Album of the Evening

[rodrigaj]

Thank you very much for your insights. I add this to my wish list together with the Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, whom I didn't know.

 

Back on topic:

 

Schumann, Symphonies 3 and 4, T. Dausgaard and the Swedish chamber orchestra, in very good hi-res BIS sound from eClassical.

 

I found the third symphony good and the fourth one excellent. Somehow, I find that the choice of a chamber orchestra does not work in the third symphony: it is well played but never sounds rheinisch at all as the Rhine sounds a bit like a small stream for lack of a sufficient number of double basses. Sawallisch andCelibidache remain at the top of my list for this symphony.

 

However, I find that the choice of a chamber orchestra does wonders in the fourth: it gives it an energy and a drive that are all too often lacking in full-orchestra recordings. I have to listen to it again, but I am tempted to make Dausgaard's version my preferred recording of the Fourth, even above Sawallisch.

 

 

Just to verify: the 4th is the later version (1851) of the symphony? Most, if not all, are.

 

There is a movement of sorts to reintroduce the 1841 version because that was the one Brahms preferred. I was wondering if this version is one of those.

[rodrigaj]

I double checked the booklet and it's the 1851 revision. +1 on this album by the way.

 

My preferred version of the earlier 1841 version is by Gardiner by the way.

 

Thank you Musiophile. As always your comments are appreciated. Hopefully, the Gardiner in on Tidal.

 

I'm beginning to appreciate Chamber Orchestras. I've been listening to the Andsnes / Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Beethoven Journey Piano Concertos on Sony and thoroughly enjoying them. The details of Beethoven's genius just jump out at you.

[rodrigaj]

The same team of Dausgaard, SCO and BIS recorded the 1841 version as well. I bought it in high-res from eClassical a couple of years ago, but I have totally forgotten what I thought of it. Now I am tempted to listen to it again, and if I do so, I'll report my impressions.

 

I did not listen to the Dausgaard but I did listen to the Gardiner last night. Unfortunately, Tidal greyed out the first movement, so I couldn't listen to the whole symphony. I found the fourth movement somewhat disconcerting. My initial impression is that Clara was right and Brahms was wrong. Check out the history of this piece if you are curious about that last comment.

[rodrigaj]

Is the disconcerting referring to 1841 vs. 1851 or about Gardiner's conducting?

 

1841 vs 1851. Of the three movements I listened to, the 4th movement sounded strange, darker, not as positive or upbeat as the 1851 version. I'll have to listen again tonight.

[rodrigaj]

Some more Schumann from the early '80's

 

[rodrigaj]

 

Fantasia is Finnish Composer Rautavaara's last composition before his death in 2016.

 

Hauntingly beautiful.

 

The rest of the album is appropriate to the mood set by Rautavaara's piece.

 

Available to listen on Tidal.

[rodrigaj]

24/96 download from hyperion. 

[rodrigaj]

 

I've just begun to appreciate Bach's Lute Suites played on the lute after years of listening to them on the classical guitar. The sympathetic vibrations of the added strings give the music a depth that I'd been missing.

 

Excellent recording by Nigel North:

 

https://tidal.com/album/60237001

[rodrigaj]

2 minutes ago, Norton said:

 

Likewise:

 

What a coincidence. I just listened to a 24/96 download of this album last night. The mix of instruments was really odd, with the cello upfront and huge and some of the orchestral passages sounded in the distance. I don't know if the MQA remaster will sound like that.

 

But man, what a performance by du Pre!  and Barenboim leads the CSO with complete self assurance and mastery. Outstanding.

[rodrigaj]

Occasionally @Musicophile suggest a Haydn album.

 

But I do wonder why Haydn is disliked by so many astute music lovers. There is a local music blog here in SE Wisconsin and one person comments repeatedly about Haydn's ineptitude - otherwise his comments are generally insightful.  

