Album of the Evening

[Russell_L]

A little bit late to the Bruckner 6 discussion, but I wanted to put in a plug for this version, which I've really been enjoying over the past couple of weeks:

 

 

The download is only available in DSD via Native DSD Music at

 

https://challengerecords.nativedsd.com/albums/symphony-no-6

 

I've also got the Blomstedt/SFS, Celibidache/Munich, Chailly, Klemperer, and Jochum/Bavaria recordings as well as the incomplete Furtwangler, but don't ask me to compare this one with them, as it's been a while since I last listened to any of them. I did get the new Jansons, though, and I must say that I found it rather glib, especially in the first movement, compared with the JVZ. The DSD sound quality of the JVP is also quite glorious--nicely distanced, warm, and natural.

 

Russell

[Russell_L]

 

From the new 10-CD set on RCA of the complete Jean Martinon recordings with the CSO. If you know the Nielsen 4th but not this recording, you're in for a revelation. From the very outset, Martinon and the Chicagoans seize you by the throat and never let go in this blazing, take-no-prisoners performance. This is the standard by which all other Nielsen 4ths are measured. (And they all fall short, IMO.) The mid-60’s sound quality is a little congested but it in no way detracts from the experience.

[Russell_L]

Schubert: Wanderers Nachtlied - Matthias Goerne (24/96)

 

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A wonderful highres download of Schubert songs with the great Matthias Goerne. Amazing sound (enjoying on my new Sennheiser HDVA600/HD800 combo).

 

I was never a big fan of German Lieder in the past, it is only just now that it starts growing on me.

 

It was through Goerne's Schubert recordings, first on Decca and now on Harmonia Mundi, that I came to really, really love Lieder. He's got a unique sound--ultra-smooth and velvety ("furry", I sometimes like to say) coupled with a wonderful legato line (which he exploits to the hilt!). Though arguably he might not be as deeply penetrating in his delivery of the texts as, say, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, his creamy tone and sublime shaping of each phrase are unequalled in my experience. If you haven't heard it yet, his Schubert 'Die Schöne Müllerin" on Decca is not to be missed. (It must be heard all in one sitting for greatest effect.) (His remake for HMU is not as successful, I think.)

[Russell_L]

Really enjoying this one:

 

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Bach/Sitkovetsky: Goldberg Variations | Johann Sebastian Bach par Thomas Gould*– Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

I was going to post that one as well! Got the DSD download at Native DSD Music. Great transcription, great performance, and great sound.

[Russell_L]

 

A brand-new release from Hyperion Records and just downloaded from their site (24/96). Really extraordinary in all ways.

[Russell_L]

 

New release in 44.1/24, downloaded from ProStudioMasters. Great, deeply heartfelt performance in very good sound, despite being "only" 44.1.

[Russell_L]

It took a while, but the Diabelli-Variations (that by many are considered one of the summits of classical piano, but I always had a hard time to appreciate) are finally growing on me. It certainly needs repeated listening.

 

This version really helped:

 

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Actually, you get two versions in one. A fortepiano (an original instrument from the 1820s) recording is included, but my favorite version on this disc is the one recorded on a Bechstein grand piano from 1921. Very particular sound, that fits the special character of this music quite well.

 

Excellent 24/44 ECM sound.

 

I've had trouble with the Diabelli Variations as well. I just didn't 'get it' with the few recordings I owned. Then I downloaded the recent Paul Lewis recording on Harmonia Mundi (mainly because I love his Beethoven sonatas--most of them, anyway) and suddenly the light went on. I went into a Diabelli frenzy of sorts, trying to listen to every recording I could get my hands on. It was a great time of (re)discovery with this work, but frankly I haven't heard any recording that I like better than Lewis's. Haven't heard the new Schiff, though, so that's next on the list!

[Russell_L]

Brahms 2 - Ivan Fischer - Budapest Festival

 

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This new Channel Classics recording got outstanding reviews from many reviewers, so I'm very disappointed to report that it leaves me somewhat cold. I cannot even put my finger on it exactly, but probably it is somehow a lack of drive that I perceive. Sonics are as usual with Channel classics very good.

 

I'm with you on this one. Pretty 'meh' performance, especially considering the excellence of most of the other Fischer/Budapest recordings on Channel and Philips. My favorite Brahms 2 is an oldie: Bruno Walter's 1953 recording with the New York Phil (not to be confused with the later stereo remake with the Columbia Symphony). Talk about drive! The final movement in particular is admittedly a bit overdriven almost to the point of recklessness, but it is so, so exciting.

[Russell_L]

Can you tell me where to get this? I did a search and only saw mp3

 

It's available at ProStudioMasters in DSD & 48/24:

 

Search Results for safa - ProStudioMasters

[Russell_L]

I cut my teeth on this recording many years ago, and it has held up well over time--for me it still remains at the top of a very long list of great Prokofiev 3rd concerto recordings (and the Ravel is no slouch, either!). The new 24/96 remastering by DG of this 1967 recording sounds very clean, if a bit lean and bright, but no matter--this is one of the greatest concerto recordings of all time, capturing the collaboration of two young firebrands early in their careers. And, Martha's brilliant 'Gaspard de la Nuit' from 1974 is thrown in for good measure!

