Recordings you like in spite of poor/subpar performance

Started by Dry Brett Kavanaugh, August 04, 2020, 08:32:56 AM

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Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: vandermolen on August 05, 2020, 10:32:55 PM
Kaljo Raid's First Symphony is another recommendation from me.

I found the Jarvi set. Great composition and the performance is wonderful. Thank you for the recommendation.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: MusicTurner on August 06, 2020, 09:47:16 AM
They all tend to dare more and represent a different interpretational tradition than the more objective, cool tradition that took off especially from the 60s. Golovanov's Scriabin is the most extreme on record, for example, and the orchestra has difficulties following each other, but it sure tells of the passions in the music. I think this is quite representative for the names I gave, but Mengelberg often had a good sense of how to integrate details in a bigger structure, and likewise for example Koczalski and Rosenthal can have a sense of restrained delicacy as well.

This would have to be a general  outline, since I'm not at home these days & only have my mobile...

I have been listening to Golovanov's Scriabin for a few weeks.
They are passionate and unique. I like them a lot.
I wish there were modern recordings of similar interpretations.
I may mention some recordings at the Scriabin thread sometime.

vandermolen

#42
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 05, 2020, 07:47:33 AM
Here's one for you to ponder:  Rostropovich's performance of Dvorak's Cello Concerto in England at the Proms the day that Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Soviets.  And the orchestra was the USSR State Symphony and was lead by Svetlanov!  There were yells of protests from the crowd.  He played it at 90 miles an hour, but you could tell how much he loved it and felt about the invasion and won the crowd over in the end.  You can read about it in various articles...including here.  https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/251--recording-of-the-week-two-legendary-performances

It's one that I seldom listen to because it is so fast (though certainly not poor or subpar in any way), but when I heard about this recording and the events surrounding it, I just had to purchase a copy of it.

PD

EDIT:  So, in a nutshell, historical events can also effect ones appreciation of certain recordings too I think; they do for me!  :)

I think that Shostakovich's 10th Symphony was performed at the same concert (Svetlanov). There is a recording of it and the way in which the opening bars of the Symphony emerge from the angry shouts of the Prom audience ('Go Back Home!' etc) is quite extraordinary:
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: vandermolen on August 26, 2020, 12:35:07 AM
I think that Shostakovich's 10th Symphony was performed at the same concert (Svetlanov). There is a recording of it and the way in which the opening bars of the Symphony emerge from the angry shouts of the Prom audience ('Go Back Home!' etc) is quite extraordinary:

I haven't heard the Shostakovich 10th Jeffrey, but would love to.

From the liner notes of my BBC CD (which are quite fascinating and moving to read), the concert opened with Glinka's Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila, followed by Dvorak's Cello Concerto.  Rostropovich then offered an encore of the solemn Sarabande from Bach's Second Suite.  After the interval, Svetlanov conducted "the most coruscating, gut-wrenching performance of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony that this writer has heard in 45 years of concert-going." Tully Potter wrote the liner notes.

I believe that the Bach piece was sadly not recorded.  Note:  the BBC Legends CD that I have has a recording of Schumann's Cello Concerto with the LSO and Benjamin Britten conducting followed by the Dvorak with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra and Evgeny Svetlanov followed by Tchaikovsky's Pezzo capriccioso for Violoncello and Orchestra again with Britten and the English Chamber Orchestra.

Is the Shostakovich recording that you've heard (have?) also on the BBC Legends Jeffrey?

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

vandermolen

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 26, 2020, 02:40:44 AM
I haven't heard the Shostakovich 10th Jeffrey, but would love to.

From the liner notes of my BBC CD (which are quite fascinating and moving to read), the concert opened with Glinka's Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila, followed by Dvorak's Cello Concerto.  Rostropovich then offered an encore of the solemn Sarabande from Bach's Second Suite.  After the interval, Svetlanov conducted "the most coruscating, gut-wrenching performance of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony that this writer has heard in 45 years of concert-going." Tully Potter wrote the liner notes.

I believe that the Bach piece was sadly not recorded.  Note:  the BBC Legends CD that I have has a recording of Schumann's Cello Concerto with the LSO and Benjamin Britten conducting followed by the Dvorak with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra and Evgeny Svetlanov followed by Tchaikovsky's Pezzo capriccioso for Violoncello and Orchestra again with Britten and the English Chamber Orchestra.

Is the Shostakovich recording that you've heard (have?) also on the BBC Legends Jeffrey?

PD
It's on the ICA Classics label PD. Some say that the extraordinary thing about that performance was the circumstances in which it took place rather than the performance itself, but I agree with Tully Potter's view, in the extract that you posted, that it's an exceptional performance.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Pohjolas Daughter

#45
Quote from: vandermolen on August 26, 2020, 03:06:45 AM
It's on the ICA Classics label PD. Some say that the extraordinary thing about that performance was the circumstances in which it took place rather than the performance itself, but I agree with Tully Potter's view, in the extract that you posted, that it's an exceptional performance.
Thanks for the info.  That would have been an amazing concert to attend.  Wish that someone had also filmed it at the time.

PD

EDIT:  ICA classics is now sounding/looking familiar.  Trying to remember the story:  did they buy out the licenses to a bunch of the BBC Legends recordings?
Pohjolas Daughter

vandermolen

#46
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 26, 2020, 03:12:10 AM
Thanks for the info.  That would have been an amazing concert to attend.  Wish that someone had also filmed it at the time.

PD

EDIT:  ICA classics is now sounding/looking familiar.  Trying to remember the story:  did they buy out the licenses to a bunch of the BBC Legends recordings?
Not sure PD.

PS FYI
https://icaclassics.com/about



"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darĂ¼ber muss man schweigen

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

#49
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 26, 2020, 02:40:44 AM
I haven't heard the Shostakovich 10th Jeffrey, but would love to.

From the liner notes of my BBC CD (which are quite fascinating and moving to read), the concert opened with Glinka's Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila, followed by Dvorak's Cello Concerto.  Rostropovich then offered an encore of the solemn Sarabande from Bach's Second Suite.  After the interval, Svetlanov conducted "the most coruscating, gut-wrenching performance of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony that this writer has heard in 45 years of concert-going." Tully Potter wrote the liner notes.

I believe that the Bach piece was sadly not recorded.  Note:  the BBC Legends CD that I have has a recording of Schumann's Cello Concerto with the LSO and Benjamin Britten conducting followed by the Dvorak with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra and Evgeny Svetlanov followed by Tchaikovsky's Pezzo capriccioso for Violoncello and Orchestra again with Britten and the English Chamber Orchestra.

Is the Shostakovich recording that you've heard (have?) also on the BBC Legends Jeffrey?

PD

Yes, it is the BBC recording reissued from the ica label.
As Jeffrey describes, you can hear the shouts. The recording producer could have cut the shouts, but probably decided to include them for historical significance.
The performance is very good, though.

YT link is here:  https://youtu.be/Qv1IEGbCYA0

Dry Brett Kavanaugh


Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on August 26, 2020, 02:20:20 PM
Yes, it is the BBC recording reissued from the ica label.
As Jeffrey describes, you can hear the shouts. The recording producer could have cut the shouts, but probably decided to include them for historical significance.
The performance is very good, though.

YT link is here:  https://youtu.be/Qv1IEGbCYA0
Yes, thank you.  I found it yesterday on the ICA website (I'm a fast little googler  ;) ).  Appreciate the YT link.  I'll listen to it soon.  :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter