David Hurwitz

[DavidW]

I'll have to watch his, but augh!  I love (and own) Hans Hotter's recording of it...along with some others.  And that's a tough act to follow!   

PD

Yeah my impression is that Zilkha is not up to Hotter and Lieberson but I've heard other soloists on recording not as good as Zilkha, and if I was there I think I would be instant standing ovation.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yeah my impression is that Zilkha is not up to Hotter and Lieberson but I've heard other soloists on recording not as good as Zilkha, and if I was there I think I would be instant standing ovation.

I was just going to ask you about how you liked Lieberson!  Truly! 

I'll have to listen to it...probably post-meal.

PD

[DavidW]

I was just going to ask you about how you liked Lieberson!  Truly! 

I'll have to listen to it...probably post-meal.

PD

Yes her recording of bwv 82 is my favorite Bach recording of all time and on my top 10 favorite recordings overall!!

[Cato]

I'll have to watch his, but augh!  I love (and own) Hans Hotter's recording of it...along with some others.  And that's a tough act to follow!   

PD

The Chailly/Berlin RSO Siegfried Jerusalem recording of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder has Hans Hotter as Der Sprecher for the penultimate section (Des Sommerwindes Wilde Jagd).

I believe he was approaching 80 years of age at the time: his performance is simply gorgeous, and he sings the final notes with no problem to thrilling effect!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The Chailly/Berlin RSO Siegfried Jerusalem recording of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder has Hans Hotter as Der Sprecher for the penultimate section (Des Sommerwindes Wilde Jagd).

I believe he was approaching 80 years of age at the time: his performance is simply gorgeous, and he sings the final notes with no problem to thrilling effect!

I'll have to see if I can find a way to listen to it.  Thank for the rec.

PD

[Karl Henning]

Kind of the flagship, perhaps, of Gil's channel is this best symphony recordings overview:

My notes:

1. He introduces himself at the start.
2. He discusses a fair number of symphonies, so the full show runs just under four hours.
3. The show is broken conveniently into chapters, so the viewer enjoys complete freedom.

To a point which @Daverz raised over in Smetana's Dům, he likes Jos van Immerseel in the LvB Op. 67

[DavidW]

To a point which @Daverz raised over in Smetana's Dům, he likes Jos van Immerseel in the LvB Op. 67

He also likes Petrenko in the DSCH 10, and has repeatedly recommended Karajan's digital recordings in Mahler, Bruckner and Shostakovich.  And also he recommended Rattle's recent M9.  So yeah he definitely listens to newer recordings as well as the older ones.

[Mookalafalas]

  I still haven't seen many Hurwitz videos, but listened to part of a couple where he champions Neeme Jaarvi and Leonard Slatkin. In a nutshell, he argues they are great conductors, but because they are more interested in off-the-beaten-path composers rather than the core ones, they aren't held in the high esteem they deserve.
  Curious, I downloaded a bunch of their disks and have been listening to some. All I can say is "thank you David Hurwitz."  I'm hearing a lot of new stuff, and am having a wonderfully high hit-rate--so far, anyway.
  For example, I've got a lot of copies of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings in various compilations, but assumed he was a one-hit wonder, more or less. I read Alex Ross's "The Rest is Noise," and mainly recall his mentioning Barber's various struggles, and eventual slide into alcoholism. Playing this, now, and it's extraordinary, and gorgeous:

fantastic playing and sound, too.

   His raves also got me to go back to the Ormandy mono box. I'd played some of the early disks, and thought they were good, but not good enough to listen to when there are so many newer, stereo, hi-fi versions of the material. I've gone back, and am loving that box. I'm only up to disk 36 (early 1950s), but its a box that only gets better and better.

[Karl Henning]

Neeme Jaarvi and Leonard Slatkin ....

Slatkin (now 79) is great, indeed. If you can beg borrow or steal Barbara Nissman's Documentary on Alberto Ginastera, Slatkin is one of the interviewees.  Järvi has his lapses, but when he's at the top of his game, he ranks with the best.

[Daverz]

I still haven't seen many Hurwitz videos, but listened to part of a couple where he champions Neeme Jaarvi and Leonard Slatkin.

