What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Bonehelm]

First Movement - Allegro moderato

How's the orchestra, James? I've heard good things about them but since they aren't among the top in Europe, I hesitated when I saw the recording.

[Lilas Pastia]

Clips from Aïda, the 1951 Mexico performance where Callas let out a huge, half hour long high E flat that covered chorus, orchestra, and the other soloists. This is on youtube (audio only). I had previously been disappointed by this famous stunt as it seemed to emerge from beyond the Great Wall and failed to make much impact. But one of those clips has really good sound and a tremendous performance emerges. Everybody sings with incredible commitment and the grand ending of Act II really culminates with that astounding vocal feat. Del Monaco and Oralia Domingues are also singing in the grand manner.

[Valentino]

God søndagsmorgen!

Right now Dame Emma Kirkby is applying her magic on Laudate Dominum from Mozart's Vespers K. 339, with Hogwood conducting on Decca. A superb disk this.

[Bogey]

God søndagsmorgen!

Right now Dame Emma Kirkby is applying her magic on Laudate Dominum from Mozart's Vespers K. 339, with Hogwood conducting on Decca. A superb disk this.

Wow....I will have to check on availability.

[Valentino]

It was originally released with a different cover, Bogey:

[Que]

Wow....I will have to check on availability.

Bill, some other Mozart treasures with Kirkby and/or Hogwood - I especially recommend the Mass in C minor!
(click on pictures for links))

 



This forum can be very inspirational! 
A very good morning to you all.



Q

[Harry]

Oh really? 'Cause its a Naxos?

Seriously it is excellent. I bought it to learn #2 in F as we heard it performed by Michael Houstoun in February but I've taken to the whole cd.

I'm on a 'chamber music jag' this year after being on a 'symphony' jag last year

No, no, its Kliegel, Mark has a crush on her!

[Que]

Q

[rubio]

This performance of Mahler's symphony no. 9 is excellent. But how does Karajan's other recording of symphony no. 9 compare to this one interpretation-wise?

[sound67]

Bought this one last week. I already got all the other re-recordings of selections from "The Sea Hawk", by Charles Gerhardt, Varujan Koijan, James de Preist (8 minutes only) and André Previn, respectively, and sadly I must report that while the new version is welcome for being complete, it is all too obviously the weakest in terms of both performance and recorded sound.

The trouble begins with the dullest recording of the Main Titles imaginable. Stromberg's reading here lacks any of the "schwung" this fanfare demands and that is best captured by Kojian as part of his 45-min Utah Symphony recording. The brass from Moscow sound limp and defensive not just here, but in many places. Things improve after that, with some sensitive playing especially in the lyrical or atmospheric (Panama) sequences. However, the Moscow forces cannot swash nor buckle with the best orchestras from England or the US.

Why Stromberg/Morgan chose to hire a Russian soprano (Irina Romishevskaya) for the short but beautiful Dona Maria's song, other than because of easy availability, is a mystery. She sings the ballad with the most inappropriate Russian accent, and with none of the required sensitivity. Even in comparison to Carol Wetzel's small-voiced but sweet and sensitive take on this song in the Kojian recording, Romishevskaya is totally unacceptable. Mind though, we're talking here of just under a minute of Naxos' 115minute reading of The Sea Hawk.

The Moscow Chorus do better in "Strike for the Shores of Dover", but again are no match for the London singers in Gerhardt's recording or the Utah Symphony Chorus (for reasons unknown, Previn chose to replace the chorus with a brass section carrying the theme in his LSO recording).

A word on sound: The Prelude alarmed me because of a rather cavernous and mushy sound that cannot be the state of the art today even in Moscow, but it gets better from track 2 on. However, solo instruments are frequently spotlighted in the way movie soundtracks are being recorded, which is true to these producers' expressed aim to make film music sound as intended and not as "ersatz symphonic music" - resulting in a balance that is clear but never natural. While this policy made a lot of sense in many of Morgan/Stromberg's earlier recordings, like the film music of Roy Webb, Hans Salter etc., it is highly questionable here. Erich Wolfgang Korngold made no distinction between concert and film music, and his orchestration here (except compromises with regard to the size of the Warner Bros Orchestra) does not differ from his concert music. It should IMHO be recorded ike concert music.

