What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[richardfinegold]

Its in that 2 CD set above .

Yes I have this Monteux 3 - there is also one in the Richard Itter collection Monteux box on ICA Classics. Like the BBC Legends one I dont think they are the same performance ,

There is apparently a Brahms 4 on You Tube .

Yes, I couldn’t find that 2 CD set on eBay or Amazon.

[teamsaint]

Parry Symphony #5
LPO/ Boult

[smittims]

I think that was Boult's last recording, an appropriate note on which to bow out (1978). I've heard that they tried out their fledgling digital equipment at one of the sessions, significant for a conductor whose discography begins way back in the acoustic era with a sprighty selection from La Boutique Fantasque, the initial run of which the young Boult shared with Ernest Ansermet almost sixty years earlier .

[Pulcinella]

Parry Symphony #5
LPO/ Boult

I think that was Boult's last recording, an appropriate note on which to bow out (1978). I've heard that they tried out their fledgling digital equipment at one of the sessions, significant for a conductor whose discography begins way back in the acoustic era with a sprighty selection from La Boutique Fantasque, the initial run of which the young Boult shared with Ernest Ansermet almost sixty years earlier .

Yes it was.
The recording is the subject of Classics reconsidered, in October's Gramophone (which might be what inspired ts to give it a spin).

[smittims]

BRAHMS

QUINTET IN B MINOR

for clarinet and strings

THE FINE ARTS QUARTET
of the American Broadcasting Company
REGINALD KELL (Clarinet).

That is the title printed on the pale blue sleeve of theBrunswick Lp . Nowadays I think the clarinettist is usually mentioned first as if he were a 'soloist'. Not here: it's very much a joint effort . A lovely performance all round.

[Ian Thumwood]

I have been listening to Nana Vascocelos ' "Saudades" recording which is effectively a selection of recordings for Brazilian percussion with strings directed by Mladen Gutesha. There is also a track that features Egberto Gismonti's guitar and Vasconcelos also uses his wordless voice to add colour.

I suppose that could comparisons with Villa Lobos are obvious although I think this record is heavy with more ethnic/ native influences. The disc gets better and better with each listen and is a bit different from the Dua Vozes disc which is an exceptional duet which is like musical alchemy and one of the finest ECM discs. I love Gismonti (another pupil of Boulanger) who is a virtuoso on acoustic guitar and piano but I always feel Vasconcelos was a wild card...utterly compelling.

I am not sure where this music should be pigeon holed. Gismonti wrote the strident and dissonant string arrangements yet the use of percussion and voice is wholly original and alien to Western classical music.

Curious to see if anyone else is familiar with this record whose existence I was unaware of until a month ago. Not aware of percussion instruments like the berimbau being used in this context. I think Roger will love this.

[Petrushka]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 6 'Pathetique'
Wiener Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan

Recorded on November 4, 5 & 8 1948

[gradus]

A new and rather magical recording of the complete Mother Goose ballet by the French National Orchestra under Macelaru. Very much in the Monteux mould.

[Stanfordian]

Frank Bridge
Piano Quintet
Three Sketches for piano: April; Rosemary; Valse Capricieuse
Phantasie in F minor for string quartet
Pensiero for viola & piano
Allegro Appassionato for viola & piano
Violin Sonata (completed by Paul Hindmarsh)
Spring Song, for cello & piano
London Bridge Ensemble
Recorded 2009 Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth
Dutton Epoch, CD

Britten – ‘Sacred Choral music’
Rejoice in the Lamb
Hymn to St. Cecilia
Missa Brevis & other choral works
Iain Farrington (organ)
Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge / Christopher Robinson
Recorded 1999, Cambridge
Naxos, CD

[smittims]

For me, Petrushka, Herbert was the most satisfying interpreter of Tchaik 6. I have a nice playable copy of 33CX 1026 (the recording you mention) but I think his best one was the 1971 EMI recording , largely for the third movement, which I think is more difficult to bring off perfectly than many think. He keeps control until the end then suddenly lets it rip in one of those moments that lifts you out of your seat.

