Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[jlaurson]

Continuing my obsession with the performances of Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker, three discs arrived this morning: Beethoven and Haydn. Also Rameau orchestral suites recommended by TheGSMoeller (or, as I like to call  him, Monkey Greg  )

Your wife is evidently terrible at reining you in, or a very gently-graceful soul. (Not that the two are mutually exclusive, of course.)

My haul today -- things that had piled up at the post-office while I was gone:

Listen What the Cat Dragged In:


W.G. Mozart
Dissonances (K.421, K.465, K.138)
Quatuor Ébène
Virgin


Justin Heinrich Knecht
Grande Symphonie (Orchestral Works & Arias)
F.Bernius / Court Chapel Stuttgart
carus 83.228
Germany only, so far.


Christoph Graupner
Wo gehet Jesus hin (Passion Cantatas)
H.M.Beuerle / Ensemble Concerto Grosso / A.Webern Chorus Freiburg
carus 83.457
Germany only, so far.


G. Rochberg
Caprice Variations, Violin Sonata
P.Sheppard Skæved / A.Shorr
métier (re-issue)


C. Nielsen
Symphonies 1 & 6
C.Davis / LSO
LSO Live SACD


D. Shostakovich / R. Schhedrin
Piano Concertos no.1 & 2 / no.5
D.Matsuev / V.Gergiev / Mariinsky Orchestra
Mariinsky Live SACD
(Interestingly the second time Matsuev has recorded Schhedrin's 5th PC; the last time on Sony with Mariss Jansons (oop).)


L.v. Beethoven / F. Liszt
Perspectives 5 (op.106, Années de pèlerinage Bk.1)
Andreas Haefliger
Avie 2239

[KeithW]

Just arrived - inspired by Harry's plaudits

[asin]B005L12SE4[/asin]
[asin]B005L12SI0[/asin]
[asin]B0054MEHZ8[/asin]
[asin]B0054MEHXK[/asin]
[asin]B0054MEISO[/asin]
[asin]B005L12SN0[/asin]

[mc ukrneal]

Just arrived - inspired by Harry's plaudits

[asin]B005L12SE4[/asin]
[asin]B005L12SI0[/asin]
[asin]B0054MEHZ8[/asin]
[asin]B0054MEHXK[/asin]
[asin]B0054MEISO[/asin]
[asin]B005L12SN0[/asin]

Sweet! That's about 60 cds for approximately $120 or so! To top it all off, I like the covers!

[madaboutmahler]

Well this is good to read, Daniel. I never doubted you to be a novice to 20th Century music at all. I'm glad I can share my love of this music with you. I'm glad you're getting into opera some and I hope you enjoy more than I have. As you know, I've never been too much into opera, but there are a few notable works that have made a strong case for the genre. I'm really getting heavily into Shostakovich. Even more than I have in the past. Right now, I'm juggling Shostakovich, RVW, Bartok, and Janacek. I'm also planning a revisit to Koechlin's The Jungle Book pretty soon even though I've heard this work probably more times than most people. It's just such masterpiece and I love every moment of it. Your Dad doesn't like Bartok? Hmmm...neither does my Grandfather. Maybe they can form a "I Hate Bartok" club? Anyway, yes, I would definitely read that article when you have the chance.

Thank you, John! I'm glad that I can share my love for this music with you as well, and also am always excited when I recieve another recommendation from you, such as the Casella 3rd symphony recently, which I absolutely loved! Yes, I have noticed through the listening thread that you are definitely in a Shostakovich phase at the moment - that's brilliant. He's a mutual favourite composer! The symphonies and concerti are some of my favourite pieces. I noticed you are particularly keen on the ballets at the moment. I know quite a lot of the Golden Age, but need to listen to The Bolt soon. Do you like his opera the Lady Macbeth?
Yes... unfortunately my Dad is not Bartok's biggest admirer.... my dad likes little impressionism as well. Fortunately, we both have Mahler as our favourite though. My dad's other favourites include Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Alkan, Brahms, Elgar, Strauss and Scriabin.

[Sergeant Rock]

Oh, Mrs Rock! : )

Well, at least she likes the Beethoven and Rameau 

Your wife is evidently terrible at reining you in, or a very gently-graceful soul. (Not that the two are mutually exclusive, of course.)

Her only concern is where I'm going to put it all. We ran out of shelf space again. As long as I horde the overflow in my den, she's content. If and when it starts creeping out into the rest of the house, she may have harsher words for me 

Sarge

[madaboutmahler]

Arrived today, a kind present from John!

[asin]B000BL99UK[/asin]

Thank you John!

[Sergeant Rock]

Arrived today, a kind present from John!

