Purchases Today

[Pohjolas Daughter]

OK, so I didn't follow my no-purchase rule this year. But next week is return to work week, as life gets back to "normal". Cause for celebration?

Gioacchino Rossini: Il Viaggio a Reims

Jean-Michel Damase: Symphonie
+Klavierkonzert Nr. 1; Flötenkonzert; Concertino für Klavier & Streichorchester

Giuseppe Verdi: Tutto Verdi - The Complete Operas (Blu-ray)
Medium: 27 Blu-ray Discs

Camilla Wicks - Violin Concertos & Pieces
Sibelius: Violinkonzert op. 47 +Barber: Violinkonzert op. 14 +Beethoven: Violinkonzert op. 61 +Mendelssohn: Violinkonzert op. 64; Auf Flügeln des Gesanges op. 34 Nr. 2 +Tschaikowsky: Violinkonzert op. 35 +Wieniawski: Violinkonzerte Nr. 1 & 2 +Brahms: Ungarischer Tanz Nr. 7 für Violine & Klavier +Chopin: Nocturnes D-Dur op. 27 Nr. 2 & cis-moll op. posth. für Violine & Klavier +Schubert: Ave Maria für Violine & Klavier +Kreisler: Tambourin chinois +Sarasate: Introduction & Tarantelle op. 43; Malaguena +Brustad: The Troll's Windmill für Violine solo +Benjamin: Santo Domingo; Jamaican Rumba

Hector Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ (NAXOS)

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonien Nr.1-9 (Scherchen)

Hello Springrite!

I'm not familiar with Camilla Wicks recordings/performances?  Do you have any other pieces of music by her?  If so, any thoughts?

Best wishes,

PD

[Todd]

Three very fine picks, the YES especially.  (But of course I would write that.)  The Pires box is filled with delights.

[Mirror Image]

Just bought:



I can't find images of the other two Pro Arte Quartet's recordings of the Bloch SQs. I'm hoping this will be my last purchase for awhile but I had to fill in an important gap in my collection (sans the Piano Quintets which I own on Hyperion).

[JBS]

JBS - That Hough/Beethoven cover art is really terrible, but I am curious about the performances.

Can you even call it cover art?
My theory is they decided to stand out from the crowd of other cycles that's being released by having no cover image at all. This order means I have 2 1/2 LvB PC cycles lined up.  Goodyear and the second part of Barnatan are in the mail to me.

I failed to resist a ridiculous clearance sale (through tomorrow only) at Europa:

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Double thumbs up on both of those.

[springrite]

Hello Springrite!

I'm not familiar with Camilla Wicks recordings/performances?  Do you have any other pieces of music by her?  If so, any thoughts?

Best wishes,

PD

I have just about everything by Wicks. I knew her only by voice (having called her) but knew some intimate person in her life. So she has a very special place in my heart. I love everything I have heard.

[Daverz]

Just bought:



I can't find images of the other two Pro Arte Quartet's recordings of the Bloch SQs. I'm hoping this will be my last purchase for awhile but I had to fill in an important gap in my collection (sans the Piano Quintets which I own on Hyperion).

I got them several years ago direct from Laurel.   Attached is my scan of the cover for String Quartets 3 & 4 (my booklet was crooked like that).

TD:



Very cheap FLAC download from supraphonline.cz, based on a recommendation by the Hurwitzer:

https://www.youtube.com/v/V7gvMZuYRVM&t=400s

[Mirror Image]

I got them several years ago direct from Laurel.   Attached is my scan of the cover for String Quartets 3 & 4 (my booklet was crooked like that).

Thanks, Daverz.

[Mirror Image]

One more:

[TheGSMoeller]

I failed to resist a ridiculous clearance sale (through tomorrow only) at Europa:

Thanks for the heads-up, Brian. I too just took part in a Europa sale...

[71 dB]

Exploration into Einar Englund continues. The fact that Englund CDs aren't easy to get cheap certainly makes the exploration slower, but this disc was reasonably priced (£7.71 delivered) so I grapped it. 

[asin]B00004SYXW[/asin]
It would help exploring Englund if labels such as Naxos and Brilliant Classics invested into the composer but no luck. Naxos' commitment to many composers is lacklustre to say the least. Tons of Glazunov. One disc of Englund. Maybe they think better let labels like Ondine take care of Englund. Fine, but Ondine isn't particularly a budget label... 

