Recordings That You Are Considering

[Scarpia]

Interested primarily in Britten's cello symphony and trying to decide between these two:







(Rostropovich/Britten on Decca vs Walfisch/Bedford on Chandos.  Any opinions?

[DavidRoss]

At least she is the real-deal, unlike fiddlers like marketing geniuses Joshua Bell and Daniel Hopeless. Podger's S&P[/url] (Bach, we're talking) is the S&P recording to have as a HIP version. (Although technically Mullova II is also HIP, I still consider her's a hybrid--justly or not.)

Hahn is, of course, the real deal.  So is Bell, though I hadn't thought so from the recordings I'd heard (hadn't really heard all that much anyway, not cottoning to the pretty-boy marketing).  Then I saw him in performance with Jeremy Denk and changed my mind.  Methinks now that he's a very talented and self-effacing musician.

And Podger's still my favorite S&P hipster, but I do like the sterner Mullova II, and the funky Ms Huggett--but my fave overall these days seems to be Mr. Zehetmair.

[Coopmv]

Zehetmair was excellent in this recording I bought a few months ago ...

[Que]

I don't understand the hoopla here. As if a CD, the intended or incidental target audience of which did not include Que, erato, or jlaurson, was somehow by definition not a good CD.

And if it was ratio of 1/3 to 2/3 of products aimed at different markets, that would seem perfectly reasonable. In any case, we don't know the numbers on the CDs we're talking about--and consequently don't know what we're talking about. If DG was run as you guys wished, it wouldn't exist anymore. At least not in the form it does. Which is to say: as a label that actually pays its artists as opposed to leeching off tax payer subsidies or simply asking for pro-bono work.

You assume that DG's decisions make good sense from a commercial and marketing point of view. But is it? The point of all the hoopla is that it does not, but of course I might be wrong. Efforts like this seem a waist of money and talent to me - short sighted follies. This will not be a "classic" recording that will be reissued over and over again and making money for decades to come, like in the old times... The revenues of this will quickly wither away.

BTW Christophe Huss just thrashed this disc at ClassicstodayFrance, calling it "the first disc without grace by Hillary Hahn".

I guess time will tell.

Q

[Scarpia]

You assume that DG's decisions make good sense from a commercial and marketing point of view. But is it? The point of all the hoopla is that it does not, but of course I might be wrong. Efforts like this seem a waist of money and talent to me - short sighted follies. This will not be a "classic" recording that will be reissued over and over again and making money for decades to come, like in the old times... The revenues of this will quickly wither away.

If you had read the interview with Hahn that accompanied the release you would have learned that the idea came, not from DG marketing, but from Hahn herself, who takes credit for convincing DG to support the project. 

[Que]

If you had read the interview with Hahn that accompanied the release you would have learned that the idea came, not from DG marketing, but from Hahn herself, who takes credit for convincing DG to support the project.

Interesting indeed!

Q

[stingo]

Telarc's reissued their fine Mackerras/Prague CO set of Mozart symphonies for around $35 - less than half of the original.

[Opus106]

Telarc's reissued their fine Mackerras/Prague CO set of Mozart symphonies for around $35 - less than half of the original.

Go get it! I bought it for $24 last year.

[stingo]

Go get it! I bought it for $24 last year.

Already have it. (And the Linn Records SACD of Mackerras/Scottish CO of Syms 38-41.) I was thinking about getting the set for my brother for his birthday.

[mc ukrneal]

Anybody heard this one yet:

[Opus106]

Already have it. (And the Linn Records SACD of Mackerras/Scottish CO of Syms 38-41.) I was thinking about getting the set for my brother for his birthday.

Oh, that'd be wonderful!

[jlaurson]

Anybody heard this one yet:

Absolutely fantastic! Comparing it to several other Alpines (Bychkov, W-M, new Boehm unearthing, though not yet the RCO's and the Pittsburgh) and this stands out by a good deal. Riveting.

[Renfield]

Absolutely fantastic! Comparing it to several other Alpines (Bychkov, W-M, new Boehm unearthing, though not yet the RCO's and the Pittsburgh) and this stands out by a good deal. Riveting.

I heard this one two weeks ago, and - mainly, Jens beat me to the praise (by a day ): despite my being a Haitink-skeptic for Romantic repertory, I must profess I found that Alpensinfonie shockingly good.

It's not so much an adventure, as a dark, arresting etching of the mountain, like a Rembrandt canvas. It's also amazingly played.


So, though the Haitink will not be replacing the Karajan for sentimental (and more importantly, reading-related) reasons, in my affections, it definitely rivals it. And it's the clear winner among those of recent mint, even over Luisi.

[Coopmv]

Telarc's reissued their fine Mackerras/Prague CO set of Mozart symphonies for around $35 - less than half of the original.

Telarc must be getting killed these days by those mega boxes released by its much bigger competitors.  I probably paid close to $50 for this Mackerras' Mozart Symphonies set while it was on sale at Telarc Direct ...

[Coopmv]

not a good sign ...when big labels become mainly reissue & easy listening houses, as most are now.

Agree.  I always stay away from these questionable releases ...

[stingo]

Telarc must be getting killed these days by those mega boxes released by its much bigger competitors.  I probably paid close to $50 for this Mackerras' Mozart Symphonies set while it was on sale at Telarc Direct ...

I agree. They're also going the 2 for 1 route too - the one CD (I don't know if it's the series name or just that CD) I saw is called Everybody's Mozart.

[Coopmv]

I agree. They're also going the 2 for 1 route too - the one CD (I don't know if it's the series name or just that CD) I saw is called Everybody's Mozart.

Telarc also has an additional disadvantage when compared against its much bigger competitors in that it really does not have many big-name recording artists.  Besides a few CD's by Mackerras, Previn and Maazel, there are no recordings worth buying IMO.  All my Telarc recordings were by these conductors and I also have a few by Dohnanyi/Cleveland and the Mahler 4 & 5 by Zander.

[Bogey]

and



Both on 45 rpm vinyl.

[Scarpia]

Telarc must be getting killed these days by those mega boxes released by its much bigger competitors.  I probably paid close to $50 for this Mackerras' Mozart Symphonies set while it was on sale at Telarc Direct ...

Telarc has been dissolved.  The company that took them over has the rights to distribute their old recordings but there is no production company and the founders are gone.

[Coopmv]

Telarc has been dissolved.  The company that took them over has the rights to distribute their old recordings but there is no production company and the founders are gone.

Telarc under new ownership is heading down the same destructive path as EMI has.  The private equity firm that bought out EMI a few years ago knew nothing about the music business and that is why it is now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.