccup is the theme. But Nelsons doesn't seem interested in it, or at least, not interested in making the moment seem surprising or funny. It just sort of...passes.

I am not in the market for another Beethoven Symphony cycle but I was intrigued by the comments so far. I listened to the 1st movement of the Eroica and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting but the woolly sound makes the whole thing a non-starter. To be fair I should sample other movements but I am not really that interested.

The cover is a candidate for the 'Worst artwork' thread.

[Brian]

Stephen Hough will be doing late Brahms Opp. 116-119 on Hyperion in January. The label's other releases will be Vaughan Williams 3/4 with Brabbins, piano quintets by Bartok and Korngold with Piers Lane and the Goldner Quartet, and...uh...some medieval thing I forgot. Sorry!

edit: Stephen Rice and The Brabant Ensemble present Hellinck Missa Surrexit pastor and Lupi Te Deum & motets