What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Coopmv]

A three-peat:

Mahler
Symphony No. 3
Bernstein/NYPO
Sony
Recorded 1960 1961

This has consumed my Sunday listening with my third listening today.  Wow.....I'm pretty shot. Time to take it out before it buries me.  Great listening day!

How is the CD?  I have this set ...

[Bogey]

How is the CD?  I have this set ...

It was incredible. I have the Royal Edition, and am still trying to absorb all I heard. 

[Brian]

I do not have the cycles by Abbado, Barenboim and Mackerras, though I think I could be interested in the Mackerras' version.  Which Mackerras' version do you have?  I think he recorded 2 cycles.

Yes; Mackerras recorded a cycle in the early 1990s with Liverpool (I think?) and one, recorded live, in Aug.-Sept. 2006 at the Edinburgh Festival. I have the second, "Edinburgh," cycle, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia. They are very good performances, similar in conception to Thomas Dausgaard's Simax set (but less extreme) or Abbado's Rome cycle (also live), actually: chamber orchestra performances, relatively fleet tempi (except in No 5), clear textures and rhythms. The sound is a little murky on No. 9, but very good in the first eight. I think I would recommend Abbado first for live chamber-sounding performances from the 2000s (Abbado's Berlin Philharmonic is not a chamber orchestra, but, impressively, through fleet tempi, clarity of vision and some incredibly precise playing he manages to make it sound like one!). That said, I found Mackerras on MDT for $25 during their Hyperion sale last spring and if that price ever replicates itself, don't hesitate to indulge your curiosity.

The Barenboim is big-boned, luxurious old-fashioned Beethoven playing, in homage to legends like Furtwangler. Frankly, though, I'd take Barenboim over his predecessors in the Beethoven-as-cosmic-narrative field of interpretation any day, and not just for the vastly superior sonics and orchestral playing. His cycle is a triumph. Send me to a desert island with only two Beethoven cycles, and I'll choose something HIP or historically informed, and Barenboim.

[CD]

Not as interesting as the Tzadik disc with the 6th SQ, but it has its moments. I especially the playful Canonic Variations and Lagniappe.

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set, which arrived late last week ...

[Coopmv]

Yes; Mackerras recorded a cycle in the early 1990s with Liverpool (I think?) and one, recorded live, in Aug.-Sept. 2006 at the Edinburgh Festival. I have the second, "Edinburgh," cycle, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia. They are very good performances, similar in conception to Thomas Dausgaard's Simax set (but less extreme) or Abbado's Rome cycle (also live), actually: chamber orchestra performances, relatively fleet tempi (except in No 5), clear textures and rhythms. The sound is a little murky on No. 9, but very good in the first eight. I think I would recommend Abbado first for live chamber-sounding performances from the 2000s (Abbado's Berlin Philharmonic is not a chamber orchestra, but, impressively, through fleet tempi, clarity of vision and some incredibly precise playing he manages to make it sound like one!). That said, I found Mackerras on MDT for $25 during their Hyperion sale last spring and if that price ever replicates itself, don't hesitate to indulge your curiosity.

The Barenboim is big-boned, luxurious old-fashioned Beethoven playing, in homage to legends like Furtwangler. Frankly, though, I'd take Barenboim over his predecessors in the Beethoven-as-cosmic-narrative field of interpretation any day, and not just for the vastly superior sonics and orchestral playing. His cycle is a triumph. Send me to a desert island with only two Beethoven cycles, and I'll choose something HIP or historically informed, and Barenboim.

I have always liked Mackerras and in fact his Handel Messiah box set was among the very first classical LP sets I bought while I was in college many moons ago.  Most of my recordings by Barenboim feature him as a pianist.  I only have one CD where he was conducting the BPO in Berlioz Symphony Fantastique.  To be frank, I was not too impressed with that performance.

[Coopmv]

It was incredible. I have the Royal Edition, and am still trying to absorb all I heard. 

Bill, I survived a 12-CD Mahler set, though I doubt I will get another set.  Mahler ain't Beethoven, Bach or Handel after all ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD1 from this set, which arrived yesterday.  While I have had 3 of the CD's in this set for a number of years, the costs of getting the remaining two as singles would have been higher than getting this box set.  Again, this is a pure pragmatic economic decision ...

[George]

Now playing CD1 from this set, which arrived yesterday.  While I have had 3 of the CD's in this set for a number of years, the costs of getting the remaining two as singles would have been higher than getting this box set.  Again, this is a pure pragmatic economic decision ...

That's serenity in a box, right there! 

[Bogey]

Bill, I survived a 12-CD Mahler set, though I doubt I will get another set.  Mahler ain't Beethoven, Bach or Handel after all ...

Nope.  However, we also do not need another Beethoven.  The first took care of his business at a level that does not need tweaking.  Mahler is still new to me, but I can easily see multiple recordings on my shelf.

[Fëanor]

Robert Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 ~ Maria Kliegel, Andrew Constantine / Nat.Sym.Orch of Ireland

Boring Romantic drivel of the worst sort; this stuff gives the Classical genre a bad name.

[Coopmv]

That's serenity in a box, right there!  

Absolutely.  I only stumbled upon Maria Tipo by chance.  It was one day after work in the early 90's when I visited the Tower Records store in Greenwich Village when I noticed this CD displayed prominently on the store front.  The rest, shall I say, is history.  She is an outstanding pianist.  Her pace with all Bach keyboard works just sound so right ...

[Coopmv]

Nope.  However, we also do not need another Beethoven.  The first took care of his business at a level that does not need tweaking.  Mahler is still new to me, but I can easily see multiple recordings on my shelf.

Bill,  Looks like you are a new convert to Mahlerism ..   

[Conor71]

More Chopin :
Chopin: Preludes & Impromptus - Claudio Arrau

[Coopmv]

CD1 in this set is such a pleasant surprise, as all the selections were JS Bach keyboard work transcriptions by Busoni.  I have always thought the only transcription made by Busoni was Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, which Vladimir Horowitz played beautifully ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD2 from this set - Goldberg Variations.  It is just getting re-acquainted since I have owned this CD single for years ...

[PaulR]

Tabula Rasa

First ever listen.............my goodness...................what have I been missing out in my life?

[Brian]

So...ridiculously...good! Le Chausseur Maudit right now - my heart is racing 

[Coopmv]

So...ridiculously...good! Le Chausseur Maudit right now - my heart is racing 

This is the only version I have ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing CD3 from this set - Jesus bleibet meine Freude ( from Cantata BWV 147 ) and Little Preludes.  It is a virtuoso performance with excellent piano tone.