Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[gmstudio]

Wagner, The Ring Cycle highlights. Lorin Maazel, Berliner Philharmoniker. (Telarc)
I know i know, why a compilation? I am not ready for the real deal yet, as i have dozed off in Siegfried the last time i watched a dvd of it. This was a replacement for a rotten cd i bought anyways, so i guess it's worthwhile.

Maazel was to return to Cleveland to conduct this very work a year ago. At the very last minute, he called in sick, and the concert went on with a substitute on the podium.  (Name escapes me, but it's irrelevant anyway.)  I was given a pair of tickets, so I took my 7-year old son. He was very attentive and interested throughout the piece, until the Siegfried section, where I found him curled up on my lap fast asleep.  He woke up in time for the ending. 

During the applause this kind elderly gentleman behind us leaned over and said to him "Don't worry, son, EVERYone falls asleep during Siegfried." 

[Sergeant Rock]

Maazel was to return to Cleveland to conduct this very work a year ago. At the very last minute, he called in sick, and the concert went on with a substitute on the podium.  (Name escapes me...

Giancarlo Guerrero...the conductor of the Eugene (Oregon) Symphony. Scrapping the bottom of the barrel? I didn't attend but a friend did and his emailed comment was:

"Giancarlo Guerrero seemed to be a nice boy.  He reminded me of a newly "minted" second lieutenant out of West Point who wisely got out of the way and let his experienced non-com sergreants do their thing.  He kept decent time and, at least for most of the concert, was subdued and not at all animated or flamboyant."

Sarge

[Harry]

Wagner, The Ring Cycle highlights. Lorin Maazel, Berliner Philharmoniker. (Telarc)
IHoward

That might be just up my alley!
Without words........

[gmstudio]

Giancarlo Guerrero...the conductor of the Eugene (Oregon) Symphony. Scrapping the bottom of the barrel? I didn't attend but a friend did and his emailed comment was:

"Giancarlo Guerrero seemed to be a nice boy.  He reminded me of a newly "minted" second lieutenant out of West Point who wisely got out of the way and let his experienced non-com sergreants do their thing.  He kept decent time and, at least for most of the concert, was subdued and not at all animated or flamboyant."

Sarge

Yeah, he was rather vanilla...reminded me of the 3rd string understudy who finally got to play the lead.   I was rooting for him, in that underdog sort of way.

Why management didn't have a better backup in place months ahead of time is beyond me.  The whole lead-up to this concert (Maazel's first time back in Cleveland since he left as Music Director) was surrounded by whispers of "do you really think he's going to show up?"  

[Kullervo]

Since I liked Bridge so much, I thought I might as well dive into his somewhat popular student's work.



Fanny Mendselssohn-Hensel's Das Jahr



Returning to Schoenberg



Someone described this as "Scriabinian," so I was sold.



Continuing the slow but inexorable collecting of Mahler's symphonies. (Please don't tell me, "Oh, you should've gotten x instead." It was $4. )

[locrian]

(Please don't tell me, "Oh, you should've gotten x instead." It was $4. )

But Symphony X is his best symphony!

[Sergeant Rock]

A large package from JPC today. Works, mostly, from my favorite Late Romantic to early Modern period:

This completes my Langgaard symphony collection:




Conlon's critically acclaimed Zemlinsky recordings are now dirt cheap so duplicating works I already own was painless financially...and I get to hear Isokoski in the Lyric Symphony:






Der Zwerg is my favorite Zemlinsky opera (it's based on the Oscar Wilde story The Birthday of the Infanta). This recording is the original, uncut version:




My collection is weak in Shostakovich song cycles. This fills a gap:




Kalliwoda is one of those obscure but great composers bridging the gap between Beethoven and Brahms. I'm looking forward to hearing these HIP performances:




Sarge

[Harry]

A large package from JPC today. Works, mostly, from my favorite Late Romantic to early Modern period:

This Kalliwoda is one of those obscure but great composers bridging the gap between Beethoven and Brahms. I'm looking forward to hearing these HIP performances:




Sarge

I would be very interested to know what you think of it Sarge.
But isn't it that a full price cd from CPO?

[Kullervo]

Thanks for bringing those Zemlinsky discs to my attention, I've added them to my wishlist.

[Kullervo]

But Symphony X is his best symphony!

Isn't Symphony X a metal band? 

[locrian]

Isn't Symphony X a metal band? 

Very good. 

