What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[DavidRoss]

I keep wondering why so many people like that Segerstam set. It is kind of "nice" and the recorded sound is kind of "nice", too, but Sibelius is all about the fine detail and there isn't much of that in Segerstam's readings. He just pours a thick, sticky sauce over to the music.

I've avoided him due to several people mentioning things like this... If a slightly more romantic take is required, Sanderling is hard to overrate.

Along with previous discussion of the 3rd--one of my favorites, BTW, together with the other 6! --I've felt prompted to put on Segerstam's recording of the 3rd with the HPO.  I'm not sure that there's much "nice" about Sibelius, though beauty abounds, and I think the recorded sound on this set is first-rate, as is the playing of the HPO--I simply don't hear the deficiencies that were apparent with the same orchestra under Berglund 20 years ago.  For me this continues to be a top recommendation for those seeking a warm, lush, romantic recording with very good sound quality.  Also, I beg to differ about the "thick, sticky sauce" obliterating musical detail.  Granted, Segerstam's emphasis is more on overall shape and movement than, say, Berglund's emphasis on clarity and detail, but the details are there, swimming in the sauce as Sibelius preferred, delivered beautifully by the players of the HPO, and the fine recording quality reveals them more than adequatey--at least on high quality playback equipment. 

[Opus106]

Mozart 39
Prague CO/Mackerras

The minuet is so cheerful.

This will be followed by

Arriaga
Symphony in Dm
Scottish CO/Mackerras

[Lethevich]

Thanks for the review

Along with previous discussion of the 3rd--one of my favorites, BTW, together with the other 6!

Damn, snap... The 6th used to be my favourite, but the 3rd has at some point sneaked its way in ahead.

[rickardg]

From what I've heard, Brautigam is pretty excellent as well.
So we're spoilt for choice IMO.

Just for fun I bought the Brautigam bundle on eclassical and a Paul Komen disc on iTunes (a grand total of slightly more than 10 euros) for some comparative listening.

Uninterestingly, I have to agree with most earlier posters and online reviewers. I've mainly focused on Sonata No 17 "The Tempest", and if you can call the piece bitter-sweet, then Komen emphasises the sweetness and Brautigam the bitterness. I find Komen more lyrical, his interpretation feels more flexible and cantablile, the phrases are longer while Brautigam is more aggresive and really pounds in the shorter figures.

Which one you prefer would depend on if you prefer your storms to be like a summer thunderstorm or a relentless winter rain storm.

The recordings are both fine to my ears, surprisingly resonant for chamber music (I think I've read somewhere that the Brautigam cycle is recorded in a church), but on the other hand that helps with the fortepianos short sustain.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No 17 "The Tempest"
Ronald Brautigam, fortepiano
Paul Komen, fortepiano

[Christo]

                   
Thanks to Harry - and also many thanks, Harry, for pointing me to the use of the Horst Wessel Lied in it!

Pavel Haas. (1899-1944) Symphony-Unfinished. (Instrumentation/Orchestration Zdenek Zouhar.
Brno State Philharmonic/ Israel Yinon.

(...) In the reconstructed Symphony, second movement Haas quotes the Nazi song, "the Horst Wessel Lied", boldly, at first in a brazenly aggressive form, although with hints of irony in the diminution at the close, and later on in a parodistically caricatured form, and in the third movement it is contrapuntally combined with a allusive quote from Chopin funeral march. Very bizarre, but o so effective.
The performance is idiomatic and well conceived by Yinon. 

[DavidRoss]

Thanks for the review   {You're welcome--I have little time for posting these days, but I'm going into work late this morning and have been been a Sibelius advocate on this board for so long that it almost seems my role!}

Damn, snap... The 6th used to be my favourite, but the 3rd has at some point sneaked its way in ahead.

One of the reasons Sibelius is my favorite symphonist by far.  Each of his symphonies is distinct and has unique appeal.  It may have been the 6th which first caused me to sit up and take notice, rapidly followed by the 4th and 5th, offering me the epiphany that rewarded my persistence in trying to understand why many I respect so deeply admired this symphonist whom I had previously attended on only a superficial level.  Since then I suspect each of the symphonies has had its turn as my favorite, or nearly so, so that I love them all--but still the more mature works, 3 through 7, reward and amaze me more than the first 2--just as the mature tone poems beat the pants off early ones like Finlandia!

[Hector]

Schmidt's Symphony No. 2 played on a relatively expensive CD by the MDR Orchestra (the old Leipzig Radio Orchestra) under a conductor who has interested me a lot in recent years, Fabio Luisi.

