Purchases Today

[Lisztianwagner]

Some Tchaikovsky:

[asin]B002Q85A1S[/asin][asin]B002Q85A22[/asin]
[asin]B002Q85A1I[/asin]

[Sergeant Rock]

Found in the mailbox this morning: four orchestral works by John Rutter, including the Beatles Concerto and the Suite Antique.




Sarge

[Karl Henning]

When you have listened, bring us the dish, Sarge.

[Sergeant Rock]

When you have listened, bring us the dish, Sarge.

Will do.

Sarge

[kyjo]

When you have listened, bring us the dish, Sarge.

Don't get your hopes up, Karl. I've asked Sarge his opinion on a number of recordings and he hasn't responded to my inquiries.

Re Rutter, his music usually bores me to no end, but I'll admit having a guilty pleasure for the Beatles Concerto, which arranges classic Beatles tunes in a Rachmaninoffian fashion. Great music it most certainly is not, though!

[Karl Henning]

Well, if he finds that he hates it, Kyle, he may with discretion delay the response.

Or, he may just be talking about Haydn with Mrs Rock 

[Mirror Image]

Found in the mailbox this morning: four orchestral works by John Rutter, including the Beatles Concerto and the Suite Antique.




Sarge

Oh no! Say it ain't so, Sarge! Rutter's music is like Top 40 Radio minus the vocals. Some sugary, gooey pap for sure.

[Brian]

Oh no! Say it ain't so, Sarge! Rutter's music is like Top 40 Radio minus the vocals. Some sugary, gooey pap for sure.

I have a friend who sang Rutter in a choir (The Bach Choir... maybe you have their Vaughan Williams CD on Naxos?) under Rutter's own direction. She said he was a wonderful, warm man who was completely sincere and betrayed not the tiniest hint of cynicism or commercialism. She'd expected him to be a money-grabber, or a corporatist, or sleazy, but he really does love writing that music with all his heart.

[Mirror Image]

I have a friend who sang Rutter in a choir (The Bach Choir... maybe you have their Vaughan Williams CD on Naxos?) under Rutter's own direction. She said he was a wonderful, warm man who was completely sincere and betrayed not the tiniest hint of cynicism or commercialism. She'd expected him to be a money-grabber, or a corporatist, or sleazy, but he really does love writing that music with all his heart.

The man vs. the music are two entirely different matters, Brian. It wouldn't matter to me one bit if Rutter was an asshole. It's the music that I either enjoy or remain indifferent to.

[Sergeant Rock]

Oh no! Say it ain't so, Sarge! Rutter's music is like Top 40 Radio minus the vocals. Some sugary, gooey pap for sure.

"Suite Antique, for flute, harpsichord, and strings, is all original music and is every bit as charming as the performing forces suggest. The final Rondeau is as catchy as anything similar by Poulenc. The Beatles Concerto is a panic. It treats these famous tunes (about eight of them) in the style of Rachmaninov or Tchaikovsky. Fans of those composers will recognize all of their grand, rhetorical gestures appearing in this surprising context. Rutter's sweetly lyrical treatment of "She Loves You (Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!)" in the first movement, alternating with "Eleanor Rigby," is worth the price of the disc"--Classics Today

That description makes me want to hear the music; it's why I bought the CD 


Sarge

[Brian]

"Suite Antique, for flute, harpsichord, and strings, is all original music and is every bit as charming as the performing forces suggest. The final Rondeau is as catchy as anything similar by Poulenc. The Beatles Concerto is a panic. It treats these famous tunes (about eight of them) in the style of Rachmaninov or Tchaikovsky. Fans of those composers will recognize all of their grand, rhetorical gestures appearing in this surprising context. Rutter's sweetly lyrical treatment of "She Loves You (Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!)" in the first movement, alternating with "Eleanor Rigby," is worth the price of the disc"--Classics Today

That description makes me want to hear the music; it's why I bought the CD 


Sarge

My favorite Beatles tribute is Leo Brouwer's "Beatlerianas" for guitar and string quartet. You have your marching orders!

[asin]B00BGL3FXQ[/asin]

Me on MusicWeb: "Beatlerianas is a very creative arrangement of seven Beatles tunes for guitar and string quartet. And I really mean creative: Brouwer appends his own colorful introductions, smartly recasts moods, adds a guitar solo here and there, and really puts these works into a new light. I read somewhere that a musicologist considers Paul McCartney one of the great classical lied composers, and this suite helps prove the point - five of the seven were written by Paul, and they feel natural in classical garb."

[Mirror Image]

Just bought because I just can't help myself:



Loads of good stuff in this box. Rozhdestvensky is one of my favorite conductors.

[jut1972]

"Suite Antique, for flute, harpsichord, and strings, is all original music and is every bit as charming as the performing forces suggest. The final Rondeau is as catchy as anything similar by Poulenc. The Beatles Concerto is a panic. It treats these famous tunes (about eight of them) in the style of Rachmaninov or Tchaikovsky. Fans of those composers will recognize all of their grand, rhetorical gestures appearing in this surprising context. Rutter's sweetly lyrical treatment of "She Loves You (Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!)" in the first movement, alternating with "Eleanor Rigby," is worth the price of the disc"--Classics Today

That description makes me want to hear the music; it's why I bought the CD 


Sarge

Listening to it now, didn't know it existed.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[kyjo]

Just bought because I just can't help myself:



Loads of good stuff in this box. Rozhdestvensky is one of my favorite conductors.

That looks quite yummy, John, especially for the u***** works! I've been meaning to get a lot of those Russian Historical Archives sets.

[listener]

irresisted at Sikora's this afternoon, the 3-cd set of WEINBERG Sonatas and Other Works for Violin and Piano [asin]B00C25DKBC[/asin]
and because I like it  the KORNGOLD Violin Concerto and an assortment of "pops-y" short pieces played by Nicola Benedetti
[asin]B008CYV046[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Ditto.

You reminded me that I've been meaning to get that box for ages, if only for Mosolov's Iron Foundry.   Kept forgetting that I never got around actually to buying it yet.

Update: While checking for a better price, I found Europadisc are showing this set as Discontinued, which I'm fairly sure it isn't, but just the possibility was enough finally to stop my dithering.

Yeah, it has some interesting music in this set to be sure. Some of which I've never heard before. I don't believe this box set is discontinued, but now I'm just waiting for a possible volume two to be released (if that will ever happen).

[Mirror Image]

That looks quite yummy, John, especially for the u***** works! I've been meaning to get a lot of those Russian Historical Archives sets.

Yeah, I look forward to digging into the set, Kyle. Rozhdestvensky was such a brilliant conductor.

[Brian]

Yeah, I look forward to digging into the set, Kyle. Rozhdestvensky was such a brilliant conductor.

And still is. He's 82!

[Mirror Image]

And still is. He's 82!

Ah, look at me post in past tense. I didn't realize Rozhdestvensky still conducted.

[Brian]

Ah, look at me post in past tense. I didn't realize Rozhdestvensky still conducted.

There are a couple of guys like that - Maxim Shostakovich is another - who are mostly retired or infirm but do one or two concerts a year. Maxim S. has a tradition of presenting a Shostakovich symphony each year in England.

Another difficulty with Rozhdestvensky is that he seems to have become a cranky old fart. He resigned from the Bolshoi in 2001 after some disputes, and canceled a series of concerts in Amsterdam in 2006 because the Sinfonietta's official bio didn't mention that he had worked with them before.