[Sergeant Rock]

I would be very interested to know what you think of it Sarge.
But isn't it that a full price cd from CPO?

It is, Harry...and I fully expect CPO to drop the price to €7.99 now that I've paid €17.99 

Seriously, I was in a Romantic mood when I sampled it and, price be damned, I wanted it.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Continuing the slow but inexorable collecting of Mahler's symphonies. (Please don't tell me, "Oh, you should've gotten x instead." It was $4. )

No, you chose wisely. This is my favorite Mahler 8 (Bruce, I believe, likes it too). You'll have to let us know how you get on with it, the music not just the performance. It's the least popular of his symphonies. Many Mahlerites don't enjoy it.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Yeah, he was rather vanilla...reminded me of the 3rd string understudy who finally got to play the lead.   I was rooting for him, in that underdog sort of way.

Why management didn't have a better backup in place months ahead of time is beyond me.  The whole lead-up to this concert (Maazel's first time back in Cleveland since he left as Music Director) was surrounded by whispers of "do you really think he's going to show up?" 

Yeah, I remember the advertising hype, too, making it out to be a major, must-see event. My friend was really looking forward to it (we both saw dozens of concerts during Maazel's reign in the 70s). He bought expensive seats. He was majorly bummed.

Sarge

[Kullervo]

No, you chose wisely. This is my favorite Mahler 8 (Bruce, I believe, likes it too). You'll have to let us know how you get on with it, the music not just the performance. It's the least popular of his symphonies. Many Mahlerites don't enjoy it.

Sarge

So far I've only familiarized myself with the 1st and 5th. It is for its reputation of being difficult that I chose this one over any others. 

[Sergeant Rock]

So far I've only familiarized myself with the 1st and 5th. It is for its reputation of being difficult that I chose this one over any others. 

Not afraid of a challenge....good man 

Sarge

[bhodges]

No, you chose wisely. This is my favorite Mahler 8 (Bruce, I believe, likes it too). You'll have to let us know how you get on with it, the music not just the performance. It's the least popular of his symphonies. Many Mahlerites don't enjoy it.

Sarge

It is my favorite Mahler 8 as well (to be fair, not by an "enormous" margin).  What I like is mainly Chailly's grand pacing: he takes it slower than some, but it really pays off in a sense of occasion and almost crushing weight.  Also love the sound of the Concertgebouw's organ, which really sounds like one.  And then there is the really spectacular playing that sometimes I take for granted. 

Interestingly, when Chailly did the Mahler 8 at the 1995 Mahler Festival in Amsterdam, that one is even slower than this recording, and it works just as well.

--Bruce

[Hector]

It is, Harry...and I fully expect CPO to drop the price to €7.99 now that I've paid €17.99 

Seriously, I was in a Romantic mood when I sampled it and, price be damned, I wanted it.

Sarge

It is great stuff. The overture a real find.

This is, as you Americans term it, HIP, of course, but none the worse for that as the horns have real bite.

One of my topmost 'finds' of last year.


So good, I went out and added his 3rd Symphony to my collection (on MDG).

[Renfield]

It is my favorite Mahler 8 as well (to be fair, not by an "enormous" margin).  What I like is mainly Chailly's grand pacing: he takes it slower than some, but it really pays off in a sense of occasion and almost crushing weight.  Also love the sound of the Concertgebouw's organ, which really sounds like one.  And then there is the really spectacular playing that sometimes I take for granted. 

Interestingly, when Chailly did the Mahler 8 at the 1995 Mahler Festival in Amsterdam, that one is even slower than this recording, and it works just as well.

--Bruce

May enquire as to which performance lies beyond that "margin", in second place? I'm curious to know, since there is only one 8th that I immediately relate to Chailly's view of the work, and that is Giuseppe Sinopoli's recording on DG. So is it that one, or one of the other "Greighths"?

(Where the newly-coined "Greighth" naturally stands for "great Eighth". )

[hautbois]

That might be just up my alley!
Without words........

Listening to it, get it, it is aboslutely essential listening for "non Wagnerites*" like us.  The bass drum blow from Rheingold was so loud my Bose Tripods were not able to withstand it. Rheingold was filled with intonation flaws, it was as if the Berlin Philharmonic brass had to warm up for the Walkure!

Howard

*I bought this in mind of that amazing Wagner album from Sinopoli/Dresden which i listened to last week, and that was A-MA-ZING., flawless in every aspect. Thanks for the stories on Maazel/Cleveland guys, some very interesting reading!