I saw Richter in one of his series of Carnegie recitals, and as much as I think he’s one of the greatest pianists who ever lived, I was unfortunately disappointed.
Most of the problem was my seat, which was under an overhang in the Family Circle. Despite the hall’s renowned acoustics, I could hardly hear him. Very disappointing.
I’m aware of his travels through the USSR, playing on inferior pianos in heroic fashion. |
schubert,
I got the Sarasate music for violin and orchestra.
I’ll have to look for the duos. |
rcprince,
Yes, I believe that story to be true.
I have to look for more Zander Telarc discs
He is a very astute commentator. |
Many years ago!
Interesting story: The night of the Ashkenazy performance, my friends and I went outside of Carnegie and waited all night for Horowitz tickets to be sold in one of his first return concerts from his sabbatical.)
(Actually, truth be told, I didn’t wait all night; my friends did and bought me tickets.) |
Yes it was!
But I didn’t ge any because I left early!
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Yes, Pogorelich is a great individualist.
I saw him in his debut Carnegie Hall recital over twenty years ago.
He showed utter disdain for the audience, never cracking a smile and barely acknowledging the presence of the audience.
But, what a pianist!
I know he stopped playing after his piano teacher/wife died, I believe in ‘97.
I didn’t realize he resumed his career until I just read it.
He’s in the cut of Glenn Gould (one of my two favorite pianists, the other being Horowitz) in that he re-interprets a piece without regard for conventional performance. I much admire that. An original thinker.
As far as favorite pianists, there’s also Rachmaninoff — but he’s a god! |
For Schumann lovers out there, there’s a remarkable set of his symphonies on the Audite label, with the great oboist Heinz Holliger as conductor.
i have many versions of the symphonies but this is, by far, the best, musically and sonically. Highly recommended! |
schubert,
i don’t know if it’s sold in a set yet. I bought the Schumann symphonies on three separate discs, with the cello concerto as filler. |
For those of us that sometimes have a problem with the sound of our systems (I know I do) I wrote this on another thread.
“When I listen just for the “sound” of my system I hear all kinds of abnormalities, but when I’m listening to the MUSIC instead of my SYSTEM everything seems to sound natural. It’s like the “suspension of disbelief” you adapt when reading a book or seeing a movie. I don’t think we can ever really match the sound of real instruments on our sets, so if we listen just for that we’re going to be very disappointed. However when we listen for the music itself, we’re not so much concentrating on the physical sound, but the musical message being expressed. So if we “suspend” the belief we’re listening to live instruments we can get into the music much more easily and the instruments sound just fine.”
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Totally agree, newbee. I’ve often wondered why I sometimes can get into the music better with my car radio than with my system, which is twenty times more expensive (at least.)
The reason is, I don’t care how it sounds. I’m just listening to the music.
I admit I have to make a conscious effort to NOT pick CDs and records for their sound quality, but for the music that’s on them.
As you say, that is the downside of this hobby. Ironically, if you’re not wary, it can be, and is, counter productive to the love and appreciation of the music.
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That is not to say that a high end system cannot enhance the musical experience.
Indeed, when you’re listening for the MUSIC, it can multiply your enjoyment to ecstatic levels.
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Schubert:
I agree, a high end system can come close to reality with small forces such as a piano, string quartet or a solo human voice.
The problem in reproduction arises with the addition of multiple instruments or voices. The myriad of overtones projected by a full orchestra or chorus, for example, makes it impossible, at this point, to come close to reality in your listening room.
I believe you have to resort to that “suspension of disbelief” and let your imagination fill in the missing partials.
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The sheer physical size of an orchestra would seem to preclude an achievable scale in your listening room. |
It’s really amazing how that works.
The imperfections melt away as you get into the music. |
A trite expression comes to mind regarding the music/sound discussion.
“putting the cart before the horse” sums it up well. |
Are you sure this performance is on Blu-ray? Can’t find it anywhere.
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I would like to revive this thread before it dies out.
I was just listening to the “Decca Sound” box which has a section of classic performances issued on Decca. The first two I listened to were “knock your socks off” sounding blockbusters from the Decca catalog: The Alpine Symphony with Blomstedt and Mahler’s 8th with Solti. Then, rummaging through the collection I selected theShostakovich 5th with Haitink. As I listened I noticed the sound was markedly wrong compared to the first two. The Haitink was, sure enough, a digital original — completely wiped out of sonic excitement.
Not that all digitals are bad. Some are spectacular. But it’s interesting that Decca didn’t do a better job of mastering for the “Decca Sound.” |
newbie,
You’re right, it is a heavy lift trying to keep this thread going. But, we got off to a good start. Just have to get the more reticent to participate.
