Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[Mark]

Well, in preparation for my cessation of CD purchasing (which I hope I'll be able to maintain for the whole of 2008), I've placed my final Amazon order ... and completely deleted my Wishlists. What did I go for? All but Symphony No. 9 (which I have already) from Karajan's 1977 Beethoven cycle. And a new pair of Sennheiser headphones (closed-back, nothing flash - just for use at the PC to block out the sound of my daughter's crying while I'm trying to work ).

[Brian]

Well, in preparation for my cessation of CD purchasing which I hope I'll be able to maintain for the whole of 2008, I've placed my final Amazon order ... and completely deleted my Wishlists. What did I go for? All but Symphony No. 9 (which I have already) from Karajan's 1977 cycle. And a new pair of Sennheiser headphones (closed-back, nothing flash - just for use at the PC to block out the sound of my daughter's crying while I'm trying to work ).

That's it for the last Amazon order? You should have completely bought the Wishlist.     

...I'll stop being a bad influence now.

[Lilas Pastia]

A particular feature of the WP's playing under Böhm is the fullness of sound and rythmic emphasis achieved within transparent textures. This Brahms cycle is one of the few where emphasis is on rythm and structure without ever slighting the beauty of sound. Böhm has a way of bringing out rythmic accents powerfully without ever compromising the basic tempo. As M mentions, 'balance' is the operative word. Another such cycle is Haitink's COA from ther seventies. But he is a different kind of conductor. I enjoy both, but I find Böhm's interpretations uniquely satisfying.

[Brian]

More purchases! Before today, I had bought exactly two CDs in the last 9 weeks. Today I got all that stuff in the last post and these:



Romantic viola concertos (both of them  )



Bortkiewicz symphonies! (this one had been on my wishlist for literally years)

[Lilas Pastia]

Just received the set of Beethoven symphonies under Jochum (Amsterdam Concertgebouw). Yeah!

[mahlertitan]

second symphonies (the last one is by Stein/WP)

[M forever]

Wonderful! I actually listened to that today myself, I had to, because earlier had I listened to Eschenbach's labored and unstylish effort with the same piece. BTW, this recording was made "spontaneously" because Giulini canceled a recording of Schubert's Mass in Eb because he was dissatisfied with the choir, so they recorded this symphony instead which they had just played in concert.
You chose wisely.

second symphonies (the last one is by Stein/WP)

I always wanted to hear that, but never got around to it.

Marvelous! A little too distant and reverberant recording maybe, but musically and orchestrally outstanding, and an interesting version of the 3rd symphony, maybe more interesting than the final version, if not as compact and "logical". It is sad that Sinopoli never got to complete the Bruckner cycle in Dresden, that orchestra and this conductor were a marriage made in heaven, but at least there are recordings of 3,4,5,7,8,9.
Nice wool jacket, too
You chose wisely.

[Renfield]

The hyphen is used mostly for the sake of forming compound nouns, for clarifying meaning when successive words might be read ambiguously, and to convert verbs like "(to) build up" into nouns, like "[we anticipated the] build-up".

"Music-making" is mostly about the second use, clarification. Consider this:

"Herbert von Karajan's music making a delight, his capable conducting ensured an enjoyable evening."

Is Herbert von Karajan's music "making a delight" (which, despite being nonsensical, is valid syntactically), or is his "making music" a delight? When you don't use the latter order, "music-making" helps to clarify the meaning.


But in fact, music-making might also be the only way this compound is formed. "Noun + gerund", as Brian pondered earlier, might require a hyphen for the sake of compounding into a noun, while "gerund + noun" does not need it. Still, I'd think it falls under "clarification", this hyphenation.


(Though a lot of the two-word noun compounds - see, I did the clarification thing again - we tend to use do not necessarily require a hyphen, and are often spelt as one word, mostly in American English: e.g. "data-base" (unnecessary), "database". For the record. )



"Grammerpolice" (to use a somewhat amusing MMO term) session aside, I ordered these for (hopefully) Christmas:























(That last one I do have, as a cycle, but not in this remastering. And you might remember I have something of a fad for Brahms Symphony cycles. )


As usual, many thanks to those who have directly or indirectly inspired a few of the above purchases... And I might be looking into the Böhm Brahms cycle, as well. Thanks, M.

[Que]

Nice!   I was planning on some Weingartner/LvB myself, and the Walter/NYPO set as well!

Btw, not that your Christmas stocking does seem not filled enough already... 
Should you like Weingartner's LvB, this might be an (excellent) idea. Strongly recommended!



Q

[Renfield]

Nice!   I was planning on some Weingartner/LvB myself, and the Walter/NYPO set as well!

Btw, not that your Christmas stocking does seem not filled enough already... 
Should you like Weingartner's LvB, this might be an (excellent) idea. Strongly recommended!



Q

Is the remastering good? I vaguely remember Living Era discs being a bit fuzzy... Though given the age of the recordings, I won't be complaining!

(Although it would anyway be wonderful if Mark Obert-Thorn got around to doing them for Naxos, so I can be sure of the results. )

[Que]

Is the remastering good? I vaguely remember Living Era discs being a bit fuzzy... Though given the age of the recordings, I won't be complaining!

(Although it would anyway be wonderful if Mark Obert-Thorn got around to doing them for Naxos, so I can be sure of the results. )

These new transfers from 2005 by David Lennick - who also works for Naxos - are quite good, actually.
And I'm very picky.    At least on the same level as transfers on Naxos, I would say!

Q

[Renfield]

These new transfers from 2005 by David Lennick - who also works for Naxos - are quite good, actually.
And I'm very picky.    At least on the same level as transfers on Naxos, I would say!

Q

Splendid! Thank you, I'll see about getting it, then.

[Harry]

A gift from JPC, for being a good customer........ , delivered by UPC, this beautiful cd from Praetorius..

[Que]

Although it would anyway be wonderful if Mark Obert-Thorn got around to doing them for Naxos, so I can be sure of the results.

I must say that I'm generally not as satisfied with his work for Naxos as with his earlier work for other labels, like Pearl and Biddulph.

Q

[George]

I must say that I'm generally not as satisfied with his work for Naxos as with his earlier work for other labels, like Pearl and Biddulph.

Q

I haven't heard his work for Pearl and Biddulph. Was it less filtered?

[Que]

I haven't heard his work for Pearl and Biddulph. Was it less filtered?

Yes, you guessed it. 

An example: I heard his Naxos of the famous Mengelberg recording of Liszt's Préludes - horrible!    Dim and sounding like some subterranean rumblings. Can't even stand in the shadow of his transfer for Pearl of more than a decade ago.

Q

[Harry]

A few operettas...... This EMI box, 13 cd's and all....

[Harry]

You cannot stand on one leg right, so I dived a little into this music and walla...

[Harry]

More of this heavenly composer...

[Renfield]

I must say that I'm generally not as satisfied with his work for Naxos as with his earlier work for other labels, like Pearl and Biddulph.

Q

I haven't heard his work with Biddulph. But both the Pearl and the Naxos remasterings under his own hand satisfy me greatly.

Then again, it could be due to lack of proper cross-comparison...


Incidentally, I picked up Simone Dinnerstein's Goldberg Variations, and the Melodiya Beethoven 9th we were discussing in the other thread. Also Bohm's Brahms cycle: I couldn't resist.

Let me add the proper album covers, for pedantry's sake: