Purchases Today

[vers la flamme]

^Nice! I bought that Ozawa Romeo & Juliet recently, but have yet to spend much time listening to it. What a massive work! Opera-length.

[André]

^Nice! I bought that Ozawa Romeo & Juliet recently, but have yet to spend much time listening to it. What a massive work! Opera-length.

Let us know when you listen to it! 

R&J is Prokofiev's most extraordinary work IMO.

[Maestro267]

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet is a fantastic score. To me, it makes 145 minutes fly by! The music is gripping from beginning to end.

[Mirror Image]

Let us know when you listen to it! 

R&J is Prokofiev's most extraordinary work IMO.

Romeo & Juliet has some fine moments but I never have quite taken to it like I have other Prokofiev ballets. If push came to shove, my favorite Prokofiev ballet is probably Le pas d'acier.

[ritter]

As a consequence of the discussion going on in the Ravel thread:

[asin]B0007D0AV4[/asin]
Mainly for Florent Schmitt's Sonatine en trio op. 85, but also for the Milhaud and Maurice Emmanuel works that appear on the CD.

[j winter]

Found this for such a ridiculous price I couldn't resist.  This will make three rings for me, I have Karajan and Janowski SD.  Appears to be the latest remaster, with full libretti on CD-ROM.

[aukhawk]

But I don't think there is a "best" Ring out there.

Oh, I'm sure there isn't! All music is subject to a wide variety of interpretations and, especially in a 15+ hour operatic cycle, no one conductor, orchestra, singer, artist, nor the perfect match-up of all of the above is going to get it all right. ...

Well indeed.  I expect you've already come across the book Ring Resounding by John Culshaw, but if not, add it to the reading recommendations upthread.  It's a blow by blow account of the production of the Solti cycle and Culshaw goes on at great length about the difficulties of assembling an all-star cast for such a large-scale project spanning several years, not only availability but contractual problems, illnesses, major stars just getting too old and how to let them down gently, etc etc - especially when (as he sees it) there is 'only one' Siegfried, 'only one' Brunhilde, 'only one' Wotan - worth having.  And, since Solti is his man, he slips in a few bitchy remarks about Karajan along the way.  It's a fascinating book - I don't even have a complete Ring cycle, but I still love this book.

Also warmly recommended - regardless of which cycle you get - is this 2-CD commentary on the music, by Deryck Cooke. 
An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen  Deryck Cooke
He uses piano and clips from the Solti recording to illustrate his points about how each new motif grows out of what has come before, and how they relate to each other.  It's a really good listen.  Cooke is probably better remembered these days as the first person to 'complete' Mahler's 10th Symphony.

[j winter]

Thanks for that, aukhawk.  FYI, the new set includes the 2 Deryck Cooke discs as well...

[vers la flamme]

Wow, I do not have that book nor the CDs you mention. Sounds awesome and very educational! I'm a Wagner novice. Never heard a full opera, but I want to get into his music. Thanks!!

[kyjo]

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet is a fantastic score. To me, it makes 145 minutes fly by! The music is gripping from beginning to end.

+1 My favorite ballet score of all time.

[vers la flamme]

Were Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky the holy trinity of Russian Ballet? Is anyone else even in their league?!

[JBS]

Ordered, inter alia, the two Manze RVW CDs I do not yet have.
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[vers la flamme]

Found this for such a ridiculous price I couldn't resist.  This will make three rings for me, I have Karajan and Janowski SD.  Appears to be the latest remaster, with full libretti on CD-ROM.

Share link with ridiculous price, please? 

[Mirror Image]

Share link with ridiculous price, please? 

If you have Amazon Prime, it's going for $35:

[asin]B00VVZUXRS[/asin]

[JBS]

If you have Amazon Prime, it's going for $35:

[asin]B00VVZUXRS[/asin]

You don't need Prime for that price. And on its own it qualifies for free shipping.

[vers la flamme]

^I've got Prime, but I'm hearing more and more lately about great deals and free shipping on certain items even for non-Prime people. What gives? Should I cancel it?!

@MI, thanks! 

[Mirror Image]

^I've got Prime, but I'm hearing more and more lately about great deals and free shipping on certain items even for non-Prime people. What gives? Should I cancel it?!

@MI, thanks! 

Nah, I wouldn't cancel Prime. There are still deals to be found throughout the year that justify having Prime.

[Ratliff]

^I've got Prime, but I'm hearing more and more lately about great deals and free shipping on certain items even for non-Prime people. What gives? Should I cancel it?!

@MI, thanks! 

For me it is worth it. Free shipping on miscellaneous items, a video streaming service that has better stuff than Netflix, and with our Amazon Visa card we get 5% back and special deals shopping at Whole Foods Market. It pays for itself several times over. It does make me feel bad to be supporting a company that will destroy our civilization, however...

[j winter]

If you have Amazon Prime, it's going for $35:

That's where I got it, arrived today.  Perhaps $35 isn't ridiculous exactly, but compared to what it was going for not that long ago (particularly the new remastering), it's as cheap as it's ever likely to get (plus I had a gift card ).  I like having the PDFs of the libretti too, I can easily keep them on my tablet to read along...

[André]

35$ is a good price. I bought that very same set for less than that 4 years ago at the record store. I still have the bill tucked inside the box. Haven't listened to it yet  . It's a replacement to the LP sets I used to have. Since I know that version very well I'm not in a hurry to put it in the cd player yet. But its turn should be coming soon  . I think you will like it !