Recordings That You Are Considering

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

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Madiel

Quote from: Alek Hidell on July 31, 2021, 02:03:00 PM
Ha, that makes me think - maybe for expensive recordings there should be a "right of rescission" period, like there is when you mortgage a home, in which you have to take a few days to decide whether you really want to take the plunge or not. Could be a real wallet-saver for many of us. :D

Mirror Image has done this on a regular basis, just because mailing is not usually immediate.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Mirror Image

Quote from: Madiel on July 31, 2021, 06:12:03 PM
Mirror Image has done this on a regular basis, just because mailing is not usually immediate.

:P So true!

arpeggio

Another new work and composer I have discovered, Grayston Ives:



Fine work composed in a tonal style.

T. D.

Quote from: (: premont :) on July 29, 2021, 01:50:03 PM
I do not need a new set either,, but if you - having listened to it - tell me, that it is worth to own, I shall purchase it too, because I also like to support such initiatives as this label.
It -



- arrived today, to my amazement. I must have gotten the order in just before the label's August vacation. Listening to the first disc now. When I've traversed the whole set, which could take a few days, will post impressions. Probably on this thread, since the inquiry arose here.

premont

Quote from: T. D. on August 14, 2021, 10:20:38 AM
It -



- arrived today, to my amazement. I must have gotten the order in just before the label's August vacation. Listening to the first disc now. When I've traversed the whole set, which could take a few days, will post impressions. Probably on this thread, since the inquiry arose here.

Thanks in advance. I'm very curious as to what you will think about it.
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T. D.

Quote from: (: premont :) on August 15, 2021, 12:21:05 AM
Thanks in advance. I'm very curious as to what you will think about it.

So far (6+ discs out of 8) I'm very much enjoying it and not regretting the expenditure.
A few quartets have raised questions for which comparative listening will be required.
The musicweb review posted above had practically no information content (mostly discussed Beethoven rather than the recording); this one is more informative:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Jun/Beethoven_quartets_FR1701.htm

I agree with his "leanly textured, and rhythmically alert readings" and "Their lean, unsentimental but not unfeeling approach" comments.

My erudition in these quartets is insufficient to offer a detailed recommendation; I own only Budapest 51-2 (UA) and Vegh stereo Valois. Won't be able to evaluate Stanislas versus, say, Belcea, Ebene (which I'd have bought sans compressed audio), Casals, Suske, ...

Spotted Horses

Quote from: T. D. on August 15, 2021, 06:22:44 AM
So far (6+ discs out of 8) I'm very much enjoying it and not regretting the expenditure.
A few quartets have raised questions for which comparative listening will be required.
The musicweb review posted above had practically no information content (mostly discussed Beethoven rather than the recording); this one is more informative:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Jun/Beethoven_quartets_FR1701.htm

I agree with his "leanly textured, and rhythmically alert readings" and "Their lean, unsentimental but not unfeeling approach" comments.

My erudition in these quartets is insufficient to offer a detailed recommendation; I own only Budapest 51-2 (UA) and Vegh stereo Valois. Won't be able to evaluate Stanislas versus, say, Belcea, Ebene (which I'd have bought sans compressed audio), Casals, Suske, ...

One thing that surprised me in the review is the fact that the set was compiled from live recordings make of a 25 year period starting in 1994. That tends to make me less enthusiastic about the set.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

T. D.

Quote from: Spotted Horses on August 15, 2021, 08:21:13 AM
One thing that surprised me in the review is the fact that the set was compiled from live recordings make of a 25 year period starting in 1994. That tends to make me less enthusiastic about the set.

That was already mentioned in both links (musicweb review and interview with cellist) posted by premont on 22 July. Unusual, but I can understand the budgetary reasoning behind it. Op. 131 is the outlier, recorded in 1996; the other recording dates are scattered between 2003 and 2019. Much more listening will be required to judge whether ensemble sound or recording quality varies over time. Personnel remained relatively stable: 2 seats constant, 1 viola change, 2 second violin changes.

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: T. D. on August 15, 2021, 08:54:13 AM
That was already mentioned in both links (musicweb review and interview with cellist) posted by premont on 22 July. Unusual, but I can understand the budgetary reasoning behind it. Op. 131 is the outlier, recorded in 1996; the other recording dates are scattered between 2003 and 2019. Much more listening will be required to judge whether ensemble sound or recording quality varies over time. Personnel remained relatively stable: 2 seats constant, 1 viola change, 2 second violin changes.
Quote from: Spotted Horses on August 15, 2021, 08:21:13 AM
One thing that surprised me in the review is the fact that the set was compiled from live recordings make of a 25 year period starting in 1994. That tends to make me less enthusiastic about the set.
Wow!  That's quite surprising!

At my end, I just stumbled across this 2-CD set and am wondering whether or not anyone here has heard it before and if so, what are your thoughts.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8306572--rostropovich-britten



PD
Pohjolas Daughter

MusicTurner

#16309
I haven't heard that one. Both artists could be very good live. Looking at the content, it's available in Decca studio recordings, which might have some different accents.

1) https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7953580--schubert-sonata-in-a-minor-arpeggione-d821-etc
2) https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7923516--britten-cello-suites-and-cello-sonata (I have that one and often enjoyed it)

Pohjolas Daughter

#16310
Quote from: MusicTurner on August 16, 2021, 11:50:27 AM
I haven't heard that one. Both artists could be very good live. Looking at the content, it's available in Decca studio recordings, which might have some different accents.