John? Debussy?...must have been John of Georgia. If it had been John of Clydebank, you'd have received Hans Rott 

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

Arrived today, a kind present from John!

[asin]B000BL99UK[/asin]

Thank you John!

Wow, that actually was pretty quick! You're welcome, Daniel! Hope you enjoy the music as much as I have.

[Mirror Image]

Thank you, John! I'm glad that I can share my love for this music with you as well, and also am always excited when I recieve another recommendation from you, such as the Casella 3rd symphony recently, which I absolutely loved! Yes, I have noticed through the listening thread that you are definitely in a Shostakovich phase at the moment - that's brilliant. He's a mutual favourite composer! The symphonies and concerti are some of my favourite pieces. I noticed you are particularly keen on the ballets at the moment. I know quite a lot of the Golden Age, but need to listen to The Bolt soon. Do you like his opera the Lady Macbeth?
Yes... unfortunately my Dad is not Bartok's biggest admirer.... my dad likes little impressionism as well. Fortunately, we both have Mahler as our favourite though. My dad's other favourites include Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Alkan, Brahms, Elgar, Strauss and Scriabin.

You're welcome, Daniel. Shostakovich's The Golden Age and The Bolt are fantastic ballets. I haven't heard The Limpid Stream yet but from what I've read it's a very minor work. Oh yeah, I like Lady Macbeth. What great work. Have you heard The Nose? This is another opera but it's more experimental than Lady Macbeth. It's perfectly fine your Dad doesn't like Bartok's music. We're all so different from each other that we can't all enjoy the same things.

As for Shostakovich's symphonies, my favorites are 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 15, but I've come to enjoy them all, but I think very little of the 2nd and 3rd.

[Mirror Image]

John? Debussy?...must have been John of Georgia. If it had been John of Clydebank, you'd have received Hans Rott 

Sarge

[madaboutmahler]

You're welcome, Daniel. Shostakovich's The Golden Age and The Bolt are fantastic ballets. I haven't heard The Limpid Stream yet but from what I've read it's a very minor work. Oh yeah, I like Lady Macbeth. What great work. Have you heard The Nose? This is another opera but it's more experimental than Lady Macbeth. It's perfectly fine your Dad doesn't like Bartok's music. We're all so different from each other that we can't all enjoy the same things.

As for Shostakovich's symphonies, my favorites are 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 15, but I've come to enjoy them all, but I think very little of the 2nd and 3rd.

I haven't heard The Nose in full yet, but have heard some very fascinating excerpts from it! I haven't heard Lady Macbeth in full yet either, which I hope to remedy soon. At the moment, it is really only the symphonies and concerti that I know, plus various suites including the Golden Age suite which I loved very much when I saw Salonen conduct it live last summer.

As for the Shostakovich symphonies, my favourites would be 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12.

[TheGSMoeller]

As for the Shostakovich symphonies, my favourites would be 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12.

As for Shostakovich's symphonies, my favorites are 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 15,

You two would be good at a Roulette table. 

[Mirror Image]

You two would be good at a Roulette table. 

[Mirror Image]

I haven't heard The Nose in full yet, but have heard some very fascinating excerpts from it! I haven't heard Lady Macbeth in full yet either, which I hope to remedy soon. At the moment, it is really only the symphonies and concerti that I know, plus various suites including the Golden Age suite which I loved very much when I saw Salonen conduct it live last summer.

As for the Shostakovich symphonies, my favourites would be 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12.

You should definitely acquire the full ballet of The Golden Age at some point. It's really a great ballet and I even like the suite. The same goes for The Bolt. Both of these ballets contain a gorgeous slow movement (The Golden Age: Adagio - Dance of the Diva, which lasts around 10 minutes and in The Bolt the section Dance of the Colonial Slave Woman which only lasts about 4 minutes). We like pretty much the same symphonies and I do like the 12th the more I listen to it. It contains some outstanding music. Here are two recommendations for the ballets/ballet suites you want to consider getting at some juncture:

[asin]B001UUNC3Q[/asin]

This really is a fantastic recording and took me kind of by surprise because I didn't even listen to audio samples before I bought it. The performances are really great and Kitajenko is a born Shostakovian. The audio quality is superb -- very warm and detailed.

[asin]B000IY068O[/asin]

I prefer this complete version over Rozhdestvensky's (which I also own). I find Serebrier's energy and emotional drive to be just what this work needs and he doesn't downplay anything. A lively performance.

[madaboutmahler]

You two would be good at a Roulette table. 

