Classical Music for Aficionados
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.
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.
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Just heard yesterday of the death of the grear Jessye Norman , she will be sadly missed . Hers is the best rendition of Strauss's Four Last Songs I have ever heard and I have my daughter primed to have Im Abendrot at my funeral. My first live encounter with her was when my pal and I went to the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow to hear Mahler's 2nd Symphony with the SNO.Miss Norman sang the Urlicht and I shall never forget the experience when her voice rose above the orchestra the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Yes she was a one in a million voice. |
I'll repeat some of what I just posted on the jazz thread here, since the Ravel Pavane has been brought up in both. Myron Bloom, the former principal horn of the Cleveland Orchestra in most of Szell's recordings, has died the other day. His Pavane was one of the most beautiful renditions out there- I put it on when I heard of his death. It was on the same LP with the Debussy La Mer. |
You should hear the acoustics rv !jim, I have heard them and they are indeed wonderful . The Pavane has at least a hundred clips on you tube of various combos for the spell-binder . Here is my choice , one instrument playing some of the most spellbinding music I have ever heard . https://youtu.be/YZVqZnq7F4o?t=3 Hint, use best headphones. |
@schubert Len I agree the Ravel is handled beautifully by Richter, if you are looking for a different slant on the Pavan please look up on Idagio John Williams and Julian Bream playing it on two classical guitars it is wonderful . well worth a listen and I have listened to Rachmaninovs The Bells with Pletnev , what a wonderful work. |
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To me Richter got both the tempo and voicing right, the way Ravel wrote his "Pavane" , one of the beautiful pieces ever written , to be played on piano . orchestra, or anything else . Would like opinion of rv or anyone else . This clip was taken in Moscow during a flu epidemic .Correction is welcomed ! https://youtu.be/WsdnHaz90Fw?t=3 |
RV,I am glad you are enjoying Rachmaninov's First with Pletnev and the Fischer's Mahler First. There is also a superb Mahler's Fourth with Fischer and the Budapest Forces also on Idagio and it is so beautifully recorded. I think that is also a superb symphony from Mahler but of all the recordings that Gramophone reviewed and recomended the thing that often bugged me was in the last movement some warbling soprano always spolied it for me. i must say that the new Fischer one has a very acceptable soprano for me because after all it was a child's view of Heaven and he stipulated a soprano with a light childlike voice. Yes I must say I do indeed like Fischer. |
Jim, I’m just now listening to Rachmaninoff’s 1st with Pletnev. I see what you mean. Really authoritative. He brings out so many interesting things and makes it sound like a major symphony. Wonderful! I can really hear the Tchaikovsky influence in this interpretation. What a shame that the first performance, with a drunken Glazunov conducting, messed Rachmaninoff up so much. Also a great pity that this great, great composer wrote so relatively little. Think of how the world would be enriched if circumstances were different, and he had a full life of composing! |
@rvpiano I couldn't agree more RV I think of Mahler's First as an obvious choice for a host of reasons. If he had only written that one symphony then he would still be procaimed a genius. I would also nail my flag to the mast with Rachmaninovs First symphony and remember the composer never heard it again after it's first disasterous performance in fact it was thought lost for many years but I think that one has many things to say. My personal favourite of the Rachmaninof one is Mikhail Pletnev conducting the Russian National Orchestra. |
An interesting thought occurred to me: Ever notice how the “”first” concerto, symphony, sonata etc. by a composer commonly has a youthful freshness to it that is usually delightful. Examples are Schumann’s First Symphony, Beethoven’s First Symphony, Violin Sonata, Piano Concerto, Mahler’s First Symphony, Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto and Symphony, Schubert’s First Piano Trio, etc. Maybe you can think of others. |
Yet another absolute winner from ACRONYM, this time music from the rather obscure 17C Polish/German composer Pezel, his 24 "alphabet sonatas" for a larger than usual string band with continue. Superb playing and recording. If cottage industry operations can produce this kind of quality, I wonder why the big boys sometimes can't. |
jim , what happens here is not a blink of the eye in infinity . Current Christian theology is of a mind there is no hell , just heaven and nothing , And that you can go to latter with you wish to do so with your last breath .I fully except to see you there . P.S . I am fully aware of Knox and his minions , just don't let them win . |
