Axiom05 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Just downloaded, will listen tomorrow. But that cover art has got to go... Main System: [Synology DS216, Rpi-4b LMS (pCP)], Holo Audio Red, Ayre QX-5 Twenty, Ayre KX-5 Twenty, Ayre VX-5 Twenty, Revel Ultima Studio2, Iconoclast speaker cables & interconnects, RealTraps acoustic treatments Living Room: Sonore ultraRendu, Ayre QB-9DSD, Simaudio MOON 340iX, B&W 802 Diamond Link to comment
Boris75 Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Today, it's the 4 orchestral suites (Ouvertures) by Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan. I'm adding one more version to my pile of interpretation of these wonderful compositions. Link to comment
lkypeter Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Today, it's the 4 orchestral suites (Ouvertures) by Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan. I'm adding one more version to my pile of interpretation of these wonderful compositions. [ATTACH=CONFIG]19456[/ATTACH] Excellent choice. Bought the sacd few years ago. A very docile reading though. Gradient Revolution mk iv Active Speakers, Gradient Stealth DAC, SOTM SMS200 Network Player, Synology DS 1817+ NAS as filer server, Jriver MC23 OSX as Music Server Software, Mac Mini 2011 as Music Server, JRemote on IOS as Remote Controller Link to comment
Musicophile Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Excellent choice. Bought the sacd few years ago. A very docile reading though. "Docile" is a rather fitting description for many of Suzuki's recordings and probably my only criticism to his otherwise great style. Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
Boris75 Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 "Docile" is a rather fitting description for many of Suzuki's recordings and probably my only criticism to his otherwise great style. I like his "docile" touch in the cantatas, which can otherwise sound a bit rough to my ears. On the other hand, I found that this same character made his B minor mass a bit dull. I'll tell you what I think of his overtures. By the way, ClassicsToday made this recording their reference one for the overtures. Link to comment
accwai Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 [...] ClassicsToday made this recording their reference one for the overtures. I personally like the textual clarity and unity of the Suzuki's performances. The parts feel like they are related and belong together, rather than free for all everybody doing their own thing. Same goes for his Brandenburg Concertos. By the way, Suzuki's second recording of Brandenburg Concertos was only available with this exact version of Orchestral Suites as a 3 disc package. These days with eclassical selling by the minute, it's a moot point. But back in the old days, you're forced to buy the suites again when the concertos first came out. Still mad about it... Link to comment
Boris75 Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 I personally like the textual clarity and unity of the Suzuki's performances. The parts feel like they are related and belong together, rather than free for all everybody doing their own thing. Same goes for his Brandenburg Concertos. By the way, Suzuki's second recording of Brandenburg Concertos was only available with this exact version of Orchestral Suites as a 3 disc package. These days with eclassical selling by the minute, it's a moot point. But back in the old days, you're forced to buy the suites again when the concertos first came out. Still mad about it... Thanks. By the way, since we are talking about textual clarity and the Brandenburg concertos, I recently bought the SHM-CD version of the Brandenburgs by Karajan almost by accident, because it was available second-hand at a very low price, and the BPO and find it very beautiful. The quality of playing is extremely high and the sonic quality surprisingly good; the combination of these two factors means that this recording brings out the polyphony in a way that I rarely (never?) encountered in other versions. Sorry for the OT. Link to comment
lkypeter Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Good to know that I'm in good company about Suzuki as I find his Bach interpretations very consistent that does not shout out for attention. It is very obvious that Suzuki calls the shots Prima donnas are put where they belong. Collected hist entire first 50 CDs of Bach cantatas and they are lovely... Karajan is a great musician but his Brandenburg I find a little rushed. Gradient Revolution mk iv Active Speakers, Gradient Stealth DAC, SOTM SMS200 Network Player, Synology DS 1817+ NAS as filer server, Jriver MC23 OSX as Music Server Software, Mac Mini 2011 as Music Server, JRemote on IOS as Remote Controller Link to comment
accwai Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 [...] Collected hist entire first 50 CDs of Bach cantatas and they are lovely... What's wrong with the last 5? Link to comment
Boris75 Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I'll tell you what I think of his overtures. I really like this recording. I am impressed by the quality of playing Suzuki gets from his Bach Collegium Japan in this album. I have rarely heard HIP orchestras play so precisely. His tempi are sometimes a bit fast, but that's OK. This version becomes my fast reference for these pieces, displacing Fasolis (though Fasolis' recording is very good too in my opinion); Savall's remains my slow reference. I should listen again to the Freiburger, whose version I got some ago but haven't played in a while, to hear how they situate themselves by comparison with Suzuki and Fasolis. Anyway, the real winner in this competition among interpretations is JS Bach; what a genius. Link to comment
edtsui Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Today's Daily Deal is Yevgeny Sudbin's Chopin: I just downloaded and gave it a quick listen. Like it a lot. Link to comment
Boris75 Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Any views on today's daily deal, Brahms' cello sonatas by Pontinen and Théden? Link to comment
