Recordings That You Are Considering

[mc ukrneal]

I'm feeling a hankering for another set of Mozart PCs. Not necessarily complete, but not just three or four.

Top contenders:
Zacharias on Warner
Uchida/Tate

Anda always tempts me but I fear will let me down ...

Um, you know there is a whole thread just on this topic? It is rather long though...

[Todd]

Qobuz is selling this in 24/96 for the cost of 16-bit via 'Qobuz Sublime'. I'm not sure whether that's just a normal promotion or something more sinister.

(The same applies to the Brentanos' previous volume of 132/135)

Qobuz Sublime sounds like something from the Sony leak about the next Bond flick.

[Moonfish]

Anybody familiar with these box sets released during 2014? The label Venias is unknown to me.

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/search/adv_1/labelcode_VENIS/

[jfdrex]

Anybody familiar with these box sets released during 2014? The label Venias is unknown to me.

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/search/adv_1/labelcode_VENIS/

I'm not familiar with these specific releases or with the Venias label, but I wouldn't be surprised if these are just re-re-issues of those cheapo Membran/ Documents (or whatever they're called this week) 10-cd boxes under yet another guise, with some additional recordings thrown in.  Compare, for example:

[asin]B00FQ0VNLE[/asin]   [asin]B000GUK03G[/asin]   [asin]B005ZHBAVQ[/asin]

[jfdrex]

Um, you know there is a whole thread just on this topic? It is rather long though...

There can never be enough discussion about recordings of the Mozart piano concertos.  Even if it is the same discussion that people had two weeks ago, two months ago, and two years ago! 

In the meantime, let's get that thread revived and bumped up.

[Moonfish]

I'm not familiar with these specific releases or with the Venias label, but I wouldn't be surprised if these are just re-re-issues of those cheapo Membran/ Documents (or whatever they're called this week) 10-cd boxes under yet another guise, with some additional recordings thrown in.  Compare, for example:

[asin]B00FQ0VNLE[/asin]   [asin]B000GUK03G[/asin]   [asin]B005ZHBAVQ[/asin]

Hmm, yes, I have that feeling as well. One can always be hopeful though....

[Walt Whitman]

I'm thinking about getting the new Brilliant Vivaldi & Bach boxes...

Anyone have them? How's the recording quality? Artistic quality? Differences between the older Bach boxes and the newest one.

Thanks for your help.

[Brian]

Comments welcome:

 

[Drasko]

I like that set a lot. It's one of first recordings Abbado made after taking over Berlin Philharmonic, so the orchestra still was completely Karajans: those wall of sound strings with seemingly endless volume reserves, huge round blended dark brass ... but with Abbado's less stern more flexible interpretation, more flow, more cantabile phrasing, predominantly lyrical; and without Karajan's engineering eccentricities (horns are actually audible).

What stood in the way of that set having bigger popularity, I think, was that it was fuller than full priced since it was released 25 years ago.

I haven't heard that particular recital but Block in Spanish music is always worthwhile. I have his Iberia and Goyescas, both superbly interesting.

[Ken B]

Marais/Savall and Abbado/Brahms are top notch.

[Mandryka]

Comments welcome:

I listened to Mok playing Valses Nobles et sentimentales, which is the piece by Ravel I know and like the best. I'd never heard of her before. I thought it was a very characterful performance, her music making has a memorable face. In the slows her rubato was distinctive, quite natural and gave the impression of the music being created anew. The harmonies sounded fresh and different. The faster music was crisper and lighter than usual. The complexity of the music, the voices and harmonies, were very transparent. She's good at getting lots of colour out of the piano. It was more objective than expressive, in this sense: I don't get the feeling of ideas or emotions being communicated. For Mok, it's a bunch of dances and that's that. I'll listen to her Brahms tomorrow.

[Todd]

Comments welcome:

Mok's Ravel is well played, and the instrument brings a different sound than normal.  Not the very best Ravel, but very good.

Some of Abbado's best work is in Brahms.

All Michel Block is worth hearing.  This is nearly at the same extraordinarily high level as his Iberia.

I've not heard that Savall disc, but I cannot imagine it being anything other than marvelous.

[Todd]

How much longer can I hold out?  Not much longer, I fear.

[Mirror Image]

I have the older set of course and enjoy what Abbado brings to the musical table in Brahms. A bonus are all of those lovely choral works.

[kishnevi]

Thanks for the tip on the Hahn.  I just got and enjoyed Catherine Joly's recording of part of the cycle, so I am sure I will enjoy Wild.

[Jo498]

The Rosen set is the only box I have on the radar for acquisition (although I am still a little loth because I collected probably the for me most important stuff (Late Beethoven, Bach, Schumann) and would double these discs).

[jfdrex]

Comments welcome:

Brian, I've got about a dozen or so of Wild's Ivory Classics recordings, including this one.  Both the playing and the sound quality are astonishing.

I'm not familiar with the other Wild discs you're considering, but if you want to hear a master a work, I'd go for it.  I haven't been disappointed with any of the Wild CDs I've purchased over the years; quite the contrary.

I had the pleasure of attending Wild's 90th birthday recital at Carnegie Hall in 2005--one of the absolute highlights in my many years of concert-going.

[Brian]

Live Klemperer Bruckner 6?

[jfdrex]

Live Klemperer Bruckner 6?

Klemperer's interpretation of the symphony here is essentially very similar to that in his famous EMI recording.  The work gets off to a deceptively slow (ponderous) and weak start, leading you to think that you're in for a dreary time.  But that initial impression is quickly overcome; Klemps is just toying with you, for the performance soon builds in power in a way I've rarely heard in other recordings.

There are both pluses and minus in this recording--the most noticeable minuses being the mono sound (it's okay, but nothing to write home about--though you get used to it) and the sometimes shaky and generally unpolished orchestral execution.  (The BBC SO ain't the Philharmonia, and occasionally they seem to have a hard time following Otto's direction.)  On the other hand, the "liveness" (and, paradoxically, given Klemperer's tempi, liveliness) of the performance really come through.

This performance of the Te Deum is among the most powerful I've heard; it has true grandeur and gravitas.  Needless to say, the soloists are a dream team.

So, this disc is not a "first choice," and certainly not a "standard choice" as far as recordings of the Bruckner 6th go.  But if you're a true Brucknerd, this certainly deserves a place in your collection.  (I wonder how it would have fared if it had been included in the recent Bruckner 6 blind listening marathon.)

Some reviews:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=103598

http://audaud.com/2005/08/bruckner-symphony-no-6-in-a-major-te-deum-heather-harper-soprano-janet-baker-mezzo-soprano-richard-lewis-tenor-marian-nowakowski-bass-bbc-chorus-and-orchestraotto-klemperer-testament/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bruckner-symphony-no-6-te-deum-otto-klemperer/10236441?ean=749677135423

[Sadko]

Comments welcome:

I haven't listened to this recording for long, but I have a vague positive memory of it: not a must have, but some nice Hahn.

EDIT: I realise I was a bit late with my answer, it had long been bought :-)