Purchases Today

[Madiel]

I wouldn't feel sad for them.  They get to stream whatever they want, whenever they want.  It beats having to save up for a tape and just hoping you like all of it!

Whatever the streaming service continues to supply, for as long as the service continues to supply it.

Noting that certain things get restricted to particular locations. Some of my disc purchases have been partly motivated by online services deciding for me that, because I'm in Australia, I couldn't possibly want to hear that particular thing.

[DavidW]

Whatever the streaming service continues to supply, for as long as the service continues to supply it.

Noting that certain things get restricted to particular locations. Some of my disc purchases have been partly motivated by online services deciding for me that, because I'm in Australia, I couldn't possibly want to hear that particular thing.

I hate geolocking!  I've had that happen on the Kindle multiple times.  It is so frustrating.

[Madiel]

I hate geolocking!

I'm surprised at how many forms it takes. Today I tried to set up an account for something for my upcoming trip to Spain and Portugal. It happily let me put in an Australian phone number (as in, Australia was in a list of options), but then the "verify your number" SMS didn't come through. It turns out this company's system won't send me the SMS because I'm in a location they don't operate: Australia!

It's unclear whether it will accept an Australian phone number once I'm on Spanish soil... at which point receiving an SMS will be more difficult than it is now.

[Peter Power Pop]

Orff: Carmina Burana (London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra / André Previn)

Orff: Carmina Burana (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus / Marin Alsop)

[akebergv]

That is a wonderful box set, you should enjoy it!

I have now received the Real Chopin box, and after listening to its first two Cds I am not sorry for my purchase. The first disc is an outlier, a historical recording from 1948 with Raoul Koczalski playing on Chopin's own 1847 Pleyel, but it's not only the piano that's the connection back to Chopin: Koczalski's teacher was in turn Chopin's student. The booklet makes a strong case for this being an example of a style of playing now largely lost, if also heard in the Chopin recordings by Alfred Cortot. Each of the remaining recordings are modern, played by a different pianist on either a Pleyel or an Erard piano from the mid 19th Century. The one I just listened to was the Mazurkas played by the well-know Chopin pianist Fou Ts'ong on a 1849 Erard, and I really liked what I heard: rather wistful but not the least cranky.

[andolink]

[steve ridgway]

Big spend in charity shop today (£11) .









(Strangely only concertos 1 & 5)

[JBS]

Ordered from Amazon

[Wanderer]

[Que]

Ordered from Amazon

I'm really surprised how much Italian Baroque music (beyond Vivaldi) has come into fashion!

[ritter]

My exploration of Italian musical life in the 20th century led me to buy these:



I'm not really a fan of La Bohème, and only have two recordings of it in my collection (because they feature two sopranos I much admire, Bidú Sayão and Katia Ricciarelli), but adding this version by the man who conducted the world première seemed to make sense.

The Harvey Sachs biography of Toscanini was being offered deeply discounted (hardcover edition) on Amazon.com.

[Mapman]

My friends just gave me a pile of CDs, mostly organ music. It includes most of this box. Do the organ-lovers here like the performances in it?

[prémont]

My friends just gave me a pile of CDs, mostly organ music. It includes most of this box. Do the organ-lovers here like the performances in it?

Indeed, it contains groundbreaking recordings of music that was rarely recorded at the time of the individual CDs' release, all performed on beautiful organs.

[DavidW]

[Todd]

A couple freebies from abruckner.com. 

The Toscanini 7th is "completed" by splicing in the missing 27 bars with a 1954 performance from Bruno Walter.

The Karajan is potentially an aircheck from Tokyo in 1973.

[ritter]

The result of the inevitable visit to Academy Rrcirds in the Flatiron District of Manhattan...



Neither of these two Verdi operas are among my favourites, but I want to continue exploring Toscanini's operatic legacy (I expect to read the revised Harvey Sachs biography of the conductor soon) and these sets were being offered at a very attractive price and in excellent condition. Plus, they were recorded less than 2 miles uptown from where I bought them...

And some American music:


Pioneering (but not first ever) recordings of Elliott Carter's first two quartets.


I've known Virgil Thomson's and Gertrude Stein's earlier collaboration, Four Saints in Three Acts, for years, and must admit I find it more a curiosity than anything else (as if the ground it broke has since become unfruitful). But this second collaboration has always had me intrigued, so let's see...

[JBS]

I think I've mentioned that Toscanini's Traviata was the recording, via a set of 78s that contained only Acts 1 and 2, that hooked me onto opera as a kid.

TD
H/T @Florestan

The recording he listened to doesn't seem to be available on Amazon, but this was: SQs 15, 17, and 18