New Releases

Started by Brian, March 12, 2009, 12:26:29 PM

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Renfield

#80
If anyone major recorded a Brian cycle, I'd preorder it right now.


But Mahler, Beethoven et al. have their place too.

I'd be sad if the views of current exponents of his work were not captured on record simply because there's too many out in the market already.

greg

Quote from: Renfield on June 10, 2010, 03:05:57 PM
If anyone major recorded a Brian cycle, I'd preorder it right now.
I would be interested, too, but the problem with him is that that'd be a HUGE task for a single orchestra and conductor. I'm pretty sure a Brian cycle would be a lot of CDs (although i've fit 3 or 4 on one disc, so maybe not as much as I'm thinking). It would take someone who is very passionate about his music and also very much able to do what he wants to be able to pull that one off- and I guess there isn't anyone "major" who is like that.

Renfield

Quote from: Greg on June 10, 2010, 06:28:32 PM
I would be interested, too, but the problem with him is that that'd be a HUGE task for a single orchestra and conductor. I'm pretty sure a Brian cycle would be a lot of CDs (although i've fit 3 or 4 on one disc, so maybe not as much as I'm thinking). It would take someone who is very passionate about his music and also very much able to do what he wants to be able to pull that one off- and I guess there isn't anyone "major" who is like that.

Arguably, this is one of the drawbacks from moving away from the 'conductor-king' age: it's harder for a conductor, even if they do admire a certain composer, to just have a record company humour them and fund recordings of his/her music.

Lethevich

Mackerras conducted a great Brian 27th, which indicates some interest on the part of a big conductor, but a real cycle under one conductor is too unthinkable without a ton of private funding - which will never happen as people with money have little taste :P

I would be happy enough with just single discs of the shorter symphonies but even those are seen as too much of a risk for usually enterprising record labels. It brings home the guts Marco Polo had to record so many of them in the first place.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

Scarpia

Quote from: Renfield on June 10, 2010, 07:25:54 PM
Arguably, this is one of the drawbacks from moving away from the 'conductor-king' age: it's harder for a conductor, even if they do admire a certain composer, to just have a record company humour them and fund recordings of his/her music.

I think there are a lot more recording of obscure music now than in the "golden age" when major labels recorded major conductors.  How much obscure music is there in the discography of Reiner, Karajan, Solti, Szell, etc?   We already have cycles of symphonies that have essentially never been performed except for the recording sessions.  (I.e., we have a Parry cycle, a Pettersson cycle, a Rubbra cycle, etc)  Brian is just too far down that road, or maybe just hasn't found its motivated producer yet.
 


springrite

One waits even longer (I bet forever) for a Hovaness cycle.  ;D
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

Renfield

Quote from: Scarpia on June 11, 2010, 09:37:36 AM
I think there are a lot more recording of obscure music now than in the "golden age" when major labels recorded major conductors.  How much obscure music is there in the discography of Reiner, Karajan, Solti, Szell, etc?

But a question worth asking is, how much of their discography was considered obscure then?


I do agree there is a significant number of 'obscure' composers being recorded at present, more than in any other time.

Yet that might be a top-down tendency, after producers started realising they won't sell their new Ring unless it can compete with the old ones, whereas premiere recordings have no competition. There's hardly a necessity, in that system, for producers to ask conductors (or have the erudition themselves) towards deciding which obscure composer to record with criteria beyond his/her rarity, or, say, her gender.


The above is also largely why I am cautious with acquiring recordings of rarities without knowing beforehand why they are not better known.

Scarpia

Quote from: Renfield on June 11, 2010, 09:47:03 AM
But a question worth asking is, how much of their discography was considered obscure then?

Well, Karajan recorded Sibelius symphonies back when they were considered less essential than today and a few other oddities like some Roussel with Legge.  Solti had an early album of Kodaly, Reiner recorded one Hovahannes symphony and Dorati one Pettersson.  But it was mostly a steady stream of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, Wagner, etc.

Renfield

Quote from: Scarpia on June 11, 2010, 11:13:03 AM
Well, Karajan recorded Sibelius symphonies back when they were considered less essential than today and a few other oddities like some Roussel with Legge.  Solti had an early album of Kodaly, Reiner recorded one Hovahannes symphony and Dorati one Pettersson.  But it was mostly a steady stream of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, Wagner, etc.

