Recordings That You Are Considering

[Opus106]

If I were advising someone what to buy concerning the Mozart symphonies, I say get the Jacobs late symphonies individual CDs and try to find this MacKerras box.

Or the two Linn two-fers of 8 of the later symphonies (I think we can easily assume that Mackerras is just as good here, on top of the generally very good reviews). The Telarc has harpsichord continuo even in the later symphonies. (Just putting it out there)

Speaking of The Mack, I watched a couple of short interviews of his on YouTube last night. Such a genial and warm-hearted man.

[Opus106]

Why would you say hell would freeze over before Munich Philharmonic record a Hartmann cycle? What's been happening with this orchestra lately?

One Mr. Gergiev will be playing a major role in deciding what will be performed.

[Mirror Image]

One Mr. Gergiev will be playing a major role in deciding what will be performed.

I forgot he was taking over the Munich PO. Oh well...the Berlin Radio Symphony seems like a good choice for Hartmann even though Munich was his hometown.

[Parsifal]

Or the two Linn two-fers of 8 of the later symphonies (I think we can easily assume that Mackerras is just as good here, on top of the generally very good reviews). The Telarc has harpsichord continuo even in the later symphonies. (Just putting it out there)

I find the Telarc greatly superior to the Linn recordings of Mackerras' Mozart.

Just took delivery of this from amazon.it:

[asin]B0041KU1OK[/asin]

Without VAT it was 22 Euros (plus shipping) for 19 discs.  Price has ticked up now, but still a bargain.  I expect it to be a nice complement to my favorite Harnoncourt Concertgebouw set, the Mackerras and the other odds and ends (including Jacobs) on my shelves.

[Brian]

Or the two Linn two-fers of 8 of the later symphonies (I think we can easily assume that Mackerras is just as good here, on top of the generally very good reviews).

Opinions differ between me and Octave, obviously, as the Mackerras/Scottish/Linn Mozart is my desert-island Mozart.

[Todd]

Probably gonna get this, especially given the price.  Why not?

[Daverz]

[asin]B000009M4L[/asin]

I haven't heard these early symphonies (and am not particularly interested in them), but I like the Bohm/Berlin recordings of the later symphonies.

I haven't heard the Jacobs or Mackerras recordings recommended here, but I don't think they are going to appeal to the same listeners as the Bohm.  So you should probably try to sample before buying any set.

I do have some of the Linn Mackerras recordings, and I don't find his Mozart very enjoyable.  I prefer a more relaxed interpretation.  The sound of these 24/96 downloads isn't even all that great.

[Octave]

Opinions differ between me and Octave, obviously, as the Mackerras/Scottish/Linn Mozart is my desert-island Mozart.

No, wait!  You are one of my impetuses for acquiring the Linn, which I have still not yet acquired due to Mozart overload; you and at least one other person....Clever Hans listed the Linns as his desert isle Mozart symphonies as well.  I can say that I do love the Telarc box because it was the first Mozart I spent a lot of time with after a 2cd of Karajans, and the difference and fleetfootedness of it was a shock; also nice just to be able to work through all the symphonies again and again.  Also a shock were the Harnoncourt/RCO later symphonies, which I got not long ago in a Warner 8cd with some contributions by Koopman.  But I do believe you re: the late Linn Lates' greatness.  Mack attack, ya'll. 

[Brian]

No, wait!  You are one of my impetuses for acquiring the Linn, which I have still not yet acquired due to Mozart overload; you and at least one other person....Clever Hans listed the Linns as his desert isle Mozart symphonies as well.  I can say that I do love the Telarc box because it was the first Mozart I spent a lot of time with after a 2cd of Karajans, and the difference and fleetfootedness of it was a shock; also nice just to be able to work through all the symphonies again and again.  Also a shock were the Harnoncourt/RCO later symphonies, which I got not long ago in a Warner 8cd with some contributions by Koopman.  But I do believe you re: the late Linn Lates' greatness.  Mack attack, ya'll.

Ooops, I meant to say Parsifal. Sorry!

[Mandryka]

Probably gonna get this, especially given the price.  Why not?