Musicophile Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Any views on today's daily deal, Brahms' cello sonatas by Pontinen and Théden?[ATTACH=CONFIG]19568[/ATTACH] Thanks for flagging, I just bought it. I'm still looking for my personal "reference" version on these works, and I don't have anything in highres yet. At $8 the snippets sounded tempting enough. Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
Musicophile Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Thanks for flagging, I just bought it. I'm still looking for my personal "reference" version on these works, and I don't have anything in highres yet. At $8 the snippets sounded tempting enough. Listening to it now. I can really recommend this, very well played. Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
Bob Stern Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Any views on today's daily deal, Brahms' cello sonatas by Pontinen and Théden? It's a solid performance, but Thedéen never rises to the inspiration of Piatigorsky (with Rubinstein, 1966). Piatigorsky plays with numerous subtle inflections that keep the music engaging and unpredictable. Thedéen is very even, with crescendos and diminuendos in broad arcs but almost no inflection from moment to moment. Fanfare magazine critic Jerry Dubins also found Thedéen uninspired. His favorite recording of the sonatas is by Nancy Green and Frederick Moyer on the JRI label. I sampled it on Spotify. It's very slow, but has lots of personality, so it's definitely worth considering. HQPlayer (on 3.8 GHz 8-core i7 iMac 2020) > NAA (on 2012 Mac Mini i7) > RME ADI-2 v2 > Benchmark AHB-2 > Thiel 3.7 Link to comment
Musicophile Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 It's a solid performance, but Thedéen never rises to the inspiration of Piatigorsky (with Rubinstein, 1966). Piatigorsky plays with numerous subtle inflections that keep the music engaging and unpredictable. Thedéen is very even, with crescendos and diminuendos in broad arcs but almost no inflection from moment to moment. Fanfare magazine critic Jerry Dubins also found Thedéen uninspired. His favorite recording of the sonatas is by Nancy Green and Frederick Moyer on the JRI label. I sampled it on Spotify. It's very slow, but has lots of personality, so it's definitely worth considering. Any download source for Piatigorsky? Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
Bob Stern Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Any download source for Piatigorsky? I don't think so. What has been your favorite performance until now? HQPlayer (on 3.8 GHz 8-core i7 iMac 2020) > NAA (on 2012 Mac Mini i7) > RME ADI-2 v2 > Benchmark AHB-2 > Thiel 3.7 Link to comment
Musicophile Posted July 6, 2015 Author Share Posted July 6, 2015 I don't think so. What has been your favorite performance until now? Don't have one yet, still looking. Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
craighartley Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Don't have one yet, still looking. I notice that the Sonata No 2 in F is going to be discussed as the work in the Building a Library section of BBC R3's CD Review this coming Saturday. Link to comment
Musicophile Posted July 6, 2015 Author Share Posted July 6, 2015 I notice that the Sonata No 2 in F is going to be discussed as the work in the Building a Library section of BBC R3's CD Review this coming Saturday. Interesting. The Swiss classical radio station SRF2 did a blind test with external experts some years ago for sonata no. 1, and I think the winner was Isserlis&/Hough, with Thedeen being a close 2nd. Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
Boris75 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Many thanks to Musicophile and Craighartley for your views. Finally, I did not get this recording because I already have quite a backlog of purchased music I haven't had time to listen to, got a remark at home that I am spending too much on music downloads, hesitated and then let the offer slip. Link to comment
Musicophile Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 More out of curiosity I just listened to the latest Grieg piano concerto which is currently on offer by eclassical in 24/96, with Javier Perianes. eClassical - Grieg: Piano Concerto & Lyric Pieces To be fair, I didn't expect much, but I was really pleasantly surprised how good this recording was. Doesn't beat my reference version with Adnsnes, but thoroughly enjoyable throughout. The Perianes is still discounted, and in the meantime my positive opinion of the interpretation was confirmed by both an Editor's Choice by Gramophone and a "Choc" by the French magazine Classica. I've just reviewed it on my blog: Two new recordings of the Grieg Piano Concerto* | musicophilesblog – from Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms As I don't know how long this will stay discounted at e-classical, if you're interested, now may be the time to buy. Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Today's daily deal is Suzuki's recording of Bach's Mass in B Minor -- $10.95 for 24/44.1. Any thoughts? A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
Musicophile Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 Today's daily deal is Suzuki's recording of Bach's Mass in B Minor -- $10.95 for 24/44.1. Any thoughts? Personally, my preferred version is Herreweghe's third recording on Phi (see also here for my review: Can heaven be captured on disc? Bach’s b-minor mass BWV 232 | musicophilesblog – from Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms), but Suzuki does an excellent job on this one, and the b-minor mass is an absolut must have for any classical music collection. See David Hurvitz review, who gives it a 10/10 on Classics Today, and Jens F. Laurson's review on SACD.net, which is a bit more nuanced, but also says that it "ranks among the handful of best recordings made" of the b-minor. Suzuki's B minor Mass - Classics Today http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/4831 Ah yes, and it was a Gramophone Award finalist in it's category. In short, get out your credit card now :-) Check out my blog at musicophilesblog.com - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Thanks, as always. A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
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