Classical currently spinning thread

[Geoffwiggle]

Keith - and any other Beethoven Piano Sonata fanatics out there.

Has anybody heard any of the the Paul Lewis set on Harmonia Mundi? There are four multi disc sets with all 32 sonatas on them.

I have read glowing and not so glowing reviews of his playing on these disks. What is unanimous is the quality of the instrument/recording, both said to be absolutely superb.

Brumby, I've got one of the discs with the Tempest sonata and some other middle period ones, and I reckon it's a winner. The recording quality is very good, and Lewis is a really interesting and thoughtful interpreter. Well worth a try.

[Audiobugged]

Playing Beethoven's 4th piano concerto by Lang Lang (not mine). I guess one word sums up this version - Yelch! Enough great performances out there to bother having dramatic actor wannabe hawking his version...

For me Perahia's version for the 4th reigns... for the 5th, Arrau (though technically flawed)

[waricle]

Maria Callas

"Arias I Love" from

Medea

La Vestale

Rigoletto

Un Ballo in maschera

La Sonnambula

Pretty good I must say

in fact I think I will play it again..

Angel vinyl

[waricle]

Glorious!!!!

[Audiobugged]

on a similar thread...

"Maria", by Cecilia Bartolli. GLORIOUS!!!

[diesel459]

Picked up second hand copy(vinyl) in mint condition of Ride of the Valkyries on Sheffield Lab for $15.00 it looks unplayed,i love this piece.

Diesel

[inego]

Any lovers of choral music here? Currently spinning the Harry Christophers recording of the BAch Mass in B minor - mostly because it's an all-time fave, partly bacause I'm singing it later in the year.....

Kent

[Keith_W]

Yeah I love chorale music For the Bach Mass in B Minor, I have in my collection versions by Karl Richter, Otto Klemperer, Helmuth Rilling, The Netherlands Bach Society, Philip Herreweghe, and Robert King.

Do you prefer modern or original instruments? And how big is your choir going to be?

[ATTACH]2775[/ATTACH]

[davidsss]

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No3 performed by the London Symphony Orchesta conducted by Anatole Fistoulari, piano by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

I like Rachmaninov and this is a very good piece of music. Don't have another version to compare this to but it seems well done. Also appears on recent CD releases on Amazon. This version was recorded in 1963 and proudly claims on the cover that it was recorded without cuts!

Appears to be this one:

Mines the same except a different cover and on London records (owned by Decca anyway AFAIK - says printed in the USA so maybe just the USA version).

DS

[Audiobugged]

From memory Ashkenazy recorded this concerto at least twice, possibly 3 times as he was never quite happy with it. There are many many versions of this concerto. I have Ashkenazy's recording as well as Argerich and Rachmaninov playing rachmaninov and Horowitz's first recording in Carnegie in the 1940's (the last 2 have terrible and almost unlistenable sound quality) but I'd say the argerich one is the pick of my lot. If you want to see it live, the upcoming Syd int piano comp is on soon... this is a popular competition piece and if played well is more often than not in the winner's repertoire...

AB

[Catostylus]

Mines the same except a different cover and on London records (owned by Decca anyway AFAIK - says printed in the USA so maybe just the USA version).

Decca used the London moniker for recordings released in the US as someone else owned the "Decca" trademark there.

[Geoffwiggle]

I listened to an Emerson Quartet recording of Schubert's last quartet in G D887 last night. That is one hell of a recording and one hell of a piece. There are some really experimental harmonies in the last movement that left me . I really love late Schubert works. Schumann once described them as having a "heavenly length". They're like test cricket: long and subtle, although the quartet in G is seriously dramatic. I really recommend putting aside an evening to mull over a glass of red and this quartet.

[Gav]

Picked up second hand copy(vinyl) in mint condition of Ride of the Valkyries on Sheffield Lab for $15.00 it looks unplayed,i love this piece.

Diesel

I also have that Album I baught it new in or arround 1981, but my TT is in dry dock at the moment.

That seems quite a bargain for that album I thought the Sheffield Labs vynals were collectables.

[hired goon]

G'day,

For the Goldbergs, I must admit I am quite partial to Andras Schiff's version.

Forgot to ask -- which Schiff Goldberg do you mean? I have his 1983 version but there's also a recent version on ECM.

I really should pick up a complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas set as well. The local JB's has the first Barenboim cycle for $60, and Amazon has the second Kempff cycle for US$58. The Arrau set is US$100 (and also includes the concertos), and the four Paul Lewis volumes would be around US$120. Similarly for the recent Schiff versionson on ECM.

I'm kinda torn between the Kempff and the Arrau, maybe leaning towards the Kempff coz it's cheaper, but then again I'm also looking that has a decent sound as well as a decent performance.

Any votes on which I should get or avoid?

--Geoff

[Keith_W]

HG my Schiff is the 1983 one on Decca. Did not know there was a more recent release. Must go and hunt it down!

