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My Essential Classical Albums.


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8 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

After checking several recordings of Takemitsu I came to a certain conclusion that some European or American performers/performances sound excessive or harsh. Even Boston SO under Ozawa doesn't sound "right" occasionally. One need to understand and transmit better what is behind the sound or what is between the sounds. Imho

I had a similar reflection yesterday while checking out some versions of 'A Bird Came Down the Walk' but I don't think it's geography dependent problem - some performances by artists coming from the Far East were like this too, they simply weren't in accordance with the spirit, the essence of the composition which IMO is always a very important factor of a good performance of any piece.

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4 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

I had a similar reflection yesterday while checking out some versions of 'A Bird Came Down the Walk' but I don't think it's geography dependent problem - some performances by artists coming from the Far East were like this too, they simply weren't in accordance with the spirit, the essence of the composition which IMO is always a very important factor of a good performance of any piece.

 

I was hinting on culture or philosophy differences rather than geography. Sorry for not being clear enough.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was listening to Tchaikovsky PC No 1 by Argerich - Kondrashin and I realized I'd like to have some alternative performances of this composition. Is there anything else by Tchaikovsky that I should check out, guys? Counting on your recommendations.

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12 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

I was listening to Tchaikovsky PC No 1 by Argerich - Kondrashin and I realized I'd like to have some alternative performances of this composition. Is there anything else by Tchaikovsky that I should check out, guys? Counting on your recommendations.

Just alternative performances of PC No 1 or other works composed by Tchaikovsky?  One of my favorite pieces is his Violin Concerto in D Major performed by Hilary Hahn.

Pareto Audio AMD 7700 Server --> Berkeley Alpha USB --> Jeff Rowland Aeris --> Jeff Rowland 625 S2 --> Focal Utopia 3 Diablos with 2 x Focal Electra SW 1000 BE subs

 

i7-6700K/Windows 10  --> EVGA Nu Audio Card --> Focal CMS50's 

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13 minutes ago, rickca said:

Just alternative performances of PC No 1 or other works composed by Tchaikovsky?  One of my favorite pieces is his Violin Concerto in D Major performed by Hilary Hahn.

Other works too.

 

11 minutes ago, Daccord said:

Do you have this album? 

image.thumb.png.d847ea4bf988b9d3194b762344278d33.png

No I don't. I will check it out, thanks.

 

5 minutes ago, Hugo9000 said:

Regarding the piano concerto, if you enjoy Argerich, you should definitely check out her live recording with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic on DG.  Some prefer it to her famed performance with Kondrashin.  As far as other pianists go in that concerto, I've always loved Philippe Entremont with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Phil.

 

Other works by Tchaikovsky that you will almost certainly enjoy if you like the piano concerto would be Symphonies 4, 5, & 6; the violin concerto; the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker; and the gorgeous and dramatic Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture.

 

As to performances, Karajan's 1970s recordings on DG are good choices to start for the symphonies--good sound and wonderful playing by the Berlin Philharmonic.  For the violin concerto, classics include Heifetz & Oistrakh.  My own favorite is with violinist Gil Shaham, as the rich and gorgeous sound he always produces transports me like no other violinist haha!

 

If you like vocal music, Tchaikovsky wrote beautiful songs as well as operas.  Joan Rodgers recorded a beautiful album of Tchaikovsky songs on Hyperion, and there are wonderful recordings by mezzo Olga Borodina and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky as well.

Lots of stuff to check out, fantastic. Thanks a lot!

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6 minutes ago, Daccord said:

Russian Orthodox liturgical music is not for everyone, but you could give his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (opus 41) a listen. I have the CD linked below, which I quite enjoy, although I haven't compared it with any other performances.

https://www.discogs.com/Pyotr-Ilyich-Tchaikovsky-Liturgy-of-St-John-Chrysostom-Op-41/release/7747679

Sounds interesting, I'll check it out, thanks.

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A very good modern recording of PC1:

 

0886444468848_600.jpg

 

For the violin concerto, Heifetz is unbeatable:

 

0886443008182_600.jpg

 

My preferred symphony is no. 5:

 

7318599914084_600.jpg

 

https://musicophilesblog.com/2015/08/04/tchaikovsky-symphony-no-5-with-neeme-jarvi-or-why-i-dont-like-tchaikovsky/

 

 

 

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As for Tchaikovsky's PC1 I will definitely get Argerich/Abbado version and probably Hough/Vanska (Hyperion) - sounds very convincing too.

 

@Musicophile Your blog is IMO organized in a slightly peculiar way. I actually clicked yesterday on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (8) in the right column - what appears next on the computer screen is a huge number of articles and at the very bottom (!) - the review you linked to above. Don't I understand something.?

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29 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

 

 

@Musicophile Your blog is IMO organized in a slightly peculiar way. I actually clicked yesterday on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (8) in the right column - what appears next on the computer screen is a huge number of articles and at the very bottom (!) - the review you linked to above. Don't I understand something.?

I think you’ll find that each of the blog posts actually does contain a reference to a Tchaikovsky recording in there. It may seem a bit confusing at first as many of these posts comment on multiple albums, but I try to be pretty  structured with my tagging of the articles.  

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27 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

I think you’ll find that each of the blog posts actually does contain a reference to a Tchaikovsky recording in there. It may seem a bit confusing at first as many of these posts comment on multiple albums, but I try to be pretty  structured with my tagging of the articles.  

Ignorant me! One can easily guess I'm not a frequent blogs reader x-D Thanks for the explanation.

BTW I OTOH have a problem with his second name (same as Lenin's).

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16 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

Ignorant me! One can easily guess I'm not a frequent blogs reader x-D Thanks for the explanation.

BTW I OTOH have a problem with his second name (same as Lenin's).

Ilyitch just means son of Ilya, Russians always include the name of the father. There are a lot of Ilyas in Russia, it‘s the local version of Elijah. 

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21 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

Ilyitch just means son of Ilya, Russians always include the name of the father. There are a lot of Ilyas in Russia, it‘s the local version of Elijah. 

I'm aware of that.

BTW I think I will not become a huge fan of The Nutcracker. It's a soundtrack, right.? ;)

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