What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[Mirror Image]

Coopmv has bugged the hell out of me about this Abbado recording for the last two days and I got tired of hearing his go nowhere, mindless arguments which do nothing but state the obvious like, for example, the Berliners are one of the top ranked orchestras in the world. I already knew that as does everybody here, but apparently he thinks I'm some idiot sitting behind a computer who doesn't know this. He can't get it through his thick skull that it doesn't matter who is better. It all comes down to personal taste.

Let's see if he can actually understand what I'm saying this time.

[George]

[Sid]

The above argument shows why I tend not to focus too much on the performance but the work itself. You both like Mahler's 7th? Great, lets make that a basis for a fruitful discussion, rather than endless b***s**** about how this performance is better than the other one. It's a waste of time...

[Mirror Image]

The above argument shows why I tend not to focus too much on the performance but the work itself. You both like Mahler's 7th? Great, lets make that a basis for a fruitful discussion, rather than endless b***s**** about how this performance is better than the other one. It's a waste of time...

But I NEVER said this performance was better than that performance. Get the facts straight. All I said was I prefer one performance over the other. It is Coopmv who simply cannot accept an opinion that is different than his.

Seeing as you don't put any stock into collecting recordings or care about comparing different performances, I don't really understand why you care what we argue about?

[Sid]

I didn't mean to be as argumentative as I probably came across. & I understand that you didn't say your one was better than his. What I was trying to say is, let's accentuate the positive (as the song goes?) rather than the negative. If you both like the same work (& the same conductor albeit with different orchestra), why not use that as a positive starting point/basis?

BTW - I do compare recordings (but do I have to collect to do so?) - I listen to not only my own but a friend's, the radio, the local library (which has a very good collection), and (of course) live performance is what I mainly like to "compare" with what I've heard on cd, but not really in a critical way. Most often, I just go along to "enjoy" the performance - simple as that. It also depends on the work in question as to whether I want to compare it - I'm interested in (say) different readings of Beethoven's Hammerklavier or Boulez's 2nd Sonata, but not really in Beethoven or Tchaikovsky symphonies. I don't think one has to be a big collector of physical objects to simply enjoy a certain type of art - be it music, visual art or literature. I like going to concerts, but it doesn't mean you have to as well. There are "many ways to skin a cat" so to speak!...

[listener]

SAINT-SAËNS   Requiem   op. 54   SATB, Chorus, orch. & organ
3 organ pieces: Fantaisie in E^b, Prelude and Fugue G, Prelude and Fugue in E^b.
An unusual orchestration: no percussion, trumpets or clarinets, but 2 harps, 4 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 cors anglais and 4 bassoons.   Recorded at La Madelaine, Paris in clear but resonant sound.   Most of the text is familiar, but the Oro supplex and Hostias would not be known by non-Catholics.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

As if the sympathetic playing of Amoyel weren't enough, there's the spectacular sound, one of the finest for piano I've ever heard.

[Conor71]

First listen to this new disc - pretty .

[Que]

First run of this recently acquired disc:



Q

[mc ukrneal]

First run of this recently acquired disc:



Q

That disc really sneaks up on you! I'll bet it's not on most people's radar screen!
PS - Something is wrong in the link as no picture appears on the screen.

[listener]

FRANCK  3 Chorals for Organ
Jean-Pierre Lecaudey,  Cavaillé-Coll organ at Saint-Sernin, Toulouse
The London Piano School vol.2: Romantic Pioneers   music from 1802 to 1826
PINTO  Sonata in c, WEBER Adagio Patetico in c#, FIELD Sonata in Eb, op.1/1,
CRAMER Sonata in F op.27      CLEMENTI Capriccio in e, op.47/1
Ian Hobson, piano

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

SIBELIUS | Symphony No 3
Helsinki Festival Orchestra
Olli Mustonen


Right now I'm at the part of the slow movement dominated by violin pizzicati. It's so much quicker than normal that they sound almost like a band of mandolins.

This reminds me of something I observed re Rozhdestvensky's 3rd. It's also fast, and it brings out certain echoes of Finno-Ugric folk music that I haven't heard in slicker, slower recordings. I don't think of mandolins so much as the Finnish folk instrument known as the kantele. This "rustic" approach to Sibelius was a bit of a revelation.

[mc ukrneal]

Someone mentioned they loved Appalachian Spring with Tilson Thomas conducting the SFS. I bought this disc over a year ago and never really gave it a fair shake, so I set about to remedy that.  The disc, overall, is good. But I thought it got stronger as it went along. With Billy the Kid, I really missed some of the warmth and feeling you get from Bernstein. I didn't dislike this one, but it didn't leave me with goosebumps (or Goosepimples as they say in the UK). Appalachian Spring was better. I think on the first two - there is sometimes a feeling of either: too long a pause in parts or lost momentum (or both). Rodeo, however, was outstanding. They were in high gear and it was moving and powerful. I think that Bernstein brought a feel of the old West to these pieces that Tilson Thomas didn't always seem to capture. In any case, still very good!

[AndyD.]

Bartok String Quartet no.2 (Hungarian Q)

This is the first time I really got into this, one of Bartok's more "retro" pieces. Really good recording and the performance is exemplary.

[karlhenning]

The description said the First Quartet would be neoclassical. So far, I am failing to hear this at all.

That said, what do you think of the quartets, Brian?

[Keemun]

Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 5
Abbado
LSO

[George]

As if the sympathetic playing of Amoyel weren't enough, there's the spectacular sound, one of the finest for piano I've ever heard.

OOP?

EDIT - Nope. Pretty cheap over at amazon.

[AndyD.]

Finishing up my third listen to the Hungarian Quartet's Bartok SQ set. A fine set, but I hesitate to reccomend it as an overall one stop by for those pieces. Their 1st and 2nd are outstanding.

From the aforementioned over all standpoint, I'd rate the Takacs higher for the combination of performance and sound quality, and the Emerson for bow-wrenchin', bluster-hootin',  heavy metal heaven.

Am gearing up to replay Furtwangler's Nazi-era Beethoven 9th. Possibly my favorite, especially for the 1st movement.

[Brahmsian]

Bartok String Quartet no.2 (Hungarian Q)

This is the first time I really got into this, one of Bartok's more "retro" pieces. Really good recording and the performance is exemplary.

Love the 2nd movement from the # 2 quartet, Andy!  SQ# 4 is still my favorite overall.

[AndyD.]

Love the 2nd movement from the # 2 quartet, Andy!  SQ# 4 is still my favorite overall.

Hey, we have the same favorites! I just recently got into the #2 with the Hungarian Quartet, theirs is my favorite. I love the Takacs 4th, but the Emerson's take on the "Night Music" movement is by far my favorite. As ripping as the Emerson gets at times, I feel like they really did justice to that movement, including from the subtlety perspective.