Len , I do admire your faith but I grew up in a schooling system that was strict scottish prespyterianism and it was not a nice faith to young people.John Knox was pushed down your throat nearly every day as our savior from darkness. They just ignored the fact that he was responsible for the death of our rightful Queen Mary Stuart and when I stated the fact in class one day I recieved a thrashing from the teacher then a thrashing from the headmaster and worst of all a thrashing from my father. So my friend I will leave you to your faith and I'm afraid I go to the pit, I just hope they have piped Bach !! |
jim , I can understand you feelings about religion . Heaven knows it is often the first choice of scoundrels of every stripe . I was agnostic myself in my youth. What the light for me was I had two near-death bouts .In both ,as I came back, I realized that it was not that I was not afraid, but that I had been in a place where fear did not exist .There were other signs as well , but that peace was beyond words . The phrase most used in the Bible is "be not afraid." . |
Yes I love his playing , I have heard him live a couple of years ago.He played Beethoven's 4th Piano concerto which was wonderfull and certainly a very big risk in one who is relatively young. I have a few recordings of his playing a host of things. He has recorded the first and second Anees and made a wonderful job of them and instilled a beautiful wistfulness in them with crystaline playing also. If you like Piemontesi there is another player you should listen to it.s Jan Lisieki a Canadian of Polish extract with a beautiful technique the same as Piemontesi. He is in his early twenty's and already he has produced a full set of the Beethoven piano concertos` which I have to say he makes a very good job of and he certainly has illuminated passages that other pianists just smudge. Yes certainly two pianists to watch. |
How true Len how true, I shall have to look for his mass myself and although deeply sceptical of all religions I do admire pious men who do everything in praise of their God and are deeply attatched to earthly human beings. Bach and his contemporaries are the greatest of all human beings and composers just like their counterparts in great art. All you need to do is think of Leonardo and Michaelangelo, they have not been beaten by the centuries that followed them. I don't know about you guys but when I see todays "modern art" I am filled with depression and can only think "why" when I see the awful rubbish that is churned out ad nauseum in both art and music, it really does depress me . Now for some Prozac !! |
Just so, just so jim ! When I knew most of the players of the Berlin R.I..A.S , Blomstedt often filled in and the players really and truly loved him . He was open to what they thought . He is a pious Christian and radiates love towards all . I treasure his 2017 DVD of Bach’s "Mass in b Minor" which Blomstedt sees as Bach’s greatest piece .Both the Dresden Kammerchor and Gewandhaus Leipzig give him their all .I have heard good recordings of this by non-believers, but a true believer just gives more at all levels . |
Len and RV if you would like a good recommendation for a Mahler 3 with an older conductor how about Bernard Haitink with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks on BR Klassiks. Obviously the conducting is beyond reproach and the beauty of tone in the final movement is a wonder to behold. This recording is now my number1 of all the 3's I have. Yes Len I agree with you re Blomstedt he just keeps getting better , I was listening to him playing Beethoven's Symphony No 7 from last year and it was delightful with playing full of charm and fun. These conductors are so loved and revered by their orchestras that they pull out all the stops for them. |
gregm, I can see with your Mahler suggestions you will be a big help on here ! As a Brahms lover the Curzon -Szell is quite good but IMO the sound leaves a lot to be desired .My favorites are a masterpiece with Nelson Freire and the Vienna PO under the great Sir John Barbirolli on Decca . A sleeper is Daniel Barenboim on EMI with Ricardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orch. Great performance with beautiful sound . |
Holloway and Tragicomedia performing Biber's Mystery Sonatas. These have got to be the pinnacle of this genre of music. That the recording is available on a bargain Virgin Veritas 2CD is an added bonus. Podger's competing version is winging its way to me right now; looking forward to making the comparison. |
The same old story , sad to say, sex sells . rv, at our age what we hear is largely what memory the brain has stored of a given LIVE piece ,.aka garbage in garbage out . And how some conductors are better then ever into their 90’s aka Herbert Blomstedt . And why present generations will become essentially robots . |
Mahler con'nued:Mahler -2: Klemperer, Philarmonia (EMI) / Klemperer, Concertgebouw (Guild)Mahler - 4: Mengelberg, Concertgebouw, (gripping; historical rec from late 30s, Archipel) // B Walter, NYSO, (Sony classical)// Klemperer live, Philarmonia (EMI) For Brahms piano concerto, keep the Curzon-Szell version on your list: intense & dramatic! |