 

[Russell_L]

A stunning new recording from Nelsons and the BSO, downloaded from ProStudioMasters in 96/24, and an amazingly short turnaround time from recording to release (it was recorded live in early April of this year). One of my two "best of 2015" releases so far (the other being the Fischer Mahler 9 on Channel).

 

[Russell_L]

A brand-new 96/24 release from BIS. Certainly the best I’ve heard from Andrew Litton in recent times. I generally find his conducting pretty routine and unexceptional, but not this time—he and his orchestra are on fire here, full of passion and intensity, making this the most electrifying Rach 2 I’ve heard in years. Great sound quality, too.

 

[Russell_L]

A brand-new release from Challenge Classics, downloaded in DSD128 from The Spirit of Turtle website (The Spirit of Turtle). (The Spirit of Turtle is the webstore for Northstar Recording, which does recordings for Challenge.) Great, energetic performances and smooth, full-bodied, spacious sound. (BTW, you can get this album in DSD64 and 256, as well as PCM up to 352/8/24.)

 

[Russell_L]

1 hour ago, duxservit said:

Love Piemontesi's Debussy Preludes. How's his Mozart?

[Russell_L]

A new release from PentaTone (I got the DSD64 download from ProStudioMasters). Easily the most exciting Missa Solemnis I've heard in years!

[Russell_L]

1 hour ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Hmm.   On first try, it was disappointingly limp.  I will try it again.

 "Limp" is the last word I'd use to describe this performance. I find that Janowski really moves this work along with great muscularity.

[Russell_L]

Both violinist and conductor are new to me, but darned if they didn't produce one of the sweetest and most compelling performances of these works I've heard.  Gorgeous sound as well.  Plus, at only 5.99 euros (even less if you're outside the EU) for the 96/24 stereo download directly from Audite, it was a no-brainer.

 

https://www.audite.de/en/product/CD/97733-prokofiev_violin_concertos.html  (watch the making-of video!)

 

Russell

 

 

[Russell_L]

30 minutes ago, Klavier said:

I bought this as a "CD quality FLAC" file from Presto Classical...or so I thought. It's nothing more than a slightly upsampled MP3 file (its bit rate is 595 kbps...a CD quality FLAC is 1114.2 kbps). This is the second time Presto has ripped off customers by selling such files. They refunded my money the first I complained and requested a refund, but they didn't even bother to respond this time. They are dead to me. BUYER BEWARE WHEN DEALING WITH PRESTO. Oh, the music is very intense and powerful, and the sound is decent enough, but it would have been better as a true hi-res file or a CD. 

 

I usually rip my CDs to ALAC (the Apple equivalent of FLAC) and typically get bitrates in the neighborhood of 500-800 kbps, so this seems about right to me.  (For comparison, for 96/24 conversions to ALAC, I usually get around 2000-3000 kbps).

 

Russell

[Russell_L]

Yep--I'm in the US as well.  This is what comes up after you click the dark blue "ab" button to the right of "download":

[Russell_L]

An old favorite, newly remastered at 96/24.  (Sounds great!)  Worth it for Helen Donath's gorgeously sung "He shall feed his flock" alone.

 

[Russell_L]

I haven't been impressed with the previous installments of Manze's RVW cycle, but this one's different.  His 5th is gorgeously warm and radiant; it might very well be my new favorite.  (And the 6th ain't bad either.)  Rich, glowing sound quality, too (96/24 download from HDtracks).

 

[Russell_L]

On 3/29/2018 at 6:19 PM, pkane2001 said:

Debargue is definitely not the same old. Very enjoyable Ravel and Liszt. Chopin too. Scarlatti not my cup of tea. 

 

 

Thank you for this posting! Somehow this album (and pianist) eluded me when it was released a couple of years ago, as I'm usually very keen on new recordings of 'Gaspard de la Nuit'.  I got the 96/24 download yesterday and just listened to it today--pretty fantastic, and dare I say the most exciting recording of Gaspard since Pogorelich's (and in much better sound).

[Russell_L]

As long as we're all jumping on the Haydn bandwagon, here's one of my favorites.  I defy anyone to listen to the final movement of 88 and keep still.  (There's also a great 'live' video on YouTube of Lenny with the Wieners--the basis for this CD recording--conducting the last movement with his face alone!)

 

[Russell_L]

1 hour ago, EuroChamp said:

Excellent release on Qobuz in 24/192

 

Cleveland Orchestra (George Szell)

Beethoven Symphony No.3 Eroica (Remastered) [24/192]

 

 

One of the all-time great Eroicas and an excellent remastering job by Sony, taming the steeliness/edginess from previous CD incarnations. (I got the 24/192 download from HDtracks.)

[Russell_L]

57 minutes ago, Hugo9000 said:

Leontyne Price's glorious first studio recording of Verdi's Aida, with Jon Vickers, Rita Gorr, and Robert Merrill:

 

 

 

Yes!!! And it really sounds great in the new remastering. (I have the 96/24 download.)