1) https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7953580--schubert-sonata-in-a-minor-arpeggione-d821-etc
2) https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7923516--britten-cello-suites-and-cello-sonata (I have that one and often enjoyed it)
Thank you for digging around on my behalf MT!   :)

When I stumbled across the live recordings from Aldeburgh in 1961, I was delighted to see them!  Probably overly enthusiastic--I love listening to historical recordings though I need to be honest with myself as to how often I might listen to these...depending upon the performances and the sound.   For example, I purchased the famous recording of Rostropovich performing Dvorak's cello concerto and conducted by Svetlanov and USSR State Symphony Orchestra at The Proms whilst Soviet forces were then in the midst of invading Czechoslovakia...and there's much more to that story, but I don't want to type it all here.  Fascinating story and moment in history and I found it to be quite special to have heard that performance, but it's not one that I return to very often.  And I'm trying to mind my budget otherwise I would probably have already scooped it up.  Also, CDs and records take up a lot of room (and books which I'm trying to thin out the ranks thereof).  ;)

Oh, further OT (pardon), but I just found this audio discussion of it on the BBC's website including people who heard it over the radio live:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06h4kxn

In any event, I'll look further into your suggestions...again, thanks!

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

MusicTurner

Agree, there can be a certain aura about such historical-event recordings, and they tend to make one think a perhaps bit broader about the concert circumstances etc.!

MusicTurner

if you want to hear MP3 samples of the Testament set, or maybe you'll reserve the experience for later, JPC has them
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/mstislav-rostropovich-cello/hnum/7239342

T. D.

Quote from: (: premont :) on August 15, 2021, 12:21:05 AM
Thanks in advance. I'm very curious as to what you will think about it.

I'll go out on a limb and say it's probably not quite what you had in mind. Good, but not special enough for you to need to jump on it.
I'm enjoying it a lot, but maybe I just needed another LvB cycle (in modernish sound) to sink my teeth into. The playing is good, but there are some slips in places, and I don't care for the interpretation of the first 2 movements of Op. 59 #2, for instance (haven't fully assessed Op. 130 and the Grosse Fugue, which are other possible question marks). Sonics good but not exceptional. I have a taste for smaller/obscure labels and projects, so this set is my kind of thing. Appreciated the handwritten "thank you" note, for instance.
I can't say whether the performance style is "French", but IMO clearly in the "Western European" tradition as opposed to, say, "Eastern Middle Europe" (e.g. Hungarian, Czech), if that makes any sense.

The second musicweb review posted (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Jun/Beethoven_quartets_FR1701.htm) is pretty fair IMO.

premont

Quote from: T. D. on August 16, 2021, 12:56:04 PM
I'll go out on a limb and say it's probably not quite what you had in mind. Good, but not special enough for you to need to jump on it.
I'm enjoying it a lot, but maybe I just needed another LvB cycle (in modernish sound) to sink my teeth into. The playing is good, but there are some slips in places, and I don't care for the interpretation of the first 2 movements of Op. 59 #2, for instance (haven't fully assessed Op. 130 and the Grosse Fugue, which are other possible question marks). Sonics good but not exceptional. I have a taste for smaller/obscure labels and projects, so this set is my kind of thing. Appreciated the handwritten "thank you" note, for instance.
I can't say whether the performance style is "French", but IMO clearly in the "Western European" tradition as opposed to, say, "Eastern Middle Europe" (e.g. Hungarian, Czech), if that makes any sense.

The second musicweb review posted (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Jun/Beethoven_quartets_FR1701.htm) is pretty fair IMO.

Thanks for this. I have taken your words ad notam and pass the Stanislas Qt. by. I have Bach's cello suites with the quartets cellist - also a Forgotten recordings release. A bit old fashioned but playing is nice and expresive. However it fades in the shade of Tortellier, Gendron et.c., which are the ones to compare it with.
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staxomega

Anyone care to weigh in on Yoel Levi in Sibelius 2? I can't find this to sample online.

I've been draping myself in the Sibelius velvet after finding a copy of the Szell/Cleveland Tokyo concert on SACD, performance so good that makes me excited about this again.


Brian

Don't know Levi's performance, but Szell in Tokyo is simply the best ever, totally amazing. Probably one of the best orchestral performances of anything.

Mandryka

#16317


https://www.discogs.com/Jan-Pieterszoon-Sweelinck-J-P-Sweelinck-Variations-Toccatas-Fantasies-A-Recital-of-Organ-and-Harpsic/release/15451043

Have the harpsichord pieces on this ever been liberated from the vinyl?  Or, indeed, the organ pieces?
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

premont

Quote from: Mandryka on August 25, 2021, 05:25:48 AM

Have the harpsichord pieces on this ever been liberated from the vinyl?  Or, indeed, the organ pieces?

If so, I haven't seen them.
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T. D.

#16319


While considering another recording of the Feldman piece, I came across this extremely interesting release. Great idea to combine these 2 composers, considering the performance challenges posed by their work.
Truth be told, not so likely to buy it (my Babbitt listening has diminished over the years), but the concept deserves attention.
[Added] Listening to the Babbitt quintet on youtube, it's pretty good.