What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Maciek]

Actually, I liked it. I mean the sacred one, not the Pre-Raphaelite one.

[M forever]

Which picture is that? I think I have seen it somewhere. IIRC, it's an English 19th century painting related to a subject from the Arthurian complex. Or maybe not.

Hehehe. I did not mean to suggest my covers were good.

I know it's not meant to be "serious"...but some of them actually are quite good, I think. I would just suggest less clutter, like ...,conductor ...,mezzo-soprano. Just the names do fine. And you can't say Wiener Philharmoniker und Singverein because both are completely different organizations. It's not like London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra. So both names have to be separate and complete. I would also not use punctuation or : , just organize the information by placement and font size. Also, the plural of Orchester in German is Orchester, not Orchesters. Although in this case, it's just one orchestra anyway which is based in two cities, Baden-Baden and Freiburg.

Is that Lawrence of Arabia again?

(I mean the first one.)

No, that's just some nice sunrise picture I googled up.

[beclemund]

Which picture is that? I think I have seen it somewhere. IIRC, it's an English 19th century painting related to a subject from the Arthurian complex. Or maybe not.

No, that's just some nice sunrise picture I googled up.

JW Waterhouse, The Lady of Shalott. Here is what I did with your sunrise image... I could probably change the layout more than I did, but I just wanted to throw it together to see what the feel was.

[M forever]

I would leave the conductor and soprano and all that stuff out (see myy post above which I just edited as you were working on that). Just a suggestion, of course.

[beclemund]

I know it's not meant to be "serious"...but some of them actually are quite good, I think.

Thank you. I have been posting them on the off chance that someone might use them in their ID3 tags too if they want to, but I am always hopeful for criticisms as I would like them to be as accurate and attractive as possible.

I would just suggest less clutter, like ...,conductor ...,mezzo-soprano. Just the names do fine.

I generally try to ease off of the clutter, but I was having balance issues on that one and the easy way to resolve it was a little more text.

And you can't say Wiener Philharmoniker und Singverein because both are completely different organizations. It's not like London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra. So both names have to be separate and complete. I would also not use punctuation or : , just organize the information by placement and font size. Also, the plural of Orchester in German is Orchester, not Orchesters. Although in this case, it's just one orchestra anyway which is based in two cities, Baden-Baden and Freiburg.

That is valuable information to know. I knew I should have Googled the Singverein to see if they were their own entity. As for the later, that is a typographical error. I had been copying directly off of the original cover and squeezed in an extraneous 'S'. Thank you for the editing help. I will put that to use right now.

[George]

JW Waterhouse, The Lady of Shalott. Here is what I did with your sunrise image... I could probably change the layout more than I did, but I just wanted to throw it together to see what the feel was.

It's nice, but I like your original a lot more. 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Weber ~ The Romantic Piano Concerto series #10

&

Hummel ~ Piano Concertos Stephen Hough

[Maciek]

It's nice, but I like your original a lot more. 

I think we need a new thread for this (go ahead, beclemund, start one!) - before someone starts complaining that we're cluttering this one.

[beclemund]

I think we need a new thread for this (go ahead, beclemund, start one!) - before someone starts complaining that we're cluttering this one.

Done. My apologies for the tangent.

Currently listening to a little Samuel Barber...

[M forever]

I moved my first clumsy attempt at designing a cover here:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3102.msg73895.html#msg73895

[George]

I think we need a new thread for this (go ahead, beclemund, start one!) - before someone starts complaining that we're cluttering this one.

Nah, we have a friend on the inside. 

[George]

The D 958. 

[not edward]

Beethoven 8 (RPO/Scherchen).
More fun than a barrel of monkeys. Come to think of it, this probably isn't the best recording to listen to right before going to bed--it's got way too much energy for that.

[George]

Beethoven 8 (RPO/Scherchen).
More fun than a barrel of monkeys. Come to think of it, this probably isn't the best recording to listen to right before going to bed--it's got way too much energy for that.

[Que]

Good morning (day) to you all.