You should if it's cheap. And if the Moscow recordings aren't in there they're worth hearing too.

[jlaurson]

1.)Why would you say hell would freeze over before Munich Philharmonic record a Hartmann cycle? What's been happening with this orchestra lately?

2.) Hmmm....Nagano in Hartmann? Sounds interesting.

3.) One Mr. Gergiev will be playing a major role in deciding what will be performed.

4.) I forgot he was taking over the Munich PO. Oh well...the Berlin Radio Symphony seems like a good choice for Hartmann even though Munich was his hometown.

5.) Does anyone here think Hartmann's music would be difficult to perform?

1.) Because it's not that kind of orchestra... it's not their repertoire, and worse: Hartmann is associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra... which makes it additionally unlikely that they'll go out of their way and do something artistically gratifying but economically risky. (Not just risky but, frankly, expensive and with no chance of proper return.)

Which brings me to 4.) By BRSO I meant the above-mentioned Bavarian RSO, not Berlin.

3.) I don't think Gergiev would be the problem, actually. They'll have plenty guest conductors, for one, and Gergiev, although you can color me a sceptic, is actually quite open minded and will surprise the audience yet. Not, in all likelihood, with Hartmann... but with at least a bit of fine out-of-the-way stuff.

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/02/valery-gergiev-signs-contract-with.html

2.) Nagano's performance of the Hartmann Fourth Symphony was one of the highlights amid the highlight-studded 2011 Salzburg Festival. (And I mean real, genuine artistic highlights, not empty-splash name-recognition laziness that has become the sad norm with such festivals. Not to name names, or anything.
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/notes-from-2011-salzburg-festival-12.html

Let's not forget Hartmann's Simplicissimus: http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-recordings-of-2010-5.html

[Mirror Image]

1.) Because it's not that kind of orchestra... it's not their repertoire, and worse: Hartmann is associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra... which makes it additionally unlikely that they'll go out of their way and do something artistically gratifying but economically risky. (Not just risky but, frankly, expensive and with no chance of proper return.)

Which brings me to 4.) By BRSO I meant the above-mentioned Bavarian RSO, not Berlin.

3.) I don't think Gergiev would be the problem, actually. They'll have plenty guest conductors, for one, and Gergiev, although you can color me a sceptic, is actually quite open minded and will surprise the audience yet. Not, in all likelihood, with Hartmann... but with at least a bit of fine out-of-the-way stuff.

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/02/valery-gergiev-signs-contract-with.html

2.) Nagano's performance of the Hartmann Fourth Symphony was one of the highlights amid the highlight-studded 2011 Salzburg Festival. (And I mean real, genuine artistic highlights, not empty-splash name-recognition laziness that has become the sad norm with such festivals. Not to name names, or anything.
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/notes-from-2011-salzburg-festival-12.html

Let's not forget Hartmann's Simplicissimus: http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-recordings-of-2010-5.html

Thanks for the information, Jens. I'm definitely in that newer Simplicissimus recording with the Bavarian RSO. Have you heard the one on Wergo? I would how those two compare?

[jlaurson]

Thanks for the information, Jens. I'm definitely in that newer Simplicissimus recording with the Bavarian RSO. Have you heard the one on Wergo? I would how those two compare?

I know they differ as to the version they use...  "It is the original version of the opera that is performed on this recording, but considerably edited and amalgamated for radio broadcasting by composer Wilfried Hiller." ...but I don't have the Wergo release. And to be finicky: it's not the Bavarian RSO that performs the work on that release, but the Munich Radio Orchestra: "...the live recording of the 'little' Radio Orchestra in Munich (also part of the Bavarian Broadcasting but not to be mistaken with the flagship BRSO) under Ulf Schirmer is first rate."

[Mirror Image]

I know they differ as to the version they use...  "It is the original version of the opera that is performed on this recording, but considerably edited and amalgamated for radio broadcasting by composer Wilfried Hiller." ...but I don't have the Wergo release. And to be finicky: it's not the Bavarian RSO that performs the work on that release, but the Munich Radio Orchestra: "...the live recording of the 'little' Radio Orchestra in Munich (also part of the Bavarian Broadcasting but not to be mistaken with the flagship BRSO) under Ulf Schirmer is first rate."