Add to that the Mahler Reiner pre-60s, the Honegger and possibly the early Bruckner for Jochum... I'm not trying to say they're necessarily of comparable rarity to Rubbra or Parry, but I also doubt they would have happened without the conductors rooting for them.

Brian

Quote from: Scarpia on June 11, 2010, 11:13:03 AM
Well, Karajan recorded Sibelius symphonies back when they were considered less essential than today and a few other oddities like some Roussel with Legge.  Solti had an early album of Kodaly, Reiner recorded one Hovahannes symphony and Dorati one Pettersson.  But it was mostly a steady stream of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, Wagner, etc.

To throw in more examples, look what Charles Mackerras has done for Janacek, or what Thomas Beecham did for quite a few composers.

kishnevi

Quote from: Brian on May 10, 2010, 08:46:54 PM
You can't tell from the poorly designed cover, but this CD contains one piece I'm not too interested in - the Rite of Spring - and one that I am very much interested in - Revueltas' La noche de los Mayas.



Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela
Gustavo Dudamel



Did you get this one yet? and if so, would you recommend it?

Brian

I just loaded my Naxos CD, "Beethoven: String Trios," into iTunes. This is a 2006 CD featuring Beethoven's Op 3 and Op 8. According to iTunes, the official title of the CD is "Beethoven - Complete Works - [Disc 48]." The artist and label information are still accurate. Maybe Naxos are preparing for a gigantic box set...

Mirror Image

Quote from: kishnevi on June 12, 2010, 04:46:59 PM
Did you get this one yet? and if so, would you recommend it?

"The Rite of Spring" performance on this Dudamel disc is quite good, but isn't of particular interest to me. Revueltas' "La Noche de los Mayas" was of huge interest to me and is worth the price of purchase. I can only hope that Dudamel continues to record more Latin American music. He did an excellent job with the Revueltas.

Lethevich

Quote from: Brian on June 24, 2010, 12:08:32 PM
I just loaded my Naxos CD, "Beethoven: String Trios," into iTunes. This is a 2006 CD featuring Beethoven's Op 3 and Op 8. According to iTunes, the official title of the CD is "Beethoven - Complete Works - [Disc 48]." The artist and label information are still accurate. Maybe Naxos are preparing for a gigantic box set...
Given the low discount per disc of Naxos' boxed sets, it would probably cost the earth :'(
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

cosmicj

Quote from: Brian on June 24, 2010, 12:08:32 PM
I just loaded my Naxos CD, "Beethoven: String Trios," into iTunes. This is a 2006 CD featuring Beethoven's Op 3 and Op 8. According to iTunes, the official title of the CD is "Beethoven - Complete Works - [Disc 48]." The artist and label information are still accurate. Maybe Naxos are preparing for a gigantic box set...

Brian - I've been listening to the Leopold Trio doing the Op. 9 Beethoven trios and am really, really impressed all-around.  This is a five-star disc as far as I'm concerned.  I was expecting pretty good early Beethoven - Op. 9 is better than that.  The Leopold Trio performance is outstanding the sonics are state-of-the-art.  Try to check it out.


Brian

cosmicj - thanks for that post!

I'm looking forward to Ronald Brautigam's Beethoven piano sonata cycle (BIS) issued as a box set. I've been trying to be a cheapskate and buy very few CDs this year - I've spent $43 on CDs over the last four months - but that box set is one I've been saving up for.

Brian



The samples are absolutely outstanding. They suggest elegant, very delicate, even fragile Mozart. There's basically nothing HIP about them, but it's so appealing to my ears anyhow! Seems to me that the Viennese grace which many inferior ensembles aspire to in boring ways, is achieved here in a lovely way.

Brahmsian

Quote from: Brian on July 09, 2010, 08:09:13 AM


The samples are absolutely outstanding. They suggest elegant, very delicate, even fragile Mozart. There's basically nothing HIP about them, but it's so appealing to my ears anyhow! Seems to me that the Viennese grace which many inferior ensembles aspire to in boring ways, is achieved here in a lovely way.

Oooooh!  That looks great!  :)

DavidRoss

"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Lethevich

Hyperion are sailing into the unknown after completing their Schumann series. I was wondering what major composer they could turn to after Brahms, but the choice of Liszt seems both surprising and entirely logical.

Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.