What are you listening to now?

[North Star]

An outstanding 1-2 punch there! 

Yes indeed, Ray.

Thread duty
Stravinsky
Jeu de Cartes
Stravinsky

[Gurn Blanston]

I bought the ultra complete cycle by Podger and Cooper as single disks and from the first one have been my absolute favourites. The interplay between Rachel and Gary is simply unsurpassable. 

I missed the first 3 or 4 disks, and so rather than try to catch up for mucho dinero, I decided to wait. Amazon had it on sale last week for $32 including 2nd day shipping (I should have posted it on the Super Bargain thread!), so the wait was over! It is all I had heard.

As for Florestan (cast ye not...), if you like nice violin tone (and who doesn't??) you should listen to Podger. The girl can play! Cooper plays a 1795 Walter repro by Derek Adlam which has a superb tone to it, one of the best fortepianos of that era I've heard. Walter would have been proud of it.

[Wakefield]

As for Florestan (cast ye not...), if you like nice violin tone (and who doesn't??) you should listen to Podger. The girl can play! Cooper plays a 1795 Walter repro by Derek Adlam which has a superb tone to it, one of the best fortepianos of that era I've heard. Walter would have been proud of it.

Derek Adlam is a fantastic builder, and clavichord player. I recall you have his stupendous Haydn's Acht Sauschneider Müssen Sein.

Unfortunately, he hasn't recorded very much. 

[Wakefield]

Guys, do yourself a favor and have a spin of Mutter / Orkiss and Schneiderhan / Seeman sets. They´re not just "out of the rococo" mould, they´re full Sturm-und-Drang and Romantic to the boot. And the beauty of tone of both violinists is amazing.

Thanks for this recommendation! The best disk of Mozart's violin sonatas played on modern instruments that I have heard, it's one by Mitsuko Uchida and Mark Steinberg. An utterly delightful, somber and well balanced single disk.

[asin]B003WSGOLQ[/asin]

[Sergeant Rock]

So do you agree that it is possibly one of the best?

With the exception of the last movement, which is tremendous and is in the running for the best ever, I found a lack of tension and excitement in Svetlanov's reading compared to my favorite Rach 2, the insane Golovanov. But then nobody plays it like he does so it probably isn't a fair criticism. Svetlanov is worth it just for the last movement though. No regrets. For an uncut version in modern sound, my fave remains Slatkin/Detroit.

Listening to Golo now.



Sarge

[Gurn Blanston]

Derek Adlam is a fantastic builder, and clavichord player. I recall you have his stupendous Haydn's Acht Sauschneider Müssen Sein.

Unfortunately, he hasn't recorded very much. 

Gordo,
Yes, it is unfortunate he doesn't record more. IIRC, the only other disk I have of him is where he plays the 4-hand parts on Hogwood's Secret Mozart clavichord disk, 1 of my desert island disks. Maybe he is also on some fortepiano collections with Oort, I can't remember. Not much anyway. But his creations are everywhere, the period instrument players of the world are truly indebted to him and Paul McNulty. 

[Tsaraslondon]

Guys, do yourself a favor and have a spin of Mutter / Orkiss and Schneiderhan / Seeman sets. They´re not just "out of the rococo" mould, they´re full Sturm-und-Drang and Romantic to the boot. And the beauty of tone of both violinists is amazing.

Mutter and Mozart - works for me!. Love her recording of the Violin Concertos, coupled with the Sinfonia Concertante with Yuri Bashmet, and alsoher disc of  the Piano Trios with Previn and Muller-Schott.

[Wakefield]

Gordo,
Yes, it is unfortunate he doesn't record more. IIRC, the only other disk I have of him is where he plays the 4-hand parts on Hogwood's Secret Mozart clavichord disk, 1 of my desert island disks. Maybe he is also on some fortepiano collections with Oort, I can't remember. Not much anyway. But his creations are everywhere, the period instrument players of the world are truly indebted to him and Paul McNulty. 

Yes! The Early Music revival is very much indebted with both of them. Curiously, the great Paul McNulty also has a skilled interpretative branch through his wife Viviana Sofronitsky.

[Brahmsian]

Yes indeed, Ray.

Thread duty
Stravinsky
Jeu de Cartes
Stravinsky

Oh, another favourite Igor piece! 

[North Star]

Oh, another favourite Igor piece! 

Indeed a beauty.

Thread duty 

Scènes de ballet
Bluebird
Le Baiser de la Fée
Stravinsky

[mc ukrneal]

I missed the first 3 or 4 disks, and so rather than try to catch up for mucho dinero, I decided to wait. Amazon had it on sale last week for $32 including 2nd day shipping (I should have posted it on the Super Bargain thread!), so the wait was over! It is all I had heard.

As for Florestan (cast ye not...), if you like nice violin tone (and who doesn't??) you should listen to Podger. The girl can play! Cooper plays a 1795 Walter repro by Derek Adlam which has a superb tone to it, one of the best fortepianos of that era I've heard. Walter would have been proud of it.

Thanks for posting that. I listened to that piano and it was way too pingy for my liking. Off the wishlist it goes and on to Mutter for a test listen...

[Brian]

With the exception of the last movement, which is tremendous and is in the running for the best ever, I found a lack of tension and excitement in Svetlanov's reading compared to my favorite Rach 2, the insane Golovanov. But then nobody plays it like he does so it probably isn't a fair criticism. Svetlanov is worth it just for the last movement though. No regrets. For an uncut version in modern sound, my fave remains Slatkin/Detroit.

Listening to Golo now.



Sarge

Hmm, since our tastes in this work apparently run really similar, I NEED to track down that Golovanov disc.

[Florestan]

As for Florestan (cast ye not...), if you like nice violin tone (and who doesn't??) you should listen to Podger. The girl can play! Cooper plays a 1795 Walter repro by Derek Adlam which has a superb tone to it, one of the best fortepianos of that era I've heard. Walter would have been proud of it.

I have the Podger / Cooper set, Gurn and I like it a lot, not least for being the only true complete set --- the early sonatas are every bit as good as the mature ones

Thanks for this recommendation! The best disk of Mozart's violin sonatas played on modern instruments that I have heard, it's one by Mitsuko Uchida and Mark Steinberg. An utterly delightful, somber and well balanced single disk.

[asin]B003WSGOLQ[/asin]

Thanks, will investigate.

[Sergeant Rock]

Hmm, since our tastes in this work apparently run really similar, I NEED to track down that Golovanov disc.

You should hear it, Brian (to get an idea of the state of Russian music in 1945 and to hear one of the conducting legends), but whether you'll like it or not I cannot say. It's idiosyncratic and radical, in tempo fluctuation and dynamic changes, and he does like to go very fast (think Mravinsky in Tchaikovsky 4). His first movement brings out every emotional nuance in the work. And for a Soviet recording circa 1945, it's surprisingly listenable.

Sarge

[Gurn Blanston]

Thanks for posting that. I listened to that piano and it was way too pingy for my liking. Off the wishlist it goes and on to Mutter for a test listen...

You're welcome. I love pingy, so it was just right for me!  0:)

[Gurn Blanston]

I have the Podger / Cooper set, Gurn and I like it a lot, not least for being the only true complete set --- the early sonatas are every bit as good as the mature ones

Yes, true. I only wish he had done all the early ones on the harpsichord like he did on disk 8. The sound is so much more appropriate. That's a lesson I learned from Trio 1790 doing Haydn.

[Brian]

You should hear it, Brian (to get an idea of the state of Russian music in 1945 and to hear one of the conducting legends), but whether you'll like it or not I cannot say. It's idiosyncratic and radical, in tempo fluctuation and dynamic changes, and he does like to go very fast (think Mravinsky in Tchaikovsky 4). His first movement brings out every emotional nuance in the work. And for a Soviet recording circa 1945, it's surprisingly listenable.

Sarge

Someone on YouTube posted the adagio, but not the other three movements. I hate YouTube. But I'll give that a try as a sample.

Rach 2 is a very flexible piece; with the 'radio orchestra' in my head, I try to play it as fast as possible sometimes, and as slow as possible sometimes. (Once, in a really long dull meeting, I put Celibidache to sleep by getting the symphony to last for over two hours...)

[Karl Henning]

"Wolferl"
Piano Sonata in c minor, K.457
Eschenbach

[bhodges]

György Kurtág: Kafka Fragments (Komsi/Oramo and Arnold/Pogossian) - Doing a bit of A/B comparison for an article I'm working on. Probably one of the great vocal works of the late 20th century.

[asin]B00000378W[/asin]
[asin]B001QWFVKU[/asin]

--Bruce

[Mandryka]

György Kurtág: Kafka Fragments (Komsi/Oramo and Arnold/Pogossian) - Doing a bit of A/B comparison for an article I'm working on. Probably one of the great vocal works of the late 20th century.

[asin]B00000378W[/asin]
[asin]B001QWFVKU[/asin]

--Bruce

Komsi is singing it in London next year, with a different fiddle player, I can't remember who (I have my ticket!)