You should definitely acquire the full ballet of The Golden Age at some point. It's really a great ballet and I even like the suite. The same goes for The Bolt. Both of these ballets contain a gorgeous slow movement (The Golden Age: Adagio - Dance of the Diva, which lasts around 10 minutes and in The Bolt the section Dance of the Colonial Slave Woman which only lasts about 4 minutes). We like pretty much the same symphonies and I do like the 12th the more I listen to it. It contains some outstanding music. Here are two recommendations for the ballets/ballet suites you want to consider getting at some juncture:

[asin]B001UUNC3Q[/asin]

This really is a fantastic recording and took me kind of by surprise because I didn't even listen to audio samples before I bought it. The performances are really great and Kitajenko is a born Shostakovian. The audio quality is superb -- very warm and detailed.

[asin]B000IY068O[/asin]

I prefer this complete version over Rozhdestvensky's (which I also own). I find Serebrier's energy and emotional drive to be just what this work needs and he doesn't downplay anything. A lively performance.

Thank you for the recommendations, John. I shall make sure to add both of these to my must-buy cds list! The suite and your words have really made me keen to hear the whole Golden Age ballet in particular. I remember when you sent me that slow movement you mentioned here, a little a while ago. It was absolutely beautiful....
Thanks again, John!

[Mirror Image]

Thank you for the recommendations, John. I shall make sure to add both of these to my must-buy cds list! The suite and your words have really made me keen to hear the whole Golden Age ballet in particular. I remember when you sent me that slow movement you mentioned here, a little a while ago. It was absolutely beautiful....
Thanks again, John!

No problem, Daniel. The only available recording of the complete The Bolt ballet is Rozhdestvensky's on Chandos. It's a pretty decent performance. I think a more able conductor and orchestra could do better things with it. The thing to look out for when concerning The Bolt suite is making sure there are eight movements, because Shostakovich had arranged the suite to be played this way. I've seen some Bolt suites arrangements that make significant cuts as if suite wasn't a cut enough. One cut made was that Dance of the Colonial Slave Woman movement I posted for you via YouTube. Why would anyone omit this lyrical movement? Anyway, The Golden Age is a pretty long ballet in 3 acts. The plot is quite bizarre, but the music is just riveting good fun.

[jlaurson]

Her only concern is where I'm going to put it all. We ran out of shelf space again. As long as I horde the overflow in my den, she's content. If and when it starts creeping out into the rest of the house, she may have harsher words for me 

Sarge

Have you tried the plastic sleeves that turn your single, double, and multiple- jewel cases into little mini-LPs (retaining front-cover, booklet, and backcover) and save between 2/3 and 4/5 of space? I get them from "JazzLoft" (Alex Ross gave me the tip) whenever I have a courier bring them from the US. (Intl. S&H makes them too expensive, and I'll be damned if I can find an even remotely adequate replacement for them in Europe.) Works wonders.
And soon I'm about to embark on a larger work-shop project the result of which shall be stackable CD boxes made from wood. Big enough to contain all sizes of box-sets, except the annoying book-like sets a la NCA.

[KeithW]

Have you tried the plastic sleeves that turn your single, double, and multiple- jewel cases into little mini-LPs (retaining front-cover, booklet, and backcover) and save between 2/3 and 4/5 of space? I get them from "JazzLoft" (Alex Ross gave me the tip) whenever I have a courier bring them from the US. (Intl. S&H makes them too expensive, and I'll be damned if I can find an even remotely adequate replacement for them in Europe.) Works wonders.
And soon I'm about to embark on a larger work-shop project the result of which shall be stackable CD boxes made from wood. Big enough to contain all sizes of box-sets, except the annoying book-like sets a la NCA.

I use these - which might be the same.  I have around 3000 of them. Save stacks of space, and help reduce removal costs when relocating from one country to another.  I feel the discs are safer in there - less chance of scratches compared to jewel cases, and everything is kept safe and secure.

http://www.mmdesign.com/products/cd-pro-poly-sleeve.php

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

I would love it if I could get my hands on them, for my shelf place is non existent at the moment. Anyone know where in Europe one might find them?

[jlaurson]

I use these - which might be the same.  I have around 3000 of them. Save stacks of space, and help reduce removal costs when relocating from one country to another.  I feel the discs are safer in there - less chance of scratches compared to jewel cases, and everything is kept safe and secure.

http://www.mmdesign.com/products/cd-pro-poly-sleeve.php

Quite different, actually. http://www.jazzloft.com/p-47104-1000-sleeves-international-shipping-included.aspx
(Oh, looks like intl. shipping has come down a bit.)

The neat thing is that it holds up to four discs... so all my Koopman Bach Cantatas have hopped into those sleeves, saving a huge amount of space right there.
For four discs, however, I'd recommend also getting a few paper sleeves so that the CDs never lie next to each other without a protective layer.



The only disadvantage is that the things become slippery and are no longer stackable the way they used to be.