What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[haydnguy]

CD5 from this set ...

Coop, as someone else said, I'd be interested on your thoughts of this set when you are completed. Thanks.

[haydnguy]

The set is on Veritas, a Virgin Classics label and should be readily available from many e-tailers.  That was what I thought.

http://www.amazon.com/Marin-Marais-Pi%C3%A8ces-en-trio/dp/B000002SSO/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1264315503&sr=8-16

[haydnguy]

An Amazon marketplace retailer is offering this for $110! It's good but not THAT good. 

[haydnguy]

[Que]

Due to some discussion on this recording, I decided to play this morning. 
Well, I still like it... The playing sounds clean as a whistle, almost floating. And yes, quite a no-frills-traight-forward approach but still well articulated and with immaculate phrasing, though tempo can definitely be too slow - especially in the slower movts. The transparent sound of the organ of the Stadtkirche Stein am Rhein (from 1992 by Metzler/Dietikon) helps, though a pity that not a historical organ was used. Those Metzler organs have a bright, silvery sound that is appealing at first but the thrill can wear off - too bright and a bit slick.



Q

[The new erato]

Disc 2 from this set, I now have listened to the 3 first discs once and feel that, even though there's little here on quite the same level as Robert's absolute best piano music (like the Symphonic Etudes), there's plenty on quite nearly the same level as much of the rest of it, and clearly infused by the same esthetic. A must for pianophiles with a romantic bent I'd say. Beautifully recorded, and not much wrong with the playing either.

[Wanderer]

[jlaurson]

DSCH - String Quartets 11, 13, and 15

DSCH SQ4ts 11, 13, 15 (Volume 5) Mandelring Quartett Audite SACDs

DSCH SQ4ts, PQ5t Sorrel Quartet Martin Boscoe Chandos

DSCH SQ4ts, PQ5t, SO8t Borodin Quartet, Sviatoslav Richter, Beethoven Q4t Melodiya

And the winner is?

The winner is Shostakovich, of course.
And the recording engineers of the Audite team. And, I guess, the Mandelring Quartet... because their recording doesn't pale next to the Borodins.

[prémont]

Those Metzler organs have a bright, silvery sound that is appealing at first but the thrill can wear off - too bright and a bit slick.

Yes, and this is also true of a number of Marcussen organs built in the same vein. Obviously these organs facilitate the polyphony, but they lack the "gravitas", Bach is known to have favoured. BTW the organ triosonatas are arrangements of chamber music and/or music written in chamber music style, and for these works I do not find any need of "gravitas".

[Que]

A new acquisition, more about it later on the Italian Baroque thread.



Sample & info

Q

[Lethevich]

I keep getting surprised at how good this is, given how I believe it was essentially a scraping from the radio archives.

[jlaurson]

I keep getting surprised at how good this is, given how I believe it was essentially a scraping from the radio archives.

That baby is like molten lava. Alongside Slava-HvK (two of my least favorite artists at their very best) and Queyras' slow movement (Harmonia Mundi), this is my favorite.

[Coopmv]

Coop, as someone else said, I'd be interested on your thoughts of this set when you are completed. Thanks.

No problems.  I also have a few more CD's left in the competing Hogwood's set I have yet to listen to ...

[Coopmv]

An Amazon marketplace retailer is offering this for $110! It's good but not THAT good. 

The asking prices of some Amazon MP vendors are totally off the wall ...

[Coopmv]

Does Naxos have nice selections on Philippe Entremont?  I have some of his early piano recordings on some budget LP but absolutely nothing on CD.   

[Coopmv]

Disc 2 from this set, I now have listened to the 3 first discs once and feel that, even though there's little here on quite the same level as Robert's absolute best piano music (like the Symphonic Etudes), there's plenty on quite nearly the same level as much of the rest of it, and clearly infused by the same esthetic. A must for pianophiles with a romantic bent I'd say. Beautifully recorded, and not much wrong with the playing either.

I am seriously considering this set ...

[Coopmv]

Now playing this CD from my early music collection.  An excellent recording from Glossa, a label Q has strongly recommended ...

[George]

The asking prices of some Amazon MP vendors are totally off the wall ...

I guess they gotta find some way to pay for all that crack they smoke over there. 

[Coopmv]

I guess they gotta find some way to pay for all that crack they smoke over there. 

They are probably some unemployed former subprime mortgage bond traders ...     

[George]

Last night I listened to Earl Wild's 2005 recording of the Chopin Etudes. I can see why his Nocturnes are popular around these parts, as his style seems like it would be better suited to those works than the Etudes, which I found disappointing.