For whatever reason, I never collected many of Slatkin's RCA recordings.  I've been listening to individual discs as they have started to show up on Qobuz  and bought Slatkin's Elgar and Tchaikovsky ballet boxes on Hurwitz's recommendation.  These are almost uniformly fantastic recordings.  They are mastered at a low level, so you do have to crank up the volume 10 dB or so.

[DavidW]

Alsop has recorded all of Barber's orchestral works, and it is fine series imho.

[Atriod]

Oh and totally unfair but here is Hans Hotter for comparison if you are unfamiliar with my favorite Bach cantata:

Consider me unfamiliar    Years of listening to Karl Richter wading through molasses had me sworn off older style performances. This is music I'm always regularly listening to



(larger size) edit: forgot about Ton Koopman that is not pictured!

And Gil Zilkha is Brahmsianhorn on Talk Classical where his posts are a bit more in depth than the videos.

[Mookalafalas]

Slatkin (now 79) is great, indeed. If you can beg borrow or steal Barbara Nissman's Documentary on Alberto Ginastera, Slatkin is one of the interviewees.  Järvi has his lapses, but when he's at the top of his game, he ranks with the best.

  I'm afraid I know nothing about either one (director or artist). I'll try to keep an eye out, but am doubtful I'll run across it. Even so, thanks for the head's up.

  {found 9 min 35 sec "preview" on Youtube}

[Mookalafalas]

For whatever reason, I never collected many of Slatkin's RCA recordings.  I've been listening to individual discs as they have started to show up on Qobuz  and bought Slatkin's Elgar and Tchaikovsky ballet boxes on Hurwitz's recommendation.  These are almost uniformly fantastic recordings.  They are mastered at a low level, so you do have to crank up the volume 10 dB or so.

 I just nabbed a bunch of his stuff on NAXOS. Very unfairly, I had always discounted NAXOS as a bargain-basement label. I can't believe the sound quality of these recordings. And flawless playing by the Detroit Symphony. I turnd up my nose at these disks (with an American Flag on them! Oh, come on...), but WOW. Here's an example (I'm playing it now with my morning coffee).

[Karl Henning]

I'm afraid I know nothing about either one (director or artist). I'll try to keep an eye out, but am doubtful I'll run across it. Even so, thanks for the head's up.

  {found 9 min 35 sec "preview" on Youtube}

Nissman is a pianist. You may enjoy her recording of Ginastera's pf concerti.

[Brian]

I just nabbed a bunch of his stuff on NAXOS. Very unfairly, I had always discounted NAXOS as a bargain-basement label. I can't believe the sound quality of these recordings. And flawless playing by the Detroit Symphony. I turnd up my nose at these disks (with an American Flag on them! Oh, come on...), but WOW. Here's an example (I'm playing it now with my morning coffee).

That Naxos cycle of the Rachmaninov symphonies is one of the best ever!

I am definitely saving up for a Slatkin RCA big box set. It should be nice and juicy and full of unusual repertoire.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Consider me unfamiliar    Years of listening to Karl Richter wading through molasses had me sworn off older style performances. This is music I'm always regularly listening to



(larger size) edit: forgot about Ton Koopman that is not pictured!

And Gil Zilkha is Brahmsianhorn on Talk Classical where his posts are a bit more in depth than the videos.

I have a number of those Gardiner ones and enjoy them.  Think that the only Bach recording that I have with Harnoncourt is one of his masses?

PD

[Mookalafalas]

That Naxos cycle of the Rachmaninov symphonies is one of the best ever!

I am definitely saving up for a Slatkin RCA big box set. It should be nice and juicy and full of unusual repertoire.

   I just saw another Hurwitz video where he lists Bernard Schwarz Naxos box as one of his "all time" favorites, and a must have. THAT was unexpected. I think Schwarz probably outdoes even Slatkin in covering a lot of "off the beaten path" repertoire.

[Daverz]

I just saw another Hurwitz video where he lists Bernard Schwarz Naxos box as one of his "all time" favorites, and a must have. THAT was unexpected. I think Schwarz probably outdoes even Slatkin in covering a lot of "off the beaten path" repertoire.

[Mookalafalas]

Yep, that's the one
   And I think Schwarz has literally 100 more disks that aren't in that box...