Eine Alpensinfonie / Alpine Symphony - your favourite version

[drogulus]

    My Kempe/SD is the DVD-A version which only plays as a 24/48 PCM 2 channel on my computer. I'm missing out on the quad sound which, given the date of the recording (1971), might actually be worth hearing. There's a Dolby Digital version on the disc, too, but I only have a 2.1 setup anyway so it doesn't matter. I doubt there's much difference between the stereo PCM on this disc and the 16/44 CD unless it's a different remaster. Anyway, the SQ is mostly limited by the original analog recording, which is quite good. Overall, this is a tremendous performance so if you have a DVD-A player you'll want to get this.

     

[M forever]

Here you go then (I'm normally very reluctant to post commercial recordings but it's completely out of print and seems almost impossible to find anywhere - I was very lucky to get it myself - so...):

Kord's Alpensinfonie

Great, thanks!!! I just downloaded it and spotchecked here and there (I am really too tired to listen to the whole recording with concentration). It is really fast in most places I checked! But very musically played and with great feeling for sound and texture. I look forward to listening to the whole recording.

[MISHUGINA]

Why? That happens to be the recording you own? I highly doubt you have heard all if any of the other versions mentioned in this thread.

sorry if sounded so hyper, haven't heard Kempe/SD (which im loaning from a friend soon), Thielemann/VPO (heard some bad reviews although there are good raves too) but its almost a perfect Alpensinfonie for me.

[PerfectWagnerite]

sorry if sounded so hyper, haven't heard Kempe/SD (which im loaning from a friend soon), Thielemann/VPO (heard some bad reviews although there are good raves too) but its almost a perfect Alpensinfonie for me.

I haven't heard as many as a lot of more knowledgeable members but I have heard at least 2 dozen or so and I think Kempe is head and shoulders above everyone else, with Boehm/SD a not so close second. To me Kempe just plays the heck out of the piece but the SD plays with a beauty of tone that is unbelievably rich and warm from the softest to the loudest and every little detailed comes through bright and clear. Boehm is a much more humane reading, you can literally cry during the final passage and the mono sound is top-notch.

[M forever]

Maciek - thanks again for posting this recording. I just listened to it from beginning to end and I think it's fabulous! This is probably the overall fastest Alpensinfonie I have heard, but there are only a very few passages which I feel are slightly rushed and a few moments where I wish he would have taken just a little bit more time to underline some expressive points. But overall, it is musically very, very good and very stylish and the orchestral playing is phenomenal. This is obviously a live recording, but even if it is edited together from several evenings, what the orchestra offers here is outstanding. The ensemble culture, how they play and form sounds together and how everybody contributes their parts with individuality but also with understanding of the coherent whole is as good as orchestral music making gets. And it sounds so good, all the sections, the silvery and deep string sound, the reedy woodwinds, the glowing and unforced brass*, fantastic!!!

This is this orchestra, isn't it? http://www.filharmonia.pl/start.en.html

Do you have the information about recording date and venue, maybe even a cover scan?



*OK, some of the trumpets in the hunting scene are a little blary, but that doesn't detract from the overall excellent picture, especially since they play with so much feel for tone and style everywhere else.

[Maciek]

This is probably the overall fastest Alpensinfonie I have heard

That's because this is a HIP version.

Also, the Polish Tatras are about half as high as the Alps, so it follows that a Polish performance has to be two times quicker...

But seriously: I'm glad you liked it. I don't know the piece very well (have only heard two other versions, I think) so it was difficult to say (I liked it but didn't really know if it was by virtue of the piece, or the performance, or both).

This is this orchestra, isn't it? http://www.filharmonia.pl/start.en.html

It is. Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej (The National Philharmonic Orchestra). Initially (1901-1955), it was just Orkiestra Filharmonii Warszawskiej (The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra). That's the way I tagged it because I figured "National Philharmonic" could be anywhere in the world. (Sometimes, it's referred to as The National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw.)

