The Romantics in Period Performances

Started by Que, April 09, 2007, 07:07:54 AM

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Que

Another installment in this series!  :D

Please post your favourite recordings on period instruments of works by composers of the Romantic period: Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Fauré, etc.

My own favourites for Schubert:

For the symphonies Jos van Immerseel (Sony) and for the masses Bruno Weil (Sony).

     


For the Trout quintet and the Arpeggione sonata L'Archibudelli and Van Immerseel (Sony),
and for the piano trios La Gaia Scienza (Winter & Winter).

     

Q

Don

For the piano trios on period instruments, there's also the Atlantis Ensemble on 2 Wildboard discs and Immerseel/Beths/Bylsma on a single Sony Vivarte.

Bunny

#2
L'Archibudelli has a number of HIP recordings of romantic music - Brahms, Mendelssohn, Weber, Gade, Dvorak, Spohr. and Bruckner to name a few.  Unfortunately most of them are as scarce as hen's teeth and command obscene prices (though not as high as that Mozart album ;) )

Also for the Schubert Symphonies, there is the Brüggen cycle too.


George

Quote from: Que on April 09, 2007, 07:07:54 AM
Another installment in the HIP series!  :D

EDIT: Realised that just Schubert is not much to go on - so I expanded the topic to all composers of the Romantic period.

Good idea, Q!

BTW, I think what we've been doing thus far on the forum has been very clever. Instead of thousands of threads each devoted to only one work, we have threads for entire works by one or many composers. This way, it will be easier to keep up with what goes on around here. I hope that this continues....I have a forum vacation (30 days) coming up as soon as the weather improves, so it will be nice to come back and not have to read hundreds of threads.  :)

Que

Quote from: Bunny on April 09, 2007, 09:25:07 AM
L'Archibudelli has a number of HIP recordings of romantic music - Brahms, Mendelssohn, Weber, Gade, Dvorak, Spohr. and Bruckner to name a few.  Unfortunately most of them are as scarce as hen's teeth and command obscene prices (though not as high as that Mozart album ;) )

Bunny, I know - it's hard and very expensive to piece all the L'Archibudelli issues together! :-\

QuoteAlso for the Schubert Symphonies, there is the Brüggen cycle too.

Have you heard the Brüggen - if so, what do you think?

I forgot the mention another Schubert/ L'Archibudelli favourite, this time together with the Mozzafiato:


Harry

#5
Quote from: Bunny on April 09, 2007, 09:25:07 AM
L'Archibudelli has a number of HIP recordings of romantic music - Brahms, Mendelssohn, Weber, Gade, Dvorak, Spohr. and Bruckner to name a few.  Unfortunately most of them are as scarce as hen's teeth and command obscene prices (though not as high as that Mozart album ;) )

Also for the Schubert Symphonies, there is the Brüggen cycle too.



I am very sorry, but this set I have put in the dustbin some time ago. Dreadful, this deliberate artificial playing, the choice of tempi, phrasing, accents, the man is very concious of him self.
It's more Bruggen, than Schubert.

Harry

#6
Quote from: Que on April 09, 2007, 07:07:54 AM
For the symphonies Jos van Immerseel (Sony) and for the masses Bruno Weil (Sony).

   


The Immerseel  for the symphonies are far to be prefered to the Bruggen rendition.

Bunny

Harry, I agree with you about that!  However for the sake of completeness, they should also be mentioned.  And talking about complete listings, the Bruno Weil and The Classical Band recordings of some of the Schubert symphonies (5&6 and 7&8 ) are excellent too.  If you can find them, they are well worth the price (so long as it's within reason. ;D)


Harry

Quote from: Bunny on April 09, 2007, 12:08:26 PM
Harry, I agree with you about that!  However for the sake of completeness, they should also be mentioned.  And talking about complete listings, the Bruno Weil and The Classical Band recordings of some of the Schubert symphonies (5&6 and 7&8 ) are excellent too.  If you can find them, they are well worth the price (so long as it's within reason. ;D)



Will try to find them, as I love these symphonies very much.

Bunny

#9
Quote from: Que on April 09, 2007, 07:07:54 AM
For the Trout quintet and the Arpeggione sonata L'Archibudelli and Van Immerseel (Sony),
and for the piano trios La Gaia Scienza (Winter & Winter).

     


That Trout Quintet is also available in SACD/hybrid but you have to order it from Japan. For some reason it was not released in the USA except in stereo to my knowledge.  Sound quality is excellent, too.

Another great L'Archibudelli recording which is very available in Asia and still available in Europe and the USA is the Dvorák New World and Old World Quintets.  That has become my favorite recording of those works.  I think it's the gut strings that gives it the extra warmth.  And I have been enjoying their recording of Bruckner which is now also available as an Arkivmusic cd licensed copy. Their Brahms String Sestets is also excellent and still widely available as well. :D


Dancing Divertimentian

The HIPsters are taking over the board!

And why not? ;D

For Schubert I'm very fond of these two discs:




Prégardien/Staier is the perfect combo in Winterreise. Both are sweet-toned and impassioned.



Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Bunny

#11
The Green cover Schubert is complemented by the orange covered Schubert.  Both cds are also available in the set with the blue cover.  This can make for very confused buying! 

+ =

I have found that I really like all of the cds I have bought by La Gaia Scienza, including the Schumann and Brahms recordings pictured below.  They are both excellent, and easy to recommend. :D

 


Que

Quote from: Bunny on April 10, 2007, 08:51:03 AM
I have found that I really like all of the cds I have bought by La Gaia Scienza, including the Schumann and Brahms recordings pictured below.  They are both excellent, and easy to recommend. :D

I already have that Brahms - excellent!
The Schumann is still on my wish list. :D

Wispelwey did a good recording of the cello sonatas (this is his 1st, he recently did a 2nd).



Q

Bunny

#13
Quote from: Que on April 11, 2007, 09:00:20 AM
I already have that Brahms - excellent!
The Schumann is still on my wish list. :D

Wispelwey did a good recording of the cello sonatas (this is his 1st, he recently did a 2nd).



Q

He and Komen did the Beethoven music for piano and cello as well.  It was not as well received as his later recording with Dejan Lazic, but that is an extraordinary recording which will be as revered as the Fournier/Kempff.

How does that recording compare to the Isserlis/Hough recording?  That is currently my favorite recording of that material even if it is on modern instruments.

You can hear a sample of the Brahms sonatas with Dejan Lazic at Channel Classics. It sounds very impressive, and I'm sure it is going to garner a lot of critical applause.

Sergeant Rock

#14
Along with Weil's Schubert these are a few of my favorite HIP Romantics:

 

 




Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Gurn Blanston

Heartily agree with the recs so far, particularly (of course) the L'Archibudelli Schuberts. And before they were calling themselves "L'Archibudelli", they were also recording on Vivarte without a real name ("Stradivarius Instruments from the Smithsonian Institution" ::) ) same forces though, and they did a brilliant String Quintet & Rondo in A D 438 (lovely work, rarely recorded at all). I was fortunate to pick it up on eBay for a very few $$$.

As for La Gaia Scienza, not only is their playing first class, but the recorded sound on that Winter & Winter (the green one) disk is as good as it gets.

My only HIP symphony set so far is the Hanover Band/Goodman, the playing is fine, but the reverberation and echo that we discussed in the Beethoven thread is worse yet on the Schubert cycle.

Sarge:  I have (and really like) the Scottish CO/Mackerras Brahms symphonies, when you say HIP here, you are talking about performance practice, not instruments, yes? They certainly use a smaller orchestra, which may sound strange to some who are used to the "stadium" versions, but it makes for a lovely ensemble, IMO.

I definitely need to look into those QM 4tets, "Rosamunde" is one of my very favorites! :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on April 11, 2007, 01:57:50 PM
Sarge: I have (and really like) the Scottish CO/Mackerras Brahms symphonies, when you say HIP here, you are talking about performance practice, not instruments, yes?

Mackerras employs some period instruments: narrow-bore trombones, rotary-valve trumpets. He doesn't use Brahms' preferred valveless horns but does use Vienna F horns instead of more modern horns. I don't think the strings use gut but in other respects they play in a HIP fashion: violins divided, using less vibrato and more portamento. The entire effect is refreshing and does sound very different. Anyone who complains about Brahms orchestration sounding "thick" should hear these performances.

Sarge

the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Bunny

Another Brahms recording:

Brahms and Krehl: Clarinet Quintets (Deux Quintettes dedié a Richard Mühlfeld) which can be found at Amazon (UK, Japan) as well as at ArkivMusic. 

It features the Jean-Claude Veilhan on period clarinet.


Que

#18


Not al Romantics - but I mention it anyway!  ;D
Super bargain.

CD1 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quintet in C K515; String Quintet in G minor K516
CD 2 Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quintet in C Op.29; Septet for violin viola cello, clarinet, horn, bassoon & double bass in E flat major, Op.20
CD 3 Franz Schubert: Quintet in A 'Trout Quintet'. Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Piano Quintet in E flat Op.87
CD 4 Franz Schubert: Octet for 2 violin viola cello, double-bass, clarinet, horn & bassoon in F major, D.803
CD 5 Felix Mendelssohn: String Quintet in A Op.18; Octet for 4 violins, 2 violas & 2 Cellos, in E flat Op.20

Monica Huggett, Pavlo Beznosiuk, Paul Boucher, Jolianne von Einem, Robert Salter violin, Roger Chase, Simon Whistler viola, Anthony Pleeth, Sebastien Comberti, Richard Lester cello, Chi-Chi Nwanoku double-bass, Anthony Pay clarinet, Anthony Halstead horn, Jeremy Ward bassoon, Cyril Huve fortepiano


Q

BachQ

Quote from: Que on April 09, 2007, 07:07:54 AM
EDIT: Realised that just Schubert is not much to go on - so I expanded the topic to all composers of the Romantic period.

Actually, Schubert is predominately a CLASSICAL-era composer . . . . . . (not Romantic) . . . . . .