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.
Re: Jean Martin Glad you liked it. Consider Martin's Faure, mostly nocturnes + romances, preludes. I downloaded a 5 cd collection, 2 of the cds were Martin, exquisite; the others were Volondat de Hooge, which I did not appreciate as much. Also: his rendiction of Stephen Heller preludes Opp. 81 and 150. Marco Polo 8.2234.34 I read that he has recorded a lot more, but have not found yet.
Jeremy - I have looked up the Laurent Martin recording of Alkan's Esquisses and find it to be a lovely recording both in the playing and in the recording ( thanks for th tip ). My friend at one time had Martin playing The Alkan 25 Preludes and I found it to be too slowly played for my liking and unfortunately that kind of made me shy away from anything Martin did but I have found a new interest in him again ( thank you Idagio ).I think I shall record some of his stuff onto my desktop this weekend. Have I ever mentioned to any of you how to get recordings for free ( after you have paid for the App though ) . This is an App called Sound Tap which you download onto your PC then open whichever streaming app you use and record what is playing through "for me it's Idagio" and once the stream is finished you have a facimile of the stream and I can't hear a difference between the stream and the recording. It also saves you downloding crappy Mp3 files from dodgy sites.
What a great recital, you seem to have heard them all. Love Berezovsky, have his Liszt, Hindemith, Rachmaninov, and a couple of live recitals, including Godowsky. One of these is a video of a recital at La Rogue d'Antheron. I am in awe of Hamelin including the Four Ages you mention, that cd includes Sonatine, Barcarolle, Le Festin D'Escope. Also have his Symphony for solo piano, Salut, Alleluia, Super flumina Babylonis, and Souvenirs. Also Concerto for Solo Piano (Music and Arts Program of America CD-724). Sometimes I find Hamelin overwhelming, he seems to choose the most difficult music to record.
Jeremy I think you and I have a love of the same things pianistically , I have allways loved the 19th century hyper virtuoso composer pianists and Alkan being one I am especially fond of . If you have the interest of getting more Alkan look at the wonderful recordings of Marc-Andre Hamelin on Hyperion. the one I would espescially draw you to is Alkan's the Four Ages of man , Hamelin does a herculean task here of just getting through the welter of notes on offer. What he also does is offer it in a way that he makes it all cohesive which is also needed in my favourite pianist composer Franz Liszt. With Liszt his music demands a virtuoso with a transcendental technique so that he or she can then make musical sense of it . I am quite sure by now some of you are saying what sense IS there in his music as a lot of the players today are taking on things that are way above the technique they have available. Heven knows I have been to many concerts that I heartilly wished that the ground would open up and swallow them (some of them were big names)One of the greatest virtuosos I have ever witnessed live was Boris Beresovsky a great bear of a man who I witnesed playing Mussorgsky's Pictures and other Russian composers. It was a stinking night and I drove from Ayr to Edinburgh in rain so bad my wipers couldn't cope with . I eventually got to The Queen's Hall with literally minutes to spare and it was a particularly small audience that night and when Beresovsky walked on and saw the audience he couldn't hide his disappointment. He then pointed to his watch and said he would be back in 5 minutes. He went backstage and told the management to invite all the people upstairs to come below and fill the bottom half meaning it was much more cosy. The people did not know what they had let themselves in for it was literally the most exciting piano recital I have ever attended. He started off with some Lyadov then Glasunov and then some other composers I can't recall but he came back on in the second half with Pictures and I was in awe of how one person could get that amount of sound and nuaunce from a model D Steinway. Some of the young women in the audience were actually holding their ears during The Great Gate of Kiev. After three encores he came back onstage and treated us to the best Islamey I have ever heard the speed of it was unbelievable and not a splt note or mistake anywhere. Yes that was indeed a night to remember.
Jim Re: Shostakovich Preludes So many wonderful recordings! If I had to choose a favorite, it is Ashkenazy,24 Preludes and Fugues, op 87, Decca 466 956-2
If anyone likes the music of Alkan I would recomment a disc by Olli Musstonen on Decca playing Akans 's 25 Preludes and Shostakovich's 24 Preludes. I love that recording.