[Madiel]

Naxos' commitment to many composers is lacklustre to say the least.

Um, what? The fact is Naxos has something for a far wider range of composers than other labels do. You're basically complaining that Naxos only has one Englund disc when a hell of a lot of labels have zero.

[ritter]

Somo proto-Boulez (the withdrawn Prélude, toccata et scherzo, a substantial—26'—piece from 1944).

[asin]B085R72KBZ[/asin]
Should be delivered on Friday 

[Brian]

Three very fine picks, the YES especially.  (But of course I would write that.)  The Pires box is filled with delights.

I'm excited for YES, but the Fantasie Op. 17 is actually my favorite Schumann - a little bit different from your perspective on it - and I have a battery of favorite recordings of it already. I like the 60s Fantasie from the big ol' Ashkenazy box, but my favorite is Fiorentino's on APR/Piano Classics. Come to think of it, I just searched the board and you've never mentioned Fiorentino in a post. That Piano Classics series makes it easier than ever to fall down his rabbit hole...if they're still in print...

Can you even call it cover art?
My theory is they decided to stand out from the crowd of other cycles that's being released by having no cover image at all.

Haha - I like that idea - Stephen Hough goes for his "White Album". "What cover should we do?" "No cover!" Next they'll just have a bar code.

That Jerusalem Quartet Schubert was down to $4 now!

Daverz - I wish I wasn't drawn into watching all of Hurwitz' goofy YouTube videos, but...I do watch 'em.

Greg - Happy to help!

Um, what? The fact is Naxos has something for a far wider range of composers than other labels do. You're basically complaining that Naxos only has one Englund disc when a hell of a lot of labels have zero.

A more polite/thorough reply here might be to point out that Naxos literally owns Ondine. Klaus Heymann at Naxos is very conscious of not duplicating works within his label family - and even with other labels he distributes. Of course, sometimes he has to duplicate because another label has a series, or because a major artist like Leonard Slatkin gets to record whatever he wants. But as an example, Naxos and Chandos actually agreed to "split" Weinberg, releasing non-overlapping series of his music. Originally the deal was that Naxos would take the bigger, more complex symphonies that required singing etc. Then Chandos abandoned their Weinberg series (last release: 2015) so now Naxos has to pick up the slack.

Anyway - point being, Naxos likely will not release a bunch of Englund recordings that compete with their own sublabel.

[Todd]

Come to think of it, I just searched the board and you've never mentioned Fiorentino in a post.

The only Fiorentino I have is the 10 disc Berlin Recordings box.  I may have posted about a few of the discs in the WAYLT thread without his name.  While perfectly fine, they didn't really cause me to scramble and buy everything under the sun from him.  He's like Sokolov in that regard.  I may have to revisit the box after my LvB gorging is done.

[Brian]

The only Fiorentino I have is the 10 disc Berlin Recordings box.  I may have posted about a few of the discs in the WAYLT thread without his name.  While perfectly fine, they didn't really cause me to scramble and buy everything under the sun from him.  He's like Sokolov in that regard.  I may have to revisit the box after my LvB gorging is done.

Ah - gotcha. Our tastes usually align so closely that it's a little surprising to me when we differ. But we do. I guess I'm higher on Fiorentino and Sudbin, but on the flip side I don't really "get" Daniel-Ben Pienaar.

[71 dB]

Um, what? The fact is Naxos has something for a far wider range of composers than other labels do. You're basically complaining that Naxos only has one Englund disc when a hell of a lot of labels have zero.

I'm a bitter man frustrated because budget labels often commit themselves to composers outside my radar. I wonder why Naxos has released even that one discs. It's not even a particularly stellar release (bass-shy).

A more polite/thorough reply here might be to point out that Naxos literally owns Ondine. Klaus Heymann at Naxos is very conscious of not duplicating works within his label family - and even with other labels he distributes. Of course, sometimes he has to duplicate because another label has a series, or because a major artist like Leonard Slatkin gets to record whatever he wants. But as an example, Naxos and Chandos actually agreed to "split" Weinberg, releasing non-overlapping series of his music. Originally the deal was that Naxos would take the bigger, more complex symphonies that required singing etc. Then Chandos abandoned their Weinberg series (last release: 2015) so now Naxos has to pick up the slack.

Anyway - point being, Naxos likely will not release a bunch of Englund recordings that compete with their own sublabel.

