Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[Daverz]

Pretty baby. Do you mind telling what you have in front of it?

A Michell Gyro SE turntable with the RB300 tonearm from my old Rega Planar 3 and a Benz Micro L2 cartridge.  I know I said I wasn't going to spend anymore on analog gear, but that statement seems to be no longer operative.

[PaulR]

Just got:
Brahms: Piano Concerto's #1 and 2(*) Emanuel Ax/Levine/CSO *Haitink/BSO 

[rubio]

These ones came from www.russiandvd.com today:

   

[George]

These ones came from www.russiandvd.com today:

   

I'll be interested in what you think of her LvB, Rubio! 

[Harry]

A few more.

[Harry]

 

[Valentino]

I wanted to have this much praised Previn, but the Herreweghe has Sandrine Piau, and I love her voice.

Sandrine's with Herreweghe? Please make space for listening to these recordings this side of 2010, Harry!

[Harry]

Sandrine's with Herreweghe? Please make space for listening to these recordings this side of 2010, Harry!

I promise you my friend, before the autumm this year you will have my full report.
In fact, this year I have planned to work through all my piles throughout the house.
I have already begun with that. All Naxos cd's about hundred unlisten by me, are now finally in the play mode.
Some of them are lying around since 2004. Next all the cpo's about 450.
Vacation will be at home.

[Bogey]

Long overdue....George's posts gave me the shove I needed.


When I read the liner notes that Bernstein had to lean back against the podium during the third movement of No. 7 in order to continue conducting due to what I suspect was his poor health, I did not care what the performance was like, but rather just knew I wanted this on my shelf....incredible story.  Buy it for that alone. 


A score that I have been wanting for some time now....loved the movie and the music.

[Lilas Pastia]

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=13.0;attach=2048;image

How good is Borresen's 1st, harry? I have his 2 and 3 and like them.

[Heather Harrison]

Here are the three big box sets that I bought yesterday.



These sets account for the majority of the 46 CDs I bought.  All three are comprehensive collections of important pieces in the history of music.  Haydn is largely credited with the development of the string quartet as an art form, and Mozart is credited with making major innovations to the piano concerto.  Beethoven is, of course, important in many ways.  The piano trios may not be his best-known or most influential works (compared to his symphonies, string quartets, and piano sonatas), but I find it interesting that his first published music (Opus 1) was a set of piano trios.

I certainly have not had the time to listen to all of the CDs in these sets, but I have heard enough to get a sense of their quality.  I have listened to the first two in the Haydn and Mozart sets, and the first CD in the Beethoven set.

Haydn's earliest string quartets are in a 5-movement form; the order of most is fast - minuet - slow - minuet - fast.  Sometimes, the order is slow - minuet - fast - minuet - fast.  These 5-movement quartets are larger-scale pieces than his earliest symphonies, and I found them to be generally of higher quality.  Haydn saved some of his most beautiful melodies (at the time) for the slow movements of some of these quartets.  These early works do not have the balance among the instruments that later quartets usually do; the first violin plays a prominent role, while the others provide accompaniment, with the cello usually acting as a continuo instrument.  So they have the character of chamber concertos for violin with string trio accompaniment.  I will be looking forward to hear how Haydn's style develops with time.  The performances, so far, have been excellent.  The Angeles Quartet brings a lot of life to these lighter-style early quartets; it will be interesting to hear how they handle some of the weightier ones to come.

The Mozart set is performed on period instruments, including a fortepiano that is a replica of one that Mozart owned in the 1780's.  Not all fortepianos are created equal; some have a dreadful tinny sound.  Thankfully, this isn't the case here; this one has a beautiful, mellow sound that is perfect for this music.  The lighter nature of the fortepiano changes the balance in the orchestra.  It doesn't dominate; rather, it blends in better.  In these performances, when the fortepiano isn't playing solo parts, it is used as a continuo instrument, and it works just as well as a harpsichord would.  (I would love to hear some of his symphonies with a fortepiano as the continuo instrument, but I don't know of any such performances.)  The early concertos are bright, cheerful works with not a great deal going on, but still with some merit.  The later ones will certainly be more interesting.  So far, the performances are very good.  Bilson is obviously quite familiar with the nature of fortepianos and he uses this knowledge to great effect.

Beethoven's early piano trios are fantastic examples of the late Classic style in chamber music.  They are cheerful works, but they also display some variety of moods, and I can feel Romanticism creeping in here and there.  The later ones will certainly show more of this characteristic.  Performances so far are very good, although the piano sometimes dominates a bit.  (It would be interesting to hear period-instrument performances for comparison; a fortepiano of Beethoven's time might give a better balance.)  I have only listened to one CD so far, but I am very tempted to skip ahead to the "Archduke" Trio, which is a perennial favorite.

If I feel like it in the next few days, I'll start up (or find) separate threads to continue my impressions of these sets.  These are important items in the repertoire, and it might be interesting to discuss them.

Heather

[Kullervo]

More Amazon stuff

Chopin - Préludes and Nocturnes (Garrick Ohlsson)

Schubert - Trout Quintet; Death and the Maiden (Amadeus QT)

Beethoven 5 & 7 (Kleiber, Vienna PO)

Lutosławski - Symphony No. 4, etc (Wit, Polish RSO)

[Harry]

How good is Borresen's 1st, harry? I have his 2 and 3 and like them.

Then you will like the first too, its in the same idiom, but mind I only heard it twice, and that's really not enough to make a final judgement.
After a couple of times more I will post what I think, but on the outset I would say go ahead!

[Harry]

Just a few, don't worry, not enough for my own thread.

[Harry]

Vocal things, just to get a feel for it.

[Harry]

Nice pictures huh, but nice music too.

[Harry]

Well its almost over, painless what?

[Harry]

Let me see, what more, O, yes that one too!

[hautbois]

Let me see, what more, O, yes that one too!

Harry, do you own a copy of Raff's Sinfonietta for wind instruments?

Regards,
Howard

[ragman1970]

and