Recordings That You Are Considering

Started by George, April 06, 2007, 05:54:08 AM

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Mandryka

#15780
Maybe think about the Abbado Mahler at Lucerne. I'm no Mahlerian, but when those recordings came out a mate of mine reviewed them for the BBC and thought they were consistently outstanding, and I'm sure he preferred them to the earlier ones.  There was a special relation between Abaddo and the Lucerne orchestra, which in any case was a scratch orchestra with some top players in it. They loved him, and were thrilled to have him there after a difficult time with cancer.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

vers la flamme

Quote from: Mandryka on May 01, 2020, 12:26:49 PM
Maybe think about the Abbado Mahler at Lucerne. I'm no Mahlerian, but when those recordings came out a mate of mine reviewed them for the BBC and thought they were consistently outstanding, and I'm sure he preferred them to the earlier ones.  There was a special relation between Abaddo and the Lucerne orchestra, which in any case was a scratch orchestra with some top players in it. They loved him, and were thrilled to have him there after a difficult time with cancer.

I'm interested in those, but I don't think they're available on CD, and I'm not really interested in collecting a video cycle on DVD at the moment (for one, because I don't have a DVD player). But especially with the way you describe, it sounds like something I would be interested in.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Mandryka on May 01, 2020, 12:26:49 PM
Maybe think about the Abbado Mahler at Lucerne. I'm no Mahlerian, but when those recordings came out a mate of mine reviewed them for the BBC and thought they were consistently outstanding, and I'm sure he preferred them to the earlier ones.  There was a special relation between Abaddo and the Lucerne orchestra, which in any case was a scratch orchestra with some top players in it. They loved him, and were thrilled to have him there after a difficult time with cancer.

That particular performance is on DVD/blu-ray and isn't available on CD.

staxomega

I'll give this request another try in this thread, anyone have suggestions for great CDs of Stanchinsky's piano music? I have Nikolai Fefilov's disc on Etcetera and some of those pieces are amazing. If I didn't know Rachmaninoff as well as I do, blind I would think some of them are his pieces. Intended as a compliment, maybe someone out there would take this as an insult  :laugh:

Of course the more obvious comparison that is made is to Scriabin.


vers la flamme

Quote from: hvbias on May 01, 2020, 04:25:04 PM
I'll give this request another try in this thread, anyone have suggestions for great CDs of Stanchinsky's piano music? I have Nikolai Fefilov's disc on Etcetera and some of those pieces are amazing. If I didn't know Rachmaninoff as well as I do, blind I would think some of them are his pieces. Intended as a compliment, maybe someone out there would take this as an insult  :laugh:

Of course the more obvious comparison that is made is to Scriabin.



I've been looking at this recent release:



Samples here: https://grandpianorecords.com/Album/AlbumDetails/GP766

Sounds good to me.

staxomega

Quote from: vers la flamme on May 02, 2020, 03:13:44 AM
I've been looking at this recent release:



Samples here: https://grandpianorecords.com/Album/AlbumDetails/GP766

Sounds good to me.

Will listen to it tonight, it looks like she is eventually going to record it all.

vers la flamme



This incarnation of Schnabel's Beethoven sonatas is currently available for an absolute steal of a deal. Any opinions on the transfers, packaging, etc?

premont

Quote from: vers la flamme on May 22, 2020, 01:45:56 AM


This incarnation of Schnabel's Beethoven sonatas is currently available for an absolute steal of a deal. Any opinions on the transfers, packaging, etc?

I owned it some time ago but culled it, because it is too filtered if not quite as bad as the first EMI CD release. It was probably George and/or Que, who advised me to acquire the Naxos set, which is much better remastered with just about the right filtering to my taste, and which I have been generally satisfied with. I have not heard the Pearl set. Rumors say that it is as well as unfiltered and very noisy -  so not my cup of tea.
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premont

The Warner release (remastered 2016) is less filtered than the original EMI CD release, but also more noisy. Haven't purchased it. I think the piano tone is less natural than on the Naxos release. Samples here:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8151562--beethoven-the-complete-piano-sonatas
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Jo498

I have never heard the EMI and only a sonata or two from the cheapo TIM/Documents/whatever, but Naxos and Pearl. The latter is very noisy (on purpose to keep also most of the sound) but I also prefer the Naxos as the best compromise.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

vers la flamme

Well I ordered the Documents set for 15 bucks. I couldn't find any samples online, but if I hate it I'm only out 15 bucks I guess. Sounds like Naxos is probably the way to go, but also the most expensive as it entails buying them all one at a time. The Pearl set is obscenely expensive and totally out of the running. 

Todd




I certainly don't need a complete Beethoven edition, but this has the Kodaly's quartet cycle, Maria Kliegel's Cello Sonatas, and a whole bunch of rarities that I might not ever listen to otherwise.  And it's only a hundred bucks.  Hmmm.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

JBS

Quote from: Todd on May 26, 2020, 05:32:01 PM



I certainly don't need a complete Beethoven edition, but this has the Kodaly's quartet cycle, Maria Kliegel's Cello Sonatas, and a whole bunch of rarities that I might not ever listen to otherwise.  And it's only a hundred bucks.  Hmmm.

