The Romantics in Period Performances

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

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karlhenning

I haven't heard Gardiner's Brahms symphonies, Dave, but I've always really, really liked his Deutsches Requiem.

Que

Quote from: traverso on April 22, 2009, 07:04:47 AM
The album is not released in uk until next week....so report from me will have to come later.  :-[
How do you like the still ongoing series by Jan Vermeulen? I listened to his D894 and Impromptus and have had some ambivalent feelings.  The instrument sounds good (not stupendously beautiful), but I find him to be a bit
stiff expressively from time to time.

Re: Schubert piano works

I have two 2-CD volumes now (EtCetera). I have three of the five volumes Vermeulen did earlier on Vanguard, played on a Tröndlin fortepiano, just like the Immerseel recording on NorthWest. Based on that, I think the "stifffness" you sense is primarily caused by the instrument, which to my ears is uncompromising: brash and penetrating, with in-your-face dynamics. There are didvidends as well, like the bell like upper register and the immediacy.
But here you go, it takes getting used but it grows on me. To have next to other recordings - on other instruments, I would say.

Q

FideLeo

#182
Quote from: Que on April 19, 2009, 08:57:17 AM
Anyone tried this yet?  :)
Should be swell - Andreas Staier is one of the best Schubertians I've heard.

BTW "Op. 78" = D894.



Q

I have just given this disc another listen, on my Stax phones and the Graf copy he used doesn't sound boomy any more.  Just plainly beautiful and colourful.  Staier made some pretty spectacular use of the pedals to enhance his (frequent) dynamic shadings and I think he's made the best case for this sonata (my partner's favourite to play) yet on the fortepiano.  I also have Vermeulen's recording on an original Streicher but don't like his rendition as much.

It is probably reasonable to suggest that HM sound engineers have mastered this recording on phones more like my Stax, which have extraordinary highs and lean, tight lows...

ps. Marvellous cover design for the digipack in and out.  A keeper for me.
HIP for all and all for HIP! Harpsichord for Bach, fortepiano for Beethoven and pianoforte for Brahms!

FideLeo

Anyone heard this (and the composer?)

HIP for all and all for HIP! Harpsichord for Bach, fortepiano for Beethoven and pianoforte for Brahms!

Que

Quote from: traverso on May 02, 2009, 12:11:05 AM
Anyone heard this (and the composer?)

I'm afraid not. But as a minor side track: have these Schumann discs on Genuin on the shopping list, since Tobias Koch sounded very much OK to me on sampling.



Q

FideLeo

Quote from: Que on May 02, 2009, 12:19:30 AM
I'm afraid not. But as a minor side track: have these Schumann discs on Genuin on the shopping list, since Tobias Koch sounded very much OK to me on sampling.

I have a Mozart (violin sonata) recording of his on order - but clearly he's into reviving overlooked repertoires.
HIP for all and all for HIP! Harpsichord for Bach, fortepiano for Beethoven and pianoforte for Brahms!

FideLeo

HIP for all and all for HIP! Harpsichord for Bach, fortepiano for Beethoven and pianoforte for Brahms!

Opus106

QuoteFrederick Chopin Institute
First 10 releases in a new series of Chopin's works played on historical instruments

This project is realised on historical instruments from Chopin's times: pianos by Erard (Paris, 1849) and Pleyel (Paris, 1848). Both instruments are excellently preserved, meeting every requirement for concert performance, and allow Chopin's music to be heard just as it was written. Key features of the instruments' construction and mechanism, allied to their characteristic tonal qualities, create a different set of possibilities for interpretation from those of modern-day pianos. These new recordings of the complete works of Chopin allow contemporary listeners to discover the historical models, bringing us closer to Romantic times and revealing the long forgotten soundworld of that era.


http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/llf/Frederick%2BChopin%2BInstitute/1
Regards,
Navneeth

FideLeo

Quote from: opus106 on July 20, 2009, 07:57:20 AM
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/llf/Frederick%2BChopin%2BInstitute/1

Great to know that the series is now available at the usual outlets -- check amazon, hmv
etc. for even better pricings.
HIP for all and all for HIP! Harpsichord for Bach, fortepiano for Beethoven and pianoforte for Brahms!