Well, I don't know what labels Naxos owns, but thanks for this information. It explains the avoidance of overlapping. The one Naxos Englund disc has got overlapped material, but it was probably released before Naxos bought Ondine. Since Ondine does a lot of Finnish composers, this ownership relationship explains why Naxos hasn't been releasing much Finnish composers.

The Weinberg-info is interesting and I knew nothing about this. It's true that there seems to not be overlapping between Naxos and Chandos.

Imagine labels splitting Beethoven.  CPO can do the String Quartets, Naxos can do the Symphonies, BIS can do the Piano Sonatas etc. 

I didn't expect Naxos to start releasing lots of Englund, but now I know why Naxos isn't releasing much Finnish composers (beyond Sibelius and maybe Rautavaara). I have been like where are Aho, Tiensuu, Lindberg, etc.? Now I know Naxos lets other labels take care of them. Perhaps these arrangements also explain why Naxos releases so much guitar music? Other labels just aren't interested of that?

[Brian]

Naxos owns Ondine, Dynamic, Capriccio, Grand Piano, Orfeo, Dacapo, a number of very small Swedish labels like Proprius, and SWRmusic, the German radio label. Ondine was purchased in 2008 as one of the earliest acquisitions. They are all independently managed, but Naxos somewhat coordinates to keep them from competing - notice they all have different specialties. This also explains why Michael Schonwandt's Nielsen recordings from Dacapo later reappeared with Naxos artwork.

Naxos also owns Artaria, a sheet music publisher, and American shopping site ArkivMusic. Additionally, Naxos pays for web hosting for MusicWeb.

Good point about guitar music. I think the presence of world-class producer/engineer team Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver gives Naxos a huge advantage in their guitar catalogue.

Edit: I might be wrong about Dacapo but their relationship is close enough they use the same catalogue numbering system. The Schonwandt reissues are copyright by a Naxos licensing rights company.

[MusicTurner]

I think regarding Dacapo, there's probably a rather loose distribution and collaboration relation with Naxos, because DaCapo, ever since its founding in 1989, has primarily been financed in the main by state authorities, with the aim of making the small nation's cultural heritage more generally available. Various associations here are also supporting its projects, plus its own profits of course, should they occur. DaCapo is currently working on the basis of an agreement running in 2017-2020, with state support from Statens Kunstfond, a board that distributes tax money for cultural purposes.

(https://www.dacapo-records.dk/sites/default/files/attachments/DacapoEdition-S_Rammeaftale_2017-2020.pdf)

[Todd]

but on the flip side I don't really "get" Daniel-Ben Pienaar.

Pienaar is an idiosyncratic pianist, and I run hot and cold on his work.  I love his Beethoven and his 17th Century twofer, but I dislike his Mozart.  I know he has played a lot of Schubert.  I'd love to hear what he can do with D845, and out of pure curiosity I would like to hear how he handles D894 and of course D960.  He's definitely a pianist of ideas, even if they don't all work equally well.

[71 dB]

Naxos owns Ondine, Dynamic, Capriccio, Grand Piano, Orfeo, Dacapo, a number of very small Swedish labels like Proprius, and SWRmusic, the German radio label. Ondine was purchased in 2008 as one of the earliest acquisitions. They are all independently managed, but Naxos somewhat coordinates to keep them from competing - notice they all have different specialties. This also explains why Michael Schonwandt's Nielsen recordings from Dacapo later reappeared with Naxos artwork.

So, in this regard Naxos has kind of become the enemy of classical music fans upholding a cartel and preventing competition. 

Naxos also owns Artaria, a sheet music publisher, and American shopping site ArkivMusic. Additionally, Naxos pays for web hosting for MusicWeb.

Good point about guitar music. I think the presence of world-class producer/engineer team Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver gives Naxos a huge advantage in their guitar catalogue.

Edit: I might be wrong about Dacapo but their relationship is close enough they use the same catalogue numbering system. The Schonwandt reissues are copyright by a Naxos licensing rights company.

I have know about 25 years, that Naxos, Da Capo and Marco Polo are closely related and always thought Da Capo and Marco Polo the full price section of Naxos. Same cover art design apart from white, blue and red color themes (and the catalogue numbering system as you mentioned).

I have Buxtehude Harpsichord Music (Lars Ulrik Mortensen) volume 1 on Da Capo and volumes 2 & 3 on Naxos re-released. Annoying, but that was the cheapest way to get them...