As for the Beethoven piano sonatas, I do not have the Kempff box set. I do have individual discs of his, which I admire for his clear, unfussy playing. You can always hear what he is doing, he sounds his notes clear as a bell. His readings are always disciplined - carefully played, no theatrics. At this point you may be wondering if I am describing Alfred Brendel, but at least Kempff has a pulse. (runs and hides)

I would describe the sound as "OK". Not as clean as modern recordings, but then I do not know of any modern recordings I would like to own.

If you are looking for excitement, look elsewhere (Gilels or Richter). Unfortunately Richter never completed the full 32 sonatas. Gilels did most of them and it is available in a boxed set. This would be my pick if you wanted a good mix of sound quality and performance. If you want more lyricism (but put up with mono sound and tape hiss and scratches), get the Schnabel.

I thought I had an Arrau sitting around unloved but just checked. I don't have the Arrau, so I can't comment.

[hired goon]

G'day,

Did not know there was a more recent release. Must go and hunt it down!

More info here.

Thanks for the recommendations on the LvB piano sonatas. I'll find out some more about the Gilels. Is this the box set you mentioned?

Might also pick up a Schubert piano sonatas box while I'm in the mood.

--Geoff

[Keith_W]

G'day,Thanks for the recommendations on the LvB piano sonatas. I'll find out some more about the Gilels. Is this the box set you mentioned?

Mine came in a different box design but yes I think it's probably the same.

[diesel459]

I also have that Album I baught it new in or arround 1981, but my TT is in dry dock at the moment.

That seems quite a bargain for that album I thought the Sheffield Labs vynals were collectables.

Yeah its funny Gav,you can go to some 2nd hand record shops that charge outrageous prices then you come across some bargains like this,i also picked up on the same day another Sheffield Lab recording of Gordon Lightfoot,maybe this shop aren't aware of Sheffield.

Diesel

[Gav]

Yeah its funny Gav,you can go to some 2nd hand record shops that charge outrageous prices then you come across some bargains like this,i also picked up on the same day another Sheffield Lab recording of Gordon Lightfoot,maybe this shop aren't aware of Sheffield.

Diesel

I also have the CD version of it and it comes with Stravinsky Firebird Suite, which I baught more recently, The CD version, is really lacking in Dynamic range compared to the vinyl version, no matter how much better vinyl sounds I just cant get back in to it, you need to spend conciderable time & money to achive narvana with vinyl.

[JCR33]

On Goldberg Variations, anyone heard the strings version?

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1242896/a/Bach%3A+Goldberg+Variations%2F+Nes+Chamber+Orchestra.htm

[Geoffwiggle]

On Goldberg Variations, anyone heard the strings version?

JRC33 No I haven't. The Goldbergs were written for keyboard, so this must be an arrangement by someone other than Bach. Bach's The Art of Fugue, on the other hand, does not specify instruments. Mostly it's played on an organ, but I have a really good version for viol consort performed by Fretwork. Perhaps the Goldbergs would work that way as well. Please let us know.

[Keith_W]

Geoffwiggle, which is your favourite version of the Art of Fugue?

I have the Glenn Gould one which does not include all the fugues. Half the disc is played on organ, and then he repeats some of the fugues on piano. The fugues on organ are very good, Gould has a great sense of counterpoint.

The other version that I like is Zoltan Kocsis on the piano.

[Mr_Gimlet]

I like the Canadian Brass one for brass quintet

[Grumpy]

Hello everyone, fancy seeing all you lot over here.

After hearing and liking some classical music I heard on ABC FM a couple of weeks ago, I have had a yearning for some more.

I must say right from the start I know nothing about the Classics.

Today I had a look through the 100's of classic LP's down at my local junk shop, but I didn't have a clue what to buy.

Well! later today I found in my CD cabinet a Tchaikovsky CD and on it is the famous 1812 Overture. this CD is called 'Tchaikovsky - Festival of hits'. a Readers digest recording with the London Philarmonic conducted by Eric Hammerstein!

I always thought this tune was just that rousing prelude to a couple of big gun shots, but this goes for 14:59 minutes!!

My speakers are a little recessed in the top end, but I could clearly hear a lightly struck triangle amongst the many, many sounds coming from my VAF's and of course some very deep and tight drums (Tympanys?).

I found it interesting that the track first had me thinking I had lost the left speaker, but soon the rest of the orchestra had me seeing-hearing a semi-circle of instruments in front of me.

Some of the 'wind' instruments sounded a little raspy to me, but I suppose that's how they sound.

When the almost 15 minutes was up I called out to the missus to see if she too enjoyed it as much as I did and it was a resounding "it's different but YES"!

I couldn't get the smile of my face .

My appoligies for such a long post but i had to tell someone!!

I was waiting for the HUGE Cannons but they didn't happen - WHY?

[Keith_W]

Grumpy maybe because some versions of the 1812 substitute a kettle drum for the cannons. Think about the logistics of recording a cannon together with an orchestra for a moment, and you can see why very few did it. The famous Telarc 1812 uses recorded cannons - they were recorded seperately and then mixed in with the orchestral music.