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#1

Composer Discussion / Re: Leonard Bernstein 1918-199...

Last post by Leo K. - Today at 08:58:48 AM

I didn't use to like Bernstein's 3rd Symphony "Kaddish" but I respected it, but now today, after again hearing his earlier recording with his wife as the speaker, just totally blew me away, and now I love love love it. It's like the clouds opened and I get it, the speaker is essential and almost a percussive element if done with intent. Because of much that I am hearing in the media lately, the text felt so relevant as ever. The music was crushing and beautiful.

#2

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Chopin Recordings

Last post by (poco) Sforzando - Today at 08:56:29 AM

The one everyone's going to spend all summer talking about!



Retro cover art style (including the logo) from Decca. Lim recently presented these works live in concert at Carnegie Hall - attended by our friend (poco) Sforzando - and it would be interesting to hear how the two performances compare. This album was recorded in mid-December 2023 and seemingly rushed to press by Decca. One more strange housekeeping note: every nickname ever accorded to any of the etudes, and quite a few nicknames that I had never heard before, are listed on the digital release. (e.g. Qobuz says Op. 10 No. 4 is "Torrent", and No. 8 from the same set is "Sunshine")

The best etudes here are characterized by crystal-clear accuracy and balances that reveal the melodic appeal of the works behind or amid the cascades of notes. Lim is so technically assured and confident that he can treat Chopin's challenges as the means, not the end, of the works. This is clear in pieces like Op. 10 Nos. 2 and 4, and Op. 25 Nos. 6 and 9 (the last of which is the jauntiest and cheeriest I have ever heard). Meanwhile the slower, more poetic works occasionally also give Lim a chance to impress: I very much like his way with the fragile beauty of Op. 25 No. 7. The final etude of the 24, meanwhile, is simply relentless - he does make some attempts to differentiate the repetitions, but, basically, it's a shock-and-awe speed run that is meant to show what humans are capable of.

On the other hand, sometimes Lim gets a little too facile with the technical challenges. Op. 10 No. 11 seems "oily" to me, which I guess is another way of saying slick. Op. 25 No. 1 is a dreamy impressionist blur, but at 2:16 maybe a little too rushed to achieve the kind of poetry he is trying to find. Op. 25 No. 4 (which apparently is nicknamed "Paganini"?) is simply too fast to achieve the kind of fun syncopated bounce that is possible in this work (compare to Yukio Yokoyama, a.k.a. Joyce Hatto) [EDIT: Yuki Matsuzawa, not Yukio Yokoyama].

I do not like the rather dry recorded sound, which puts the piano squarely on the left of the acoustic picture and reduces the effect of the bass. This kind of cold, tinny sound quality makes it very hard for a pianist to offer any emotional expression, so in that respect, Lim has been done a disservice by Decca. The label had better address this for future releases if they want to do right by an artist that they (and much of the musical establishment) see as a future superstar. I was more impressed by the live Liszt recording and wonder if it will set a pattern of an artist more interesting live than in studio.

Using the ClassicsToday model of an "artistic quality" rating and a "sound quality" rating, both out of 10, I'd probably go with a disappointed 7/7. Maybe 8/7.

My copy has yet to arrive, but "relentless" is not a bad word to describe what I heard at Carnegie in the Revolutionary and the last three of 25. Yunchan has his elements of poetry, as in the excellent 25/7, but from the Decca clips I've heard online so far, it feels like he's trying to play some of these etudes faster than anyone ever has, and I want them to breathe a little more. Of course, none of this will hold water with the Yunchan Lim Fan Cult - that is, Fan Club - on Facebook, for whom the young man can do no wrong and no other pianist can do anything right. But I'm not about to throw away Pollini, Perahia, Ashkenazy, Zayas, etc. (I have "Hatto" too, but have yet to listen to "her.")

Based on what I've heard so far, YCL's pianism is better suited to Liszt and Rachmaninoff than to Chopin.

However, here's a version of the "sunshine" etude, that is 10/8 with its F major arpeggios, which I particularly like for its grace and humor, from British-Indonesian pianist George Harliono who did not get past preliminaries in the Cliburn 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sda-6AgOTw&t=1s

And a version from Beatrice Rana of the G# minor in thirds, which may not be to all tastes because of its tempo fluctuations, but which I find original and inventive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pQYEigYKpg

#3

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

Last post by AnotherSpin - Today at 08:51:37 AM

Indeed, she seems tailor-made for this business, yet she may be swiftly forgotten.

