Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[Air]

Being a pianist myself, I must say that Roge is anything but a "mediocre" pianist. I had the joy of participating in a master class with him once and I found him to be extremely insightful. When it comes to French repertoire, Roge is one of the finest pianists of our time. (Whether or not his CDs are the "best" of that repertoire is another discussion.)

As for the others you list, one must admit Earl Wild's technical prowess, and I continue to find Daniel Barenboim a fine pianist. One of the best? Perhaps not, but his musical insight is quite fine. (Again, whether his CDs are the "best" in any repertoire is a different discussion.)

Ok... that was sort of an exaggeration.  Definitely not mediocre... as their talent has go them thus far in today's musical society.  But overall, they're recordings don't suffice my interests like those of the earlier eras.

Funny you left out Kissin in your post.   Do you have a reason for that?

[admiralackbar74]

Funny you left out Kissin in your post.   Do you have a reason for that?

I simply haven't heard enough Kissin, live or otherwise, to have an opinion. I do remember hearing him play a program of Chopin once and finding it quite enjoyable. But that's about as far as my experience with him has been.

Again, whether or not Kissin's CDs are worth acquiring is a discussion all its own. Anyone have anything they like?

[jlaurson]

I simply haven't heard enough Kissin, live or otherwise, to have an opinion. I do remember hearing him play a program of Chopin once and finding it quite enjoyable. But that's about as far as my experience with him has been.

Again, whether or not Kissin's CDs are worth acquiring is a discussion all its own. Anyone have anything they like?

His Mozart/Schumann (WETA review) is fine. But nothing I'd run back into that burning house for.

Live I've heard the most mindlessly boring "Pictures" from him (can't stand the recording of it, either; nor his Schubert Wanderer), but I've also heard a tremendous, raucous Chopin program with him that made up for anything and everything.

Like all well known artists, there's a reason why they got famous... and there's a reason why they have detractors. (Think Lang-Lang, who is easy to be snobbish about, and who does deliver his share of shallow clunkers, but who can also be marvelous and astoundingly insightful.)

[Bulldog]

I've got a few Kissin discs, but they tend to languish in my stacks.

[The new erato]

I've not had much luck with Albinoni, finding my couple of discs on Chandos Chaconne mainly distinctly mediocre. A perfunctory listen to this disc, arriving today, suggests that this may be by a good margin the best Albinoni disc I've heard:

[Elgarian]

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67621

Yes, another half-price bargain from Hyperion's bottom ten, ordered earlier today. After listening to the samples, I can't figure how this can be in the bottom ten of anything!

[The new erato]

Two top items from my wishlist on Hyperions halfprice sale (ordered BEFORE Elgarians post.....):

[not edward]

A couple of second-hand purchases:



I've been meaning to pick up the Kancheli disc for a while, since Luke pointed out Simi as a work that showed that late Kancheli still had fire in his belly--listening to it now and I can see he's right. Meanwhile, at $4, the Szymanowski was a complete no-brainer given that Stabat Mater and Litania do Marii Panny are amongst my favourite choral works by anyone ever.

I also ordered a couple of box sets that have been on my wishlist for an eternity:

[SonicMan46]

Well, below just a half dozen items on an order today from my 'wish list' - GMG and/or periodical recommendations:

Albrechtsberger, Johann - String Quartets w/ Authentic Quartet

Brahms, Johannes - Cello Sonatas w/ Steven Isserlis & Stephen Hough

Brahms, Johannes - Hungarian Dances: Joachim Variations w/ Arnon Erez & Hagai Shaham

Escobar, Pedro de  - Requiem et al w/ Gilles Binchois Ensemble

Herzogenberg, Heinrich - Piano Quartets/String Trios (2-CD set) w/ Frolich & Belcanto Strings

Mozart & Beethoven - Piano/Wind Quintets w/ Klocker & Consortium Classicum


   

   

[ChamberNut]

Two top items from my wishlist on Hyperions halfprice sale (ordered BEFORE Elgarians post.....):

Hope you enjoy this one Erato! 

[Que]

Well, below just a half dozen items on an order today from my 'wish list' - GMG and/or periodical recommendations:

Escobar, Pedro de  - Requiem et al w/ Gilles Binchois Ensemble


Mozart & Beethoven - Piano/Wind Quintets w/ Klocker & Consortium Classicum


 

I think you'll enjoy the Escobar, Dave! The Ensemble Gilles Binchois has become one of my favourite Early Music ensembles.

The Consortium Classicum with Klöcker - is that HIP?

Q

[jlaurson]

Look what the cat dragged in: some of the premiere releases on the newly formed

Bavarian Radio Classics Label (distribution world-wide by NAXOS). Archival material
and new recordings from their musical bodies BRSO, BRChorus, Munich Radio Orchestra
as well as programs from their "Knowledge" series.

Listening to the Argerich recording right now. Ahhhhhhhh. Good stuff.

Bach, Matthew Passion: An introduction to the work. (In German, presumably)

Frank Martin, Mass for Double Choir, Peter Dijkstra, BRChorus SACD

Mahler, Symphony No.7, Mariss Jansons, BRSO SACD


K.A.Hartmann, Simplicius Simplicissimus, Ulf Schirmer, MRO, Nylund, Hartmann, Gerhaher, Volle
(What singers!!!)

Beethoven / Mozart, Piano Concertos 1  &  18, Martha Argerich, Seiji Ozawa / Eugen Jochum, BRSO

Bruckner, Symphony No.7, Mariss Jansons, BRSO SACD

[The new erato]

Look what the cat dragged in: some of the premiere releases on the newly formed

Bavarian Radio Classics Label (distribution world-wide by NAXOS). Archival material
and new recordings from their musical bodies BRSO, BRChorus, Munich Radio Orchestra
as well as programs from their "Knowledge" series.