I do not expect to hear a better performance than this on disc.

Brahmsian in its scope it is firmly rooted in the Austro/German tradition with a melody in the second movement that will melt your heart.

The other three symphonies are pretty good, too.

[Harry]

Johannes Brahms.
Serenade No, 2 in A major.
Capella Augustina, Andreas Spering.
On period instruments.

Third hearing today, and my impression is, that it fares much better as the First serenade from the same forces.
Still there is a lot to be desired.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Schmidt's Symphony No. 2 played on a relatively expensive CD by the MDR Orchestra (the old Leipzig Radio Orchestra) under a conductor who has interested me a lot in recent years, Fabio Luisi.

I do not expect to hear a better performance than this on disc.

Brahmsian in its scope it is firmly rooted in the Austro/German tradition with a melody in the second movement that will melt your heart.

The other three symphonies are pretty good, too.

I know the Second only under Järvi (and the CSO, iirc). A very good performance, I think, but I can't compare... The Fourth under Mehta is excellent, too, but not a work I can listen to too often.

[Sergeant Rock]

Listening to my favorite Sibelius Thirds: started with Bernstein



and now my desert island pick:



Neither recording is sonically perfect (you either love or hate Sixties Columbia recordings; and the Decca is rather glaring in that early digital way) but both recordings have tremendous presence, detail and impact (when I want sonic beauty, Segerstam Ondine is hard to beat).


Sarge

[springrite]

I know the Second only under Järvi (and the CSO, iirc). A very good performance, I think, but I can't compare... The Fourth under Mehta is excellent, too, but not a work I can listen to too often.

The only Schmidt work that I really love and would go for repeated listening is Book of Seven Seals.

Come to think of it, I should listen to it this weekend when I have a break.

[not edward]

I know the Second only under Järvi (and the CSO, iirc). A very good performance, I think, but I can't compare... The Fourth under Mehta is excellent, too, but not a work I can listen to too often.

I'm looking for good recommendations for the first three Schmidt symphonies, actually (I have an MDRSO/Luisi aircheck of the 2nd and a private transfer of the Slovak PO/Pesek recording of the 3rd: both sound good to me but I've not heard any others and they're both in mp3 format). I do think the Mehta recording of the 4th is superlative, but boy is it a depressing piece of music!

I found this Orfeo disc of quintets with piano left-hand a while back: the music is intriguing but the performances seem somewhat unsympathetic to me:



Anyone else heard these pieces?

Meanwhile, I'm listening to the Brahms piano trios. I've got Stern/Istomin/Rose and BAT but it wasn't till I got Suk/Starker/Katchen that I really grew to love the first (I have always loved the other two, though).

[Novi]

Good afternoon .

Jumping on the band wagon with Sibelius 6 (Vänskä, Lahti SO).

[Keemun]

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I'm looking for good recommendations for the first three Schmidt symphonies, actually (I have an MDRSO/Luisi aircheck of the 2nd and a private transfer of the Slovak PO/Pesek recording of the 3rd: both sound good to me but I've not heard any others and they're both in mp3 format). I do think the Mehta recording of the 4th is superlative, but boy is it a depressing piece of music!

Yes, very depressing...

Re recommendations - the only game in town as far complete Schmidt cycles is concerned, is the one by Järvi. Both Harry and Sarge have it, I think - perhaps they can enlighten you (and me) about the relative merits of Järvi's reading of symphonies 1 and 3.

I suddenly remember - I have an LP of the Pesek you mention, which I bought in London 20 years ago... I haven't played that for a long time. The slow movement is wonderful.

[not edward]

I suddenly remember - I have an LP of the Pesek you mention, which I bought in London 20 years ago... I haven't played that for a long time. The slow movement is wonderful.

IIRC, the Pesek was never transferred to CD. Sounds like a lost opportunity to me.

[Wanderer]

I'm looking for good recommendations for the first three Schmidt symphonies...

Järvi's renditions on Chandos are highly recommended. I'd like to investigate Luisi at some point, as well.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Järvi's renditions on Chandos are highly recommended.

My emusic subscription will be renewed in two weeks' time - I know what I'll download first...

[ChamberNut]

Brahms

Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5

Andre Laplante
Analekta (Fleurs de lys)

Man, this is REALLY good!   

[MN Dave]

Brahms

Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5

Andre Laplante
Analekta (Fleurs de lys)

Man, this is REALLY good!   

Of course it's good. It's Brahms.  0:)