There's no doubt about it. These false idols of the crowd succeed each other with entertaining continuity, the crowd demands and expects variety. What is remarkable is that each next "star" is more ridiculous than the previous one. One thing is consistent, continuous decline.

#4

Composing and Performing / Re: Henning's Headquarters

Last post by Karl Henning - Today at 08:43:41 AM

The audio from the video camera is quite clean. I may forbear to swap audio.

#5

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Harry - Today at 08:36:23 AM

Harry - our tastes are aligned on so much!  Sadly with Ethel Smyth much less so...... I find much to admire in her sheer determination and perserverance but strikingly little in terms of real musical inspiration.  For a political/social radical she is a musical conservative I reckon.

Well that's okay my friend, we match in much of the musical choices we make, so no harm done!   I will not say that her music is unique, it is conservative even, but her perseverance in trying to build a coherent and accessible portal in her musical thinking, is what draws me to her. So yes, not groundbreaking music but still brightness that oozes out of every pore, which I call musical inspiration.

[Mozart - K. 478 - Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor (1785):]

#6

Classical YouTube Video Library / Mozart - K. 478 - Piano Quarte...

Last post by W.A. Mozart - Today at 08:36:02 AM

Mozart composed this piece in 1785, when he was 29 years old.
He received a commission for three quartets in 1785 from the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Hoffmeister thought this quartet was too difficult and that the public would not buy it, so he released Mozart from the obligation of completing the set.
Hoffmeister's fear that the work was too difficult for amateurs was borne out by an article in the Journal des Luxus und der Moden published in Weimar in June 1788. The article highly praised Mozart and his work, but expressed dismay over attempts by amateurs to perform it:

"[as performed by amateurs] it could not please: everybody yawned with boredom over the incomprehensible tintamarre of 4 instruments which did not keep together for four bars on end, and whose senseless concentus never allowed any unity of feeling; but it had to please, it had to be praised! ... what a difference when this much-advertised work of art is performed with the highest degree of accuracy by four skilled musicians who have studied it carefully."

The assessment accords with a view widely held of Mozart in his own lifetime, that of a greatly talented composer who wrote very difficult music.


Performers: Beaux Arts Trio


Mozart - K. 478 - Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor (1785):
00:00 I. Allegro, in G minor
14:25 II. Andante, in B-flat major
21:21 III. Rondo (Allegro), in G major

[Ethel Smyth.Orchestral Works.Recorded: 1995 at Studio 7 New Broadcasting House, Manchester, UK.See for further details back cover.]

#7

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Roasted Swan - Today at 08:23:44 AM

Ethel Smyth.
Orchestral Works.
Recorded: 1995 at Studio 7 New Broadcasting House, Manchester, UK.
See for further details back cover.

It is by now well known, that I am an admirer of her music, all the way. I bought this CD when it was released, and return after many years back to this gorgeous disc. Were there is so much music, this production stands out as a bright star, dazzling one's ears. A good solid performance and SOTA sound.

Harry - our tastes are aligned on so much!  Sadly with Ethel Smyth much less so...... I find much to admire in her sheer determination and perserverance but strikingly little in terms of real musical inspiration.  For a political/social radical she is a musical conservative I reckon.

#8

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

Last post by Madiel - Today at 08:14:49 AM

Indeed, she seems tailor-made for this business, yet she may be swiftly forgotten.

18 years is not a short career in popular music. Knock it off.

#9

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Chopin Recordings

Last post by (poco) Sforzando - Today at 08:05:52 AM

By far my favorite recordings of Chopin's piano music is "The Real Chopin" box set, played on period pianos.

Why so? because it's played on period instruments, or because of some unique qualities of the interpretations?

#10

Great Recordings and Reviews / Re: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

Last post by prémont - Today at 07:55:43 AM

Not pianists only. They create fictional galactic stars out of nothing, like Taylor Swift.

Indeed, she seems tailor-made for this business, yet she may be swiftly forgotten.