Recordings That You Are Considering

[jlaurson]

  What am I going to do? A part of me really wants this:

 

  Marvin

Why? Doesn't fit any shelve; doubling many performances you already have; basically picking every performance of Mozart's works that you like FOR YOU, instead of you doing it. Antithetical to the GMG spirit, really, if you think about it.


P.S. Ostman conducting the Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra was a reasonably popular HIP choice for in the early days of that movement; just before Gardiner swept the (Anglo) world. It was the Mozart flagship of L'Oiseau-Lyre and usually featured Barbara Bonney, Gösta Winbergh and Tom Krause. There are also DVDs of some of these performances (Cosi, my review of Clemenza here) at the original baroque Drottningholm theater. It even became the Decca Mozart Opera box set in that series that dominated the late "oughts". That said, it ain't Rene Jacobs. At least the Don Giovanni with Nezet is fun; the Entfuehrung is downright terrible.

[marvinbrown]

What in that set makes screams "BUY ME !"

  Good question!  Well the HIP interpretations of the symphonies, the sacred works (masses requiem masonic music) and the piano concertos for the most part.  Some of the operas are with conductors/orchestras I have never heard of.  Don Giovanni has  Seguin? and  a Mahler Chamber Orchestra?? Le Nozze has Ostman conducting the Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra? I have never heard of these performers. Might well be worth exploring

  On the other hand I suppose it would make more sense to buy these separately.  Might even be cheaper.

  Jlaurson is right pick and choose according to my taste is a better way forward.

  marvin

[Florestan]

Why? Doesn't fit any shelve; doubling many performances you already have; basically picking every performance of Mozart's works that you like FOR YOU, instead of you doing it. Antithetical to the GMG spirit, really, if you think about it.

Should I presume that the Philips Edition is (far) better, then?

[jlaurson]

Should I presume that the Philips Edition is (far) better, then?

No, I wouldn't assume that at all. Same issue there...If I compared them work-by-work, I might even like the Universal selection better; who knows. It's the thing about catch-all sets. They are meant, in actuality, to plug holes, not provide absolutely favorites. Of course some sets, of various sizes, are sometimes so choc full of goodies that it's hard to resist. (Especially when they fit the shelving system; i.e. one composer and no funky size. Like the new Stravinsky-conducts-Stravinsky Edition or the Brahms Chamber Music set on hyperion (sadly oop) or the like. It's just that I like to pick my own performances for works that are important to me.

[Florestan]

No, I wouldn't assume that at all. Same issue there...If I compared them work-by-work, I might even like the Universal selection better; who knows. It's the thing about catch-all sets. They are meant, in actuality, to plug holes, not provide absolutely favorites. Of course some sets, of various sizes, are sometimes so choc full of goodies that it's hard to resist. (Especially when they fit the shelving system; i.e. one composer and no funky size. Like the new Stravinsky-conducts-Stravinsky Edition or the Brahms Chamber Music set on hyperion (sadly oop) or the like. It's just that I like to pick my own performances for works that are important to me.

Thanks for the illuminating answer.

[Madiel]

The Philips edition was at least available in separate chunks. I own the piano sonatas (Mitsuko Uchida), a recording that was widely praised. It describes itself as "volume 17" of the edition.

[Mirror Image]

I'll definitely be buying this new Bartok Salonen recording when it comes out in September:



Hearing Salonen in the complete Miraculous Mandarin and Dance Suite is enough to make me applaud profusely, but the fact that Contrasts is also on this recording turns the applause into jovial dancing. Should be a win/win all across the board.

[The new erato]

Looks interesting, though the Dance Suite probably is one of Bartoks weakest orchestral works.

[North Star]

Looks interesting, though the Dance Suite probably is one of Bartoks weakest orchestral works.

[ritter]

Looks interesting, though the Dance Suite probably is one of Bartoks weakest orchestral works.

Yep, the last time I listened to it (CSO/Boulez on DG) I found myself thinking "this surely is one of Bartók's strongest orchetsral works" 

[Jo498]

The Dance Suite is fairly small scale and was meant to be popular (composed for some Hungarian festival or so). It's nor really fair to compare it to e.g. Music for Strings, Celesta etc. but the suite is still more "serious" than Kodaly's sets of dances (one of which was composed for the same festival, as far as I recall).

[Mirror Image]

Looks interesting, though the Dance Suite probably is one of Bartoks weakest orchestral works.

I don't think the Dance Suite is weak at all. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the work unless someone has adamantly already displayed a dislike for Bartok's music. For me, I'd say Bartok's earlier orchestral works like Kossuth or Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, for example, are comparatively weaker than a more mature work like Dance Suite, but even the earlier orchestral works display a character of their own and clearly someone who's finding his compositional voice.

[The new erato]

I should have said; weakest of his mature orchestral works, of course there are lots of juvenilia and stuff written during his development as a composer. And Bartok was one of mye earliest loves; I have lived with his music since the mid 70-ies, and I still find the Dance Suite pretty superficial stuff.

