Recordings you've been happy to ditch/give to the charity shop

[cloughie]

Blimey - if it was Nigel Thomas playing timps then it would have had explosive impact.

I recall having that set at one point but it didn't really bloat my goat. That was at a point when LvB9 mattered a lot more to me than it does now, and Gerald Finley singing his contribution like a Schubert Lied was a turn-off.

It wouldn’t matter much to me who was singing - I rarely listen to Movt 4!

[visualnickmos]

I learned loads from those recordings - in the 1980s they were revelatory. Would I be likely to pick them up as first choices now ? No but I am very glad I have them.

Indeed.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

It wouldn’t matter much to me who was singing - I rarely listen to Movt 4!

I've sung the darn thing enough - a horrid experience as a second bass - not to need to hear it again. My interest in the symphony nowadays tends to focus on the fourth horn solo in the third movement. As I don't usually play fourth, I'll likely never get a chance to play it in anger (which is probably what it would be, literally rather than just figuratively!).

[Cockney Sparrow]

I've sung the darn thing enough - a horrid experience as a second bass - not to need to hear it again. My interest in the symphony nowadays tends to focus on the fourth horn solo in the third movement. As I don't usually play fourth, I'll likely never get a chance to play it in anger (which is probably what it would be, literally rather than just figuratively!).

Its a brutal sing for the chorus IMO. I was happy to wait a long time before it came up in the list of concerts. I was happiest viewing it as a (sort of technical) vocal challenge. I don't mind listening to a good chorus singing it.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Its a brutal sing for the chorus IMO. I was happy to wait a long time before it came up in the list of concerts. I was happiest viewing it as a (sort of technical) vocal challenge. I don't mind listening to a good chorus singing it.

My former chorus was not one of those that seemed to sing it every week, thank goodness, and no "no-copies" party tricks. It can be bearable with the right individual carving, and we were usually lucky. However, there was one a few years back who didn't want line or any oomph to it - and this was at the RAH, a big space to fill, during that summer season thingy; our chorus director, who would have put Maestro right, was taking a break and left us in the hands of a doormat deputy. It went well...

[Bryn]

As I have probably mentioned before, my introduction to the 9th was of the final movement only (PCO, Schuricht). I was on the obverse of the 5th on the only Beethoven LP my father had. I did not really come to terms with that final movement until I heard the full work, several years later. Suddenly, the final movement made sense to me, with its treatment and transformation of themes from those earlier movements. "O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen", indeed. Without the context of the first three movements, it just did not grab me. Following them, however, it blossomed in full glory.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Having derailed this thread, I'm going to drag it kicking and screaming back to the subject at hand.

I've just, via Soundz, given Bernstein's Shostakovich 7 a rehearing, in the version conducted, and don't we know it, by Bernstein in Chicago. It did nothing to persuade me that I was wrong to give it to the charity shop, slow - and then sl-ow-er - in the wrong places, speeding up excitedly in the finishing straight, with a bit of vocal encouragement... Did I mention that it was conducted by Bernstein?

It may be Edward Seckerson's favourite, and one for a very occasional hearing, but really not one to give a central recommendation.

[pastoralguy]

. Other ones I can remember were Menhuin's Nielsen and Sibelius violin concertos (recorded, as I understand it, in a period when he was struggling in his personal life and his playing suffered). Even as a relative novice collector I could tell these weren't good.

I’d never heard these recordings and was delighted when they were finally released on cd. I was appalled at how bad they were. Imho, they should not have been released.

[Barbirollians]

I’d never heard these recordings and was delighted when they were finally released on cd. I was appalled at how bad they were. Imho, they should not have been released.

I don’t think they are that bad - far from his best work and totally uncompetitive as they may well be.

[pastoralguy]

I don’t think they are that bad - far from his best work and totally uncompetitive as they may well be.

Sorry Barbie but a lot of his playing in these recordings are simply not in tune. As a famous teacher of mine used to say ‘If you’re not playing in tune then you’re not playing musically!’