Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[mn dave]

[Drasko]

Nice! Will be interested in your opion on that, Drasko.

That might take quite a while, but yes sure.

[M forever]

I have been wanting to read that for a while, too. In fact, you just reminded me of that so I ordered a used copy for $10 from amazon.
But don't let Sarge catch you reading this primitive, anti-American Nazi pamphlet! From the publisher's description:

He makes a more contentious assessment of the period following WWI - a time of decline, in his view, as conductors and performers ignored new music and concentrated on works from the European past. Horowitz singles out Arturo Toscanini, who rarely conducted anything other than "canonized masterworks"; David Sarnoff, who created the NBC Symphony as a vehicle for Toscanini; and Arthur Judson, the powerful manager who promoted the familiar, conservative repertoire. Recycling the tried and true was a sure bet, and Horowitz blames this safer marketing strategy for our contemporary quandary: most composers of classical music find American audiences have little interest in what they have to offer.

Which is basically what M says, too, plus that the sterile, note-perfect but mechanical recordings made by people such as Toscanini, Reiner and Szell in the middle of the century and which were distributed very widely by radio and recordings have created a sterile musical monoculture which has lost what once must have been a very exciting stylistic spectrum created by immigrants from many different places (Ravel remarked after his visit to the US in the 20s that "American orchestras are the best in the world because all the woodwinds are French, all the brass German, and all the strings Russian", obviously he was not entirely serious, but the remark is still very interesting).

[mn dave]

[mn dave]

Thanks to Sarge.

[Sergeant Rock]

  After you said how much you like Biret, and after I plug her Polonaises, you buy Ashkenazy? Dave, Dave... 

I like Biret's (and Garrick Ohlsson's) stately, even majestic playing; they both read them more as court dances than virtuoso display pieces. I don't know Ashkenazy's versions but I've had the complete Chopin box on my wishlist for quite sometime. Can you give me some times, please? That won't tell me everything but will give me a clue about Ashkenazy's style. If you would, the A flat op.53 and the F sharp minor op.44 (which Biret extends to 11:39!).

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Thanks to Sarge.

Couldn't find Neumann/Leipzig?

Sarge

[mn dave]

  After you said how much you like Biret, and after I plug her Polonaises, you buy Ashkenazy? Dave, Dave... 

I like Biret's (and Garrick Ohlsson's) stately, even majestic playing; they both read them more as court dances than virtuoso display pieces. I don't know Ashkenazy's versions but I've had the complete Chopin box on my wishlist for quite sometime. Can you give me some times, please? That won't tell me everything but will give me a clue about Ashkenazy's style. If you would, the A flat op.53 and the F sharp minor op.44 (which Biret extends to 11:39!).

Sarge

Biret will happen. Don't you worry, Sarge.

Here are the times you requested.

Op. 53 - 6:16

Op. 44 - 10:28

This set comes highly recommended in the Third Ear Guide.

[mn dave]

Couldn't find Neumann/Leipzig?

Sarge

Yeah, for stupid money. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Biret will happen. Don't you worry, Sarge.

Here are the times you requested.

Op. 53 - 6:16

Op. 44 - 10:28

This set comes highly recommended in the Third Ear Guide.

Thanks for the times.

I don't doubt Ashkenazy is good. His Chopin I do own (the Waltzes) I love...love so much I consider them definitive.

Yeah, for stupid money. 

Really? Wow...I picked up my copy in a supermarket here for 3.99. Sometimes it's good to be an honorary Kraut

Sarge

[mn dave]

Really? Wow...I picked up my copy in a supermarket here for 3.99. Sometimes it's good to be an honorary Kraut

I only looked in one place before purchasing the Karajan, but I'll try harder next time. Maybe I'll come up lucky.

[Sergeant Rock]

I only looked in one place before purchasing the Karajan, but I'll try harder next time. Maybe I'll come up lucky.

It's one of those paper wallet jobs from Berlin Classics--cheap on the outside, pure gold inside. I don't know how available they are outside Germany. Lack of distribution in the States may account for the price you saw. I really don't know how you prefer your Mahler (the list I suggested covered a very wide range of interpretive styles). We might want to discuss how you like your Mahler: served piping hot, cold, garnished prettily? 

