What are you listening 2 now?

[Karl Henning]

After Florestan's continued advocacy, today I swapped out the Vanska Beethoven set for the Konwitschny Leipzig set.  For the drive this morning, I went for the Pastorale, followed by the Coriolan overture.

I have to say, this is a truly outstanding 6th.  The sound quality is superb for 1959, extremely clear with only a small touch of harshness in the upper strings.  I love the transparency and balance Konwitschny produces from the orchestra; you can hear the inner voices shining through, particularly the woodwinds, which are distinct and colorful in tone throughout.  In every movement, every idea is presented though all of the voices in near ideal proportion.  The finale is beautifully judged, with excellent brass playing, and a truly glorious uplifting of emotion at the end. 

Honestly, this is very close to an ideal recording of this symphony for me.  I could quibble a bit, but it's only quibbling – the timpani could be a bit more fierce during the storm, but then that may be more of my own Romantic "King-Lear-mad-upon-the-heath" conception of how it ought to go than anything in Beethoven; the strings could be a bit richer and fuller in tone, but then if they were they might overpower the woodwinds, as they do in so many other recordings. 

All in all, this ranks right up there with the best 6ths I've ever heard.  Really wonderful stuff – thanks again to Florestan for bringing my attention back to it!   

Nice!

[Traverso]

Telemann: "Les Plaisirs" [Chamber Concertos]
Sarah Cunningham (viola da gamba)
Marion Verbruggen (recorder)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Monica Huggett (dir.)



A disk for the famous island... Its goals seem quite simple: Beautiful music played on beautiful instruments, beautifully recorded and beautifully played by inspired musicians.

One of the best Telemann disks that I know. 

This sounds as a recommendation ,I will look at it ,I have always difficulties how to spend my money.

[Karl Henning]

Victoria

Beauty!

[Biffo]

FWIW Abbado was the version that convinced me. Another very strong recommendation from me is Horenstein [a favoured Mahler interpreter for me]. The Horenstein is a live recording.

I second that, Abbado recorded it twice (at least) with the Chicago SO and the Berlin PO. I am not generally enthused by Rattle's Mahler but No 7 is one of his better efforts. Bernstein/NYPO remains my favourite.

[Traverso]

I have that version and I like it.

I have heard good things about the Blomstedt recording,what is your opinion?

[Karl Henning]

On WCRB:

Dvořák
Symphony # 9 in e minor
CSO
Giulini

[Wakefield]

This sounds as a recommendation

You read between the lines, sir!!! 

It has an indefinable charming, it belongs to that kind of disks that we love from the very first note. It's like the "Musik in Versailles" (by Leonhardt and his then babies Sigiswald and Wieland) that I think you mentioned somewhere. 

[André]

This is a fabulous disc and should be in the collection of anyone with an interest in the violin.

The six sonatas are all written for a different violinist - Joseph Szigeti, Jacques Thibaud, George Ensecu, Fritz Kreisler, Mathieu Crickborn and Manuel Quiroga - and all are phenomanlly difficult to play. Thomas Zehetmair surmounts their difficulty with ease, playing with a huge range of tone colour and immaculate intonation, and he is afforded superb sound by ECM.

Recommended.

Past the baroque era and Bach, it took a while for major solo violin works to enter the repertoire. Ysaÿe's are among the finest of any period. My own favourite is the 2nd sonata, dedicated to Jacques Thibaud.

[aligreto]

Brahms: Horn Trio [Suk Trio/Zdenek Tylsar]





Brahms, for me, is synonymous with the sound of the horn and I like everything that he wrote for it. This work is no exception and it is given a sympathetic performance here.

[aligreto]

I second that, Abbado recorded it twice (at least) with the Chicago SO and the Berlin PO. I am not generally enthused by Rattle's Mahler but No 7 is one of his better efforts. Bernstein/NYPO remains my favourite.

Yes indeed, I should have specified Abbado / CSO for the M7 recommendation above. I will fix that. Thank you.

[aligreto]

I have heard good things about the Blomstedt recording,what is your opinion?

I have nine versions of Eine Alpensonfonie but I do not have the Blomstedt version nor have I heard it so I cannot comment unfortunately.

[Traverso]

You read between the lines, sir!!! 

It has an indefinable charming, it belongs to that kind of disks that we love from the very first note. It's like the "Musik in Versailles" (by Leonhardt and his then babies Sigiswald and Wieland) that I think you mentioned somewhere. 

La Sonnerie,that's a beauty,from the start you are enthralled,followed the monumental  Prélude from  D'Anglebert,it makes life worth living.

[j winter]

Wow.

[aligreto]

Beethoven: Symphony No.5 [Kleiber]





This is a taut, assertive and powerful performance that is full of vigour and drive; it is a very good interpretation and presentation.

[vandermolen]

Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1
A fine performance although I find that Lydia Mordkovitch and Neeme Jarvi brings more depth to the Passacaglia - one of my favourite moments in classical music.

I like the Glazunov coupling as well:

[Sergeant Rock]

Brahms String Quintet in G major op.111 (string orchestra version), Végh conducting Camerata Salzburg




Sarge

[André]

Mahler, symphony no 5.

I bought this as an lp when it was issued in the early seventies. After all these years it is still my favourite version, although some do present the music with more force. Haitink's I and II are fast, dramatic, take-no-prisoners accounts, the orchestra literally boiling over, the brass especially. It's not the conductor's fault if the finale hangs fire in places. Like in the 7th, with its similarly labeled last movement (rondo-finale), there are places where Mahler's dog chases its tail. The orchestral execution is spectacular and the sound brilliantly lit.

In the seventies the Philips engineers turned to a darker sound picture when recording in the Concertgebouw, sometimes overly so, as in Haitink's Wagner preludes disc or the Schubert 9th. Eventually they achieved the perfect mix, as exemplified by the Tchaikovsky symphonies (Haitink) or Schéhérazade (with Kondrashin). In their Mahler series the sound tended to have a light bass, with the music's potential for drama not achieved to its full. That affected the more thickly scored works like the 6th and 8th. In the 5th, the 7th and the 9th the results were close to perfection.

[SymphonicAddict]

Brahms String Quintet in G major op.111 (string orchestra version), Végh conducting Camerata Salzburg




Sarge

I wasn't aware of a string orchestra arrangement of one of my favorite Brahms works. What did you think of it?

[Sergeant Rock]

I wasn't aware of a string orchestra arrangement of one of my favorite Brahms works. What did you think of it?

I love it: lush, romantic, intensely emotional. The Schoenberg is well done too (I'm listening to it now).

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Mahler
Symphony # 7
Berlin Staatskapelle
Barenboim


As I improve my CD storage, I find, rather curiously, that I have a few Sevenths