The Classical Chat Thread

[TheGSMoeller]

Fresh from ionarts:



NOV 28, 2015
The Hobbit Returns: Thomas Fey & the Heidelberg
Symphony will finish their Haydn Cycle

It has just been informally announced that Hänssler CLASSIC, which was recently,
partially merged with PROFIL Hänssler (see "Merger Reunites Classical Music Labels
Of Father And Son" on Forbes.com), will continue the wildly imaginative, musically
successful Haydn Symphony cycle that Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker
had been working on for the last few years. Yay!

Fey (*1960), who has attained the lovingly-meant nickname "The Hobbit" in an
internet forum that teems with appréciateurs for that particular cycle, founded the
orchestra in 1993 and has its roots in an early music ensemble that Fey founded as
a student, several years earlier. Fey, who had studied under Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
is greatly influenced by, but not beholden to, the historically informed performance
ideology or movement. (The orchestra calls itself "historically oriented".)

When their Haydn recording project began shortly after the orchestra assembled, in
1999...

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-hobbit-returns-thomas-fey.html

Just read the article through your Twitter account, Jens. Great news!

And I love that The Hobbit was mentioned. Who originally coined that name? Sarge, maybe?

Anyway, here's to Nos. 6, 67, 80 and 81 getting the Fey treatment!

[jlaurson]

Fresh from Forbes:




DEC 9, 2015
The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2015 (New Releases)

It's fair to say to say that such "Best-Of" lists are inherently daft if one clings too
literally to the idea of "Best." Still, I have been making "Best of the Year" lists for
classical music since 2004, when working at Tower Records gave me a splendid
oversight (occasionally insight) of the new releases and of the re-releases that
hit the classical music market. Since then, I've kept tabs on the market as much
as possible. (The 2014 Forbes list for new recordings can be found here, the one
for re-issues here.)

(The entire list on Amazon for CDs and mp3s (incomplete) can be found here.
The complete-as-possible Spotify playlist here. Links to iTunes (where available)
and the high-fidelity streaming/download platform Qobuz are provided individually.)

Making these lists is a subjective affair, aided only by massive exposure and
hopefully good ears and a discriminating, if personal taste. But then "10 CDs
that, all caveats duly noted, I consider to have been outstanding in 2015"
does not make for a sexy headline. You get the point. The built-in hyperbole
of the phrase is a tool to understand what this is about, not symbolic of
illusions of grandeur on part of the author. Because the market lends itself to
it, I distinguish between new releases and re-releases. This is the Top 10 of
the former, the Top 10 of the re-issues will follow. Let's get right to it:...



http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/12/09/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2015-new-releases/

[jlaurson]

Fresh from Forbes:




DEC 12, 2015
The 10 Best Classical Recordings Of 2015 (Re-Issues)

The first stage of drafting such a list after listening to hundreds of new albums, is straining
to remember which ones were sufficiently excellent to include. The second stage is to justify
to oneself how not to include the many albums that come to mind only after the Top 10 has
been assembled. On the ionarts website I cheat by creating an "Almost List." Here, as I did
last year, I will merely lament ostentatiously that there was no room to include Zhu Xiao-Mei's
Art of the Fugue (Accentus), Mozart Violin Concertos with Christian Tetzlaff (Hänssler), the
Bruckner Fourth Symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck (Reference
Recordings), Alice Cooper narrating a new mashup of Peter and the Wolf (DG), the Pavel Haas
String Quartet's superb new recording of the Smetana Quartets (Supraphon), Pentatone's
splendid coupling of Richard Strauss Sinfonia domestica with his forgotten choral work "The
Times of the Day" or the snappy "Sinkovsky Plays & Sings Vivaldi" album on naïve. And off
we go to the list of Best Re-Issues of 2015:...



http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/12/12/the-10-best-classical-recordings-of-2015-re-releases/

[Karl Henning]

John reacting against one performance here . . .

. . . results in purchasing another performance here.

[Todd]

Whilst hunting for online pictures of the Horowitz '67 Whitman recital, which ain't too hot, I noticed that Amazon sells individual MP3 tracks of applause from Horowitz releases for $1.29 each.  A bargain?

[Turner]

Are some people out there doing applause collecting ?  

[Florestan]

Are some people out there doing applause collecting ?

I'm sure there must be completists out there owning 100+ recordings of applause from their favorite performer's releases. 

[Brian]

The MusicWeb reviewers are a strange, strange bunch.

Here are some CDs which NOBODY requested to review this month:

- Mendelssohn violin concerto (two versions - PentaTone and Chandos)
- Mendelssohn string quartets
- Diabelli variations
- Beethoven violin sonatas 6 & 7 plus dances
- Brahms/Reger clarinet quintets
- literally all of the new Chopin releases

Here are the two MOST-requested CDs which reviewers are fighting over:
- Henk Badings symphonies
- Walter Braunfels variations

...okay never mind, MusicWeb reviewers would all fit right in on GMG!

