'Poorly served' works on record

[Pulcinella]

A new thread to complement the 'Lucky' one.

My first two contenders (personal grouse) are
Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges
and
Falla: Master Peter's puppet show (El retablo de Maese Pedro)
which, despite there being several admirable recordings, usually don't work for me because the child's role in each is so often taken by someone with a voice which sounds too mature.

[richardfinegold]

Those are two excellent choices. Off the top of my head I will start with Sibelius Third and Sixth Symphonies. It isn’t that there aren’t any decent recordings, but that most recordings of both tend to make a hash out of them.
Debussy Jeux is an elusive work that seems to confound most interpreters.
Walter Piston is one of my favorite composers. He admittedly isn’t in the privileged 25 that dominate concert life, but outside of The Incredible Flutist it’s rare to encounter his music. The Symphonies have been recorded in drabs and drabs and some of them are represented by student orchestras. I would love to have the Chicago SO take them on.
Rawsthorne occupies a similar place in my esteem as Piston.
I personally would like to hear C.P.E. Bach on well played modern instruments instead of the HIPP ghetto to which he has been confined

[Roger Webb]

I suppose most of the posts will be about works that have many recordings...or at least several, and all of them judged to be lacking in some way. I have a work I love, in spite of the single performance not being 'ideal'. I've tried to imagine what it would sound like with the many singers who could sing it, but haven't - at least not on a recording. The work is the song-cycle 'L'Offrande lyrique', settings of Rabindranath Tagore by Jean Cras. I suppose he's lucky in a way as, at least all his works have now been recorded....generally very well, but the songs not so - Timpani label have two discs, one of songs with piano, one with orch. (1c 1160)

My ideal soloist would be Véronique Gens....if she could put it on one of those enterprising Alpha label CDs......

Oh, and try playing 'Si le jour est Passé', the third of the set, is that not genius at work? Deserving of a great performance?!

[pastoralguy]

Well, the Symphonies by George Lloyd could do with modern recordings by a committed advocate. One day…

[Serial_Apologist]

I think it's been a very long time since we've heard anything whatsoever by Peter Racine Fricker (1920-90), a pupil of Matyas Seiber, who composed highly individual works including a number of symphonies in a cogent well-thought through idiom that would probably be described as atonal these days, although it was not at the time, despite some of the music employing tone rows. Bartok might well be considered the strongest influence, although Fricker did not draw on folk idioms.

[mopsus]

I'm not sure there is a really satisfactory recording of the completed 3-act version of Lulu (I would be interested to hear recommendations and would love to be shown to be mistaken); I have Jeffrey Tate's but it could be improved on, not least in the sound quality. The first two acts alone are better served.

[pastoralguy]

I think it's been a very long time since we've heard anything whatsoever by Peter Racine Fricker (1920-90), a pupil of Matyas Seiber, who composed highly individual works including a number of symphonies in a cogent well-thought through idiom that would probably be described as atonal these days, although it was not at the time, despite some of the music employing tone rows. Bartok might well be considered the strongest influence, although Fricker did not draw on folk idioms.

I remember playing the Fifth Symphony many years ago. I remember it being well written and quite melodious.

[Belgrove]

I'm not sure there is a really satisfactory recording of the completed 3-act version of Lulu (I would be interested to hear recommendations and would love to be shown to be mistaken); I have Jeffrey Tate's but it could be improved on, not least in the sound quality. The first two acts alone are better served.

May I recommend the dvd/blu-ray of the ROH production conducted by Pappano with Agneta Eichenholz as Lulu and Michael Volle as Dr Schön? Whilst the production might not be to everyone’s taste (it’s almost a non-production, but I like its stripped-down purity nevertheless), you can turn off the visuals if they don’t appeal. There is no weakness in the cast and the orchestral playing just gorgeous. Pappano’s Berg was among the best work he did at Covent Garden.

[Roger Webb]

I remember playing the Fifth Symphony many years ago. I remember it being well written and quite melodious.

The 5th Sym/The Vision of Judgement and Syms 1 - 4 have been released by Lyrita, taken from Richard Itter's archive of live concerts by BBC orchestras. The 5th conducted by Colin Davis....I wonder if this is the perf you heard?

This is a continuing project, the remastering being overseen by Mike Clements.

I still have my Fricker Sym 1 RCA Lp GL 25057 Louisville Orch./Whitney. I first became interested in him in the early 80s when he was director of the Cheltenham Festival and gave some pre-concert talks - one of which was for the premiere of the Concerto for Orchestra played by RPO/Litten.

BTW Fricker's String Quartets are avalable on Naxos 8.571374 Villiers SQ.

[mopsus]

May I recommend the dvd/blu-ray of the ROH production conducted by Pappano with Agneta Eichenholz as Lulu and Michael Volle as Dr Schön? Whilst the production might not be to everyone’s taste (it’s almost a non-production, but I like its stripped-down purity nevertheless), you can turn off the visuals if they don’t appeal. There is no weakness in the cast and the orchestral playing just gorgeous. Pappano’s Berg was among the best work he did at Covent Garden.

Yes, I went to that production. The casting was so strong throughout - I recall Philip Langridge, in what must have been one of his last roles, as the Marquis and other combined minor parts.

[Opinionated Knowall]

Can I make a possibly controversial suggestion. Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, K364? I love this piece, and have listened to a stack of recordings, old/new, HIPP/modern etc etc. but none seem to quite nail it. Any suggestions of something I might have missed?

[smittims]

I think we're down to personal taste here, Op -Kn. In my humble 'opinion' , this has been a lucky work on disc. Sammons/Tertis, Heifetz/Primrose, Stern/Primrose, Joseph and Lilian Fuchs, Menuhin and Barshai, and Stern/Zukerman are all wonderful in my ears.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Elgar: The Starlight Express

There are two recordings of this:
The complete music, conducted by Vernon Handley;
The complete music, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, but with Simon Callow reading the story of the play, with the music in the background.
The former is fine, except that it should be heard in context with the play. When the work was published for the very first time, 14 years ago in the Elgar Complete Edition), it was hoped that it would lead to a recording with the play and music together, but the powers that be, including Chandos, thought otherwise, because the story line was thought to be too dated for modern audiences. The compromise was to have an actor reading the story instead of a group of actors performing it. That seems a strange kind of logic. Having someone - even Simon Callow - talking over the music is no better than Tom Service or Jess Gilliam and friends doing the same.

[LMcD]

Elgar: The Starlight Express

There are two recordings of this:
The complete music, conducted by Vernon Handley;
The complete music, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, but with Simon Callow reading the story of the play, with the music in the background.
The former is fine, except that it should be heard in context with the play. When the work was published for the very first time, 14 years ago in the Elgar Complete Edition), it was hoped that it would lead to a recording with the play and music together, but the powers that be, including Chandos, thought otherwise, because the story line was thought to be too dated for modern audiences. The compromise was to have an actor reading the story instead of a group of actors performing it. That seems a strange kind of logic. Having someone - even Simon Callow - talking over the music is no better than Tom Service or Jess Gilliam and friends doing the same.

Starlight Express Suite c/w King Arthur Suite - Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Hurst, re-released on Chandos.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Starlight Express Suite c/w King Arthur Suite - Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Hurst, re-released on Chandos.

There are several recordings of excerpts, but only two of them with the full music.