David Hurwitz

[Atriod]

Some of my favorite recordings I've discovered via Hurwitz:

François-Xavier Roth/Les Siècles. Hurwitz's videos on him are rants, I had to hear them out of sheer curiosity. I find the 20th century music fascinating, not from a genuine HIP sense (i.e., we can hear Stravinsky conduct his works and they sound nothing like this) but more like some entertaining avant-garde performance art. The next time we revisit France I would love to try and see them live. After hearing them play Symphonie Fantastique a few times it's now one of my favorite performances.

Mahler Symphony 7 Alexandre Bloch/Orchestre National de Lille.

Inbal's Mahler Exton recordings. Hurwitz usually only mentioned them in passing. I've owned his Denon cycle and they are solid performances, but with so many Mahler recordings I really only want to listen to the best given how much time you have to dedicate to them. The TMSO cycle is now my all time favorite cycle from a single conductor/orchestra (though some that are only average like Symphony 7). And the recordings with Czech Phil are just as good just with a hair less commitment than the TMSO. The performances are most reminiscent of Bernstein's most romantic interpretations.

Takashi Asahina. Another conductor that Hurwitz mentioned in passing in I think a Celibidache video, I think he drew the comparison with Asahina and called Asahina over rated. So this caused me to explore some of his recordings and he has recorded some of the very best Bruckner performances I've heard. The Beethoven cycle on Fontec is old school German ala Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin and now up there with my favorite cycles maybe even eclipsing Jochum's DG. YMMV as for modern tempi/full orchestra the only cycle I listen to often/like is Leibowitz.

Daniele Gatti Tchaikovsky 4-6, wow they give Mravinsky a run for the money in terms of sheer intensity and in much better recording quality as far as realism goes.

[Karl Henning]

Gatti does great work. 

[DavidW]

Gatti and the New Philharmonia is the only time I heard a major orchestra live.  And yeah I love his Tchaikovsky (wasn't the concert though).

[Atriod]

Remembered another - Ashkenazy conducting the Asrael Symphony. This led me to checking out Ashkenazy's 2000s recordings as a conductor and they are very different from his Decca recordings. The new ones have so much warmth, about the polar opposite of most of his Decca interpretations (not a criticism, I like plenty of them).

[Mookalafalas]

Some of my favorite recordings I've discovered via Hurwitz:

François-Xavier Roth/Les Siècles. Hurwitz's videos on him are rants, I had to hear them out of sheer curiosity. I find the 20th century music fascinating, not from a genuine HIP sense (i.e., we can hear Stravinsky conduct his works and they sound nothing like this) but more like some entertaining avant-garde performance art. The next time we revisit France I would love to try and see them live. After hearing them play Symphonie Fantastique a few times it's now one of my favorite performances.

Mahler Symphony 7 Alexandre Bloch/Orchestre National de Lille.

Inbal's Mahler Exton recordings. Hurwitz usually only mentioned them in passing. I've owned his Denon cycle and they are solid performances, but with so many Mahler recordings I really only want to listen to the best given how much time you have to dedicate to them. The TMSO cycle is now my all time favorite cycle from a single conductor/orchestra (though some that are only average like Symphony 7). And the recordings with Czech Phil are just as good just with a hair less commitment than the TMSO. The performances are most reminiscent of Bernstein's most romantic interpretations.

Takashi Asahina. Another conductor that Hurwitz mentioned in passing in I think a Celibidache video, I think he drew the comparison with Asahina and called Asahina over rated. So this caused me to explore some of his recordings and he has recorded some of the very best Bruckner performances I've heard. The Beethoven cycle on Fontec is old school German ala Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin and now up there with my favorite cycles maybe even eclipsing Jochum's DG. YMMV as for modern tempi/full orchestra the only cycle I listen to often/like is Leibowitz.

Daniele Gatti Tchaikovsky 4-6, wow they give Mravinsky a run for the money in terms of sheer intensity and in much better recording quality as far as realism goes.

  You seem to like Hurwitz as a negative compass--his disses become your faves. I agree with most of his opinions, but still find him tiresome to listen to. If you don't agree with him much, doesn't he drive you nuts?

[(poco) Sforzando]

François-Xavier Roth/Les Siècles. Hurwitz's videos on him are rants, I had to hear them out of sheer curiosity.

Quoted without comment:

The main novelty, both here and in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, is the use of period instruments, and the best thing I can say about the performances is that you'd never know it. These are just smashing performances of both works, fresh, lively, transparent, and full of character. The climax of Apprentice, in particular, marking the reappearance of the sorcerer at the height of the orchestral chaos, is just tremendous.

- Hurwitz's 9/9 review of a Dukas CD by FX Roth/Siècles

[Atriod]

You seem to like Hurwitz as a negative compass--his disses become your faves. I agree with most of his opinions, but still find him tiresome to listen to. If you don't agree with him much, doesn't he drive you nuts?

From my list there was only one thing I disagreed with Hurwitz on (Asahina). I find his videos on FXR a bit hyperbolic but his opinion is sound, the only François-Xavier Roth recording I've bought so far is Symphonie Fantastique. There are many more recordings I've discovered through him but I was just naming ones that I could remember.