[Jo498]

I can understand being "sick" with the Mendelssohn concerto and some Chopin but the other things seem to be either not all that "overrecorded" (Mendelssohn, Reger) or anyone who cares for the music at all would often be interested in another version (maybe not in reviewing).

[Todd]

The MusicWeb reviewers are a strange, strange bunch.

Here are some CDs which NOBODY requested to review this month:

- literally all of the new Chopin releases

What are the Chopin recordings up for review?

[Brian]

What are the Chopin recordings up for review?

Ballades, Impromptus, Preludes - Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy
Etudes - Alessandro Deljavan
"Chronological Chopin" 3CD box - Burkhard Schliessmann
Cello Sonata - Alexander Suleiman

[jlaurson]

Ballades, Impromptus, Preludes - Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy
Etudes - Alessandro Deljavan
"Chronological Chopin" 3CD box - Burkhard Schliessmann
Cello Sonata - Alexander Suleiman

Boy, that is a very uninspiring lot. Who could have possibly been waiting with baited breath for Burkard Schliessmann to regale us with chronological Chopin? Even if it did turn out to be quite sensational. Incidentally a lot of Chopin reviews (I've just tried to collect all the ones about Mazurka-collections) are rather brief and say little to nothing beyond general things about the music and where they do, they describe in detail the pleasures of listening to Joyce Hatto. 

[Florestan]

Boy, that is a very uninspiring lot. Who could have possibly been waiting with baited breath for Burkard Schliessmann to regale us with chronological Chopin? Even if it did turn out to be quite sensational.

Bring Mr. Schliessmann's performance in a GMG blind comparison and chances are great that he displace all the big names from their position.  And there will be at least one person to vote his favorite out right in the first round

[jlaurson]

Bring Mr. Schliessmann's performance in a GMG blind comparison and chances are great that he displace all the big names from their position.  And there will be at least one person to vote his favorite out right in the first round

Perfectly possible. But most people don't do blind comparisons and listen with their minds, not ears... which is to say: They hear what they expect and want to hear.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

From NPR - interesting discussion about Dart making Spotify easier to use for classical fans and composers: 

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/29/461409282/startup-aims-to-give-classical-musicians-an-online-bump

[Brian]

Just got Daniil Trifonov's "Rachmaninov Variations" CD. It has SEVENTY-THREE tracks. So I have to ask: what is the most tracks you've seen on a CD?

Also: "Daniil Trifonov's wardrobe courtesy of Ermenegildo Zegna."

Boy, that is a very uninspiring lot. Who could have possibly been waiting with baited breath for Burkard Schliessmann to regale us with chronological Chopin? Even if it did turn out to be quite sensational. Incidentally a lot of Chopin reviews (I've just tried to collect all the ones about Mazurka-collections) are rather brief and say little to nothing beyond general things about the music and where they do, they describe in detail the pleasures of listening to Joyce Hatto. 

I didn't grab the Schliessmann, but I did request the first two, so we'll see. The industry, for all its supposed ill health, does release waaaay more media than anybody could possibly want/need.

Chopin reviews are damn hard to write. With very rare exceptions (David Wilde!!) there is nothing new under the interpretive sun. All you really get to talk about with the mazurkas, in particular, is what they do with the rhythm, and maybe a few words about "poetry"...

[Karl Henning]

I don't think I have a CD which can compete with 73 tracks!

[jlaurson]

I didn't grab the Schliessmann, but I did request the first two, so we'll see. The industry, for all its supposed ill health, does release waaaay more media than anybody could possibly want/need.

Speaking of the devil:

PRESS RELEASE

German pianist Burkard Schliessman is a performer with a passion and vision – to seek out and interpret the forms, colours and textures, indeed the soul and expression, and the poetic impact of works we believe have been fully explored. His recordings have received world-wide acclaim.


This new triple SACD set chronicles the works of Chopin in order of composition date, showing both the composer's development and a valuable informative tool for scholars – whilst also being a superb recital.
Tracklisting

Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20; Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23; 24 Preludes Op. 28; Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor Op. 31; Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38; Scherzo No. 3 in C sharp minor, Op. 39; Prélude in C sharp minor, Op. 45; Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47; Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49; Ballade No. 4 in F minor Op. 52; Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54; Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57; Barcarolle in F sharp major Op. 60; Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat major, Op. 61

CD Product Details

This recording is released as a 5-channel SACD/CD Hybrid, on three discs contained in a deluxe digipack. The 60 page, three language booklet features a highly informative essay by Burkard Schliessman himself, setting out his reasoning behind the whole project. The total CD playing time is almost 160 minutes.