Not on mdt yet, one can but hope though.

[SonicMan46]

I think you'll enjoy the Escobar, Dave! The Ensemble Gilles Binchois has become one of my favourite Early Music ensembles.

The Consortium Classicum with Klöcker - is that HIP?

Hello Q - I have a lot of Klöcker recordings and the instruments used are more modern ones, so I'm expecting the same on the disc ordered; now he often delves deeply into these composers and their performance practices.  These are re-mastered older recordings (see the quote below from a 2005 Fanfare review; also one from MusicWeb HERE).  Over the years, I've gone 'through' a lot of CDs of these two quintet works and currently have several versions, mainly the Gaudier Ensemble on Hyperion (separate discs for Mozart & Beethoven).

Now, I'd loved to get a HIP version w/ instruments from the times; actually, I had the Immerseel disc below but was just not that pleased w/ the performance or the sound (the fortepiano was often too much in the background, and the wind players just did not seem to have that joyful mellifluous flow of sounds between the contrasting instruments); the other HIP disc that I've considered is the one w/ Levin (below right), but the reviews have been mixed (similar complaints about the fortepiano too much in the background).  So, any HIP suggestions would be appreciated.  Dave 

 

This is a digitally re-mastered reissue of recordings originally made in 1978 and 1981. In anticipation, I thought it dangerous to program the relatively slight Beethoven work next to the Mozart masterpiece—"the best I have yet written in my life"—on which the younger man may well have modeled it. But together with that indefatigable clarinetist and animator Dieter Klöcker, pianist Werner Genuit, oboist Gernot Schmalfuß, horn-player Nikolaus Grüger, and bassoonist Karl Otto Hartmann give the Beethoven so vigorous and musically perceptive an outing that it really sounds, this time around, worthy of its place alongside their equally compelling performance of the Mozart. The Mozart trio, too, where Genuit and Klöcker are partnered by violist Helmut Nicolai, is finely played.

Incidentally, I had never previously noticed how strongly the phrase that begins 50 seconds into Beethoven's slow movement resembles Strauss's setting of the words "beieinand für alle Zeit" in the duet for Sophie and Octavian just before the end of Der Rosenkavalier. Perhaps this is fanciful, but I should like to think that the young Strauss may have heard his horn-player father Franz in a performance of the Beethoven and filed it away in his subconscious for years, before bringing it out to follow the echoes of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte ("Könnte jeder brave Mann") and Schubert's Heidenröslein with which that duet begins.

The only real negative about the disc (which is, by the way, very well engineered) is the omission of the repeat in the Larghetto of the Mozart quintet; there would have been ample room for its inclusion. As distinct from a negative here, there are also some strong positives elsewhere. On a Hyperion disc that I reviewed enthusiastically in 25:5, the Gaudier Ensemble couples a superb performance of the Mozart quintet with three of the composer's other chamber works, including the Oboe Quartet; and the classic Kentner-Kell-Riddle performance of the Clarinet Trio probably remains the touchstone for that elusive but wonderful composition. Nevertheless, cpo's offering may be confidently recommended to anyone seeking accomplished performances of just the three works it contains. Bernard Jacobson

[Sergeant Rock]

Four separate packages arrived today, from amazon.de, JPC and a couple of amazon sellers. The Rach Preludes and Haydn Op.9 were recommended by Jens (thank you, dude). The Mitropoulos M&A discs (six in all) include Mahler's 6th, Vaughan Williams's 4th, Schmidt's 2nd (with the Vienna Phil),  Bach's Brandenburg Concerto 5, Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, Prokofiev's PC 2 and 3, and Schoenberg's Pelleas & Melisande, Erwartung, Verklärte Nacht and, most interesting, an orchestrated String Quartet 2 with Astrid Varnay.








Sarge

[Que]

Hello Q - I have a lot of Klöcker recordings and the instruments used are more modern ones, so I'm expecting the same on the disc ordered; now he often delves deeply into these composers and their performance practices.  These are re-mastered older recordings (see the quote below from a 2005 Fanfare review; also one from MusicWeb HERE).  Over the years, I've gone 'through' a lot of CDs of these two quintet works and currently have several versions, mainly the Gaudier Ensemble on Hyperion (separate discs for Mozart & Beethoven).

Now, I'd loved to get a HIP version w/ instruments from the times; actually, I had the Immerseel disc below but was just not that pleased w/ the performance or the sound (the fortepiano was often too much in the background, and the wind players just did not seem to have that joyful mellifluous flow of sounds between the contrasting instruments); the other HIP disc that I've considered is the one w/ Levin (below right), but the reviews have been mixed (similar complaints about the fortepiano too much in the background).  So, any HIP suggestions would be appreciated.  Dave 

 

Thanks Dave! I did also get the Immerseel/ Octophorus before and had a similar impression - dissapointing, then got the Levin/ AAM Chamber Ensemble as well, and I do enjoy that recording. Though I wouldn't rule out it being surpassed eventually but haven't come accross the ideal recording yet! And for me it has to be HIP.

Purchased today:
 

Q

[George]

Hi Q,

Is that Biondi a box or a new single/double CD? I LOVE their Vivaldi. 

[Que]

Hi Q,

Is that Biondi a box or a new single/double CD? I LOVE their Vivaldi. 

A single CD with:
Concerto in D minor, RV 394;
Concerto in A major, RV 396;
Concerto in D major, RV 392;
Concerto in D minor, RV 393;
Concerto in D minor, RV 395;
Concerto in A minor, RV 397;
Concerto in F major, RV 97;
Concerto in D minor, RV 540.

Q

[George]

Thanks! 

[CD]

Inspired by my recent wonderful experience with Bach's cello suites: