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My Essential Classical Albums.


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Mariss Jansons' Eine Alpensinfonie is good.  You could do worse than exploring within his current series.  Thielemann's paired with 'Der Rosenkavalier' can be found quite cheap (unless you insist on the pricier imported Japanese SHM version) due to some qualified interpretative and stylistic choices disrupting familiarity.  Of the older recordings I like Blomstedt on Decca

 

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One usually safe and well referenced option is Living Stereo SACD remasters.  Important man, big family, almost no interest in them.  Little wonder some have a hard time with the two pieces on this disc or remembering he forbade any of his children to develop an interest in music.  By this point he was conducting/managing multiple orchestras of his own creation, touring with the best one, and composing works fitting for the broad appeal he held across Europe and beyond from anywhere but home.  This was period when orchestras went from 3 performances a year to being well drilled by a dictatorial maestro and developing a provincial sound.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have to repeat it once again - I really appreciate the influence that you guys and this thread have on the drainage of my bank account :) I ordered most of Strauss albums that you recommended - I chose the 5 CDs Karajan set not  the 11 discs + bluray one and resisted the temptation of checking SQ of quite expensive Esoteric - Decca  'Also sprach..' SACD (available on acousticsounds.com) as I don't trust Esoteric (I regret Analogue Productions haven't remastered this one themselves). Just two Shostakovich albums with his 5th (after a closer examination of his other symphonies I came to the conclusion that his music doesn't move me that much after all).

I have much less time for music now than I had one or two years ago but I don't think I'm done with this thread.

Once again - thanks, guys!

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9 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

I've checked this one out (posted by @Hugo9000 on the AotE thread):

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And I agree - this is a beautiful album.

I bet there are other interesting Handel sonatas performances.. Am I right.?

My other favorites are Richard Egarr with The Academy of Ancient Music, but sadly, they are out of print now.  I was looking for them yesterday on the various Amazon worldwide sites, as well as a few others.  They were acclaimed by Gramophone and other magazines when they came out, so I'm not sure what's going on, unless there is a boxed set planned for the (hopefully near) future.  The recordings are of the Opus 1, 2, and 5 sonatas, released by Harmonia Mundi.

 

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请教别人一次是5分钟的傻子,从不请教别人是一辈子的傻子

 

 

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This single disc of selections from various opus Nos by Handel is wonderful as well, and served as my introduction to Handel's chamber music years ago.  Trevor Pinnock is always a top choice in baroque music for me.

 

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It's out of print, but arkivmusic.com is licensed to sell a reissue on CD.

 

This album and the Egarr ones mentioned above are all on Spotify, and probably on youtube as well, if you want to check them out.  I don't know about Qobuz or other services.

请教别人一次是5分钟的傻子,从不请教别人是一辈子的傻子

 

 

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4 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

Jarrett's performance of Händel is beautiful. Was mesmerized by it for a long time. Didn't return for a while, but will do soon.

 

 

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I like some Jarrett performances of Bach a lot so will check out this album too.

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14 hours ago, Hugo9000 said:

My other favorites are Richard Egarr with The Academy of Ancient Music, but sadly, they are out of print now.  I was looking for them yesterday on the various Amazon worldwide sites, as well as a few others. 

No, they are available - have done a quick check - from £14.99 FLAC download :

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7926018--handel-12-solo-sonatas-op-1

to £1400 CD x-D :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-12-Solo-Sonatas-Op/dp/B0026Y8OG0

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42 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

No, they are available - have done a quick check - from £14.99 FLAC download :

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7926018--handel-12-solo-sonatas-op-1

to £1400 CD x-D :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-12-Solo-Sonatas-Op/dp/B0026Y8OG0

And to stream or buy on Qobuz - same price as presto.

 

The Pinnock Trio Sonatas on Archiv is also on Qobuz to stream or buy for £12.49

David

 

MacMini, Mytek Manhattan I DAC, Avantone The Abbey Monitors, Roon

 

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I meant unavailable on CD, new and sealed from the factory lol.  I don't buy downloads.  I like physical media.  :) 

 

Luckily for me, I already own the CDs of the recordings I mentioned.  I was checking availability out of curiosity, since so much of what I own is out of print on disc now.

请教别人一次是5分钟的傻子,从不请教别人是一辈子的傻子

 

 

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3 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

I like some Jarrett performances of Bach a lot so will check out this album too.

 

Jarrett is one of the few most important musicians, to whom I return during several decades already. Nevertheless, I am not too much impressed by his performances of classical music, Bach for exapmle. Saying this I want to recommend his Händel again, this is something really exceptional, imho.

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1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

The story of their performances of Händel's suites together with Richter was described by Gavrilov in his famous book with lot of piquant details. I had soviet LPs with these recordings long time ago. The sound was sloppy and interpretation by two artists was not... coherent. Imho, of course.

I'm going to get that book!  

 

I don't know what the Soviet LPs sound like, but I would agree that the sound on the EMI remaster is somewhat "sloppy".  But in fairness, I think of even older, even "sloppier" recordings where I find that it's not hard to listen through limitations of the recording and can appreciate the quality of the performance, e.g., Schnabel, Rachmaninov, Fischer,  Moiseiwitsch, Friedman, Moszkowski, etc. 