Que

Quoted here for safe keeping - many thanks to Antoine Marchand for posting this info. :)

Quote from: Antoine Marchand on September 13, 2009, 07:27:37 AM


The tiny English record label Amon Ra specializes in recording historical instruments, very often from the collection at the museum in Finchcocks in Kent, where pianist Richard Burnett has built up a considerable collection of fully-playable keyboard instruments. On the current Mendelssohn CD, Burnett himself plays six of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, his Rondo Capriccioso Opus 14 and his 17 Variations Sérieuses Opus 54 on a Graf Fortepiano built in 1826 in Vienna and a British Broadwood Pianoforte built in 1823. The sound is amazing, the instruments sounding a lot more modern than I had anticipated from some other fortepiano recitals that I have heard, although of course there are all the usual thumping noises etc that one associates with historical instruments of this category. Burnett explains his choices of instrument in the short but informative notes provided.

Mendelssohn's youthful E flat Sonata for Clarinet and Fortepiano is performed beautifully by Alan Hacker using a Bilton boxwood clarinet from the first part of the 19th century and Burnett on the Graf fortepiano. The two relatively short Konzertstücke for clarinet, basset horn and fortepiano are performed on different instruments: On the first, Alan Hacker plays a late 19th century Albert cocus wood instrument, Lesley Schatzberger a small-bore basset horn by Selmer and Richard Burnett an Erard Pianoforte made in London in 1866. The second Konzertstück is played on slightly earlier instruments.

A wonderful "museum" recording with some lovely harmonies, some delightful piano playing and some living music outside the general run-of-the-mill pattern. New aspects of Mendelssohn, new insights into the history of instrument-making.
 

Leslie Richford, Amazon.com review on the recording.

I strongly object to the peculiar term "museum recording" BTW...

Q

Bulldog

Quote from: masolino on June 12, 2009, 01:55:00 AM


Grimwood plays an 1851 Erard.

Have you heard this set?  I've read a few reviews full of praise for the interpretations.

Bunny

Quote from: Que on February 06, 2010, 11:08:08 AM


The whole series now at reduced price of €10 each at jpc HERE.  0:)

Q

For those in the USA who are interested, they are also available at Amazon -- and delivery charges are not €13.00 (more than the cd!) for the first cd. 

Antoine Marchand

#192
Quote from: masolino on May 02, 2009, 12:11:05 AM
Anyone heard this (and the composer?)



Quote from: Que on May 02, 2009, 12:19:30 AM
I'm afraid not. But as a minor side track: have these Schumann discs on Genuin on the shopping list, since Tobias Koch sounded very much OK to me on sampling.



Q

For awhile I have had and enjoyed three discs by Tobias Koch (two Schumanns with -principally- solo piano music and one Mendelssohn), all of them fully recommendable, excellently played on lovely period instruments.



But now I also own his recording -along with Lisa Marie Landgraf- dedicated to the complete works for violin and pianoforte and, I think, it is simply mandatory, by far the most beautiful, erudite and exhaustive version of these pieces currently available in the market.

I have another three fine versions: Kremer/Argerich (DG), Nikolitch/Le Sage (Alpha) and Malikian/Kradjian (Brilliant Classics, licensed from Hänssler), but you usually you only get the three sonatas for violin and piano and sometimes, as in the case of Argerich/kremer, just two of them. On the other hand, Landgraf/Koch's project is absolutely exhaustive including all the sonatas for violin & piano, but also those pieces that Schumann wrote for the use ad libitum of that duo of instruments, transcriptions, collaborations, etc.

That 3-CD set also includes extense liner notes, a lot of information and insightful points of view.