Kazimierz Kord was their conductor 1977-2001 (his direct predecessor was Witold Rowicki who reestablished the orchestra after WWII in 1950) - Kord was hired there directly after enjoying some success as an opera conductor in Munich and New York (the Met). Henryk Czyż in one of his memoirs pokes some fun at the Polish authorities for that decision (Czyż himself, who enjoyed considerable success as a symphonic conductor, was more or less simultaneously offered the National Opera in Warsaw - but he didn't take it; and 10 years earlier it was Witold Rowicki, who hated opera in general, who was selected as the first musical director there - and he left the moment the first season was over). Kord finally got the post of musical director at the National Opera in 2005 but he resigned after a year.

Do you have the information about recording date and venue, maybe even a cover scan?

As for the cover scan - I'll post it here but it might take about 2 weeks before I can get it done.

Here's the info from the booklet:
Recorded live at the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, June 1998
Recording producers: Andrzej Sasin, Julita Emanuiłow
Editing and mastering: Julita Emanuiłow

That's from the English text. The Polish text is actually more specific. It says: "Nagranie zrealizowano podczas koncertu w Sali Koncertowej Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie, w czerwcu 1998 roku." [Recorded during a concert at the Concert Hall of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, in June 1998.] - note the singular "a concert". If this info is to be trusted, then it was recorded in one take. But, if that's true, I don't understand why they are so vague about the date...?

[M forever]

Does that phrase in Polish mean specifically in one concert or can it also mean recorded in concert in the sense of simply recorded live in concert rather than in studio ?

[Maciek]

Hmm... Well, the fact that it's singular indicates that it was during a single concert. It would have to be plural to mean anything else - though, of course, people are sometimes absentminded, and sloppy, and even (rarely?) deliberately try to mislead others...

Anyway, it can't possibly be more than two concerts, because the National Philharmonic never has the same program more than twice. It would be two days in a row then, Friday-Saturday. But I think it was just one take - possibly the better one of the two. And it had to be early June because the season usually ends around June 5th-10th. Probably June 5th-6th 1998. 

[Maciek]

Oh, and I've been told to tell you: your PM inbox is full!

[Brian]

But seriously: I'm glad you liked it. I don't know the piece very well (have only heard two other versions, I think) so it was difficult to say (I liked it but didn't really know if it was by virtue of the piece, or the performance, or both).

I very much enjoyed it too. The Kord performance seems to be the perfect "foil" for Antoni Wit's account (and Wit was, I think, his successor at the Warsaw Philharmonic!). The two interpretations are at opposite poles, with Wit's 54 minutes and Kord's 43ish the result of very, very different views of the work. Listening to the two back-to-back is an enlightening and enjoyable experience. 

[Maciek]

opposite poles

Ha ha ha.

[M forever]

Oh, and I've been told to tell you: your PM inbox is full!

I know, because of all the fanmail and all the hatemail I am getting all the time! I have made some space though, so the hatemails can continue to come in. 

[Brian]

Ha ha ha.

Oh gosh, I didn't even NOTICE that 

[MichaelRabin]

I have Karajan (Gold), Jansons (SACD), Wit and Mehta BPO (Sony). I heard good things about Blomstedt. What are your favourites and why?

[Scarpia]

I have Karajan (Gold), Jansons (SACD), Wit and Mehta BPO (Sony). I heard good things about Blomstedt. What are your favourites and why?

Karajan's DG recording is a wonderful performance which is marred by poorly engineered digital sound from the very early days of digital recording.  There is a Sony video of a live performance by Karajan which is a more satisfying.   Bohm has a worthy recording, though in mono. 

[DarkAngel]

Karajan's DG recording is a wonderful performance which is marred by poorly engineered digital sound from the very early days of digital recording.  There is a Sony video of a live performance by Karajan which is a more satisfying.   Bohm has a worthy recording, though in mono.

There is a new remastered Karajan 2CD Strauss set from 2003 with Alpine Symphony that may improve sound, have not heard it myself and still have the older DG Gold version..........

[DarkAngel]

The Previn Telarc has stunning richly detailed sound.......
but performance is more a climb up a tall hill than an assault on the towering Matterhorn, needs more dramatic contrast, I keep it around for the sonic thrills

[DarkAngel]

 

Always wanted to try the newer Zinman/Arte Nova series, placed an order today for the very cheap 2004 Alpine Symphony CD, if it sounds good may pick up entire box

[Lethevich]

Goodness, I didn't know about this! Thanks for bringing it to my (and maybe others) attention!

[Brahmsian]

Kempe/Staatskapelle Dresden