I am quite satisfied with it.

Two things to note especially for you.
Jeno Jando does 29 of the holy 32. Naxos opted to use Boris Giltburg's recording of the three he did last year (or was it the year before?). Jando does a good deal else, including the pianist in the violin sonata. But I am guessing you already have Jando's full cycle.

The Kodaly Quartet does Op 130 with the second finale.  The Grosse  Fugue is shoved off onto a CD with fugues, canons, and fragments for chamber ensemble, and performed by a different quartet (Fine Arts, I think. I don't have the listing in front of me).

Naxos does take completeness to a new level.  If Beethoven did four versions of something, all four are in there. There are some fragments that have a track length of 6 seconds.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Todd

Quote from: JBS on May 26, 2020, 06:16:19 PMJeno Jando does 29 of the holy 32. Naxos opted to use Boris Giltburg's recording of the three he did last year (or was it the year before?).


I've got all of those already, so I'm good.  They really should have just let Jando have his due.


Quote from: JBS on May 26, 2020, 06:16:19 PMThe Kodaly Quartet does Op 130 with the second finale.  The Grosse  Fugue is shoved off onto a CD with fugues, canons, and fragments for chamber ensemble, and performed by a different quartet (Fine Arts, I think. I don't have the listing in front of me).


That is the way to do it.


Quote from: JBS on May 26, 2020, 06:16:19 PMNaxos does take completeness to a new level.  If Beethoven did four versions of something, all four are in there. There are some fragments that have a track length of 6 seconds.


Now this catches my attention.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Brian

Quote from: Todd on May 26, 2020, 05:32:01 PM
I certainly don't need a complete Beethoven edition, but this has the Kodaly's quartet cycle, Maria Kliegel's Cello Sonatas, and a whole bunch of rarities that I might not ever listen to otherwise.  And it's only a hundred bucks.  Hmmm.
The Kodalys are very nice. Drahos' symphonies are...not terrible but not gonna be anything exciting to connoisseurs. (Jovial sight reading by a pickup ensemble. I'm alone in the universe in liking the almost Broadway-like lightness if the tenor in 9.) The overture cycle from Slovakia is actually pretty solid.

As far as rarities, I agree with you about a lot of it - would be nice to grab the Segerstam series of choral works, the reputedly not too trashy Wellington, Hermann Prey singing lieder, etc. Although Segerstam does sometimes seem improbably slow? I'm curious about the woodwind music with respectable performers like Gallois and Shifrin. The various performers engaged to do the WoO variation sets are very nice, I like Yungwook Yoo. I also like the Hamann cycle of piano duet music, although the original release I own has a second disc where they play all the music again on period instruments and I don't know which one is in the box. Probably the modern pianos.

Don't forget that Kliegel and Tichman also do the piano trios with Ida Bieler. That could be well worth hearing. I remember liking their playing in Symphony No. 2 but that was some years ago.

I did sample Sergio Gallo's performance of a lost/unfinished early sonata and it was boooooorriiiiinggggg.

Todd

Quote from: Brian on May 26, 2020, 06:21:45 PMI'm curious about the woodwind music with respectable performers like Gallois and Shifrin.


Gallois I've only heard on disc, but Shifrin I've heard on disc and in person.  I would characterize both as well worth consideration.  The set has become even more interesting.  Assuming I like only 20 discs, that is still only ~$5 a pop.  If I like twice that, it's a silly bargain.

For the main core rep, I would not expect Naxos to match the big names on the major labels or specialty labels, but it doesn't have to.

I know if I buy it the first thing I go for are the rarities.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

JBS

Segerstam didn't seem slow to me.
The symphonies won't replace anyone's fsvorites, but I thought they were pretty good.
Wellington's Victory could not escape the essential trashiness of the piece IMO.
The piano duet music is done on MI.
Much of the lieder and choral lieder were originally on other labels. There's 5 or 6 CDs of choral lieder that were originally on Brilliant. I think Prey's recordings originally came out on Capriccio.
The Diabellis btw are by Scherbakov.

Don't blame Gallo on that sonata. There is more than one piece in there which made me think Beethoven decided not to publish it, he made a good decision.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Brian

Quote from: JBS on May 26, 2020, 06:36:10 PM
Don't blame Gallo on that sonata. There is more than one piece in there which made me think Beethoven decided not to publish it, he made a good decision.
Yeah, it's definitely not Gallo's fault. It's just super lukewarm music. Thanks for the Segerstam comment.

Itullian

Don't mean to butt in, I'm new to posting here, but the Brillianr box has the Blomstedt symphony cycle which is excellent, Brendel's first sonata cycle , which I like a lot and the Suske Quartet string quartet cycle which is first rate. Just sayin' :)
When all else fails, listen to Thick as a Brick.

Madiel

Is anyone, by some small chance, familiar with this album? I'm intrigued by the programming.



The French seem to have been seriously into these collective compositions at a certain point.
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