[mn dave]

We might want to discuss how you like your Mahler: served piping hot, cold, garnished prettily? 

I'm still so new to Mahler, I have no freakin' idea how I like him served. 

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm still so new to Mahler, I have no freakin' idea how I like him served. 

Well, I prefer my Mahler incoherent and uninteresting, so we might start there and see if you have the same taste as me. 

Sarge

[M forever]

Yeah, for stupid money. 

Oh, wow, $50   That's a fairly good recording but it's not *that* good. You can get that for basically nothing from amazon.de. But the shipping costs are fairly high. The best idea would be if your good friend Sarge orders that for you and mails it to you privately. While you wait for the package, I would recommend you this highly interesting recording as a strong contrast to Karajan and which is also available for reasonable money: http://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphony-5-Gustav/dp/B0000253LS/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1213479538&sr=1-6

[mn dave]

Oh, wow, $50  That's a fairly good recording but it's not *that* good. You can get that for basically nothing from amazon.de. But the shipping costs are fairly high. The best idea would be if your good friend Sarge orders that for you and mails it to you privately. While you wait for the package, I would recommend you this highly interesting recording as a strong contrast to Karajan and which is also available for reasonable money: http://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphony-5-Gustav/dp/B0000253LS/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1213479538&sr=1-6

I wouldn't put Sarge through all that just for li'l ol' me. 

Thanks for the recommendation, M. It's been wish-listed.

[Drasko]

I like Biret's (and Garrick Ohlsson's) stately, even majestic playing; they both read them more as court dances than virtuoso display pieces. I don't know Ashkenazy's versions but I've had the complete Chopin box on my wishlist for quite sometime. Can you give me some times, please? That won't tell me everything but will give me a clue about Ashkenazy's style. If you would, the A flat op.53 and the F sharp minor op.44 (which Biret extends to 11:39!).

Sarge

Ashkenazy's Polonaises are excellent, some of his finest Chopin playing (along with Etudes, Waltzes and occasional Ballade or prelude). He accents in a way that the dance element is definitely emphasized but also has all the firepower needed to do it at any chosen tempo and dynamics.
Here is a clip of first two minutes of his op.44, listen to syncopated bass line around 0:43 and again around 1:35-1:40.
http://www.mediafire.com/?g4mn15ciofh

[M forever]

I wouldn't put Sarge through all that just for li'l ol' me. 

Thanks for the recommendation, M. It's been wish-listed.

It's not such a big deal. He doesn't have anything better to do anyway. The recording I recommended to you is pretty much the exact opposite of Karajan's in many respects, lean, mean, transparent, and very detail focused (don't tell Sarge that I recommended that Cleveland recording to you, OK, I am far too proud of being called an anti-American Nazi by him, so that stays among us, OK?). The best Mahler 5 out there in my completely irrelevant opinion are the ones with WP/Bernstein, KCA/Chailly and WP/Boulez (in chronological order).

[Sergeant Rock]

Ashkenazy's Polonaises are excellent, some of his finest Chopin playing (along with Etudes, Waltzes and occasional Ballade or prelude). He accents in a way that the dance element is definitely emphasized but also has all the firepower needed to do it at any chosen tempo and dynamics.
Here is a clip of first two minutes of his op.44, listen to syncopated bass line around 0:43 and again around 1:35-1:40.
http://www.mediafire.com/?g4mn15ciofh

Thanks, Drasko

[George]

  After you said how much you like Biret, and after I plug her Polonaises, you buy Ashkenazy? Dave, Dave... 

I like Biret's (and Garrick Ohlsson's) stately, even majestic playing; they both read them more as court dances than virtuoso display pieces. I don't know Ashkenazy's versions but I've had the complete Chopin box on my wishlist for quite sometime. Can you give me some times, please? That won't tell me everything but will give me a clue about Ashkenazy's style. If you would, the A flat op.53 and the F sharp minor op.44 (which Biret extends to 11:39!).

Sarge

Sarge put the Ashkenazy box in your shopping cart now! That's an order.   

I own 75% of that set or so and it's all wonderful. Great sound and performance!