New daily deal at eclassical!

[Bob Stern]

I love chamber music, but not this year's choices.

 

I bought the Nielsen clarinet concerto based on good reviews but haven’t listened yet.

[Musicophile]

13 hours ago, austinpop said:

Hmm, is it me, or have this year's Christmas sale offerings been underwhelming? 

 

Lots of chamber and Nordic/Scandinavian music.

I agree. The past years were problematic as they kept repeating themselves, this year they went the way of being more eclectic.

 

Today has a very good one though with Isabelle Faust´s Schumann Violin Concerto. Highly recommended.

 

http://www.eclassical.com/harmonia-mundi/schumann-violin-concerto.html

 

 

[Musicophile]

Its getting better now.

 

The Brautigam Mozart concertos are quite nice, and the Goerne Winterreise is excellent.

[austinpop]

4 hours ago, Musicophile said:

Its getting better now.

 

The Brautigam Mozart concertos are quite nice, and the Goerne Winterreise is excellent.

 

Thanks! My Brautigam collection is growing.

[austinpop]

On 12/17/2017 at 9:21 PM, Bob Stern said:

I love chamber music, but not this year's choices.

 

I bought the Nielsen clarinet concerto based on good reviews but haven’t listened yet.

 

Bob, which Nielsen album was it (link)?

[Bob Stern]

2 hours ago, austinpop said:

Bob, which Nielsen album was it (link)?

 

http://www.eclassical.com/nielsen-clarinet-concerto-wa-mozart-clarinet-concerto.html

 

The performance strikes me as less spiky, more romantic, than one would expect for Nielsen, which may be good or bad depending on your preference.  However, the clarinetist is amazing.

 

If you like Nielsen, two other tips:

 

1.  Dausgaard just recorded symphonies 3 & 4, his two greatest, with the Seattle Sym on their own label.  I haven’t heard it, but Dausgaard's 2006 set with the Danish National Sym on Dacapo is my favorite set of the 6 symphonies.

 

2.  Dacapo, the Danish label, now has a holiday sale at various discounts up to 50%.

[Bob Stern]

@austinpop: If your avatar denotes a love of Mahler, I highly recommend the Dausgaard, Seattle Sym album of the Cooke 2 completion of Mahler's 10th.

[austinpop]

41 minutes ago, Bob Stern said:

 

http://www.eclassical.com/nielsen-clarinet-concerto-wa-mozart-clarinet-concerto.html

 

The performance strikes me as less spiky, more romantic, than one would expect for Nielsen, which may be good or bad depending on your preference.  However, the clarinetist is amazing.

 

If you like Nielsen, two other tips:

 

1.  Dausgaard just recorded symphonies 3 & 4, his two greatest, with the Seattle Sym on their own label.  I haven’t heard it, but Dausgaard's 2006 set with the Danish National Sym on Dacapo is my favorite set of the 6 symphonies.

 

2.  Dacapo, the Danish label, now has a holiday sale at various discounts up to 50%.

 

Thanks for the referrals. I noticed the Nielsen/Mozart is still only $8 and change, so I'm getting it as we speak.

 

Also thanks for the Dacapo label. Any recommendations?

 

37 minutes ago, Bob Stern said:

@austinpop: If your avatar denotes a love of Mahler, I highly recommend the Dausgaard, Seattle Sym album of the Cooke 2 completion of Mahler's 10th.

 

It does indeed! And I am really into Dausgaard after buying his Brahms 1 and 2. I'll look for his Mahler.

[austinpop]

7 hours ago, Musicophile said:

Its getting better now.

 

The Brautigam Mozart concertos are quite nice, and the Goerne Winterreise is excellent.

 

Listened to today's Brautigam Mozart 24/25. Thumbs up! 

[Bob Stern]

Two superb half-price deals today:

 

Bach's Clavier-Übung III by organist Stephen Farr.  Dramatic performance and excellent sound on Resonus label.  Arguably Bach's masterpiece for organ, consisting of 27 preludes or contrapuntal pieces based on chorale themes.

 

Rachmaninoff's piano sonata 1, Balakirev's Islamey, etc by Alexandre Kantarow.  Both lyrical and technically impressive.

[firedog]

On 12/18/2017 at 1:47 AM, austinpop said:

Hmm, is it me, or have this year's Christmas sale offerings been underwhelming? 

 

Lots of chamber and Nordic/Scandinavian music.

Not just you. I've been thinking the same thing.

[Musicophile]

7 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

Two superb half-price deals today:

 

Bach's Clavier-Übung III by organist Stephen Farr.  Dramatic performance and excellent sound on Resonus label.  Arguably Bach's masterpiece for organ, consisting of 27 preludes or contrapuntal pieces based on chorale themes.

 

Rachmaninoff's piano sonata 1, Balakirev's Islamey, etc by Alexandre Kantarow.  Both lyrical and technically impressive.

