BaL 13.04.19 - Brahms: Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor, Op.38

[vinteuil]

Unfortunately, the one supposedly available (used) via the Amazon marketplace, transmutes into the Du Pre/Barenboim when one proceeds towards ordering it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-li...4570375&sr=8-1

... yes, I too found that that was the case.

However, on amazon.de I came across what seems to be the real thing, from the seller medimops who are pretty reliable. For about £5 plus p&p.

Fingers crost....

https://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/B000003UYF

.

[MickyD]

I hope you manage to snap it up, Vints...the early piano sounds very nice indeed in Komen's hands.

[BBMmk2]

I think I may have this, in one of the Lugano sets?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Let's not forget this one tomorrow morning.

[Mal]

The BBC MM CD version (the only recording I have of this work; vol 20, no 2) features Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough, in a Wigmore Hall recital, recorded live on 22 October 2005.
I see that their Hyperion recording

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7940943--brahms-cello-sonatas

was released on 31 October 2005, so I would imagine that the performances are very similar.

I have the Hyperion recording, but haven't heard the Wigmore Hall performance. It's very well recorded; the performance is superb, romantic but not sentimental, and very dynamic. It has the feel of a live performance, but with all the (cough, cough) "advantages" of the studio. I'm very happy with it and unless I hear something *really* special I doubt I will supplement it with another performance. The CD has the second sonata as well, and with four smaller pieces by Dvorak & Suk (very generous!) it's well filled, and so it's overall a great disc... Hyperion chose it as one of their 30 classics CDs to celebrate their 30th birthday.

[Mal]

I'm surprised that this is being discussed now, given that it is less than 4 years since the second sonata was discussed and most recordings couple the two sonatas. I have the Isserlis/ Hough version (the Hyperion recording not the BBC Music one) and am quite happy with this. Generally in Brahms I tend to go for a more "classical" approach rather than the romantic one favoured by cellists such as Jackie DuPré, but realise that not everyone here agrees with me. There is always room, especially with a composer such as Brahms, for more than one approach.

Good point. Isserlis/ Hough do sound classically precise. BUT I think they generate sufficient romance as well. It's a safe choice I feel, maybe a good one to get as a golden "middle of the road".

BAL just started and they kicked of with Isserlis/Hough, which they describe as masterly, wonderful, etc.... They are using it as a "superb but typical modern performance", as a comparison standard for different ways of playing it... After making this the obvious front runner they wait half an hour before heaping more praise ("dreamy trio")! And Andrew M suggests Isserlis' booklet notes are excellent... I agree!

Wispelwey/Komen gets a lot of play and I'm finding it, as they say,"very exciting". Also Mork/Grimaud are played extensively, and is a fine example of "lyrical" playing.

In the final movement, they point out Isserlis/Hough are bang on the counterpoint, "playing is fantastic, meticulous is the word, ... a wonderful approach". But they reviewer prefers things a bit wilder, rougher, with more adrenaline. Is the front runner starting to flag? Perényi/Kocsis has started to run like a cheetah chased Wildebeest. And, by a short horn, the prize goes to the Wildebeest!

I'll be sticking with Isserlis/Hough, but might be tempted by Wispelway/Komen or Perenyi/Kocsis if I start to feel I need to supplement with something a bit wilder.

[verismissimo]

Didn't catch the names of the recommended HIP performance. Which was it?

[DracoM]

I know we KEEP on saying it, but the two-hander BALs are a mess.

Ms Hamilton was way more and more than capable of running it, and AMcG added almost nothing to the mix at all.

But he spent to WHOLE programme chipping and schittering through that too!

WHY, WHY, WHY do they keep doing it?

[Mal]

Didn't catch the names of the recommended HIP performance. Which was it?

They said they were not separating HIP and Modern, and none of the final three were HIP. I don't think they recommended a HIP performance, but I might have missed it... That said, the Wispelway/Komen performance seemed to top their HIP list. They gave it a lot of air time, much praise, and put it on my "maybe purchase" list.

[antongould]

I know we KEEP on saying it, but the two-hander BALs are a mess.

Ms Hamilton was way more and more than capable of running it, and AMcG added almost nothing to the mix at all.

But he spent to WHOLE programme chipping and schittering through that too!

WHY, WHY, WHY do they keep doing it?

I have no idea and like you I wish they would stop ......

[Mal]

I know we KEEP on saying it, but the two-hander BALs are a mess.

Ms Hamilton was way more and more than capable of running it, and AMcG added almost nothing to the mix at all.

But he spent to WHOLE programme chipping and schittering through that too!

WHY, WHY, WHY do they keep doing it?

I agree, but Ms Hamilton *was* very good, so certainly not to be missed, if you are listening later. But you could have excluded AMcG, and in the time saved played a bit more Hough/Isserlis, and have got the "historical" and "period" choices down pat.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have no idea and like you I wash they would stop ......

So do I. I switched on, endured a couple of minutes of Noddy McGregor's chirruppings and then switched off, playing a recently-acquired CD of Gerhard's String 4tets instead - a much more satisfying way to spend the time.

Yet again, R3 is doing everything it can to stop me from bothering to listen to what they have on offer - sometimes it seems almost personal!

[LeMartinPecheur]

Didn't catch the names of the recommended HIP performance. Which was it?

Could have been this by Kate Bennett Wadsworth. Reviewer was much taken with her favoured performance's attempt at authentic performance practice as well as instruments which matches the blurb on this one. It was certainly by a cellist with an English surname https://katebennettwadsworth.com/?au...-cello-sonatas

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The HIPP discussion was interesting - indeed, fascinating - but lost much credibility when the two kind of piano were likened to Bach being played on the harpsichord and piano. That was so utter ludicrous in that the harpsichord and piano are completely different instruments, the only similarity being that they both have keyboards and strings, whereas many people wouldn't notice the difference between the pianos if it were not pointed out to them.

[Pianoman]

So do I. I switched on, endured a couple of minutes of Noddy McGregor's chirruppings and then switched off, playing a recently-acquired CD of Gerhard's String 4tets instead - a much more satisfying way to spend the time.

Bit ot, but is that the Arditti or Kreutzer disc ?