What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Mark]

I downloaded Mahler 2 by Ormandy/Minneapolis a while back and the tracks were defective (which really sucked because I liked it).  I reported it HERE and was eventually refunded the downloads.

Yeah, I used that form THREE TIMES (plus the 'Other' form once), and eventually got a stock email response, to which I replied as follows:

No, I'm sorry, but a stock reply by email won't fix the problem on this occasion. As I've tried to explain in three 'Defective Track' correspondences and one 'Other' correspondence, the problem lies with whoever poorly ripped, encoded and uploaded a total of 19 tracks which I bought from eMusic this month. Let me explain further.

There are five CDs worth of music which make up Naxos' complete Tchaikovsky Symphonies series, and all are available on eMusic. The albums on your site with Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 6 are fine, but all the rest are screwed. Someone must've hit a setting in whatever program it is you use to make your MP3 files which caused the final frames of a total of 19 tracks to be missed off. This completely ruins the music - in short, you're either going to have to re-rip, encode and upload new tracks, or withdraw the existing three CDs worth of music from sale, as they're all faulty.

What I asked you guys to do is either sort out the tracks affected, or give me an additional 19 downloads as compensation for those that are defective. I'm already pretty fed up that I've had to go out and buy the physical CDs to replace the defective tracks I bought from eMusic, so it's looking likely that I'll stop being a customer pretty soon unless this gets resolved. I appreciate that you guys are busy, but at the end of the day, if you put something up for sale, it should be in saleable condition. If it's not, expect complaints and an increased workload.

Nothing personal towards yourself, you understand. I'm just pissed off right now.

Thanks

Mark

As to why I was downloading the Naxos Tchaikovsky symphonies cycle, it was idle curiosity. Managed to grab the set for next to nothing from an Amazon seller, so I'm not that bothered - it's just the principle of the thing.

[Keemun]

Mark, I hope you receive a satisfactory response soon. 
________

Presently listening to this:

[Solitary Wanderer]

Especially enjoyed An Unanswered Question.

[Drasko]

Nonet

[greg]

[Handel]

Excerpt: http://www.box.net/shared/bsgd762ed2

An interesting discovery. Vivaldi was a keen dramatist and a wonderful melodist. This opera shows it.

[sidoze]

I think I'm trampling on sidoze territory here, but I'm listening to Igor Zhukov playing Medtner's first piano concerto with infinitely more fire and passion than Alexeev's rather pedestrian reading in the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series.

most things by Zhukov have more fire and passion than other pianists, I'd say. And that particular recording was made during his final years of decent if waning health. If you hear his much earlier Tchaikovsky PC 2, I suspect you'd say the same thing about the Gilels and Pletnev recordings as you did about Alexeev.

[not edward]

most things by Zhukov have more fire and passion than other pianists, I'd say. And that particular recording was made during his final years of decent if waning health. If you hear his much earlier Tchaikovsky PC 2, I suspect you'd say the same thing about the Gilels and Pletnev recordings as you did about Alexeev.

Sounds interesting. Is it the full work or the same cut version that Gilels uses? (Never heard Pletnev, fwiw.)

[Solitary Wanderer]

Gorgeous 

[Lilas Pastia]

Beethoven's 5th symphony. Vienna Philharmonic, Eugene Ormandy. Recorded live in the Musikvereinsaal, 1953. Excellent radio sound. In Ormandy's hands the  first movement is not so much con brio as marziale e feroce. It has of great impetus and severity. Phrase ends are clipped, string sound is tight yet densely focused, timpani are crisp and loud. The ending is not exuberant but rather presents the hero furiously battling enemies, cossack-like. The vapid and repetitive second movement is almost interesting here. Ormandy manages to make the end grand and dramatic. Very vivid string pizzicati mark the scherzo. The pompous finale is exciting without being melodramatic. The coda is grandly arrived at, with no loss of momentum. Indeed, tempi are held with an iron grip, with a single rhetorical broadening on the last chords of I. Overall, I would term this nervous, unbending 5th one of the most interesting I've heard. At less than 30 minutes it is also one of the fastest.

Callas in live 1949 performances of Tristan, Parsifal, Norma, I Puritani and Turandot. Some in very good mono, others in atrocious 1905-like sound. Some hair-raising singing here. Her Kundry and Elvira are awesome.

[not edward]

The Budapests playing the late Beethoven string quartets (all of them, except for the replacement finale for op 130, which fell off the edge of the earth this time).

[Bogey]

Concerto for Piano no 2 in G minor, Op. 22 by Camille Saint-Saëns
Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra, M 46 by César Franck
Concerto for Piano no 1 in E flat major, S 124 by Franz Liszt

Gave this a full spin....very nice.

[wintersway]

Good morning/day to all!

[Que]

Q

[Thom]

Bohuslav Martinu
Les fresques de Piero della Francesca
Viola Rhapsody-Concerto
Double Concerto for Piano and Timpani
BIS-CD-501

[rubio]

These Christmas Cantatas by Koopman are absolutely fabulous IMO . The oboe palying by Marcel Ponseele is emotional and beautiful. The balances between the orchestra and the chorus is perfect for my taste. The lead singers are really fine (among them Barbara Schlick, Christoph Pregardien, Klaus Mertens). I now also ordered his Christmas Oratorio. Any other Bach recordings by Koopman that are top-notch?

[Bogey]

Q

Your "nutshell" thoughts if you would Q.

[johnQpublic]

ABC

Adams - Selectins from the album "Hoodoo Zephyr" (composer/Nonesuch)
Bresnick - "The Bucket Rider" & "BE JUST!" (Bang on a Can/CRI)
Currier - Vocalissimus (MOSAIC/New World)

[karlhenning]

Hey, Andante Festivo is better than most "music for functions."

I do not doubt it!

And now, since there's a blizzard's settled in here in the Town of the Pulse:

Sibelius
The Tempest, Suite No. 1, Opus 109, No. 2
Helsinki Phil
Segerstam

[Bogey]

I do not doubt it!

And now, since there's a blizzard's settled in here in the Town of the Pulse:

Sibelius
The Tempest, Suite No. 1, Opus 109, No. 2
Helsinki Phil
Segerstam

That one is on my wishlist Karl to go along with this tandems boxset of symphonies I own.  "What say you" about it?