My Essential Classical Albums.

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2 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

No hate...) I can imagine why people would believe Gould is not relevant anymore, and, of course, anybody would and should have its own opinion about anything he or she likes. Also, our preferences may ground on very different criteria. One of the reasons I like Gould is his "otherness", his intention and ability to see and play everything in his very own way. And he was very organic within realms of his unique world. And, I would never doze while listening his recordings)))

You wouldn't be the first to get lost in the goings on and start humming along with the barefooted genius.  

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Your русский pique, Meloydiya discs, etc are wearying

  

Hum along, or don't, as you wish.  The mannerism is well documented as having limited interest in professionally recording him.  Which has a very direct bearing on his legacy being directly associated to a single work.  

 

 

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I remember c.1990 walking into the music section of a local store.  The classical section, while not large, was always well stocked with a good mix of new releases and performances that never go out of print.  This time was different.  The classical new releases were all right out front with the heavy metal and soft rock.  Bodices, upscale lingerie, provocative body language, () the classical albums managed to out sleaze metal and sell borderline disrespectful sex better than the slow dancing soft rock albums.  It was so disruptive to my world view I didn't listen to a lick of classical for a good decade or more.  

 

Yuja Wang in her shocking red dresses and David Garrett airing out his sheets are just one more example of (NSFW) this coming around again.(NSFW)  Tom Jones is headlining at The Proms in support of the anniversary of some debauched tour if that gives you any further idea the tactics currently in play to drum up interest in classical music.  Sales of recordings are awful and letting old people decide ways to attract youth into the concert hall isn't working so hot either, internationally.  Old money will win out as it always does in this world and everyone will be back to living in luxury hotels and taking private cars to their performance.       

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3 hours ago, Boris75 said:

 I agree this "Making Out on Mozart" CD is ridiculous, but in my opinion Yuja Wang's dresses are tasteful; they enhance the enjoyment from the performance, from a very high starting point, as her artistic talent is immense. I very much enjoy her CDs. I was also dazzled when hearing her in concert a couple of years ago. By the way, in that concert, she was wearing a very long dress.

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Especially in the conservative sphere of classical music.  Her dresses are a completely appropriate response that adds to her already phenomenal performance at the piano.  Albeit in this case one that served to illuminate how quickly red can be turned to blue within the space of a single sentence.    

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When I started getting back into back classical a few years back.  I set out one defining purpose to cut through wherever it lead me.  Disregard all of the modern distractions and seek out new high quality recordings.  Let the artist(s) manage the expectations and encyclopedic knowledge.  Listen what they have to say.  

 

Among the first choices informed by this intrepid lack of second guessing was listening to the entire Simone Young Bruckner cycle on Oehms.  They are not fantastic, in the expressive sense of the word, but I find coming back to them without the inbuilt expectations or legacy informing long voiced opinions refreshing.  As of my visiting the page to link it here, the video had 58 plays in nearly 3 years.  I hope at least a few in constant attendance here will give it a chance and add a few more.

 

 

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I'm struck by the novelty of seeing how long quality can be sustained doing a list of A-Z here.

 

Hugo Alfvén 

 

 

Rostislav Boiko

 

 

And how could you ever have a list of 20th Century composers without including Aaron Copland?  Plethora of options here.

 

 

 

 

 

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Glass,hope I can dig up someone else for the letter "G".    

 

Which is why it bothers me a little how much I've liked the two albums of transcriptions for harp Lavinia Meijer has made of various works by Philip Glass.  Not going to cheat since those stand on her musicianship.

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I can assure you the Grateful Dead never entered my mind.  

 

Launy Grøndahl would be my first choice now that I've given it some thought.  Guess I'll take care of "G" right now while I'm at it.   

 

 

And make this a Nielsen full feature to cover "N" as well.

 

   

 

 

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My choice was influenced by knowing someone with that surname.  No regrets posting that Dutton disc or throwing out a rarely recorded composer.

 

For future reference, no John Tesh, Phish, or Ween please.  No matter how deep you are into their oeuvre.  

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12 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

 

Barber:  Violin Concerto, Essays 1 & 3 for Orchestra.  My favorite is Slatkin, St Louis, 1986-88 on EMI, with Elmar Oliveira in violin concerto.  If you like those, listen to his Cello Concerto (Poltera), Piano Concerto (Browning), and String Quartet (Emerson Qt).

 

Barber's songs include some of his best pieces.  His best is "Knoxville, Summer of 1915".  Perhaps the most famous & dramatic recording is Leontyne Price w/ Schippers (RCA 1968), but SQ should be better with the more straightforward performance by Dawn Upshaw & Zinman.  In the non-orchestral songs I like the recording by Cheryl Studer and Thomas Hampson, with Barber specialist John Browning on piano.

 

I own the Upshaw/Zinman disc and nearly ran to retrieve it, mailer in hand, with hopes of getting someone else to take it before they had time to change their mind.  Just goes to show how widely tastes can vary.

 

 

In running through the alphabet my hope was to bring a few one hit wonders, so to speak, into view.  Not every composer spent their entire life with pen in hand.  Many were career musicians or conductors.  Not to mention the effects WWII had.  

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Some even managed to have that hit in more than one discipline of music with compositions nearly unrecognizable as coming from the same person.  

