What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Brian]

RAFF  piano music vol. 2

Do let us know how you like that one! I have my eye on it.

[Sadko]

What a surprise to see that so many of you are so emotionally connected to Mahler's 2nd!
My introduction to Mahler was with his 1st symphony, which I always thought to be his most accessible.
I think I would never have come to like Mahler so much if I started with his 2nd ...

His first was my second Which I also liked a lot, and then came the third.

I might also still have the original vinyl, but since I don't have a record player any more I never look at them. Only once I sold a part of my collection, the rest is still there, untouched (except by age).

But the LP collection was quite small, there was a point when crackle and warpedness of newly bought records were so regular and annoying that I decided to stop buying completely. Only when the CD came out I started again, as soon as there was the first affordable player.

[North Star]

Shostakovich
Symphony no. 14
Mariss Jansons

[asin]B000G6BJS0[/asin]

[Sadko]

Lost Highway, opera (92:57)
Elfriede Jelinek, librettist

Vincent Crowly, vocals
Constance Hauman, vocals
David Moss, vocals
Georg Nigl, vocals
Andrew Watts, vocals
Jodi Melnick, vocals
Grayson Milwood, vocals
Lucas Rössner, vocals
Rodolfo Seas-Araya, vocals
Gavin Webber, vocals
Kai Wessel, vocals
Carsten Svanberg, trombone
Franz Hautzinger, trumpet
Robert Lepenik, electric guitar
Jürgen Schweitzer, sound technician
Markus Noistering, electronics, sound projection
Robert Höldrich, electronics, sound design, sound projection
Gerhard Niehaus, electronics, sound design, sound projection
Klangforum Wien
Johannes Kalitzke, conductor

[asin]B000N2H8IW[/asin]

Interesting, how is Jelinek's libretto? An what is the music like?

[Sadko]

Looks interesting, and not very expensive on Amazon MP.  Thank you.  (I have his two Naxos CDs.)

On the topic of Schubert sung by women--you might want to try Fassbaender's performance of Winterreise, which is on EMI, and has nothing to with the Hyperion, and which some people don't like, but I do.

I love Fassbaender's Winterreise with Aribert Reimann! ("Die schöne Müllerin" less)

[PaulR]

Shostakovich
Symphony no. 14
Mariss Jansons

[asin]B000G6BJS0[/asin]

Would like to know your opinion on this CD.  From what I remember, it is not one of his strongest readings, but I could be wrong about this.

[Karl Henning]

Don't degrade me with these instant replies, O herd!

[Sadko]

Shostakovich

Jazz Suite No. 2

NASO (Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra)
Arnold Katz

[asin]B00004YU97[/asin]

[Sadko]

Askold Murov

Five Ritual Chants
for soprano and orchestra with Russian folk instruments

Academic Orchestra of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic
Vladimir Gusev

[Papy Oli]

I did a quick count, really quick: I may be off by one or two: 37 male, 25 female. The box is different than the individual CDs (where most discs were devoted to a single singer) in that the songs are presented chronologically, meaning you get a mix of male and female singers on each disc. If you are allergic to the distaff side, you won't be happy with Hyperion. Stick with F-D. On the other hand, if you aren't allergic to the female voice, the Hyperion line-up is breathtaking: Popp, Baker, Ameling, Price, Fassbaender, Argenta, Lott, Mathis, Schäfer etc.

Sarge

Hmmm. Good question. I've never really sat down to figure that out.
The women can be sampled as follows:
vol1: Janet Baker (wonderful, and I am not really a Baker fan, but the singing is good)
vol3: Anne Murray (beautiful and intimate - outstanding)
5: Elizabeth Connell (a bit shriller voice - not sure how you will like this one, though she sings well)
7: Elly Ameling (tender voice, love how she shapes the lines - oustanding)
8: Sarah Walker (mezzo - excellent, even Erlkonig works well)
9: Arlene Auger (assume this is the one you have)
11: Brigitte Fassbender (does she ever sing badly? Excellent)
13: Marie McLaughlin (excellent)
15: Margaret Price (such a velvety voice - another winner, outstanding)
17: Lucia Popp (again shapes the line well, recorded not long before she passed - excellent)
19: Felicity Lott (tenderly sung with great charm, though not my favorite - ok)
21: Edith Mathis (she makes so much of these - brings out a richness, even though she is not always a voice I enjoy - excellent)
29: Marjana Lipovsek (with Nathan Berg) (rich, dark voice - excellent; and Berg is outstanding too by the way)
31: Christine Brewer (with Chorus) (heartfelt singing - excellent; three with chorus too - about 30 min worth)

......