[mp3=200,20,0,left]http://wma1.phononet.de/jpc114c353abec05/jpcmp3/d1/326/572/LEAZGCOHLKAXGYBMEPHCLZAKXMEC.mp3[/mp3](turn up the volume for the 2nd clip)[mp3=200,20,0,left]http://wma1.phononet.de/jpc114c353abec05/jpcmp3/d1/326/572/LEAZGCOHLKAXGYBMEPHCLZAKXMGY.mp3[/mp3] [mp3=200,20,0,left]http://wma1.phononet.de/jpc114c353abec05/jpcmp3/d1/326/572/LEAZGCOHLKAXGYBMEPHCLZAKXMYG.mp3[/mp3]

Q

[RebLem]

In the week ending Saturday, 25 AUG 2007, I listened to the following:

1,2. 10/10 Haydn: Syms 103 "Drumroll" (29:01), + Alternative ending (5:39), 104 "London" (23:37), Symphony "B" in B Flat Major (13:11), Sym 22 in E Flat Major "Der Philosoph" (2nd version) (9:50), Sym 53 in D Major "L'Imperiale"—Alternative ending A (5:18 ), Alternative ending C (5:43), Alternative ending D (3:31), Sym 63 "La Roxelane" (1st vers) (19:09)—Dorati, cond. Philharmonia Hungarica. CDs 32 & 33 of 33 CD London set of complete syms.

Of the alternative finale to the Drumroll, H.C. Robbins Landon, in the liner notes, wrote, "Haydn was a rigorous self-critic, and many are the beautiful pages of music which he ruthlessly removed from his scores. Of all these cuts, one of the saddest was made in the final pages of Sym 103. After the terrific tension generated by the monothematic fanaticism of this great finale, Haydn introduced a great Falstaffian touch, a modulation to C Flat marked pianissimo and preceded by two whole bars of rests. It is as funny, and as touching, as Verdi's treatment of the fat knight. But Haydn thought that the movement was now too long, and he crossed out the whole section. Perhaps, if we may be so bold as to suggest it, Haydn was for once in his life too ruthless here. The original version is here recorded for the first time."

I agree. The original is better. And, its not all that much longer. The finale of the now accepted last movement is 5:25. Although the original finale is listed as lasting 5:53, this is an error; the music actually stops by 5:39, so it is all of 14 seconds longer than the movement which replaced it!

There are two extant versions of "Der Philosoph." Robbins Landon writes, "In 1773, Venier of Paris...produced an edition of 3 Haydn symphonies which contained a new version of Sym. 22. This edition discarded the cor anglais [which Haydn had first used in the original 22], substituted two flutes, and removed the first movement [really the most original, in my opinion] entirely. The symphony began with what we know as the 2nd movement. Then there appears a new movement, Andante grazioso, in A Flat, of great charm...." However, it is a truncated movement, stopping abruptly after only 1:54. Yes, it is charming, and the basic material seems to me to have more potential than the original 3rd movement, but because it is truncated, it is not appropriate for concert performance. The other two movements use the same thematic material as their corresponding movements in the accepted version of #22, and a case can be built that they are even the preferred versions of these movements, but the first movement, eliminated from this version, is by far the most original movement, so it should never be dispensed with.

I will just give a little abstract of Robbins Landon's remarks on the 3 alternate finales to #53. Alternative ending C he regards as seriously inferior and probably not by Haydn. He has a much higher opinion of the other two—ending A, he says, has "one strangely prophetic passage...at the end of the first subdivision in the minor section, where we find a melody in F Major that sounds extraordinarily like Schubert." As to the ending D, he says it was originally thought to be by Hoffmeister and published under his name, but that the Russians, in a 1959 exhibition in Vienna, created a sensation when they presented for public view a genuine Haydn autograph score of this version. "In some respects, this...is the most successful of all the concluding movements; certainly, it is the most complex, and the one which perhaps best combines wit and intellectuality," he writes.

HCRL says that Symphony 63 "Roxelane" originated as incidental music for the performance of a play, and that later, he decided to use those materials for a symphony. Many of the materials are gathered from other works by Haydn, in a case of self-plagiarization, apparently. There are different versions primarily because Haydn had different forces available at different times, and he had to fiddle with the score to fit the forces he had available. Each movement, however, uses the same basic thematic material as the other version.

3,4. 10/9 Beethoven: Sym 5 (35:42 from 1954); Sym. 6 (44:51 from 1952): Sym 7 (38:49 from 1950); Sym 8 (25:52 from 1948)---Wilhelm Furtwangler, cond, Wiener Phil (5, 6, 7), Stockholm Phil (—CDs 3 & 4 from a 5 CD EMI References set of postwar Furtwangler performances of all the Beethoven Symphonies.. These are all, with the exception of the 8, great performances in the old-fashioned, traditional manner in state of the art sound for the time. The 8th, however, sounds much older than just 2-4 years older than the others; it sounds like it could be from the mid-30's, and actually, I have heard better sound on some mid-30's issues, as far as that goes. The 8th is in seriously inferior sound, about a 6, I would say.