[rodrigaj]

I will search all of the music blogs that I have visited since the beginning of time, find all of the snarky Haydn comments and report back in 100 years. 

[rodrigaj]

Haydn on period instruments - there is a certain lightness and texture to his music that you can't get with modern instruments.

 

Here is my evening album (I can't recall where I read a review of it) but I absolutely love the Freiburger's Bach Brandenburgs:

https://tidal.com/album/47063213

[rodrigaj]

Don't see much Bruckner here.

 

An excellent 2017 release by Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony of the B4.

 

Blomstedt's control of momentum is outstanding.

 

https://tidal.com/album/56636204

 

BTW, if you ever get a chance to listen to an interview with Blomstedt, he does an excellent job of explaining his interpretations in terms anyone can understand. I rank him up there, in this regard, with Lenny Bernstein.

[rodrigaj]

7 hours ago, rando said:

Thank you for this.

 

I had occasion to hear a young Manuel Barrueco in the late '70's. The performance featured one of Bach's Lute Suites transcribed for guitar by Barrueco. The concert was sponsored by the Milwaukee Classical Guitar Society and held in a church. The acoustics were outstanding - no amplification of course.

 

It was and still is one of the most profoundly moving musical experiences of my life.

 

Barrueco was not a Segovia student and thus did not benefit from Segovia's marketing (i.e., Christopher Parkening and John Williams). But in every respect, he is one of the greatest guitarist to emerge from that era.

 

This is the Tidal link:

https://tidal.com/album/52464505

[rodrigaj]

More Ginastera.

 

https://tidal.com/album/35090357

[rodrigaj]

I have been working my through Clara Haskil.

 

I now know how Mozart should be performed.

 

It doesn't matter that most of this material is dated 1960 or earlier. It doesn't matter that the recordings have poor recording techniques or are mono or...etc...

 

Haskil has the "magic touch".

 

https://tidal.com/album/7397301

 

[rodrigaj]

Also Lionel Hampton and Gary Burton. But I agree the vibraphone can sizzle on speakers...

[rodrigaj]

Reminds me, in my Tidal favorites:

 

https://tidal.com/track/4662365

 

[rodrigaj]

If you can get past the DG sound, especially the bloated bass, these two are explosive, highly emotional representations of Tchaikovsky's warhorses. Christian Ferras is spectacular. A life tragically ended at age 49.

 

Breathtaking Karajan.

 

https://tidal.com/album/4836012

[rodrigaj]

1 hour ago, firedog said:

This was mentioned in another thread. Excellent version - performance and sound - I didn't know about. Listening on Tidal (different release) and ordered the CD from Amazon.

 

Could you check your Tidal source?  The only version I could find was 96kbs.

 

https://tidal.com/album/9615969

 

[rodrigaj]

1 hour ago, firedog said:

Tidal has some weird search quirks. On one search I came up with the one you are seeing. But there is also this, if you play with the search terms: https://listen.tidal.com/album/8746572

As I tried to mention, the version on Tidal is the same recording, different release to the CD I bought and pictured. 

 

Your link got me to "The content is no longer available."

 

Oh well.

[rodrigaj]

I did find this:

 

https://tidal.com/track/60002140

 

https://tidal.com/album/60002124 (entire box set link)

[rodrigaj]

16 minutes ago, firedog said:

then it must be a country thing. Are you in the US? I'm not.

 

Yes, USA.

 

FWIW, Tidal's rabbit hole did lead me to the Big English Music Box which includes the Handley/RPO Holsts' Planets as well as some very outstanding offerings by other English composers.

[rodrigaj]

Andreas Haefliger - Mozart  Piano Sonatas

 

 

https://tidal.com/album/9447848

[rodrigaj]

15 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

Some of you may not know this one. It's definitely worth checking out.

 

 

If you have a Tidal account, this is the two volume set with all of the takes. According to Tidal the release date is 6/29/2018.

 

https://tidal.com/album/90791440