Best of 2007

[B_cereus]

The first time I listened I wasn't very fond of the performance of the concerto, mainly because I was not very fond of the concerto. Eventually, however, the Capucons' marvelous, lyrical, intense reading began to win my admiration, and then respect, and then love. The clarinet quintet, which I'd never heard before, is sublime in its beauty. I had initially had some qualms over the playing of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, but can't remember what they are. Here is the review which inspired my impulse purchase of the disc. My main qualm with it is that no autobiographical information is provided on the Capucons, Myung-Whun Chung, or Paul Meyer, although their are more than enough photos of each of them. Who knows why Virgin does this...

Another MusicWeb review printed today strikes me as rather breathless and slightly crazed. 

I got this CD too recently, and it hasn't left my CD tray. It's really great.

[Joe_Campbell]

As the ad goes: priceless. One of the few Hamelin discs I can recommend unreservedly.

Agreed. I'm not typically a Haydn fan, but Hamelin makes a convincing go at the music!

[knight66]

Has anyone bought Golijov's cantata "Oceana"? I am waiting until I see it at a decent price, but would like to know if anyone here has had any reactions to hearing the piece.

Mike

[Shrunk]

Well, as you probably know, I don't take Hurwitz really seriously as a reviewer. But in this case, it should be pretty obvious for anyone with a minimum understanding of the subject that this is far from audacious and challenging, it just is a hoax. And not even a very well done one either. A lot of the tempo changes in the 5th symphony I listened to don't work that well either from an ensemble point of view. That makes it even less convincing and appear even more amateurish and random.

I've heard some of the Pletnev Beethoven on the radio, and I also was not tempted to buy it.  The aspect I found most off-putting was, in the excerpts I heard, he inserts huge, pregnant pauses between sections of a movement.  The image that came to my mind as I was listening was of the conductor having fallen off the podium, and the orchestra waiting patiently for him to pick himself up and recompose himself before resuming.