[DavidW]

From my list there was only one thing I disagreed with Hurwitz on (Asahina). I find his videos on FXR a bit hyperbolic but his opinion is sound, the only François-Xavier Roth recording I've bought so far is Symphonie Fantastique. There are many more recordings I've discovered through him but I was just naming ones that I could remember.

I liked this recording:



More of a curiosity to hear this version of the first, then something definitive.  But the playing is passionate, and the sounds of the instruments are strangely different in some key ways... the Viennese horns and trumpets sound quite a bit different.

[Mookalafalas]

From my list there was only one thing I disagreed with Hurwitz on (Asahina). I find his videos on FXR a bit hyperbolic but his opinion is sound, the only François-Xavier Roth recording I've bought so far is Symphonie Fantastique. There are many more recordings I've discovered through him but I was just naming ones that I could remember.

Oh, sorry. When you wrote "François-Xavier Roth/Les Siècles. Hurwitz's videos on him are rants, I had to hear them out of sheer curiosity" I assumed it was a negative rant.


  For my part, I really liked his long video praising Neeme Jarvi's Chandos recordings. I was able to snag a big batch of those, and I see where he was coming from. Nice, solid, clear interpretations without any undue flash and bang. I'm learning a lot of new repertoire.  
  I'm not sure what it is about his delivery that makes him (Hurwitz) so persuasive (to me, anyway). Perhaps it's the sheer quantity of concrete details and examples he mentions for each recording.
   I'm listening to Jarvi at home, Ormandy on my commutes, and Blomstedt in my office, all basically as a result of his videos

 I loved his video on the Cleveland Qtt.  I may be listening to those soon, too.
 

[Karl Henning]

some possible tips on where to start listening to Boulez?

@Brian this is veering OT, and I shall cross-post. My suggestions for three pieces to start with Boulez in chronological order:

Le Marteau sans maître. It's not everyone's money, and in fact it fell out of and back into my own favor. I fell for it readily the first time I heard it, so maybe you will, too. And now that my own pendulum has re-swung, it's a firm fave again.

Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna. Atypical of the composer, as heretofore noted. Mightily strong piece.

Sur Incises. I don't know how the true Boulez fans feel about various times when the composer fiddled with various scores, and I guess that my writing that indicates that my own fandom is somewhat at arm's length, but I find this an unalloyed success.

[Brian]

So many thanks! I will take the Boulez recommendations from you and earlier in these pages, and make them a new year's resolution for early January.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Hmmmm. Yes, the artwork alone sells the set. I shall listen for that noise morning, noon, and night when my copy arrives. Though you'd expect the engineer to take care of such a matter, there is a way to rip the tracks and edit out low-level noise that I've found successful on some occasions. I'll let you know if I can do it.

Well Brian, I got the set and at best I can hear a faint hum in 6-7-8, but nothing I find very obvious. Can you give me a passage where it is seriously obtrusive? I will upload a track for you from my copy to see if you are hearing the same thing on mine. But I'll have to do it as a Facebook message, or a link to Dropbox due to file size.

[DavidW]

Hey if you guys like Hurwitz, I found another youtuber doing the same thing that DH does!  He is a professional musician and respectful and nuanced so you might not like him    

I had not heard his #1 in this one, and was surprised that Solti didn't make his list.  But it seems fun and I'm going to check out his other videos.  I like to support the smaller youtubers.

[Karl Henning]

He is a professional musician and respectful and nuanced so you might not like him    

(* chortle *)

[Karl Henning]

I had not heard his #1 in this one, and was surprised that Solti didn't make his list.  But it seems fun and I'm going to check out his other videos.  I like to support the smaller youtubers.

Thanks, I've subscribed right away.

[Karl Henning]

Hey if you guys like Hurwitz, I found another youtuber doing the same thing that DH does!  He is a professional musician and respectful and nuanced so you might not like him    

I had not heard his #1 in this one, and was surprised that Solti didn't make his list.  But it seems fun and I'm going to check out his other videos.  I like to support the smaller youtubers.

Just finished watching. Straightforward, yet engaging. No bullshit. I like his work. I also got a charge out of his including both Barbirolli and Mitropoulos.

[Florestan]

Hey if you guys like Hurwitz, I found another youtuber doing the same thing that DH does!  He is a professional musician and respectful and nuanced so you might not like him    

I had not heard his #1 in this one, and was surprised that Solti didn't make his list.  But it seems fun and I'm going to check out his other videos.  I like to support the smaller youtubers.

His channel looks interesting, will investigate. Thanks for making us aware of it.

[LKB]

I've seen this guy. Seems to be serious about presenting options sans ego, which automatically makes him more attractive than Hurwitz. 

[DavidW]

One thing I've learned is that they are not rankings, they are all his favorites and the last one isn't the best but the historical option.

[Karl Henning]

One thing I've learned is that they are not rankings, they are all his favorites and the last one isn't the best but the historical option.

A critic who understands that rankings are rubbish.