Guidof Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 Borodin: String Quartets 1 & 2. Played with expressiveness and control by the Russian Quartet. Excellent sound from an Arte Nova CD rip. Followed by Ginastera: String Quartets 1 & 2, played with verve by the Henschel Quartet. Also excellent sound from another Arte Nova CD rip. (The album covers from this label seem to have little to do with the music or the composers, but their catalog is interesting and production values are high). For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Bach: Concertos. Nuanced and nicely articulated performances by Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante. More convincing in the violin and oboe concertos than in the concerto for harpsichord. Very good sound from a Virgin CD rip. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans. Vivaldi's only extant oratorio, very nicely done. Excellent sound from a Hyperion 16/44.1 download. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Schubert: Death and the Maiden, Quartetsatz. Barely OK, two-dimensional, sound from a 16/48 digitized LP, but superb performances by the Quartetto Italiano. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 And now for something completely different: an evening of wonderful dissonances. The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Don Cherry. Disc 3 of a Mosaic set of 3 LPs. Great sound, too, digitized at 16/48. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Brahms: Piano Quartets 1 & 3. Masterfully played by the Festival Quartet. Very good vintage (1959) sound from an HDTT 24/96 download. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Disc 4 of 12. Murray Perahia plays Mozart. (The complete piano concertos. Couldn't resist the bargain price of less than $30.00 for the whole set at ArkivMusic, though it duplicates a few that I already had). Been listening to these in chronological order, an interesting experience that reveals similarities and differences otherwise hidden. For example, the quantum jump between the first four Haydn-like concertos and the fifth that suddenly is very much mature Mozart. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Misha Tsiganov: The Artistry of the Standard. Jazz with a Russian accent. Nice, though at times bordering on aimless noodling. OK sound from a CD rip. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1. Dramatic, patrician interpretation by Clifford Curzon and George Szell, who take it at much slower tempi than the competition in my collection (including a version by Szell with Rudolph Serkin). The 1962 sound, from a 24/96 HDTT download, while very clear and with good piano to orchestra balance, exhibits a tinge of hardness, lack of three-dimensionality and air, and tubby bass. But here the performance is the thing. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 This is a great performance. If like me you cannot get enough of Brahms and Szell, have a look at this one as well: Amazon.com: Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Handel Variations, Op. 24 / Waltzes, Op. 39: Music Ah, Fleisher. Don't have this one. Thanks for the suggestion. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Thank you very much for the recommendation, Musicophile. Powerful performances, indeed. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Hans Pischner (who is celebrating his 100th birthday this year) plays Bach's Inventions and Symphonies. I was totally unaware of this great German harpsichordist until a few days ago, when Berlin Classics put out a big box and I heard excerpts on the radio. I was instantly impressed by the quality of his playing and the beauty and strength of his instrument (a fairly modern harpsichord). A big plus, compared with many recordings of this repertoire, is that the orchestras and conductors are excellent: the Staatskapelle Dresden, the State Symphonic Orchestra of Berlin, Kurt Sanderling, Kurt Redel. The sound quality is surprisingly good for recordings from the DDR. I am looking forward to listening to the Goldbergs. Even if I have listened to only 20% of the box, I can already recommend it. Even if the remaining 80% was uninteresting (which is very unlikely), this 20% already easily justifies the low price.[ATTACH=CONFIG]13373[/ATTACH] Thank you very much for posting this great find! Pischner's readings are especially notable for the (to me) rightness of tempi. Prestos are fast, but not breakneck. Adagios are slow, but not plodding. Articulation is breathtaking. A couple of nits to pick about the Qobuz downloads: The sound is uneven and often tends to be a bit harsh. Tagging contains double entries for each track title (e.g., Concerto for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord and Strings in A Minor, BWV 1044:Concerto for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord and Strings in A Minor, BWV 1044: III. Alla breve) requiring PITA hand editing. But the price is right -- and the music mesmerizing. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Ruby Braff, of whom it was said that he never made a bad record, and my favorite cornet player: Linger Awhile. Great mono sound from a Vanguard CD rip. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Nun kumm, der heiden heiland. Organ music by Buxtehude, Bruhns, and Bach. Played by Benoit Dumon. Excellent sound from a 24/96 Qobuz download. (Got this for free after I complained about double tagging on three prior purchases. Nice gesture from Qobuz). For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Bravura Eloquence. Another great album by Ruby Braff. From a CD rip. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Miles Davis: Ballads. Mesmerizing. Excellent sound from a CD rip, though the piano is out in left field. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Tom Cawley's Curios: Captive. Splendid sound from a 24/48 Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound download. Accomplished playing. The music, alas, is a bit bland and repetitive. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 The Amadeus Quartet RIAS recordings of Mozart's quartets and quintets, including the Clarinet Quintet in A major. Simply stunning performances. Pellucid, vintage (1950-57) sound, mono of course, from a Qobuz 16/44.1 download. Unfortunately, once again every single track's title is double tagged, requiring extensive manual editing. But the price is right: 3.59 Euros ($4.86) for 52 tracks! Highly recommended. orresearch 1 For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Benjamin Godard: Works for piano and orchestra. Howard Shelley plays and directs the Tasmanian Symphony. Superb sound from a 24/96 Hyperion download. I confess that composer and interpreters are both completely new to me. Based on these pieces, Godard sounds a bit like a cross between Saint-Saens and Gershwin. Fascinating. Very much worth listening to. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 That's an amazing price! FYI, Audite's own website sells a 24/48 FLAC version for €16.50. audite! - The RIAS Amadeus Quartet Mozart Recordings In their stereo recordings for DG, the first violinist was extremely dominant. Is that equally true in these RIAS recordings? I suspect that 24/48 for a 1950s mono recording may be a bit of an overkill perhaps. The RIAS recordings seem fairly balanced. I did not detect any undue dominance of the first violinist. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Woody Herman. Disc 1 of a set of 3 Mosaic Select. Great fun. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Enrico Pieranunzi: Ballads [ATTACH=CONFIG]13740[/ATTACH] Beautiful piano trio jazz with the brilliant Marc Johnson of the last Bill Evans trio, and the excellent Joey Baron. Highly recommended Excellent, indeed! For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Vivaldi: Cello Sonatas, played by Marco Ceccato. Nice complement on period instruments to Ofra Harnoy's readings from the same corpus (below) on modern cello. Two sonatas actually appear on both albums. Vivid sound from a 24/88 Qobuz download. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Bartok: Violin and Viola Concertos, played by James Ehnes, who deserves a better picture of himself than the one chosen for the album cover. A 24/96 Qobuz download. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
Guidof Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Berlioz: Te Deum. London Symphony and Chorus, directed by Colin Davis and Colin Lee. A B&W Society of Sound 24/96 download. The recording exhibits a somewhat distant perspective that tends to diminish the effect of the considerable forces involved in the performance. For comparison, the 1969 LP version of this work (later reissued on CD, see below) by the same performers offers a more direct sound that well complements the drive and impact of the score. For my system details, please see my profile. Thank you. Link to comment
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