I would like to start a thread, similar to Orpheus’ jazz site, for lovers of classical music. I will list some of my favorite recordings, CDs as well as LP’s. While good sound is not a prime requisite, it will be a consideration. Classical music lovers please feel free to add to my lists. Discussion of musical and recording issues will be welcome.
I’ll start with a list of CDs. Records to follow in a later post.
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor. Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Vanguard Classics — Vienna Festival Orch. Prohaska, conductor. Prokofiev: Scythian Suite et. al. DG — Chicago Symphony Abbado, conductor. Brahms: Symphony #1. Chesky — London Symph. Orch. Horenstein, conductor. Stravinsky: L’Histoire du Soldat. HDTT — Ars Nova. Mandell, conductor. Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances. Analogue Productions. — Dallas Symph Orch. Johanos, cond. Respighi: Roman Festivals et. al. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.
All of the above happen to be great sounding recordings, but, as I said, sonics is not a prerequisite.
Jim , The Highlands would be like this if they had not been raped . State of New York ruled the Adirondacks would be Forever Wild , over a century ago . A 6 million acre park .
I spend much of my youth about 50 miles North in the Park , just a wild and about 50 miles from Montreal as the crow flies. Many Canadians hike here or did before the virus .
Lake George is 40 miles long and 600 feet deep. I once caught a 30 lb Pike . A favorite place of rich Swiss who say it's the most beautiful lake in the world .
@schubert Yes Len she is a really good fiddler now since her days as a new generation artist at the Beeb. I think I told you before that she was educated in the same town I live in and I used to see her and her mum shopping on a Saturday morning in the High Street. A couple of years ago James McMillan (the composer) opened a music festival in Cumnock his birth place about 10 miles from me and Nichola was there and I heard her play the Bach Chaconne and very impressive it was. It sure was great being about ten feet from a very beautiful Strad. re. Annie Fisher's Beethoven ,very exciting on a par with Richter, just a pity about recording quality which could be variable.
I am listening to Annie Fischer's complete Beethoven piano sonatas (Hungaroton CDs). If you prefer your Beethoven piano full-bodied and fiery -- as I do -- rather than cool and classically restrained, Fischer has to be a top choice.
The state of this country is an absolute disaster Len. I see auld Lizzie was up in Edinburgh today for the state opening of parliament, here's hoping she and me shall still be around for the dissolution of the whole sorry mess.
Canada was a haven for run-away American Slaves and refused to give them back and refused to allow any in Canada itself . Some Americans still resent this . Most don’t .
Schubert, I agree with you re: Kleiber's Brahms 4th. A great performance. Kleiber's Beethoven 5 and 7 are also among the greatest classical recordings. And there is a live Kleiber Beethoven 4 that is equally great -- the 4th is an under appreciated work of genius, and Kleiber does it justice.
The best to my hears is the LSO with Solti on Decca .
Solti made a good 1-9 with the Chicago , but the LSO is better .
The 5th seems the most loved .There is one by Barbirolli's with New Phil as a EMI " Great Recordings of the Century " that is one of the best anything I have heard !
I'm just getting acquainted with Mahler. I have Mahler 4 with the NYPO and Bernstein. I am thinking of getting the complete cycle by Bernstein and the NYPO, just to get started. $32 on amazon.
This Great American Conductor , Jo Ann Falletta , has made the rust-belt Buffalo Symphony into a first-class orchestra for 25 years , and she will stay till she retires if she does.
Yes, I've seen the famous pic of the Brit / Canadian when the ramp went down. What I have never understood is, why that beach was not a gigantic wall of napalm from end to end. We not only had Air Superiority, we had Air Dominance!
With all the firepower at hand, no one should have been killed by machine gun fire on that beach. Our ground attack fighter planes should have been dropping napalm, at tree top level, right up until the ramps dropped.
Canadians: The British were much more aware of and concerned about British causalities, then they were Canadian losses. Dieppe etc...
They buy American, but they make sure it's assembled in Japan. :)
They sure are buying a LOT of F-35s.
One of the problems with the Military / Industrial complex is, they must continually make "better" stuff. They can never afford to shut down the assembly lines. Hell, the F-15 is better than anything else in the world except our own latest planes.
But, history has taught us that there is a high price to pay for having second best equipment on the battlefield. Such as, German armor in Normandy.
@twoleftears The recording is different from the commercial one in that the Albert Hall one is more improvisatory and has much more second repeat decorations. So all in all it satisfies two camps, the traditional and the improvisatory. I am glad I now have the two.
Last night I listened to Pavel Kolestnikov play Bach's Goldberg Variations and have to say it wasn't half bad.The performance was from the Proms and on the BBC Radio 3 catch-up player. The sound from the Albert Hall was not ideal because of that bloody fountain trickling away all evening. On the other hand Kolestnikov's playing was at times fascinating and exciting and absolutely sublime. He had an improvisatory style which was fascinating and sometimes so fast that one thought his fingers would run away with him but he never made any slips.I have listened to the Goldbergs' all my life and have never heard such a florid account but in the main I really enjoyed the performance. It is such a shame that there is no way to send recordings to each other as I can and do record a lot of these BBC one offs and therefor I have a great collection of recordings which very few people have access to.
True. The Japanese were always excellent at sea warfare.
Wiki: China is bordered by 14 countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam. Furthermore it shares maritime borders with Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
That list includes four nuclear powers. The last thing they need or want is some kind of conflict with the West. Their last adventure in Vietnam was a disaster. Even bigger than ours. They now have frequent
skirmishes
with India on their common border.
BTW, the thing I sent about 1CD, listed units from the world war ll era.
His Quintet in C may be his Best . Sound could be better this but how Lindsay treats Schubert is there . The sound on record comes in about 20 seconds .
Olaffson is highly skilled, and has excellent taste. I think his Philip Glass recording is the best piano Glass I've heard. But his Bach is rather boring, and his Debussy and Rameau lack life and verve. For Rameau, I prefer Angela Hewitt. For Debussy, try the incomparable Arturo Michelangeli.
Len , I haven't listened to that kind of stuff for years but I listened to your clips plus many associated clips and found that my fingers were playing the notes of those tunes and yes there was a tear in my eye also.
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