I’lm going to get the piano record you recommend. I’ve never heard of Michael Sheppard. Have to give him a try.
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amman3,
Thanks a lot for your feedback.
It’s very encouraging!
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acman3. Sorry for the typo. Damn spell corrector!!!
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Milstein’s Bach exquisite!
‘He was one of those wonders of nature.
As he aged, lost very little if anything at all.
Szeryng, Very, very fine violinist.
One of the best!
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newbee,
I just got the Sheppard disc. Very enjoyable. Great program.
The Gershwin especially, is played with great panache.
He has a phenomenal technique. I don’t see why he’s not better known.
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This thread has been somewhat moribund lately. I’d like revive it by posting a musical question.
”What is the greatest single movement in symphonic literature?”
I’d like to posit a few suggestions off the of my head (in no particular order:)
3rd movement of Beethoven 3rd
1st mov. of Mahler 9th1st mov. of Brahms 1st.
4th mov. of Mozart’s 41st
1st and 4fh movement of Beethoven’s 9th
These are only a few of my favorites. I’m sure you have yours.
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I was impressed by those octaves too! |
Google lists Julia Fischer as a classical pianist! |
“The best is the enemy of the the good.”
I have some 10,000 combined records and CDs, but am paralyzed to play any one of them until I find something that sounds the way I want it to. It’s insane how the hi-fi compulsion takes over at times.
Of course, the music’s the thing, but the ogre of sound gets in the way when you’re an audiophile like me as well as a music lover.
If you let it.
Alas!
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Schubert,
I’m listening to the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Chung on Spotify right now.
It is a gorgeous performance.
btw, In case anyone doesn’t know, One doesn’t have to buy CDs any more to hear virtually any extant recording in CD quality sound:
If you buy and hook up the Chromecast Audio device (about $35) and you have wi-fi, all you have to do is access Spotify on your iPhone or tablet, and Voila!, you have the entire range of the extant recorded catalog available to you. If you don’t want commercials on Spotify it just costs you $5 or $6 a month.
The sound is almost identical to the actual CD although nitpickers will hear a difference. But, for the price .......
Technology is amazing!
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KING
WMFE
WSHU
BBC3
If you download the TuneIn Radio app and type in “classical,” you should be able to find more. |
His brother Adam is no slouch either. |
I’ve bought a lot of CDs from Presto Clsssical.
Never had a problem.
Delivery takes a little longer because it’s overseas.
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With that recommendation I simply have to get them! |
Had to go to Amazon uk.to get them.
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That description of the opening of the Beethoven Third Concerto (“a few chords....”) sounds like a description of the the opening of the Fourth Concerto.
The Third concerto opens with a series of scales. |
Volodos on Idagio with Schuberts Piano Sonata in A Major. D. 959.
Pretty wonderful. |
Lang Lang has just released a new recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, available on Idagio. Unexpectedly, it’s not bad. Each variation is repeated imaginatively different the second time around. The ornamentation is original and well integrated into the melodic line. The tone is lovely and the performance does “swing.” Of course, there is stiff competition in this work, but Lang Lang very well holds his own. |
I’ve discovered a great way to deal with an intimidatingly large collection of CDs and records.
It would take much longer time than I have on this earth to go through them all, so I’ve found a way to really enjoy the variety.
What I do is, without looking, just reach blindly for a disc on the wall and, no matter what it is, play it through in its entirety.
It’s amazing how enjoyable this is. Things which I would not ordinarily choose become currently viable. After all, I bought them for a reason. There’s no reason I shouldn’t like them!
I found that when I conciously pick a selection, I’m very choosy, considering the sound quality far too often. This way, it’s like getting a new present all the time.
Re-discovering wonderful performances I’d forgotten about (and, coincidentally, enjoying the sound quality for what it is, more than I would have if I had been searching for good sonics.)
I highly recommend this procedure! |
Has anyone tried IDAGIO yet?
If so, what do you think of it?
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Schubert,
It’s funny how just randomly picking something is like making a new discovery.
I’ve been finding the same phenomenon this week in auditioning a new piece of equipment and ferreting out new facets of old recordings.
It makes you listen to the musical message more closely.
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schubert,
Apropos of our conversation, I just randomly picked a fabulous recording I would probably not consciously have ever selected: Bernstein: Fancy Free, Age of Anxiety and Candide Overture with Andrew Liston on Virgin Classics.
Wonderful performance and sound.
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@#$&( Spell correction. That’s Andrew Litton!
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schubert, I’m not sure I understand the last sentence you wrote.