I just named the Kantorow recording as one of my Top 5 classical albums of the year on my blog. To bad its already gone. https://musicophilesblog.com/2017/12/24/my-top-5-classical-albums-of-2017/

 

Today I highly recommend the Vänskä Beethoven symphony box. Great playing and well recorded. 

 

 

[Bob Stern]

1 hour ago, Musicophile said:

I just named the Kantorow recording as one of my Top 5 classical albums of the year on my blog. To bad its already gone.

 

The half-price deal remains.  This year all the half-price Christmas discounts continue in effect if you go directly to the album page, even though they disappear from the daily page:

 

http://www.eclassical.com/kantorow-alexandre/bis2150.html

 

FWIW, I greatly dislike Vanska's Beethoven.

[Bob Stern]

@Musicophile:  Since you're a big Keith Jarrett fan, have you listened to his Shostakovich preludes & fugues?  Even if you normally consider Shostakovich too somber, Jarrett's performance is quite unusual in making it playful instead.

[Musicophile]

4 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

 

The half-price deal remains.  This year all the half-price Christmas discounts continue in effect if you go directly to the album page, even though they disappear from the daily page:

 

http://www.eclassical.com/kantorow-alexandre/bis2150.html

 

FWIW, I greatly dislike Vanska's Beethoven.

Thanks for flagging about the half price deal. The Kantorow is a must have then. 

 

Interesting: what in particular do you dislike about then Vänskä?

[semente]

5 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

 

The half-price deal remains.  This year all the half-price Christmas discounts continue in effect if you go directly to the album page, even though they disappear from the daily page:

 

http://www.eclassical.com/kantorow-alexandre/bis2150.html

 

FWIW, I greatly dislike Vanska's Beethoven.

Is there a list of all the album's offered this Christmas?

[Bob Stern]

3 hours ago, Musicophile said:

what in particular do you dislike about Vänskä?

 

He consistently avoids big climaxes and grandeur.

 

Otherwise, he doesn’t seem to have a point of view, since his eccentricities vary within a single performance.  Sometimes his phrases are clipped (Sym 9: I) or spastic bursts (Sym 9: IV).  Other times he's simply dull with no phrasing at all (Sym 9: III; Sym 5).

 

For Sym 4, my notes are:  I. Sforzandi exaggerated but OK;  II. Graceless.

[Bob Stern]

1 hour ago, semente said:

Is there a list of all the albums offered this Christmas?

 

No.  I don’t think the prolongation of the discounts was intentional.

[Musicophile]

16 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

 

He consistently avoids big climaxes and grandeur.

 

Otherwise, he doesn’t seem to have a point of view, since his eccentricities vary within a single performance.  Sometimes his phrases are clipped (Sym 9: I) or spastic bursts (Sym 9: IV).  Other times he's simply dull with no phrasing at all (Sym 9: III; Sym 5).

 

For Sym 4, my notes are:  I. Sforzandi exaggerated but OK;  II. Graceless.

Interesting insights. What is your personal reference here for comparison?

[Bob Stern]

8 hours ago, Musicophile said:

What is your personal reference here for comparison?

 

I suppose this disqualifies my opinions, but my references are not very modern.

 

My favorite 4th is Abbado/Berlin 1999, one of the few from the 1999 cycle that I prefer to the 2001 remake in Rome.

 

My favorite 9th is Bernstein/Vienna 1979.

[Musicophile]

1 hour ago, Bob Stern said:

 

I suppose this disqualifies my opinions, but my references are not very modern.

 

My favorite 4th is Abbado/Berlin 1999, one of the few from the 1999 cycle that I prefer to the 2001 remake in Rome.

 

My favorite 9th is Bernstein/Vienna 1979.

Absolutely not. It’s all a matter of personal taste. 

[Jud]

4 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

 

I suppose this disqualifies my opinions, but my references are not very modern.

 

My favorite 4th is Abbado/Berlin 1999, one of the few from the 1999 cycle that I prefer to the 2001 remake in Rome.

 

My favorite 9th is Bernstein/Vienna 1979.

 

Like Bernstein a lot.  My favorite is Solti/Chicago.

[Jud]

On 12/24/2017 at 11:08 AM, Musicophile said:

Thanks for flagging about the half price deal. The Kantorow is a must have then. 

 

Already have the Kantorow, so I bought the Brahms 2nd.

[Bob Stern]

@Jud:  How are you enjoying your new house?  Have you finished moving your furniture and unpacking your tchochkes?

[Musicophile]

On 12/24/2017 at 2:50 PM, Bob Stern said:

@Musicophile:  Since you're a big Keith Jarrett fan, have you listened to his Shostakovich preludes & fugues?  Even if you normally consider Shostakovich too somber, Jarrett's performance is quite unusual in making it playful instead.

This is actually one of my earliest Jarrett recordings and he only one where I put Jarrett on par with other classical pianists.  His other ventures into classical or baroque music are often an acquired taste.