Thanks, Jens. I'll checkout Schirmer's recording at some point.

[Octave]

Does anyone have a very select number of super-essential items from the Testament label that I should consider buying?  I ask because the sale at Presto will be over in a couple days, and while the discs are still not dirt cheap, some can be had much, much cheaper than I've seen them elsewhere, esp. vs. Amazon/MP.  I don't own many titles: Schoenberg/Schubert by Hollywood 4tt...goodness, that might be all.  Here's what I'm already thinking about:
1. Brahms: Horn Trio + Clarinet Quintet (Brain, Kell, Busch et al)
2. Handel: MUSIC FOR ROYAL FIREWORKS etc (younger Mackerras)
3. Fauré: NOCTURNES (Germaine Thyssens-Valentin) - heard this one a couple times...pretty sure I need it...unless there's better for these pieces and I don't know it...
4. Debussy: three discs of orchestral works by Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht

Naturally, if there are recordings that sound just as good or better in another (cheaper?) edition, that would be great to know, too. 

[jlaurson]

Does anyone have a very select number of super-essential items from the Testament label that I should consider buying?

Gérard Souzay Sings Ravel, Debussy, Chausson, Duparc

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2004/12/best-recordings-in-2004.html

Also re-issued with another CD on Newton Classics
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-recordings-of-2010-7.html

which might come to the same thing, price-wise. Essential, in any case.

(I shan't mention the stereo ring...)

[betterthanfine]

Anyone familiar with this recording?

[asin]B002VD5DZG[/asin]

Herreweghe is my go-to man for most choral works, but I wonder if Stravinsky is really up his alley...

[The new erato]

Gérard Souzay Sings Ravel, Debussy, Chausson, Duparc

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2004/12/best-recordings-in-2004.html

Also re-issued with another CD on Newton Classics
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-recordings-of-2010-7.html

which might come to the same thing, price-wise. Essential, in any case.

(I shan't mention the stereo ring...)

Yes, that is indeed a wonderful set of discs.

[betterthanfine]

Thanks for that! I have Rattle's Symphony of Psalms with the BPO, but not the other works. Are there performances of the Mass that are preferable to this one? The Craft on Naxos perhaps?

[Mandryka]

Does anyone have a very select number of super-essential items from the Testament label that I should consider buying?  I ask because the sale at Presto will be over in a couple days, and while the discs are still not dirt cheap, some can be had much, much cheaper than I've seen them elsewhere, esp. vs. Amazon/MP.  I don't own many titles: Schoenberg/Schubert by Hollywood 4tt...goodness, that might be all.  Here's what I'm already thinking about:
1. Brahms: Horn Trio + Clarinet Quintet (Brain, Kell, Busch et al)
2. Handel: MUSIC FOR ROYAL FIREWORKS etc (younger Mackerras)
3. Fauré: NOCTURNES (Germaine Thyssens-Valentin) - heard this one a couple times...pretty sure I need it...unless there's better for these pieces and I don't know it...
4. Debussy: three discs of orchestral works by Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht

Naturally, if there are recordings that sound just as good or better in another (cheaper?) edition, that would be great to know, too.

The Inghelbrecht certainly, though there may be cheaper ways to get his Debussy, see what can be downloaded. The Thyssens-Valentin maybe, I can't make up my mind about her.

You may also want all the early Juilliard quartet recordings, I think there are three. And there's a fine Gilels recording with a Mozart sonata, and all the recordings of Shostakovich playing his own music,, and the  Hollywood Quartet playing Schubert and Brahms, and The London Baroque with Dvorak and Mozart, and Moiseiwitsch playing the Schumann Fantasie, and Gioconda da Vito playing  Brahms with Edwin Fischer, and the early Ashkenazi record, and Szymon Goldberg playing Brahms with Balsam, and Pollini's first recording of Chopin Etudes and Kempe playing Brahms ,  and Klemperer conducting Mozart 41, and Danco songing Debussy and Flagstad with Furtwangler singing Strauss, and all those early Souzay records.