The notes on the scores are, predictably, splendid, and with one exception Brendan Carroll (the president of the Korngold Society) this time refrains from hyperbole when referring to Korngold's importance in the history of film music - in his notes for the Previn Sea Hawk CD he erroneously credited Korngold having singlehandedly reinvented Hollywood film music.

A slightly disappointing release then as far as The Sea Hawk is concerned (the twofer also contains a 30-minute suite of Korngold's Deception score, including the shorter film version of the Cello Concerto, which also gets a rather pedestrian treatment by soloist Alexander Zagorinsky), which is valuable for its completeness, but falls short occasionally in the "perfomance department". If you want a CD of most of the substantial music from THE SEA HAWK, go with Varese Sarabande's clearly superior Utah Symphony Orchestra version of 1987. If you need the highlights only, but shown to the greatest possible advantage, try and hunt down the RCA suites conducted by Charles Gerhardt and recorded by the best classical recording engineer of them all, Decca's Ken J. Wilkinson.

Thomas

[Choo Choo]

Working down my "still to listen to" stack:

   

Enjoying this one a great deal.  The Bartok influence is obvious - but what surprise me more are the echoes of Stravinsky (however the notes make no mention of these, possibly I am imagining them.)

[Haffner]

This performance of Mahler's symphony no. 9 is excellent. But how does Karajan's other recording of symphony no. 9 compare to this one interpretation-wise?

I have to defer to Sarge on this one. This is so far my favorite 9th, I love it too much to be objective about it.

[johnQpublic]

Purcell - Overture to "Bonduca" (Thomas/Chandos)
Vivaldi - Flute Concerto, Op.10#4 (Rampal/CBS)
Bach - English Suite #5 (Piricone/Scandanavian Classics)
Telemann - Les nations anciens et modernes (Ward/Naxos)
Stradella - Trumpet Sonata in D (Wallace/Nimbus)

[PerfectWagnerite]

This performance of Mahler's symphony no. 9 is excellent. But how does Karajan's other recording of symphony no. 9 compare to this one interpretation-wise?

I would say the earlier recording is a more earthy and "exciting" reading of the work, but doesn't approach the grandeur and luminosity of the later reading. The later reading is probably HVK's single greatest recording. The finely controlled first movement starts out as quietly as can be and unfolds with a natural flow seldom heard elsewhere. The 2nd movement is not as "rough" as others like Walter but achieves a lighter dance-like quality not heard elsewhere. The finale is awsome in it's restraint yet the intensity is unbearable. If there is one recording to demonstrate the sonority of the BPO from top to bottom this is it.

The earlier recording is coupled with Christa Ludwig's unsurpassed Songs on the Death of Children and the Rueckert Lieder while the later one has no coupling. However, if you want the songs they are also coupled with HVK's Mahler 6th.

[Choo Choo]

Now playing:

 

Probably all the Wiren I'm ever going to need.

[Sergeant Rock]

I have to defer to Sarge on this one. This is so far my favorite 9th, I love it too much to be objective about it.

I can't help Rubio. I only own the live digital Mahler 9. I've never heard the earlier recording.

Sarge

[Kullervo]

Now playing:

 

Probably all the Wiren I'm ever going to need.

Dag, yo!

[George]

Mozart

Piano Concerto 6, 8, 9

Anda/Camerata Academica des Salzburger Mozarteums




Special thanks to the generous soul who made this possible. 

[AnthonyAthletic]

This performance of Mahler's symphony no. 9 is excellent. But how does Karajan's other recording of symphony no. 9 compare to this one interpretation-wise?

Have you heard Karajan's 1982 live Salzburg recording with the BPO?

Well worth a listen, not as intense in the finale as the live one you are listening to but every bit as enjoyable.

[Choo Choo]

Mrs Choo Choo has "tidied" my CD collection (*bangs head on desk*) so while I continue to hunt fruitlessly for a recent purchase which I was really really looking forward to hearing this afternoon, meanwhile I am discovering some things I'd forgotten I had.

Playing currently:  a hissy recording of Matacic conducting the Vienna SO in Bruckner #3 from 1982 - altogether snappier than his outing with the Philharmonia a year later.