Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[Brian]

Opening fanfare in Sinfonietta are marked Allegretto, not Majestoso con pomposamente. It's Janacek not Wagner.

Sibelius marked second movement of his 3rd Symphony Andantino con moto, quasi allegretto, yet told Kajanus to take it at dirge like speed and said that that was what he intended. I'm sure Janacek could and would have told Bakala if he wanted those fanfares to be played like dirge, and yet Bakala, Ancerl, Mackerras (who I believe worked on critical edition of the score) take them as Allegretto. That has to count for something.

Bakala's as close to the "source" as we can get. I'm listening to his broadcast on the Multisonic label with the Prague Radio SO right now ... slightly sloppy playing, but very good. There's a lot of ferocity to mvts. II and III and the tempo changes in IV are really sudden, really prominent. Hope I'll get a chance to hear the Supraphon recording soon.

[SonicMan46]

Well, I've been looking at my Haydn String Quartet collection - own all of them but w/ 8 different groups - I'd like to obtain a complete 'box set' and also some more 'period instrument' performances; so have been looking at the thread on Papa Haydn's String Quartets, and have decided to obtain the Buchberger Box offered by Brilliant (now just $58 for 23 discs @ MDT, where I made my order); plus, added the early works w/ the Festetics (i.e. Op. 9, 17, & 20) - total purchase about $100 for nearly 30 CDs!

 

 

[jlaurson]

Look what the cat dragged in:


Dvorak & Szymanowski
Violin Concertos (op.54, op.35)
Romance in f
Arabella Steinbacher / Marek Janowski
RSO Berlin

I remember suggesting/hoping two years ago that Steinbacher should follow Fischer in Pentatone's line-up.
Voila! Very exciting.


Mahler, Sy.2
Gergiev, LSO


Mahler, Sy.3
Gergiev, LSO


Rachmaninov & Grieg
Cello Sonatas
Jamie Walton & Daniel Grimmwood

[Sergeant Rock]

I remember suggesting/hoping two years ago that Steinbacher should follow Fischer in Pentatone's line-up.
Voila! Very exciting.

That does look like a CD I'll have to acquire. I have her Milhaud disc; like it very much.

Sarge

[The new erato]

Look what the cat dragged in:


Dvorak & Szymanowski
Violin Concertos (op.54, op.35)
Romance in f
Arabella Steinbacher / Marek Janowski
RSO Berlin

I remember suggesting/hoping two years ago that Steinbacher should follow Fischer in Pentatone's line-up.
Voila! Very exciting.

I have her Milhaud disc on Orfeo on its way and am very much looking forward to receiving it. Maybe I hear the "plonk" today.

Edit: Yeah -sarge. 

BTW; Dvoraks concerto seems lik an intelligent choice for a recording.

[Sergeant Rock]

Opening fanfare in Sinfonietta are marked Allegretto, not Majestoso con pomposamente. It's Janacek not Wagner.

Yes, Klemperer is obviously "wrong." That's what makes his performance so fascinating. Nothing else like it, and in the context of his entire interpretation, it makes sense. A first choice this certainly is not but he lets us hear the Sinfonietta in a new way. Quite frankly, it's boring when conductors sound alike (not much difference between Mackerras, Ancerl and Bakala here). Like other radical Klemp recordings (Mahler 7 for example), I do not recommend it though. I only point it out for the adventurous and open-minded.

Sibelius marked second movement of his 3rd Symphony Andantino con moto, quasi allegretto, yet told Kajanus to take it at dirge like speed and said that that was what he intended. I'm sure Janacek could and would have told Bakala if he wanted those fanfares to be played like dirge, and yet Bakala, Ancerl, Mackerras (who I believe worked on critical edition of the score) take them as Allegretto. That has to count for something.

Bakala's as close to the "source" as we can get. I'm listening to his broadcast on the Multisonic label with the Prague Radio SO right now ... slightly sloppy playing...

While I agree Bakala was close to the source, the recording was made nearly a quarter century after Janacek's death. He wasn't there to supervise. If we look at the case of Mahler, we have numerous recordings by his disciples, conductors who heard Mahler live, helped him prepare performances. And yet Mengelberg, Klemperer and Walter sound nothing alike. Who's right? Who's closest to the source? Music is an interpretive and performance art. While the composer's wishes are important, it's still up to the individual conductor and player to make choices. We almost never hear performances that sound exactly alike...thank god. How boring would that be?

I apologize to both of you for my intemperate and wrong-headed statement concerning Ancerl and Bakala. I do see how someone could prefer their Sinfoniettas. But for my taste I think Ancerl is too fast, and yes, Bakala's execution sounds sloppy compared to the absolute precision of Szell's Clevelanders. I prefer the sound of the American brass (and Mackerras's Vienna forces too for that matter). I don't believe the Czech players match the sheer beauty of John Mack's oboe. Drasko, you mention Mackerras. It's interesting to note that Szell's tempos in the middle movements are close to his, much closer than either Ancerl or Bakala, and Mack and Szell both prefer a slower pace. I still maintain Szell gets the tempo for the fanfares absolutely right. I don't think he's violating either the spirit or the letter of Janacek's music.