The balance between the instruments is ideal, as effective as beautiful and expressive are the instruments used:

- Violin: Francesco Pressenda, Turin, 1847

- Piano:

CD1: Conrad Graf, Vienna 1821-22

CD2: Erard, Paris 1839

CD3: Johann Bernhard Klems, Düsseldorf 1850

Did I mention I loved this recording and I recommend it without reservations?

genuin.de: info & excerpts.

:)

Mandryka

#193
I just want to share this Chopin Berceuse from Alexei Lubimov which I really enjoy.

Chopin called it just Air Varie – it was a marketing idea to brand it as a berceuse .

Lubimov brings out the ground bass very effectively.  This seems to me a case where the fortepiano is really revelatory in Chopin's music. I'm not sure you could balance the music in such an interesting way with a modern piano.




http://www.goear.com/files/external.swf?file=8afd576


Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Que

#194
Quote from: Antoine Marchand on November 06, 2010, 09:48:46 AM


But now I also own his recording -along with Lisa Marie Landgraf- dedicated to the complete works for violin and pianoforte and, I think, it is simply mandatory, by far the most beautiful, erudite and exhaustive version of these pieces currently available in the market.
(....)

Did I mention I loved this recording and I recommend it without reservations?


Nice! :) And so good to see this thread back again.  :) I just browsed though it with much pleasure - a wealth of information and all kinds of leads I haven't explored yet. :o

I am aware of this Schumann issue and it is still on the list. The reason it didn't get priority is, besides being a more costly 3-CD issue, that I have another recording on period instruments that is so satisfying that it didn't leave me particularly wanting for another:



Samples

Violin by Willibrord Crijnen, Amsterdam 1992, after Tomaso Ballestrieri, Mantua c. 1760.
Fortepiano by Josef Riedl, Vienna 1870.

Pretty awesome, it topped Faust/Avenhaus (CPO) easily for me.  :o :) Judging from the on line samples, Leertouwer and Reynolds' take is a bit more fierce, with the heart on the sleeve, a bit more Florestan if you will, then the Landgraf/Koch on Genuin, which sounds very beautiful BTW. And I would welcome all the extras. :)

Q

Que


Superhorn

   What will be next? "Authentic" performances of the Richard Strauss tone poems ?  Wouldn't that be taking things a little too far?  And would they even be authentic at all? 
  Conducted by Thielemann?  Luisi? Nezet-Seguin?
   Some people have even called for "authentic " performances of the Schumann Konzertstuck for 4 horns on natural horns,not realizing that it was written in 1849 as a showpiece for VALVED horns and is unplayable on the natural instrument !
   Silly HIPers ! 

Opus106

Quote from: Superhorn on November 22, 2010, 08:02:55 AM
   What will be next? "Authentic" performances of the Richard Strauss tone poems ?  Wouldn't that be taking things a little too far?  And would they even be authentic at all? 
  Conducted by Thielemann?  Luisi? Nezet-Seguin?

So you obviously haven't heard this Ravel. Nor have you heard Herreweghe and his band perform Bruckner. ;D
Regards,
Navneeth

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Opus106 on November 22, 2010, 08:10:12 AM
So you obviously haven't heard this Ravel. Nor have you heard Herreweghe and his band perform Bruckner. ;D

Or the Brahms Horn Trio, written for Natural Horn, since Brahms had a realistic view of the sound of the valve horn...

SH's assumption that the orchestra hasn't changed since Schumann's time is amusing at best, tragically sad when taken as given. ::)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

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

karlhenning

Quote from: Superhorn on November 22, 2010, 08:02:55 AM
   What will be next? "Authentic" performances of the Richard Strauss tone poems ?  Wouldn't that be taking things a little too far?  And would they even be authentic at all?

Can't answer for the Strauss . . . one of my favorite Liszt recordings, though, features an Érard piano such as Liszt was known to enjoy playing.  The instrument has a noticeably lighter touch, and the sound of the music is enchanting.