I admit his histrionics were distracting. But, as a musician, I thought he was among the greats
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learsfool,
Indeed, welcome to the thread!
It’s good to have you. I’m happy that you’re mentioning wind masterpieces.
I’ve enjoyed most of the selections you’ve cited for years.
I would really like to get a recently remastered copy of Brain’s Mozart.
All I have now is a scratchy LP.
A neglected wind work which I really enjoy is Corigliano’s Oboe Concerto.
A brilliant work which explores the various incarnations of the instrument.
Burt Lucarelli’s recording is the only version I know of. It’s probably still available, used, on Amazon.
Again, welcome to the discussion.
Hopefully, we’ll have more participants as we go along.
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Totally agree with you that Bernstein’s histrionics never got in the way of his communication. Indeed many feel that they were a MEANS to communication.
Critics thought they were phony — salesmanship. But I believe they were an integral part of his ethos. Much the same can be said of one of my idols: Glenn Gould. A master intellectual musician as well as virtuoso technician, he was totally lost in his music. I used to feel Lang Lang was performing to the gallery with his mannerisms. After seeing him live, I believe he is real as well.
Bernstein was one of the most influential musicians of his age. Most of my friends worship him as an interpreter. He created a whole generation of music lovers at a time when classical music was not on the fringes as it is today.
He is sincerely missed. |
melm,
Welcome to the site!
Your input is most appreciated. |
Just a word about Wagner. His adoption of the Baroque is quite different from Brahms’. Brahms is more typical of the “fire and fury” of the late Italian Baroque influence on Bach. Wagner’s Baroque leanings are from an earlier period, a lot different in character. |
At least it wasn’t Shaw who wrote “Exit in case of Brahms.”
That was Philip Hale of the Boston Globe.
Brahms, about whom I wrote a dissertation, was music’s great historian among composers.
Like Mozart, whose style was enhanced after his study of Bach, Brahms’ stlyle was deeply informed by his contact with the Baroque master.
My thesis was that Brahms music, at its core, was more neo-Baroque than neo-Classical.
In his early twenties he actually took several years off from composition to explore music from previous centuries, including, among others, the
compositions of Heinrich Schultz. He emerged from his hiatus with a style enriched with contrapuntal sophistication.
While he examined music from the Renaissance and early and late Baroque, his greatest love was Bach. He would sit for hours and improvise on the piano and organ in the style of Bach.
Of course, Beethoven was his spiritual mentor as well. But in no other major Romantic composer (Reger excepted, if you consider him major) will you find the essence of Baroque style intrinsically infused in his writing. Aside from the Requiem, the four concertos find obvious references to Baroque contrapuntal and concertato style. We can hear conspicuous differences, for example from the early piano sonatas to the later piano concertos. Whereas Mendelssohn and Schumann, to name two, referenced the Baroque symbolically, Brahms actually got into the nuts and bolts of its construction.
Ironically, even though he was the leader of the opposite camp, Wagner also demonstrates a strong affinity to the Baroque. He just didn’t write symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets etc. But one can find copious evidence of Baroque awareness in his operas.
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Learsfool,
In my research I found the overwhelming evidence and opinion is that Bach, NOT Handel was the main Baroque influence.
It was said that when a new edition of the Bach Gesselschaft (just being compiled at the time) came to him, he would eagerly pour over it. But when a new Handel tome came he said he would “get to it later.”
In concerts, Brahms as choral conductor profusely included Bach in programs.
Handel was scarcely to be found.
The so called “fire and fury,” (mentioned by Baroque writers) of the Vivaldi-Bach concerto style is to be found often in Brahms style. Not so, the more sedate Corelli-Handel concerto grosso style.
As mentioned, Brahms would improvise on the piano and organ for hours in the manner of Bach organ writing.
Indeed his final opus contained chorale preludes in homage to Bach.
I can see where a cursory opinion might be formed regarding Handel.
After all, he did write “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel.”
But the consensus among scholars is that Bach is the man.
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I know that the subject of Wagner can be a very volatile one.
If one associates Wagner with Nazism it is inevitable to have a reaction.
I, personally, feel that we have to dissociate the music from the man.
I know music does not exist in isolation. It is intensely human.
But, even though I’m a non-believer, I still think music comes from a higher place.
It exists on a different plane. It’s as though it’s channeled through people and to people on a different level.
People are ephemeral, music is forever.
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Learsfool,
By any chance have you ever come across hornist, Doug Lyons.
He is an extraordinary player.
I once played harpsichord continuo to his flawless rendering of the trumpet part of Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto transcribed to the horn. |
