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.
Actually, Rachmaninoff became so depressed after the first performance of the First Symphony because of adverse criticism, he stopped composing for a while and never returned to it. It’s the First Concerto that he revised later on in life. The Symphonic Dances are indeed a departure from his usual style.
Finally getting around to listening to the Currentzis Mahler 6. After the overwhelming Tchaikovsky Pathetique it was a must-listen. So, not as transformative, but interesting nevertheless.. Tempos are generally brisk in movements 1 and 2, with just occasional moments of noticeable rubato. His orchestra is incredibly together, and the Sony recording is very fine. There are a number of details of the score that come through more clearly here than any other recording I know. The slow movement is superlative (but then I'm a sucker for Mahler's slow movements). It's different to Bernstein, but I'll definitely want to listen to it again. Here the tempo is "just right", and the slow ebb and flow and ultimate build to the climax perfectly judged--definitely not just a long sentimental bonbon--more truly emotionally draining. (Barbirolli: remember, each piece of music only has one climax.)
Has anyone else heard it? I'd be curious to get your impressions.
It was RV who introduced me to Currentzis. For the most part, I like his interpretations. The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is one of my new favorites. I listened to an album of Micheal Gielen that had two performances of the Mahler 6th, both were quite different from the other. Check it out. My fav is the Horenstein performed live- That audience is sooo quiet. Bob
rvpiano -- Yeah! That Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn recording is indeed my favorite record of all time. I have three copies -- one CD and two Vanguard LPs (my wife accidentally put a scratch in my first one and guiltily tracked down another). Thanks to my recent purchase of a Mytek Brooklyn Bridge DAC, the CD is now just as emotionally involving as the vinyl. Mahler's music and the artists' performances, especially those of bass-baritone Heinz Rehfuss, act as a time-machine, effortlessly transporting me back to a lush, magical, sometimes terrifying ancient Europe.
The "Great Recording of the Century " Mahler 6th with Sir John Barbirolli and the New Phil lives up tothe title . On adigio with the bonus of R.Strauss "Metamorphosen"
On maturer reflection: it's clear that there's some compression going on in the Sony recording. This is a bad thing and a good thing. I initially warmed to it, because I was able to set one volume at the opening of the first movement, and didn't have to fiddle with the remote again.
On the other hand, it certainly takes away from some of the more massive dynamic contrasts. The problem is that with other recordings I often find myself riding the volume on the remote control, effectively providing my own spur-of-the-moment compression. When then loudest fff are set not to break the speakers, the pp passages aren't as audible as I'd like. Hmmm.
jcazador (and others of like mind) Your comment to me on 10/6 "...peaceful, my kind of music" caused me to think of you when I finished listening to my most recent acquisition. This is a recording by Lara Downes on Steinway & Sons titled "For Love of You. Clara and Robert Schuman". I bought this because I like her music and I follow her as other recordings of that label. I had no great expectations, in fact I had a major reservation - I had burned out long ago of that highly regarded war horse, his Piano Concerto.
Short version - I was drawn in and swept away by the program, her performance and the recording quality. The piano concerto is the most gentle version one can imagine and reflects the spirit of the program. This is, really, a program which engages and relaxes simultaneously. I cannot endorse it more highly to you.
Speaking of the Schumann Concerto, here is the 11 year old Martha Argerich playing it in a decidedly UNgentle manner that someone just sent me. Miraculous for an 11 year old.
Thanks Newbee, will try to find that recording. Just read a wonderful piece about Bach!
"I’ve talked to people who feel they know Bach very well, but they aren’t
aware of the time he was imprisoned for a month. They never learned
about Bach pulling a knife on a fellow musician during a street fight.
They never heard about his drinking exploits—on one two-week trip he
billed the church eighteen gorchsen for beer, enough to purchase eight gallons
of it at retail prices—or that his contract with the Duke of Saxony
included a provision for tax-free beer from the castle brewery; or that
he was accused of consorting with an unknown, unmarried woman in the
organ loft; or had a reputation for ignoring assigned duties without
explanation or apology. They don’t know about Bach’s sex life: at best a
matter of speculation, but what should we conclude from his twenty
known children, more than any significant composer in history (a
procreative career that has led some to joke with a knowing wink that
“Bach’s organ had no stops”), or his second marriage to twenty-year-old
singer Anna Magdalena Wilcke, when he was in his late thirties? They
don’t know about the constant disciplinary problems Bach caused, or his
insolence to students, or the many other ways he found to flout
authority. This is the Bach branded as “incorrigible” by the councilors
in Leipzig, who grimly documented offense after offense committed by
their stubborn and irascible employee." more here: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/js-bach-rebel
Laura Downes here, but you have to get thru the introduction Pianist Lara Downes Plays Clara Schumann and More! Live from the WRTI 90.1 Performance Studio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJfa5OBOff8
Newbee, thanks My favorite recording of Schumann romances is still Tatiana Nikolayeva It is part of "Russian Piano School" series BMG Classics 74321 332132
This is what can be done with very young children and nobody else does it !