   Szell     Mackerras  Ancerl  Bakala

I    2:31          2:17      2:16     2:17
II   6:01          6:08      5:29     5:43
III  5:25          5:22      4:44     5:06
IV   2:51          3:01      2:46     2:39
V    6:53          7:13      7:06     6:46


Sarge

[Drasko]

I apologize to both of you for my intemperate and wrong-headed statement concerning Ancerl and Bakala. I do see how someone could prefer their Sinfoniettas. But for my taste I think Ancerl is too fast, and yes, Bakala's execution sounds sloppy compared to the absolute precision of Szell's Clevelanders. I prefer the sound of the American brass (and Mackerras's Vienna forces too for that matter). I don't believe the Czech players match the sheer beauty of John Mack's oboe. Drasko, you mention Mackerras. It's interesting to note that Szell's tempos in the middle movements are close to his, much closer than either Ancerl or Bakala, and Mack and Szell both prefer a slower pace. I still maintain Szell gets the tempo for the fanfares absolutely right. I don't think he's violating either the spirit or the letter of Janacek's music.

Please, Sarge, no need to apologize. We heard so many over time that I think we earned our right of occasional dismissal.

You mention Mackerras and Szell having similar tempo choices for the rest of the piece, perhaps, but we were talking about opening fanfare where they don't. Sinfonietta is not primarily about tempo for me (even though I don't think broader fanfare work) but about rhythm and color, where Bakala has perfect swing in opening of second movement and where no horn section yelps as his in third and his principal trumpet plays with this vocal phrasing which I love. Ancerl has the color but not the swing (touch overdriven for my taste) and Szell has neither for me (actually I ditched Szell ages ago because some rhythmic choices seemed odd to me, don't even remember what exactly, and not because of tempo). Sound of Cleveland brass don't work for me here, and Wiena brass sound closer to Prague than to Cleveland to my ears.
I agree (as far as I can remember) that Szell violates nothing here, but I still think he is expendable.     

[Florestan]

This is my favourite opera ever so I'm willing to spend as much money as needed to find the "perfect" version. Recommendations besides the above?

[Coopmv]

Just placed the order on the following Bruckner's works ...

[Lilas Pastia]

This is my favourite opera ever so I'm willing to spend as much money as needed to find the "perfect" version. Recommendations besides the above?

Look what happened when Paris gave the golden apple to Aphrodite... There is no perfect Carmen (probably never will), but many have outstanding virtues. If you want good stereo, the Solti is as good as any, but try Abbado DG and by no means stop there. Bernstein, Cluytens and Beecham all have their strong selling points.

[haydnguy]

Look what the cat dragged in:


Dvorak & Szymanowski
Violin Concertos (op.54, op.35)
Romance in f
Arabella Steinbacher / Marek Janowski
RSO Berlin

I remember suggesting/hoping two years ago that Steinbacher should follow Fischer in Pentatone's line-up.
Voila! Very exciting.

I am getting that one as well. 

[The new erato]

Just ordered this from amazon.de. Since I'm outside the EU I'm VAT-free, it came to all of 19.29 VATfree Euros.

[Opus106]

[The Chopin Collection - Rubinstein - RCA Gold]

Just ordered this from amazon.de. Since I'm outside the EU I'm VAT-free, it came to all of 19.29 VATfree Euros.

One of the best investments one could ever make (at such a price). I got mine for $24 more than a year ago.

[The new erato]

These made a delicious plopping sound in my mailbox one hour ago:



MARTINU H.136. String Trio No. 1, Fetes Nocturnes, Piano Quartet, String Quintet. Ensemble Calliopée / Karine Lethiec. Alpha 2CDs + DVD

and



Perfect for playing a lazy Saturday afternoon.

[Harry]

The Martinu looks delicious listening. If convenient, tell us a bit about your impressions.
I gather this is a full price issue?

[The new erato]

I bought mine at £ 12 on europadisc, that offer seem to be expired but mdt currently offer a similar price for this brand new double CD. Disc nr 2 has a DVD layer on one side containing a 27 min film, so this is lots of stuff for your bucks. International Record Review praised this issue highly, particularly the string trio.

[Harry]

I bought mine at £ 12 on europadisc, that offer seem to be expired but mdt currently offer a similar price for this brand new double CD. Disc nr 2 has a DVD layer on one side containing a 27 min film, so this is lots of stuff for your bucks. International Record Review praised this issue highly, particularly the string trio.

I will order it, together with the Vanska Beethoven cycle.
Thank you!

[Conor71]

[Coopmv]

Just ordered this from amazon.de. Since I'm outside the EU I'm VAT-free, it came to all of 19.29 VATfree Euros.

I paid under $25 USD for this set over a year ago.  It is an excellent set and I did not have many Rubinstein's recordings at the time ...

[Bogey]

One of the best investments one could ever make (at such a price). I got mine for $24 more than a year ago.

Agreed.