 

In terms of a "not ... coherent" interpretation, having two pianists is a bit strange.  Perhaps the format highlights the difference not only between the individual suites, but also differences in the  technique and interpretation of the two performers.  But I think the sheer quality of the performances by Gavrilov and especially Richter trump everything else.  Imho, of course!

 

 

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4 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Jarrett is one of the few most important musicians, to whom I return during several decades already. Nevertheless, I am not too much impressed by his performances of classical music, Bach for exapmle. Saying this I want to recommend his Händel again, this is something really exceptional, imho.

I tend to agree. The only Jarrett classical album I still listen to are the Shostakovich Preludes. 

 

That said, the Handel album isn’t too bad. 

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16 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

I tend to agree. The only Jarrett classical album I still listen to are the Shostakovich Preludes. 

 

That said, the Handel album isn’t too bad. 

 

Was never able to went through Jarrett's Shostakovich. Probably, because of original material, which is too 'soviet' for me. Been forcefully fed with such music since early childhood I am happy to focus my attention now on inexhaustible variety of great music of the world. Maybe I will try this album in a day of especially bad depression, if I will have one.

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2 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Was never able to went through Jarrett's Shostakovich. Probably, because of original material, which is too 'soviet' for me. Been forcefully fed with such music since early childhood I am happy to focus my attention now on inexhaustible variety of great music of the world. Maybe I will try this album in a day of especially bad depression, if I will have one.

Interesting. The preludes were my first encounter with Shostakovich ever, took me decades before I went much further in his repertoire, and recently start to like it more and more. 

 

I understand the policital sensitivities here, but I think Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch can really not be blamed for them?

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31 minutes ago, Mayfair said:

I'm going to get that book!  

 

I don't know what the Soviet LPs sound like, but I would agree that the sound on the EMI remaster is somewhat "sloppy".  But in fairness, I think of even older, even "sloppier" recordings where I find that it's not hard to listen through limitations of the recording and can appreciate the quality of the performance, e.g., Schnabel, Rachmaninov, Fischer,  Moiseiwitsch, Friedman, Moszkowski, etc. 

 

In terms of a "not ... coherent" interpretation, having two pianists is a bit strange.  Perhaps the format highlights the difference not only between the individual suites, but also differences in the  technique and interpretation of the two performers.  But I think the sheer quality of the performances by Gavrilov and especially Richter trump everything else.  Imho, of course!

 

 

 

This book is available in Amazon and anywhere else. I will not give you the title, because it was translated to several languages with different titles, and I couldn't know what might be your preference. The book has several main subjects, one of which is Richter. I read it in original russian. Original edition was coupled with new Gavrilov's CD of Chopin on Fazioli instrument, which alone was a good reason to get the book. As you probably know, Gavrilov almost not making recordings anymore (this Chopin is his only recording in 21th century) and gives very few live performances. If you like this version of Händel the book will not change your mind, but you will get much better understanding of what was going on around.

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7 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

Interesting. The preludes were my first encounter with Shostakovich ever, took me decades before I went much further in his repertoire, and recently start to like it more and more. 

 

I understand the policital sensitivities here, but I think Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch can really not be blamed for them?

 

I am not blaming him, I just not care about USSR music. Should I be blamed for this?))) If I remember well Shostakovich String Quartets were the last cycle of his music which I liked a lot, but it was quite a long ago, and most probably before I discovered most of SQ cycles of other composers which I listen now. Borodin SQ made best recording of quartets for Chandos, imo.

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3 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

I am not blaming him, I just not care about USSR music. Should I be blamed for this?))) If I remember well Shostakovich String Quartets were the last cycle of his music which I liked a lot, but it was quite a long ago, and most probably before I discovered most of SQ cycles of other composers which I listen now. Borodin SQ made best recording of quartets for Chandos, imo.

I just recently discovered an excellent recording of his piano quintet with the Takacs and Marc-André Hamelin. 

 

And I really like Nelson’s symphony cycle with the BSO. 

 

Both have very good sound quality. 

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8 hours ago, Hugo9000 said:

I meant unavailable on CD, new and sealed from the factory lol.  I don't buy downloads.  I like physical media.  :) 

As for 16 bit I like physical media too (I've never ripped my CDSs) but first of all I'm a hi-res believer (with a slight preference for DSD).

 

16 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

Jarrett's performance of Händel is beautiful. Was mesmerized by it for a long time. Didn't return for a while, but will do soon.

 

7 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

Nevertheless, I am not too much impressed by his performances of classical music, Bach for exapmle.

I was actually highly mesmerized yesterday by the first track of his Bach album with Makarski ( Sonata No.1 In B Minor, BWV 1014 - 1. Adagio )  but I have to admit that I concentrated mostly on Makarski's violin :) And such was the musicians intention I believe. I like this album (more than e.g. his Goldberg Variations or Well-Tempered Clavier).

2 hours ago, Musicophile said:

I understand the policital sensitivities here, but I think Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch can really not be blamed for them? 

If he had not cooperated and complied with the music esthetics of the time he wouldn't have been in the top 10 composers on the Soviet radio I guess ;) But seriously - the BBC documentary I mentioned earlier on this thread -  Tunes For Tyrants shows that that reality was obviously a little more complicated. I can only recommend it to anyone interested in the artistic freedom of a composer vs political regime topic.

@AnotherSpin I still find the fact you mentioned once that it was mainly classical music that was played on the radio back then amazing. Let me ask - when did pop/rock music and jazz appear on it ?

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