Elgar's Hillside

Started by Mark, September 20, 2007, 02:03:01 AM

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BachQ


Mark

Quote from: bhodges on September 25, 2007, 11:32:09 AM
PS, for anyone in the Minneapolis area next week, a very interesting program around the Beethoven 9th.  My mother is going...I'll ask her to chime in with a report.  ;D

Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Helena Juntunen, soprano
Susan Platts, mezzo
Daniel Norman, tenor
Neal Davies, bass
Minnesota Chorale

Elgar: Sospiri  
Argento: Casa Guidi 
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

--Bruce

Lovely: Vanska peddaling his soulless interpretation of the Ninth. ::) ;D

karlhenning

Quote from: D Minor on September 25, 2007, 11:41:27 AM
Oh yes, that part about "patchwork of quotes . . . .

I'm thinking of writing a brief oratorio . . . Sewen, They Are Sewen . . . .

bhodges

Quote from: dtwilbanks on September 25, 2007, 11:35:43 AM
I've heard the Ninth twice by Minnesota. And those are the only two times I've ever been in Orchestra Hall.  ;D

;D

I would go just for the first two (then you could leave at intermission  ;D  ;D  ;D).

The Argento is a beautiful song cycle, the first work by him I ever heard (a radio broadcast, with Frederica von Stade).  I'm not familiar with Susan Platts, who's singing it here, but the piece is well worth hearing. 

--Bruce

dtwilbanks


Larry Rinkel

Quote from: dtw on October 05, 2007, 06:42:25 AM
I apologize if this has been already posted in here.

http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/070411-NL-elgar.html

And so here we have an Englishman who thinks Elgar inferior and less important to British music than a Finn, and a Finn who thinks Elgar superior to and more important than any composer period.  :D

dtwilbanks

Quote from: Larry Rinkel on October 05, 2007, 08:06:42 AM
And so here we have an Englishman who thinks Elgar inferior and less important to British music than a Finn, and a Finn who thinks Elgar superior to and more important than any composer period.  :D

I can't say much. I haven't found an American composer I really like, unless you count Duke Ellington. :)

Kullervo

Quote from: dtw on October 05, 2007, 06:42:25 AM
I apologize if this has been already posted in here.

http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/070411-NL-elgar.html

He is comparing two composers who were coming from two different places entirely (both literally and figuratively). According to this logic, we should also hold Haydn up to the standards of say, Schumann.

sound67

In contrast, ClassicToday's Victor Farr on Elgar's orchestration:

"Boult's scrupulous attention to the subtle timbres of Elgar's orchestration at times make the music sound almost Debussyian."

(Review of Boult/Lyrita Elgar 1 & 2)

Thomas
"Vivaldi didn't compose 500 concertos. He composed the same concerto 500 times" - Igor Stravinsky

"Mozart is a menace to musical progress, a relic of rituals that were losing relevance in his own time and are meaningless to ours." - Norman Lebrecht

Montpellier

Quote from: sound67 on October 15, 2007, 10:58:10 PM
In contrast, ClassicToday's Victor Farr on Elgar's orchestration:

"Boult's scrupulous attention to the subtle timbres of Elgar's orchestration at times make the music sound almost Debussyian."

(Review of Boult/Lyrita Elgar 1 & 2)

Thomas

Oh dear..... 

(I know the recording well but I'm blowed if I can hear anything Debussian about it.  Maybe the reviewer omitted to turn his hearing aid on.)

.

71 dB

I am listening to Elgar's 1st Symphony by Colin Davis on Profil label (Staatskapelle Dresden). Sounds pretty damn good! 

Thanks Mark!
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Mark

Quote from: 71 dB on October 20, 2007, 01:20:48 PM
I am listening to Elgar's 1st Symphony by Colin Davis on Profil label (Staatskapelle Dresden). Sounds pretty damn good! 

Thanks Mark!

Thought you'd like that. Got a certain edginess, hasn't it? Kinda raw, not soft-focused like some interpretations. All the better for being a live recording, too. Gives it an extra energy. :)

71 dB

#152
Quote from: Mark on October 20, 2007, 01:57:34 PM
Thought you'd like that. Got a certain edginess, hasn't it? Kinda raw, not soft-focused like some interpretations. All the better for being a live recording, too. Gives it an extra energy. :)

Actually I didn't like the live recording noises but the performance is good. Naxos is my reference and it has lots of edge too.

Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

BachQ

Quote from: Mark on October 20, 2007, 01:57:34 PM
Kinda raw, not soft-focused like some interpretations.

Which ones are soft-focused?

Larry Rinkel

Quote from: Anancho on October 17, 2007, 07:23:23 AM
Oh dear..... 

(I know the recording well but I'm blowed if I can hear anything Debussian about it.  Maybe the reviewer omitted to turn his hearing aid on.)

.

He did say "almost."

Mark

Quote from: D Minor on October 20, 2007, 02:10:49 PM
Which ones are soft-focused?

Alas, I cannot accurately detail them. I've heard a couple (in part only) on the radio in recent years. They seemed too ...  yes, soft-focused is the only apt way to describe them. I think Sir Andrew Davis - whom I usually love conducting Elgar - may be among the 'guilty' parties.

71 dB

Quote from: Mark on October 20, 2007, 02:30:41 PM
Alas, I cannot accurately detail them. I've heard a couple (in part only) on the radio in recent years. They seemed too ...  yes, soft-focused is the only apt way to describe them. I think Sir Andrew Davis - whom I usually love conducting Elgar - may be among the 'guilty' parties.

Just when I am considering the Sir Andrew Davis box of Elgar you tell this scary stuff.  :o
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Mark

Quote from: 71 dB on October 21, 2007, 03:16:19 AM
Just when I am considering the Sir Andrew Davis box of Elgar you tell this scary stuff.  :o

Buy in good faith, sir - I believe the Davis I heard was a live broadcast. ;)

71 dB

Quote from: Mark on October 21, 2007, 03:47:35 AM
Buy in good faith, sir - I believe the Davis I heard was a live broadcast. ;)

OK!  8)
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

BachQ

Quote from: 71 dB on October 21, 2007, 03:16:19 AM
Just when I am considering the Sir Andrew Davis box of Elgar you tell this scary stuff.  :o

We feel your pain .......... and we're here for you, Pujo ..........