[Mirror Image]

I should have said; weakest of his mature orchestral works, of course there are lots of juvenilia and stuff written during his development as a composer. And Bartok was one of mye earliest loves; I have lived with his music since the mid 70-ies, and I still find the Dance Suite pretty superficial stuff.

Still, a curious opinion and one that I do not endorse, but you're free to like/dislike whatever you please.

[Angelos_05]

I will be getting these....


http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Aug/Zador_orchestral_8573529.jpg




http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Aug/Stokowski_transcriptions_CHAN10900.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/May/Stokowski_transcriptions_CHAN10900.htm

[PerfectWagnerite]

Anyone has this one:



Price is very reasonable, I just don't know whether I like enough of the music to pull this trigger...

Also this one:


I like some of the music but there seems to be a lot of fluff in there.

[Karl Henning]

Also this one:


I like some of the music but there seems to be a lot of fluff in there.

We might have a different "fluff line";  but I do not think the fluff content at all excessive, and there is a lot of great stuff in there.

CD1: Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé
CD2: Ravel: Boléro; Alborada del gracioso; Rhapsodie Espagnole; La Valse
CD3: Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3; Chausson: Symphony in B Flat
CD4: Ravel: Piano Concerto in G; Piano Concerto for the Left Hand Pascal Rogé
CD5: Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos; El Amor Brujo
CD6: Respighi: Pines of Rome; Fountains of Rome; Feste Romane
CD7: Ravel: Ma Mère L'Oye; Le Tombeau De Couperin; Valses Nobles Et Sentimentales; Pavane
CD8: Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Capriccio Espagnol
CD9: Offenbach: Gaîté Parisienne; Gounod: Faust Ballet Music
CD10: Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique; 3 Overtures
CD11: Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps; Symphonies of Wind Instruments
CD12: Suppé: Overtures
CD13: Stravinsky: L'Oiseau de feu
CD14: Holst: The Planets
CD15: Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream; Overtures
CD17: Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
CD16: Stravinsky: Petrouchka; Le Chant du Rossignol; Quatre Etudes
CD18: Bizet: L'Arlésienne; Carmen Suites
CD19: Fauré: Requiem; Pelléas et Mélisande; Pavane
CD20: Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta
CD21: Fête à la française (Chabrier, Dukas, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Thomas, Ibert)
CD22: Debussy: Images; Nocturnes
CD23: Debussy: La Mer; Jeux; Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien; Prélude á l'après-midi-d'un faune
CD24: Franck: Symphony in D Minor; D'Indy: Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français Jean-Yves Thibaudet
CD25-26: Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake
CD27-28: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
CD29: Ibert: Escales; Concerto for Flute & Orchestra
CD30: Debussy: Children's Corner; La Boite á Joujoux; La Plus que lente; Printemps Suite
CD31: Bizet: Symphony in C; Overture in A; Patrie; La Jolie fille de Perth suite
CD32: Orff: Carmina Burana
CD33: Rhapsodies (Liszt, Dvořák, Enescu, Glazunov, Alféne)
CD34: Piazzolla: Tangazo; Double Concerto for Bandoneon and Guitar
CD35: Theodorakis: Zorbas Ballet Suite; Adagio for solo flute, string orchestra and percussion

[aligreto]

This set has been on my List for a long time. I have hesitated thus far as I have memories of mixed reviews. I already have complete sets under Hogwood/Schroder, Fischer and Dorati. I also have the incomplete set under Goodman [my go-to Haydn], the usual part sets under Weil, Bruggen, Harnoncourt, Kuijken and Davis. I also have a multitude of CDs and vinyl versions of individual symphonies so I am currently well served but this one has been a bit of a constant itch. Does anyone have any thoughts on this set?

[Karl Henning]

This set has been on my List for a long time. I have hesitated thus far as I have memories of mixed reviews. I already have complete sets under Hogwood/Schroder, Fischer and Dorati. I also have the incomplete set under Hogwood [my go-to Haydn], the usual part sets under Weil, Bruggen, Harnoncourt, Kuijken and Davis. I also have a multitude of CDs and vinyl versions of individual symphonies so I am currently well served but this one has been a bit of a constant itch. Does anyone have any thoughts on this set?

I must have listened to at least half of it by now, I love it.

I may agree that the applause after each symphony can be a nuisance, but I also hit the Next Track button, and any nuisance is entirely curtailed.

[Parsifal]

This set has been on my List for a long time. I have hesitated thus far as I have memories of mixed reviews. I already have complete sets under Hogwood/Schroder, Fischer and Dorati. I also have the incomplete set under Hogwood [my go-to Haydn], the usual part sets under Weil, Bruggen, Harnoncourt, Kuijken and Davis. I also have a multitude of CDs and vinyl versions of individual symphonies so I am currently well served but this one has been a bit of a constant itch. Does anyone have any thoughts on this set?

I have it I think it is very good. Brisk and energetic with an HIP feel, even though it is on modern instruments. It doesn't surpass my favorite Haydn recordings (Harnoncourt/Concergebouw, Fey) but I like it much better than any other complete set (Hogwood/Bruggen), Dorati, Fischer. I only wish they had not included applause.