Released via the Divine Art Recordings Group (Catalogue number DDC25752/Bar Code 0809730575228), distributed worldwide via Naxos and released on 8th January 2016 (both physically and digitally).

https://youtu.be/lAJlu5eETL4

About Burkard Schliessman

BURKARD SCHLIESSMANN, who completed his musical studies as a pupil in the masterclass of Herbert Seidel, Shura Cherkassky, Bruno Leonardo Gelber and Poldi Mildner, is regarded as one of the most influential pianists of the modern era. He has received numerous prizes and awards of merits for his interpretations.

Burkard Schliessmann has regularly performed throughout Europe, in the United States, Czechoslovakia, Japan, China, Indonesia and Malaysia. He has participated in many European festivals, such as the Munich Piano Summer Festival, the festival "Frankfurt Feste", the Valldemossa Chopin Festival, and the Maurice Ravel Festival in Paris, among others. As orchestral soloist, Mr. Schliessmann's performance highlights include his orchestral solo appearances with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, WDR Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Symphony Orchestra Wuppertal and the New Philharmonic Westfalia, in addition to other orchestras. He enjoys great popularity in media and has been showcased at major German TV-studios, including the Philharmonie of Gasteig in Munich, the City Hall Wuppertal, and the WDR West German Radio studio in Cologne. Mr. Schliessmann has been featured by the WDR radio in its program 'aspekte' in a joint production of the ARD/ZDF TV- channels. He has also been featured by BR Bavarian radio, HR Hessian radio and was broadcast nationwide and throughout Europe in the cultural programs of 'ARTE', and '3sat'.

Burkard Schliessmann has collaborated with highly renowned régisseurs, such as José Montes-Baquer, Enrique Sánchez Lansch, Claus Viller, Lothar Mattner, Peter Gelb, Dieter Hens, Korbinian Meyer, Siegfried Aust and others. Famous critics have had no hesitation in placing him alongside the finest pianists: "This is the most imaginative playing one has heard yet on the level of Richter Michelangeli, Serkin, Wild, Could - the highest order of artistry" wrote the «High Performance Review» in the USA. Burkard Schliessmann is also an exceptionally gifted pedagogue: As «Distinguished University Professor» he teaches in International Masterclasses of Major-Universities throughout the world, especially in USA; among these are Curtis-Institute in Philadelphia, Lee University in Cleveland (Tennessee), Bastyr-University in Seattle (Washington-State) and others. His pedagogical concept is a unit of psyche and physis of each student and his individuality, taking this by a fusion of the art, music and the instrument. His students are coming from the United States, Europe, Russia, Croatia, Poland, China, Japan and New Zealand. Most of them are prize-winners of international piano competitions and are teaching themselves in universities or conservatories.

Burkard Schliessmann is an Official Artist of STEINWAY & SONS.

>From Bastyr-University in Seattle (Washington-State) he received the highest US-Academic distinction, the «President's Citation» in February 2012; in April 2013 he was awarded with the «Melvin Jones Fellow Award» from LIONS-International in recognition of his international achievements in the Arts and Culture.

See also http://www.schliessmann.com

Further Information

[Brian]

Whoa whoa whoa whoa he teaches masterclasses at Bastyr University in Seattle?

I had never ever heard of Bastyr University before, so I looked it up, and:

"Bastyr University is an alternative medicine university with a campus in Kenmore, Washington and one in San Diego, California. Programs include naturopathy, acupuncture and Oriental medicine, nutrition, herbal medicine, ayurvedic medicine, psychology, and midwifery among others. Bastyr's programs are controversial for teaching subjects that are considered pseudoscience and quackery by the scientific and medical communities."

"The Bastyr curriculum has been criticized for teaching pseudoscience and quackery, as courses in homeopathy, herbalism, acupuncture, and ayurvedic methods lack a compelling evidence basis. Clinical training in the naturopathic medicine program was revealed to be significantly less hours than what Bastyr claims to provide its students, focusing on dubious diagnostics to prescribe experimental and pseudoscentific treatments, which do not adhere to medical standards of care. Research conducted at Bastyr has been criticized as being a waste of taxpayer dollars by studying implausible treatments inconsistent with the best understandings of science and medicine.

"Naturopaths trained at Bastyr are required to study homeopathy. David Gorski has been highly critical of this requirement; for him this makes the university fail the "litmus test" of whether it adheres to "science and reality".

"In 2007, Bastyr University was found by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to have violated the standards of academic freedom and shared governance for faculty members who were fired without cause of academic due process. Bastyr has been placed on the AAUP censure list for violating generally recognized principles of academic freedom and tenure."

[kishnevi]

Just got Daniil Trifonov's "Rachmaninov Variations" CD. It has SEVENTY-THREE tracks. So I have to ask: what is the most tracks you've seen on a CD?

Also: "Daniil Trifonov's wardrobe courtesy of Ermenegildo Zegna."

You'll find the same credit in certain recordings by Gergiev.