5. 10/10 Prokofiev: Sym 5 (38:47, rec 1959) |Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra (34:40, rec 1965)—George Szell, Cleveland Orch.—SONY MHK 63124. Of all 20th century works, these are two which Szell performed quite frequently in his almost quarter century tenure as MD at Cleveland (1946-to his death in 1970). He programmed each of these works in 7 different Cleveland seasons, as well as on more than one European tour. On one occasion, in Carnegie Hall, he even performed both of them on the same program. These are, as almost always with this conductor and orchestra, magnificent performances, especially, in my view, in the case of the Prokofiev.

"Mention must be made," the liner notes read, "of the cut (measures 426 - 555) which Szell made near the end of the finale of the Bartok. The section he omitted is that mysterious and beautiful typical Bartokian 'night music.' Szell bridged the cut by the insertion of the first bar of the previous phrase (measure 418), repeating it 4 times before jumping over the omitted material to the great brass chords, which state the main theme of the finale in majestic columns, surrounded by swirling scales of strings and winds. When questioned by his associate, Louis Lane, about the repeated bar not being in Bartok's style, Szell pointed out a parallel place in the...First Suite. Szell felt that the fugal section was weak and that he was improving the piece, just as Bartok improved the ending. And there it stands. It will be up to posterity to make its own judgment."

6. 10/10 Bartok: Piano Concerto 1 (23:40 from 1962) |Prokofiev: Piano Concerto 4 for Left Hand (24:05 from 1958 )—Rudolf Serkin, piano; Szell/Cleveland (Bartok), Ormandy/Philadelphia (Prokofiev)—SONY 5170022. These are both very modernist, hard edged interpretations. This is still my favorite performance of the Bartok.

Now, I have a question for SONY. Whatever possessed you to issued these two records, each split between Bartok and Prokofiev? The first one is 73:37 long, the second is seriously shorter, at 47:45. If SONY had done the sane thing, they could have had both Prokofiev works on a 62:52 CD, and both Bartoks on a 58:20 CD. Why didn't they do it that way? Are they just determined to make no sense?

Well, I achieved two of my goals for the week, but not the other. I finished up with the Dorati box of the Haydn symphonies, and I reported on these two Bartok/Prokofiev CDs the same week. But, I did not complete the Furtwangler Beethoven Symphony box. Still have the first four symphonies to go. I have been doing a lot of running around this week shopping for a new car, and also editing our condo association's newsletter, so I haven't had as much time as usual for listening. Also doing some grocery shopping, which became more difficult since the store which had almost everything I wanted has closed, and I have to run around to several now to get everything I want.

So, for this next week, top priority, of course, is to finish that Furtwangler box. Underneath the Furtwangler box, next in line there is the 9 CD box of the Shostakovich String Quartets by the eponymous quartet. Replacing the Dorati box is a short stack containing a 2 CD Higginbottom set of Byrd's Cantiones Sacrae and a 3 CD Brilliant set of the complete Grieg chamber music. And, then, of course, there is my Bach stack, which I didn't dip into at all this last week.
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[rubio]

Schubert, The Complete Impromptus, German Dances and Moments Musicaux, played by Alfred Brendel. I simply loved these CD's, both the music itself and Brendel's playing. It's a straightforward and pure reading that I think first and foremost put the spotlight on the music itself. What are your favourite Impromptus interpretations?

[Que]

What are your favourite Impromptus interpretations?

Edwin Fischer.



Q

[Que]

CD 10:
Sonatas 20, 34, 54-56, sonata HobXVIIa:1 for four hands, Fantasia HobXVII:4.
Played on a fortepiano with Viennese action, made by Louis Dulcken, Munich 1793.

Q

[George]

Schubert, The Complete Impromptus, German Dances and Moments Musicaux, played by Alfred Brendel. I simply loved these CD's, both the music itself and Brendel's playing. It's a straightforward and pure reading that I think first and foremost put the spotlight on the music itself. What are your favourite Impromptus interpretations?

Probably Maria Joao Pires, hers are more in the Romantic tradition. Slower, more dramatic and austere.