https://youtu.be/IcsgOIAcypQ?list=RDIcsgOIAcypQ&t=1 There are two bands with an add between . Second is full Symphonic playing wonderful with no sheets , a miracle from ELEMENTARY kids !!!! Shame on the rest of us .
@schubert Len you are so right , the young mind is fantastic at storing all sorts of things and music is right up there at the top of the pile. Well done ladies.on a a different note i have looked at the you tube clip you sent me and I really enjoyed it taking me back to The White Heather Club in the sixties with Andy Stewart and the Ian Powrie Fiddle Band. Stirring stuff indeed.Hope you have a good weekend. Jim.
There is no record of Debussy attending school, and his father had him
down for a life as a sailor. His musical talent was discovered by
chance. In 1871, his father was arrested for participating in the Paris
Commune, and in jail became friends with a musician, Charles de Sivry,
whose mother – Antoinette-Flore Mauté – was a talented pianist and
teacher who claimed to have been a pupil of Chopin’s (as it happened,
she was also Verlaine’s mother-in-law). It was Madame Mauté who
recognised Debussy’s exceptional musicality. She gave him piano lessons
and a year later, aged ten, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire,
the youngest candidate then to be offered a place.
, , ,
He sought to compose music that was expressive and beautiful, and he
grounded it in the quality of his ear and in his musical intuition. It
wasn’t only that he was restlessly bored with formulaic solutions to
composition, but that he felt music had become too noisy and too
rhetorical, and that in its high claims to various kinds of content –
religious, cod-religious (Wagner), philosophical, psychological,
sociopolitical, whatever – music had forgotten its origin in sound. The
racket and bombast of much late 19th-century orchestral and operatic
music distressed him. It was as if he couldn’t hear himself think, or
rather, as if he couldn’t hear himself hear. Debussy’s music is capable
of wonderful gaiety, exuberance, jubilation, ecstasy; yet, given his
preoccupation with sound, it was inevitable that an unusual proportion
of his work – compared to that of other composers of his time – would
sit at the quieter end of the dynamic spectrum, as Stephen Walsh points
out, and it’s one of the reasons it is difficult to perform well: the
modern concert piano is incapable of the differentiations of pianissimo
that Debussy asks for, and the subtle discriminations of his orchestral
works, such as La Mer and Jeux, pose big challenges
for even the best players (and for conductors: Boulez, the finest
interpreter of Debussy’s orchestral works, described titrating the tone
of Jeux as a matter of hair’s breadth musical judgment).
Just listening to a great interpretation of Elgar's Enigma Variations which may interest you guys . It's the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by, Vasily Petrenko. Must say I am liking it , the slow movements are handled with great tenderness and the rip rollicking ones are very stirring.
A couple of days ago listened to the Bryden Thomson Enigma on Chandos and liked it a lot. Will have to hunt down that other one. Then I will never eradicate the Nimrod earworm.
A stellar rendition of one of the very greatest Chamber pieces . The piece itself is beyond comment . May not be otherwise be recorded ? https://youtu.be/g3k81__bwrM?t=13
For pure joy on Vanguard the Eugene List The World of Louis Moreau Gottschalk along with Grand Tarantelle with Nibley and A Night in the Tropics with Abravanal is a must have. Less weighty but it will make you very happy.
For a truly ear opening experience, listen to Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique performed on original instruments from 1830, by Francois-Xavier Roth and his group Les Siècles. Of course this work was a true revolution in sound when it was written, but not quite as magniloquent as when it’s played on modern instruments. It really is instructive to hear it with the sonorities of the time in which it was written. Not quite as bombastically fantastic as we usually hear it, but revolutionary and extraordinary nonetheless.
@rvpiano RV you might like to know that Roth has another great recording on Idagio at the moment, it's Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra this time with SWR Sinfonie Orchestra. He also plays a piece of Strauss that is so often overlooked Aus Italien. Both pieces deserve a listen.