The world nowadays is full of talented pianists but it is what they do with the notes rather than the velocity of them that interest me. What do I think of Christina Ortiz well she is a very clean pianist but she certainly is no Martha Argerich.
So what do you piano mavens think of Cristina Ortiz? She sounds pretty good to me in the Stenhammar #2 (which, curiously, strikes me as better recorded/engineered than the matching #1).
Vox made a really nice set of Romantic Piano Concertos years ago. It had a lot of Micheal Ponti, buy also other pianists. My Fav is the Rubenstein #4. @schubert , What is '
combo of iI duce and maggy'? Did Mussolini go to Minnesota? Bob
Jeremy I see where you are commig from but I shall not say any more on the Scottish Question as I don't want to get blamed for highjacking the thread so please all forgive me.On a completely different tone I see from twoleftears he has dusted off the Busoni. I have been fascinated by him for since I can remember, I love his Bach/Busoni transcriptions especially the Great Chaconne which is one of my all time favourite piano pieces. I am not too keen on a lot of his original material however I give his Fantasia Contrapuntistica an airing every now and then and I do like it a lot. If you want to explore more of his Bach outings I can recomend a disc by Nikolai Demidenko on the Hyperion label on which he does the ubiquitous BWV565 to great aplomb but he does many other great Fantasies and Fugues also and with hyper virtuousity to boot.
Jim forgot to mention, I share your view of classical music post Shostakovich My teacher once said: "if it is not in tune and it is not in time, then it is not music."
Your comments on Scotland and education are very interesting, so I hope none will be offended if we wander outside of classical music. I have never been to Scotland, but that is where 75% of my ancestors came from (the Sutherland clearances) and I feel a connection. I know so little of the reality, e.g. about schools, that I do not pass judgment. However, in the grand scheme of things governmental/political I firmly believe that Scotland has no need for Trident. And it has no need for any governance but its own.
Schubert You should see Ayr today Len it is a very sad place . The unemployment rate is huge and there are hardly any shops open in the High St. The pavements of the place are begging points for Romanians and Roma gypsies. I had a laugh the other day when a known MUSLIM tried to sell me a pro Christian pamphlet which in itself is freely given out for nothing and when I told her to piss off she literally swore every swearword known in Arabic. So I don’t think I shall get into her version of heaven ( Lucky me )
UK public education is similar to US model . If your economy rests on buying scraps of paper from someone who then sends you an I.O. U . you’d better keep them dumb . Even in private schools they neglect that .
I like some composers , like the Great Leos Janacek ,who use dissidence but with him it is logical with what he has to say which is a lot . Simple truth was revealed to me at uni by an eminent French philosopher . She said none born in the age of TV and rock will ever have the clarity of mind to write something like Bach or Mozart . Brain is rewired .
I spent a night in Ayr after landing at Preswick for the sole purpose of the Bobby Burns museum , you could do a lot worse laddy .
Schubert Funny about Benedetti but she was educated in my hometown of Ayr and I have seen her many times in Ayr as well shopping with her mum. She went to a swanky private school for girls in the town and I am glad she won the BBC competition Young Player of The Year as that got her away from the stupid education system of this country and into a whole new area where art is first and foremost. A couple of years ago she helped The international composer now James McMillan with a festival that he organised in his hometown of Cumnock about 13 miles from our town. I went to one of their concerts and Miss Benedetti played the Chaconne of Bach and very well she did it. The other stuff in the program was definitly not to my taste, I cannot stand music that I cannot hear at least the gist of tonallity in it. I have often been chided about my tastes in music but I really have no interest is any music after Shostakovitch. I used to go to subscription concerts in Glasgow and they used to have the experimental music on first and after the piece was over there was a scramble of people rushing into the hall to get their place for the next piece on the program. I am glad I am an old retired gentleman now as I won't have to stomach that swill for too much longer.
It not that I don’t like other violinists , I am in love with Nicola Benedetti, almost broke my dial finger when I heard she was coming to Minneapolis last year and bought the best seat in the house .
Of course the fact that she is 200% Scottish and has done so much in general for my DNA land had something to do with it . But I could make a list of dozens of others . I went hundreds of miles to hear Milstein and Oistrakh both of whom who I still listen to often and so on and so forth .
