What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[oliver sudden]

I'm not sure 'refused' is quite appropriate. Did anyone try to press him to play them?

Around the time of these recordings he wrote 'The arbitrariness of some classical repeats will already be familiar to those who are acquainted with Haydn's sonatas.
... The player at home will happily indulge in repeating the exposition of a Schubert sonata a dozen times for his private pleasure . In the concert hall he will be wise to consider thatthe perception of the audience as well as his own concentration shou ld not be overtaxed. That repeats are inevitably a matter of proportion is nothing more than a fashionable belief '. He added his disappproveal with some of the 'first-time ' bars, especially in D960.

Of course ,the owner of a recording may also repeat the exposition if he chooses, and this was take for granted in earlier recordings.

If I may add a personal note, I di slike Schubert played on 'period ' pianos. I think his music indicates clearly that he was in favour of the more modern instrument and would have preferred a modern piano (think of those low trills, for instance). .

Well, Schubert certainly asked him (and everyone else) so to do. To be honest I think Brendel’s neglecting to do so shows his limits, and thank goodness in that respect for Richter, Schiff, Staier and others. As far as I’m concerned the first-time bar in the first movement of D960 is utterly shattering in the best possible way.

[silvestrione]

Well, Schubert certainly asked him (and everyone else) so to do. To be honest I think Brendel’s neglecting to do so shows his limits, and thank goodness in that respect for Richter, Schiff, Staier and others. As far as I’m concerned the first-time bar in the first movement of D960 is utterly shattering in the best possible way.

Well, we've discussed this often over the years. I disagree, in fact I think it shows Brendel thinking about the music, this particular piece. His musical intelligence rather than his limits.There's a lot of repetition in Schubert, as it is. And his development sections don't go for a 'working out' of the main material (which would therefore benefit from the repeat) in the manner of Beethoven or Mozart (sometimes!). And the first-time bar? ....no, I don't like it, don't think it works (Brendel's view). But then I learnt the piece from performances that left it out!

But I've heard the counter arguments many times, of course.

[oliver sudden]

You play Schubert your way, I'll play him his way...

[vinteuil]

You play Schubert your way, I'll play him his way...

... and on instruments he would recognise

[DoctorT]

‘Crossing Borders’
La Serenissima/Adrian Chandler
A lovely new album. Particularly enjoying Katy Bircher’s flute playing

[smittims]

I think it's a good idea to be open-minded about interpretation. Saying 'Schubert tells us... Beettoven tells us ... ' as a way of interpreting their markings inthe score, is a bit uncomfortably like those people who say 'God tells us in the BIble...' . And it was quite normal to omit repeats fifty and more years ago. Kempff and Haebler do.

Brendel was in any case an innovator in other ways. I think his was the first recording of the Klavierstuck D946 no. 1 to omit the second interlude, which Schubert crossed out in the manuscript and Brahms well-meaningly re-instated in the first printed edition. The firsttwo recordings , fro 1956 (Arrau and Gieseking) include it. Brendel was followed by most if not all pianists since.

[Stanfordian]

Amilcare Ponchielli
‘La Gioconda’ (1876 version)
La Gioconda – Renata Tebaldi (soprano); Enzo Grimaldo – Carlo Bergonzi (tenor); Barnaba – Robert Merrill (baritone);
Alvise Badoero – Nicolai Ghiuselev (bass); Laura Badoero – Marilyn Horne (mezzo); La Cieca – Oralia Domínguez (mezzo)
Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia / Lamberto Gardelli
Recorded 1967, Sala Accademica, Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, Rome
Decca, 3 CDs

[Alison]

For some reason I never object to repeats even or especially in Schubert.

[Petrushka]

For some reason I never object to repeats even or especially in Schubert.

I'm generally not bothered too much either way and consider the question to be one of interpretation by the conductor/player concerned.

There are one or two exceptions: the finale repeat in the Schubert 9 shouldn't be done and the repeat in Brahms 3 first movement should. Also, I prefer the repeat in the scherzo of the Beethoven 5. All in my view, of course, and the absence or inclusion of them isn't a deal breaker.

[smittims]

Mozart: Clarinet Quintet, Antoine du Bavier with 'The New Italian Quartet' (actually our old friends the Quartetto Italiano ).

Beethoven , quartet in E flat, op. 74, 'Harp'. The Budapest Quartet.

Two lovely early-1950s Lps , still sounding well.

I wonder how many people were disappointed with the 'Harp' quartet on finding that Beethoven didn't include a part for the harp . I remember feeling the same when I found that Purcell's 'bell' anthem doesn't actually include a bell. I then found one by Bach that does , only to be told it's not really by Bach!

[LMcD]

Sibelius Opp. 26, 9, 22, 11 and 49 - an 'Encore' recording featuring the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent.

[Roger Webb]

I wonder how many people were disappointed with the 'Harp' quartet on finding that Beethoven didn't include a part for the harp....

Equally, those guitar enthusiasts who spot Ibert's, Française: 'Guitarre' , may be disappointed. It's played on the piano.

[smittims]

Mozart: Divertimento in B flat, K 287.

Schubert: Trout Quintet.

...both in early 1950s Decca recording by members of the Veinna Octet. Willi Boskovsky clearly revelling in the first violin parts of both works. I felt more comfortable lowering the pitch a notch or two as I often do on1950s Vienna recordings, after checking them with a tuning fork. .

[gurnemanz]

Mozart: Divertimento in B flat, K 287.

Schubert: Trout Quintet.

...both in early 1950s Decca recording by members of the Veinna Octet. Willi Boskovsky clearly revelling in the first violin parts of both works. I felt more comfortable lowering the pitch a notch or two as I often do on1950s Vienna recordings, after checking them with a tuning fork. .

I recently got to know K287 via a nice recent Brilliant Classics disc . According to the Musicweb review Mozart also enjoyed playing that violin part, commenting:
"Everyone looked astonished, for I played as though I was the greatest violinist in Europe."

[smittims]

Yes, I think his dad bristled at that remark and (as dads do) used it as a pretext for telling him to work harder!