Nominee's for best recording & performance, or release 2008.

[Harry]

For the flow of the topic I would like to add this morning this extra ordinary beautiful Naxos release from this month. With music that mesmerizes your mind and caresses you ears. Well played, with musical content that makes quite a impression.
Nominee!

[Brian]

Oh, dear, I almost forgot one: the Brahms Second and Third Symphonies on PentaTone, with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Marek Janowski. The Fourth Symphony CD from those forces just came out, and I very much want to hear it; if it's in the same league, both discs will belong on anybody's best-of list.

[not edward]

What was wrong with the Szeryng?

I didn't know Szeryng recorded the Schoenberg.....I'd love to hear that, given how much I like his Berg with Kubelik.

so edward what has the piece come to mean to you now? anything deep? just curious.

Not sure exactly what that's supposed to mean, but now I do like it more than the "average Schoenberg piece", though I don't find it as powerful as, say, the second quartet or the Five Orchestral Pieces.

There is nothing wrong with the coupling, in fact, I think a good recording of the Schönberg concerto is definitely welcome as it has been so rarely recorded, and we always like to hear Sibelius' concerto when played really well. The problem here is the artists. Not that there aren't a lot of people on the loose who could have done that much better. But DG these days almost exclusively feature young, hip artists which they think are very marketable. Maybe they are right. But the outcome is that most of what they release now is high end mediocrity. A much better choice for this recording might have been, to name just one example which comes to mind spontaneously, Isabelle Faust who we heard play Berg's chamber concerto technically and musically spectacularly well in Boston just a few months ago. Although quite good looking, too, she is apparently not cute enough to market her to young, hip people and frustrated school teachers. She doesn't do cute stuff like hitting gongs with her head either. She is just an extremely good and musically very intereting violinist.

I'd certainly have been more enthusiastic about an Isabelle Faust recording than a Hilary Hahn one, but at this point in my experience with the Schoenberg concerto I'm happy with what this pairing brings to it. I'll be very happy if I can get to hear recordings which delve deeper into the music (when it comes out, I'll be getting the Naxos reissue of the Schulte/Craft recording that many people have praised, and if someone like Faust recorded it I would be in line to buy that too).

[hornteacher]

Except for you. For you, it's more important who plays it.

True, but only because I know she'll play it the way I want to hear it.

[Brian]

True, but only because I know she'll play it the way I want to hear it.

Next up ... "HILARY HAHN PLAYS THE BEST OF MANTOVANI"

[springrite]

Next up ... "HILARY HAHN PLAYS THE BEST OF MANTOVANI"

... with Richard Clyderman on the piano!

[M forever]

True, but only because I know she'll play it the way I want to hear it.

Good comeback, but of course, not entirely credible in light of the evidence (see exhibit A,B, and C).

[vandermolen]

Harry, what are the Alan Bush symphonies like?

The Naxos Amercan String Quartets CD looks very interesting.

My choice:

[Harry]

Harry, what are the Alan Bush symphonies like?

The Naxos Amercan String Quartets CD looks very interesting.

My choice:

Well I was thinking also about the Kabalevsky, and would love info about this set!
The Bush is tonal, rhythmically very free, and very lucidly written. Effective dynamics, and well scored for strings and timpani.
Beautiful music, I really love it.

For me the American SQ disc was a absolute revelation. Apart from the fact that it is well recorded and performed, the sheer beauty of the SQ presented somewhat astounded me, and showed me a insight into a musical world I did not know. So highly recommended.

[hornteacher]

Good comeback, but of course, not entirely credible in light of the evidence (see exhibit A,B, and C).

Wow.....you guys are really spending too much effort on this.  I freely admit to being bias, and smitten, and highly impressed with her talent and kindness upon meeting her in person, but she's not flawless (can we say: Trail of Dead).  I just like her a lot as an atrist and a person.  If I get a chance to meet her again I'll be sure to bring a gong and we can take turns bashing it.

[karlhenning]

Maybe she wouldn't be seen bashing a gong in your company?

[Jay F]

Wow.....you guys are really spending too much effort on this.  I freely admit to being bias, and smitten, and highly impressed with her talent and kindness upon meeting her in person, but she's not flawless (can we say: Trail of Dead).  I just like her a lot as an artist and a person.  If I get a chance to meet her again I'll be sure to bring a gong and we can take turns bashing it.

I like Hilary Hahn. Why the bashing?

I go back and forth between classical and popular music. When I'm engaged in listening to one, which can be for a matter of years, I hardly listen to the other. A friend turned my on to Hilary Hahn back when she was still recording for Sony, and listening to her brought me back to classical for a good two or three years. I thought her Mendelssohn and Barber violin concertos in particular were very good.

Yeah, I like Hilary Hahn.

[karlhenning]

I like Hilary Hahn. Why the bashing?

Bash the gong, bash the gong.

It's a cranial thing.

[hornteacher]

I like Hilary Hahn. Why the bashing?

I think its more "hornteacher teasing" than "Hahn bashing".