I may be a little late on this post but I have a small obsession with Rachmaninov’s symphonies and my favorite recording of his first is by Ashkenazy with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. London. 1984. DDD411657-2
recluse, One of the best versions IMHO. This and his recording of Symphonic Dances have been my favorites since they first came out (on Vinyl).
Roxy, do you have the companion recording of some of his solo piano music, titled "Banjo". I think Eugene List nailed this music, really brings it to life like no others (of which I'm aware) . :-)
The recent outpouring of enthusiasm for Rachmaninov inspired me to embark on a run-through of his work. Listening now to symphony no. with Litton, which sounds good to me and seems to get good reviews. Besides Ashkenazy, do you like anyone else? Jansons? Or?
I love Mariss Jansen's Rachmaninov especially the Symphonic Dances which he endows with gargantuan dynamic contrasts and to my mind lends itself to the work. He also seems to get the absolute best out of the many orchestras he conducts.
After living through so many years of denigration by music’s so called keepers of the art, Rachmaninoff’s time has finally come. There was a time he was shunned as second class “pop” classical music. Now, all genres of his music are performed regularly on stage and recording studios. Ashkenazy is probably my favorite interpreter. But there’s no lack of good performers of his work. I particularly like Pletnev as both conductor and pianist. He is a true lover of Rachmaninoff. Historically, his colleague, Eugene Ormandy’s renditions are wonderful. Also, Andre Previn.
favorite musicians playing Rachmaninov: Rachmaninov himself, Richter,
Gilels, Gavrilov,
Sofronitsky,
Berman,
Ashkenazy,
Sokolov,
Berezovsky,
Argerich, Bolet,
Biret, Trifonov, Rubinstein,
Diev, Angelich, Osborne, Kissin, Weissenberg, Grimaud, Lugansky, Graffman, Wild, Pizarro, Volodos, Ogdon, Cherkassky, Shelley, Van Cliburn. Btw, there are some excellent documentaries: Rachmaninoff Documentary The Harvest Of Sorrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWG9euFgJ0U Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff Documentary Part 01 of 07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIee4loMEWo BBC The Joy of Rachmaninoff Documentary 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHiUBBy2eMk
@Schubert Len I am just listening to Arkadi Volodos playing Schubert's Piano Sonata in A Major D959 and what a job he makes of it . It is on Idagio at the moment and well worth a listen, also the sound is exemplary .
Yes, I was just going to post a reference to that Volodos performance myself! What a beautiful performance from this musician who first made his name with his incomparable transcendental technique.
On to Rach #2, Previn. The Telarc soundstage took a little getting used to: very wide, quite distant, but not very deep. Have to admit I’m enjoying #2 more than #1--the highlight there was actually Litton’s Isle of the Dead.
I’ve been listening to Currentzis Tchaikovsky 6th and while I find some aspects of it enjoyable (spotlight miking of instruments) while other aspects such as overuse of EQ and heavy compression ruin the whole piece. Close miking of strings make them sound very sharp and aggressive for the lack of a better word. Zero dynamics in all 4 movements. The intensity of playing has no correlation to the volume. I think the mixing engineers overshadowed currentzis here. It was probably made to sound great in AirPods. This guy definitely polarizes opinions. I'm thinking about attending his debut in NYC in November.
Daniil Trifanov just came out with a CD destination Rachmaniov featuring Rach 3 and Rach 1. It’s available on Tidal. His 2nd and 4th concertos released earlier this year were quite good. Not sure what to make of his interpretation of the 3rd. I expected more from Trifanov. Has anyone heard it? Thoughts?
Khatia Buniatishvili’s Rach 3 blew me away. I believe the Russians are unmatched when it comes to Rachmaninov. Matsuev, Volods, Gavrilov, Gilels. All superb in my opinion. Not a fan of Rachmaninov’s own recording of his concertos. I don’t think he was pleased with them either.
I’ve been enjoying Volodos and Schubert. Also like Sofronitsky’s Schubert (the art of Sofronitsky). Are there any other sonically good recordings of Sofronitsky? Any other masters of Schubert ?
I find Trifanov’s performance of the 1st and 4th Concertos effective but the 2nd and 3rd not so much. Its as though he’s sleepwalking through the 3rd, perhaps trying to be original. Volodos’ rendering is wonderful. Katia is quite an imaginative pianist with a dazzling technique.
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