 

Ernst Krenek came onto my radar for nearly leveling a local private college that had no idea who they were messing with.  His breakout hit was the opera, I only dare mention it due to lack of racial flashpoints boiling over this Summer, "Jonny spielt auf" that was seized on for lower class pretensions not present in his intellectual conversation suitable for a broader audience.  Playing  Lamentatio Jeremiae prophetae, his sixth string quartet, and sinfonia n.3 following it would confuse anyone.  

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A few more that were widely performed (if not recorded in pairs such as follow).  

Gunther Schuller - Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee

Ernest Bloch - Sinfonia Breve

Osvaldo Golijov - Ayre

Luciano Berio - Folk Songs

Frank Martin - Etudes

Arthur Honegger - Symphony No. 2

 

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I haven't seen Tavener's "The Protecting Veil" mentioned as a standout 20th Century effort yet.  Remember my first encounter with it was quite positive.

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RE Arvo Pärt:  Dignified distress has been popular lately.  

As for spirituals I think you should look at, if you don't already a copy in some form, "Cantique de Noel (O Holy Night)"  This recording of it has long been recognized as an audiophile favorite. DSD version pictured.

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WOW, talk about hitting my nail with your hammer.  I was just typing up list of recordings available today that started with the Camilla Wicks (Violin) Sixten Erhling (Conducting) recording of Sibelius Violin Concerto from 1952.

 

 

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3 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

Seems that I have no choice - you guys just made interested in his violin concerto too

It holds place of honor as the most recorded concerto of the 20th century.  Hard to beat the performance I mentioned above but the AP reissue of Heifetz/Hendel has better SQ

 

 

After listening to more than a few cycles of Sibelius' symphonies I'd have to say few recorded all very well.  Karajan and Maazel are the easy answers a la carte for mature well tempered interpretations.  I think you might like the Kamu and possibly the Segerstram full cycles which lean more towards reflection on the body of work than thrills at every opportunity.

 

 

                                       

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At least you didn't say Rattle for one of his cycles.

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Rattle no doubt has his own English colour with the stick (Feel the hair and see the stick! Together at last!)  To be fair here I was speaking exclusively of his Berlin Sibelius cycle.  Which as you noted was panned.  More specifically the recordings and how his interpretation has turned for the worst.  It fell flat and rightly gets passed over.  

 

It was a jab but not one I'm going to devolve into castigating his entire oeuvre through. 

 

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On 8/21/2017 at 1:27 PM, sphinxsix said:

I've just heard Britten's cello suites while going through Tavener's works. Hope for some fantastic recordings recommendations, guys.

 

 

There isn't a single copy of any of them in my collection, but this might be interesting should you decide to look outside the current options; Haimovitz, Mork, Ma, or Muller-Schott (hmmm ).

 

 

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As with most things in my life a bicycle is involved somehow.  By chance I happened to be browsing the the site of a Czech custom bike maker.  Where I came across this graphic depicting the fact they harmonically tune their carbon tubes to the same frequency to avoid unwelcome resonance.  Make no mistake about this being a bike for the cobbles and field paths where breaking apart under force and vibration can be a concern.

 

 

I'd like to request a few suggestions for highly spirited performances that hold together with a firm hand; fervent nationality, peace, celebration, swinging the depths of human emotion, mountains, seas, winds, snow, wild animals, that which puts a song in ones heart.  Bands that haven't subsumed an amorphous overly polished sound.

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Festka, they do stock sizes but are among the few doing quality custom carbon road bike frames.  One of the better reasons for using it in bikes is dampening vibration that transfers through to the body causing fatigue.  Mountain bikes are for the mountains not flat fields.  

 

The international orchestral sound has been wearing thin lately.  A recording, perhaps a work unknown to me, which can grab me by the lapels and make me straighten up would be appreciated.  The Fitzwilliam String Quartet recording of Shostakovich 8th & 15th string quartets for example caught me off guard.  The Zinman/Upshaw recording of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony being another.  Both are too sad and memorial.  I'd like a few recommendations  for cheerier works and performances more on the order of pastoral scenes and unexpectedly riveting tales.

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So Zen.

 

As in live concerts, there are nights where more energy enters the room.  Fairly ageless phenomenon.

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3 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

I usually avoid recordings from the 50's and earlier times but actually have three Beethoven symphonies conducted by Furtwangler from 1950-54 and I think they're great (the sound is let's say acceptable for me). Haven't heard his wartime performances though.

 

Suppose one has to draw the line somewhere or keep going down the road any digitized mastering of older recordings like this have already cut.  By which I mean all the click and pop reducing that leaves holes synthetically filled in.  Among the better, and certainly the most studiously informed, efforts that can be found currently are the Pristine Classical XR remasters of archival performances.  It might be worth your time to listen to one of their samples like this FURTWÄNGLER Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; Coriolan Overture (1943/44)

 

 

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@sphinxsix   Glad you found the XR processed files rewarding.  In my own listening a manageable amount of tape hiss or live background noise has always been viewed as a nonissue given a stellar performance folds out above it.  If anything the slight strain to capture all that existed moment by moment in that long past time is an enjoyable heightening of the senses. 

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7 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

About reconstruction of historic recordings with current technology tricks – I could imagine someone will adore Venus de Milo statue with hands reimagined and reattached nicely, as for myself, I am happy enough with it as it is now.

 

You do understand how that is applied to modern recordings though?  That the same studio tricks used to make some drugged out new rock band sound good are the same applied to the 6 live performances of any given track a new BSO album is comprised of.