Whom do you listen to most often?

[Classical Review]

WB, Mark!

Thank you, sir!

I trust all has been well here during my last, protracted absence?

FK

[Elgarian]

I trust all has been well here during my last, protracted absence?

Nice to see you back - I wondered where you'd gone. (We added some new potted plants while you were away, and tidied up the shrubbery.)

[Classical Review]

Nice to see you back - I wondered where you'd gone. (We added some new potted plants while you were away, and tidied up the shrubbery.)

Place looks nice.

I've been busy (VERY busy) in 'real' life. But I won't derail this thread with that.

FK

[marvinbrown]

 Mozart is the only decent opera composer on that list??   What gives?  No serious opera composers here??  


 75% of my listening is opera:  Wagner, Verdi, Mozart, Richard Strauss, Puccini........<sigh> Mozart wins by default  !

 marvin

[Franco]

 Mozart is the only decent opera composer on that list??   What gives?  No serious opera composers here??  


 75% of my listening is opera:  Wagner, Verdi, Mozart, Richard Strauss, Puccini........<sigh> Mozart wins by default  !

 marvin

I too listen to plenty of opera, and well, vocal music in general, more than instrumental works.  Verdi and Mozart are the two opera composers I cannot live without.  But I also love choral works and, here lately, a lot of Early Music, masses, motets, chansons, virelais, etc. by Machaut, Dufay, Desprez, Lasso, Ockeghem and their contemporaries.   

[Conor71]

Lately its mainly been Shostakovich but overall I listen to Mahler the most and return to his music most often  .

[Classical Review]

Going a little OT, Conor71, I notice that you're championing 'Barbirolli's Sibelius' beneath your avatar. I'm assuming you mean the symphonies. How do these compare (in your opinion) with those by other conductors? (Supposing, of course, that you've heard more than one set.)

FK

[Harry]

I get too many new cd's and composers in, to get ever addicted to one composer. However if I have to name one, it would surely be Tchaikovsky, for me that is number one in my book, and I could not do without him.
The Strauss family's music is also a returning pleasant event in my life, so I add this too my list.

[Classical Review]

I'm with you in a love for Tchaikovsky, Harry. I owe the great man a debt - his music was my entry into classical music. But why do critics seem to sneer so much whenever his name is mentioned?

FK

[Harry]

Going a little OT, Conor71, I notice that you're championing 'Barbirolli's Sibelius' beneath your avatar. I'm assuming you mean the symphonies. How do these compare (in your opinion) with those by other conductors? (Supposing, of course, that you've heard more than one set.)

FK

Mark, your site looks nice, and the reviews are easy to read, but I rather miss thoughts about recording quality, and the level of performance. For the rest is really up to scratch.
Congrats.

[Harry]

I'm with you in a love for Tchaikovsky, Harry. I owe the great man a debt - his music was my entry into classical music. But why do critics seem to sneer so much whenever his name is mentioned?

FK

Because you have to love music, before you understand it, and that is absent with these guys.

[Classical Review]

Thank you, Harry! Kind words indeed.

I mention recorded sound a little here and there. And sometimes, moments of outstanding performance, too. But my main concern is introducing works to audiences unfamiliar with them. And as I keep to a fairly strict word count to make my reviews easier to read (it ranges from about 470 to 550 words), I'm often pushed for space to say everything I'd like.

FK

[Conor71]

Going a little OT, Conor71, I notice that you're championing 'Barbirolli's Sibelius' beneath your avatar. I'm assuming you mean the symphonies. How do these compare (in your opinion) with those by other conductors? (Supposing, of course, that you've heard more than one set.)

I like Barbirolli's Sibelius so far (still quite a new set) and have found his Symphonies to be nicely detailed with broad tempos and lively playing - The Symphonies which work best are the 1st, 2nd (possibly the best version Ive heard), 4th and 6th, I was a little disappointed with the 5th and the 3rd.
Overall a nice cycle but not my favourite from the 6 Symphony sets I own - that is probably Rattle's set as it so consistent and has excellent sound  .

[Classical Review]

I like Barbirolli's Sibelius so far (still quite a new set) and have found his Symphonies to be nicely detailed with broad tempos and lively playing - The Symphonies which work best are the 1st, 2nd (possibly the best version Ive heard), 4th and 6th, I was a little disappointed with the 5th and the 3rd.
Overall a nice cycle but not my favourite from the 6 Symphony sets I own - that is probably Rattle's set as it so consistent and has excellent sound  .

Thanks for sharing. If Barbirolli's take on the Second Symphony is as good as you say, I must try to hear it. I'm addicted to Vanska's on BIS - and unconvinced (as yet) that anything can better it.

As for Rattle, I'm a big fan of his. But his readings of Sibelius' symphonies don't grab me emotionally. Yes, he's done his homework. He clearly knows the scores. But don't you think that in these works in particular, his attention to individual details can obscure the bigger picture?

Anyway, better not take this thread further OT.

FK