So overall, you get about half with women and half with men. You may recognize many of the women, so that may help you decide. In general, I like nearly all of them.  Hyperion provide good samples on their site, so maybe try a few of them to see what you think. I put my thoughts in parentheses, but not sure how much our tastes will align.

I too prefer the male voice for these songs, so I understand the issue. Price may be another factor. DFD box is $88 at Deep Discount (though currently out of stock), that's a great deal, while the Hyperion box is sure to be more. Anyway, perhaps this info helps make the decision. Either way, you can download the booklet from the Hyperion site, which has all the texts.

I see Sarge also responded. The only thing I would add is that the line up of singers in general is top notch as he said.

Thank you both very much for the feedback. I'll have a good listen over the next few days to the samples on the Hyperion website and take a view from there. Even without getting to the issue of the female singers, just off-hand on some first samples, there are some tenor voices that don't appeal to me that much. It seems that baritone voices are easier on my ear but I won't jump to conclusions just yet.

The DFD boxset is about £60 and the Hyperion at £127, so definitely a point to consider indeed. Maybe 40 CD of lieder would be overkill too (...he says staring at his Scarlatti cube and his Mahler Rectangles....  )

I am listening now to the second half of that DFD CD, damn it is good 

[Papy Oli]

On the topic of Schubert sung by women--you might want to try Fassbaender's performance of Winterreise, which is on EMI, and has nothing to with the Hyperion, and which some people don't like, but I do.

I love Fassbaender's Winterreise with Aribert Reimann! ("Die schöne Müllerin" less)

Noted, thank you both !

[PaulR]

Would like to know your opinion on this CD.  From what I remember, it is not one of his strongest readings, but I could be wrong about this.

I stand corrected, listening to this now.  The performance is great, though the percussion is a bit muted for my taste at points.  The highlighting of the Cello and double bass in The Suicide movement was superb

[Sergeant Rock]

Bruckner Symphony #7 E major, Karajan conducting the Berlin Phil




Sarge

[North Star]

I stand corrected, listening to this now.  The performance is great, though the percussion is a bit muted for my taste at points.  The highlighting of the Cello and double bass in The Suicide movement was superb

Great performance, indeed.

[nico1616]

Thread duty - Mahler 6 - A4 & A7

My God, how different can two interpretations be 
But easy to choose between those two 

[Papy Oli]

Received yesterday following on from a Snape concert of the same works and same baritone earlier this week, which was my 1st exposition to Loewe.

Loewe - Songs & ballads
Roger Vignoles - piano
Florian Boesch - baritone

[asin]B004S7ZYXO[/asin]

Gorgeous singing 

also 1st Hyperion CD in my collection 

[mc ukrneal]

Received yesterday following on from a Snape concert of the same works and same baritone earlier this week, which was my 1st exposition to Loewe.

Loewe - Songs & ballads
Roger Vignoles - piano
Florian Boesch - baritone

[asin]B004S7ZYXO[/asin]

Gorgeous singing 

also 1st Hyperion CD in my collection 

FYI - There are some discs with DFD singing Loewe as well. Loewe wrote quality stuff. He's often overshadowed by Schubert (unfairly in my opinion), but he wrote some wonderful songs.

[Conor71]

Vaughan Williams: Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra In C Major


Now playing Disc 8 of this excellent set - the next work is Job

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from the following twofer for a first listen ...

[TheGSMoeller]

Nyman: SQs by Balanescu