Purchases Today

[JBS]

Hmmm...

Thread duty -

Heavy applause for that one. You might want to get a second copy for your father.

[Mirror Image]

Heavy applause for that one. You might want to get a second copy for your father.

Not a bad idea, but he's not a fan of lieder.

[Harry]

Sometimes by accident you find musical treasures: This is one of them!

[vers la flamme]

0.82$, new at Amazon. Couldn't resist !

Wow. I don't even know this music, but for $0.62 I couldn't resist either. Why are they going so cheap?! Anyway, I've been meaning to check out Britten's songs for piano and voice and this looks like an excellent introduction.

[Mirror Image]

Wow. I don't even know this music, but for $0.62 I couldn't resist either. Why are they going so cheap?! Anyway, I've been meaning to check out Britten's songs for piano and voice and this looks like an excellent introduction.

I'm not sure if these works are the best introductions to Britten's songs or not. Personally, I would have started with all of the folk song arrangements first and then move onto the Britten-penned songs. Also, you've got to hear Peter Pears in many of these songs. He is, after all, the preeminent tenor for Britten for obvious reasons.

[André]

More Britten...



And some Bach

[ritter]

For purely sentimental and completist reasons (and because they could be had for a pittance):


   

Unless I'm mistaken, with these I'll have the complete Enesco series issued by the now defunct Olympia label. These recordings originally stem from Electrecord in Romania. The performances can be rough at moments, and the sound is only so-so, but they also display a certain enthusiasm which makes them endearing (to me at least).

[vers la flamme]

I'm not sure if these works are the best introductions to Britten's songs or not. Personally, I would have started with all of the folk song arrangements first and then move onto the Britten-penned songs. Also, you've got to hear Peter Pears in many of these songs. He is, after all, the preeminent tenor for Britten for obvious reasons.

I don't like Peter Pears' voice, though of course as a Britten interpreter no one will deny that he is authoritative. Sometimes I find it best to let price guide me into discovering new music. If I don't like it, I'm out a buck or two.

[Mandryka]

Pears' voice changed, he  became a bleating goat quite early in his career, I don't know why, but he made a handful of recordings before the strangeness set in. In addition to things by other composers, there are recordings of Britten's settings of John Donne and Michelangeli, and some folk songs arrangements, all made in 1947 -- the sound is rather good.  I think all the early recordings are worth seeking out. I'm taking them all to the desert island.  If anyone wants them they can PM me. 

I don't like Peter Pears' voice

He comes from  a time when there were some magnificent autodidact singers who made expressive and strange sounds. In addition to Pears, there's Karl Erb (who I love) and Hughes Cuénod (who personally I dislike enormously.) All worth checking out -- you never know how you'll react to the strangeness until you experience it.

[Mirror Image]

I don't like Peter Pears' voice, though of course as a Britten interpreter no one will deny that he is authoritative. Sometimes I find it best to let price guide me into discovering new music. If I don't like it, I'm out a buck or two.

How could I possible quibble with someone wanting to get into Britten? Whatever helps you get into Britten's music. I guess I have a soft spot for Pears, because he was the first 'Britten vocalist' I heard and I was rather enchanted with his delivery and the way phrased the music. There have been many great Britten tenors through the years besides Pears: Robert Tear, Philip Langridge, Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, John Mark Ainsley, James Gilchrist, and several others. I hope you enjoy this recording and I hope this leads you to explore more of Britten's oeuvre.

[Mirror Image]

Bought earlier:

[Symphonic Addict]

Sometimes by accident you find musical treasures: This is one of them!

Yes, a most enjoyable rarity.

[Harry]

Added a few CPO recordings to the rather large order I am sending out today, due to free shipping.

[Mandryka]

Added a few CPO recordings to the rather large order I am sending out today, due to free shipping.

I think the Losy is rather nice.

[Harry]

I think the Losy is rather nice.

True, the samples sounded quite good, and the sound as such, is on a high level.

[Florestan]

Krug, Gernsheim, Aulin, all excellent choices.

[Harry]

Krug, Gernsheim, Aulin, all excellent choices.

Thank you Andrei

[The new erato]

Krug, Gernsheim, Aulin, all excellent choices.

But still, Krug should be the champagne...... 😀

[Harry]

But still, Krug should be the champagne...... 😀

Good simile

[JBS]