BAL Topics

[oliver sudden]

I was just thinking how tempting that Piau sounds and suddenly had the strong suspicion that I might already have it somewhere in a dark corner of my shelves…

I do have it! I haven’t even got around to unwrapping it yet

Must have bought it before Piau was on my radar. And for that matter Fouchécourt, who is also on it. I shall give it a spin soon. Too late for tonight though.

[Roger Webb]

It was Cyrille Dubois's singing I think they loved and I agreed and ordered the CDs when I got home from France

I can't now remember anything about a version with Cyrille Dubois, certainly she didn't feature in the six (A to F) 'finalists'. They did mention a few that were accompanied by piano (the Sandrine Piau is one), which if memory serves, they said weren't admissible because they were only considering the version for voice and chamber ensemble - is your version with piano? Another that they mentioned in passing was that with Lucienne van Deyck, on Cypres which had the added bonus of a rare perf. of the String Qt.

[Roger Webb]

It was Cyrille Dubois's singing I think they loved and I agreed and ordered the CDs when I got home from France

BTW Cyrille Dubois is a tenor!

[Roger Webb]

I do have it! I haven’t even got around to unwrapping it yet

Must have bought it before Piau was on my radar. And for that matter Fouchécourt, who is also on it. I shall give it a spin soon. Too late for tonight though.

That Piau CD also has the mini masterpiece 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' that I once suggested for Essential Classics - Playlist.....and it was played! I've long since given up that programme.

[Nick Armstrong]

Is anyone else here a fan of La Tribune des critiques de disques? France Musique, in French of course (sorry), generally six recordings discussed by a panel of critics who are not told what they are. Can be incredibly insightful, depending of course on the critics and the selection—of course the critics have to talk about what they are actually hearing, which I freely admit has often helped me sharpen my ears (I have mentioned elsewhere here that the programme helped me find my way back to Kubelík’s Mahler a few years ago, for which I am most grateful). And the gasps of the critics when they have just eliminated their favourite recording are always jolly good fun.

Yes! … see e.g.

https://www.for3.org/forums/forum/classical-forum/record-review/9045-la-tribune-des-critiques-de-disques-france-musique

As for R3 Saturday mornings… RIP & thanks for the memories

The compressed Record Review will get a listen at some point during the ensuing week but it sounds like BAL is in effect a dead duck

[Barbirollians]

BTW Cyrille Dubois is a tenor!

Er yes - it was his singing of the big aria that had them in raptures but they definitely also liked Gedda.

[Pulcinella]

...
As for R3 Saturday mornings… RIP & thanks for the memories

The compressed Record Review will get a listen at some point during the ensuing week but it sounds like BAL is in effect a dead duck

Indeed: I wonder if Alpie will still think it worthwhile compiling lists and keeping the interest going here. I hope so; we often get more insight from fellow forumites than in the programme itself, though some of our Summer BaLs haven't exactly taken off. Maybe Roger and Oliver will breathe some new life into those in the coming months.

[MickyD]

I so agree with this topic. We now enjoy various versions of operas by Rameau, for example....there are about four or five versions of Les Indes Galantes. Five or six good versions of Handel's Alcina. I would love to hear them being compared

[oliver sudden]

Er yes - it was his singing of the big aria that had them in raptures but they definitely also liked Gedda.

I’m starting to think we may be talking about different pieces

edit: a google suggests maybe Les Pêcheurs de perles? Although gosh, even the google search showed up the winner straight away. Tricky to avoid spoilers, especially I guess if you’re googling a name from the version élue…

[Quarky]

May I just add in regard to La Tribune des Critiques, as wil be immediately apparent to all, that the website is continuously upgraded, and now includes a written report of the proceedings by M. Rousseau. And of course Google translate is available for those whose French is less than perfect::

Jérémie Rousseau's report

Only versions recorded within the last 10 years were taken into account
A first agreement which lays the columns of the temple. The London Symphony Orchestra , with silky strings, delivers a monumental but never thick Beethoven. Too bad Krystian Zimerman keeps his distance, apparently little affected by the contagious flame of Simon Rattle .........

Perfect for listen again..

[Roger Webb]

Er yes - it was his singing of the big aria that had them in raptures but they definitely also liked Gedda.

We have crossed lines as Oliver suggests! Oliver and I were discussing Delage's Quatre poèmes hindous...I think you were refering to Pearlfishers.

A tenor version of the Delage would be intriguing though!

[Goon525]

This is probably very much a minority view, but I’m less bothered about the reduction of RR to two hours, feeling that it’s got a bit elephantine in recent years. I would hope that BaL won’t be reduced, but if I remember correctly, when I started listening in the mid 70s, it ran something like 9.05 to 10.15 with BaL roughly its current length, and an expert reviewing, say, French chamber music or whatever. Pretty much nothing else.

[Ein Heldenleben]

This is probably very much a minority view, but I’m less bothered about the reduction of RR to two hours, feeling that it’s got a bit elephantine in recent years. I would hope that BaL won’t be reduced, but if I remember correctly, when I started listening in the mid 70s, it ran something like 9.05 to 10.15 with BaL roughly its current length, and an expert reviewing, say, French chamber music or whatever. Pretty much nothing else.

You’re right it was about an hour long in toto in the 70’s . But talking of elephantine it’s being replaced with a three hour show!

I think that’s part of the problem - so many of the new sequences are three hours long. That’s three hours with one presenter. I bet those presenters who are having to present for 20 percent more airtime or those producers producing 20 per cent more airtime are not getting a 20 per cent pay rise,

[Barbirollians]

This is probably very much a minority view, but I’m less bothered about the reduction of RR to two hours, feeling that it’s got a bit elephantine in recent years. I would hope that BaL won’t be reduced, but if I remember correctly, when I started listening in the mid 70s, it ran something like 9.05 to 10.15 with BaL roughly its current length, and an expert reviewing, say, French chamber music or whatever. Pretty much nothing else.

I suppose the concern is that MrMcGregor will want to keep his 30 mins of new releases and at the start and his disc of the week and BAL will be squeezed harder. Though of course in a fantasy world that would lead back to recorded scripted BALs by experts in their field .

[Cockney Sparrow]

May I just add in regard to La Tribune des Critiques, as wil be immediately apparent to all, that the website is continuously upgraded, and now includes a written report of the proceedings by M. Rousseau. And of course Google translate is available for those whose French is less than perfect................::
..................Perfect for listen again..

Thank you so much for pointing this out!
We know the BBC will proceed to carry out the denaturing or Radio 3 in whatever image they require, so I feel we are left with identifying any worthwhile remnants and other sources - such as you have provided for La Tribune des Critiques.

(Thank goodness Gramophone executed a turn back to being a periodical of some quality - certainly better than where it had headed).