The simple home truth is than God gave Julia Fisher the entire package .
Thank you Lord !
P.S . rv, I put the Glazunov toward the top as well though Brahms is my smack dab tops . What makes the Glazunov so great is the same thing that makes the Brahms great , it is in superb taste .
So many sound like honey dripping off Perlman’s bow .
You are bang on about Julia Fischer she is by far the greatest violinist of ourtimes with musicality in every stroke of the bow. I can only name one more in her class and to me that is Maxim Vengerov who is every bit her equal technically but she I think has it in tone control . I have never heard he play a wrong note and her intonation is spot on ( I cannot say that for a lot of her superstar pals).
Thank you so much for alluding to Julia Fisher and the Glazunov. Her performance made me fall in love with that magnificent concerto all over again. The very pinnacle of Romanticism!
I don’t think I’ve ever gone out this far on a branch , in private or in public as I am about to .
I’ve listened to about every Glazunov Violin Concerto(and others) ever made in the last month or so .
Julia Fisher is the greatest violinist in modern times , She simply makes, name who you will , seem like an also ran . She does things no one else can .Never forces a note , tone steady form the lowest to the highest note, nonpareil control of harmonics, a natural ability to balance with the orchestra , magnificent dynamics with vitality and perfect inflection in every note . Similar to Mozart in her ability to make you think it could be no other way . For starters .
Of course I could be wrong and we all like who we like .
Now listening to Kondrashin Mahler 9, downloaded last night.It is in a set of Mahler Symphonies 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9. Also downloaded the Bamberg, but with Jonathan Nott. Tudor 7162 (Austria) There is another download that has 40 different orchestras!
Mahler 9: on the shelf I have Walter, Barbirolli, Klemperer, Karajan, Bernstein, Zander, and Fischer. Where would KK lie; what does he bring to the table?
I'm just listening to a very well recorded and executed Mahler - Symphony No 9 from Herbert Blomstedt and Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. I have to say I am enjoying it as it is not as frenetic as Solti and not as leaden as Klemperer . It is very well recorded except for a bit of squeezed dynamics which is perfectly understandable considering the massive dynamics of the work in the first place.
In the interview, Rana describes her childhood and family. She lived with her parents until she was 18 years old, and outside of being a prodigy, her life was very normal. Argerich had a very different childhood. Recognized in Argentina as a prodigy, Peron created a job for Argerich's father as a consular officer in Vienna so that she could study with recognized teachers (Gulda was first). So she had no continuity of social life or friends, and she has explained how difficult this was for her.
Rana couldn't have anyone any better than Argerich to look up to. I always remember a quip by Barenboim who was having lunch one day with Arthur Rubinstein when old Rubinstein brought up Martha Argerichs name when they were discussing pianists. Arthur said what a fabulous player she was but why did she always play so fast and Barenboim was quick to reply say ing "because she can!!" Barenboim heard a muffled whisper from Rubinstein "Touche".
Hi Jeremy I had a look at Rana on your link and it is not the same performance of the Liszt Sonata as I have one from The Wigmore Hall and recorded by the BBC which is maybe not recorded as per normal standards of the up to date quallity but is perfectly acceptable. I’m afraid I recorded it onto my PC and I listen from there so it is not availlable to the public as a CD or download file.
Ernest Ansermet and the Suisse Romande, I remember great recordings of opera ballet music from them. Le Cid is one that I still recall. And, yes, well recorded. bob
jim204, Can you provide details on the recording by Rana that you mentioned. I don't have it and can't identify/locate it. I have her Van Cliburn Competition disc and will be getting her Chopin/Scriabin disc. She really is quite good and I look forward to following her a bit.
Jeremy - Beatrice Rana , have a listen to her Liszt B Minor Sonata, it is utterly spelbinding from start to finish and I don't usually say that about pianists under thirty.I will have to give the Lyapunov's a listen to again, must be thirty years since I listened last.Nielsens Symphonies have been quite sporadic with me sometimes when the mood hits me I will give No 6 an airing as I like some of the jaunty tunes in it as well as that nice touch of vinegar.
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