There have of course been so many fine interpretations: Cantelli and Kletzki paticularly outstanding for me.

Yesterday evening I was listening to some early Glenn Gould from Canadian radio tapes and acetates released on CD in a 'FabFour' box. They reveal why so many who heard him then were enthralled . One of them may be his first performance of the Goldberg Variations,a year before his famous CBS LP. And there's a Berg Sonata, which I don't think he recorded commercially.

[cloughie]

For me, Petrushka, Herbert was the most satisfying interpreter of Tchaik 6. I have a nice playable copy of 33CX 1026 (the recording you mention) but I think his best one was the 1971 EMI recording , largely for the third movement, which I think is more difficult to bring off perfectly than many think. He keeps control until the end then suddenly lets it rip in one of those moments that lifts you out of your seat.

There have of course been so many fine interpretations: Cantelli and Kletzki paticularly outstanding for me.

Yesterday evening I was listening to some early Glenn Gould from Canadian radio tapes and acetates released on CD in a 'FabFour' box. They reveal why so many who heard him then were enthralled . One of them may be his first performance of the Goldberg Variations,a year before his famous CBS LP. And there's a Berg Sonata, which I don't think he recorded commercially.

Indeed a very rich field Kletzki (HMV Concert Classics XLP/SXLP20027) still shines through for me. At the time I became acquainted with the work the Reiner on Victrola. Two others interesting for their idiosyncrasies of tempi in places were VPO/Martinon and PO/Silvestri but a performance by the Halle and Barbirolli at Sheffield City Hall on a very windy evening was the most atmospheric performance I have experienced - the wind could be heard through the vents in the quiet passages, particularly the finale.

[Petrushka]

For me, Petrushka, Herbert was the most satisfying interpreter of Tchaik 6. I have a nice playable copy of 33CX 1026 (the recording you mention) but I think his best one was the 1971 EMI recording , largely for the third movement, which I think is more difficult to bring off perfectly than many think. He keeps control until the end then suddenly lets it rip in one of those moments that lifts you out of your seat.

There have of course been so many fine interpretations: Cantelli and Kletzki paticularly outstanding for me

I'm on a bit of a 'Pathetique-fest' at the moment following last week's VPO Prom and listened to Karajan's 1956 recording with the Philharmonia last night. Of the two, I prefer the 1948. The Karajan 1971 was my very first Pathetique but I found that the LP sound was a touch opaque. Karajan certainly had an affinity with this piece recording it, I think, 7 times. I have them all anyway with my favourite being the 1964 on DG, a version criticised for over prominent timpani, possibly the reason why I like it! I've an insane number of other versions on my shelves, too.

[richardfinegold]

My only HvK Pathetique is a BluRay Audio set of all the Tchaikovsky Symponies with the BPO. I don't know the recording date as he was won't to re record basic repetoire every decade or so but there is nothing opaque about the recording. I have many Pathetiques on my shelves but the most recently played was the early stereo Monteux/Boston. Monteux had a great way with it, as the VPO concert performance and a few other mono efforts that have surfaced. Muti/Philharmonia is another favorite, more urgent than the two times I heard RM conduct it live. My personal favorite is Furtwangler,Berlin a relatively rare studio recording by him. If only it had more modern sound, but the current latest restorations are very good. The one famous version that I can't abide is Mravinsky, which has always sounded rushed, hectic, and not all that well recorded to boot, despite its legendary status as an audiophile favorite.

[smittims]

I agree the Monteux is another classic. the Furtwangler (1938) has always been regarded as a landmark. It was the first work of any length (apart from Beethoven's fifth) that he agreed to record , as he disliked the 78 medium with its side-breaks . I came to know the work through that recording and it was essential listening for me.

[Petrushka]

I agree the Monteux is another classic. the Furtwangler (1938) has always been regarded as a landmark. It was the first work of any length (apart from Beethoven's fifth) that he agreed to record , as he disliked the 78 medium with its side-breaks . I came to know the work through that recording and it was essential listening for me.

It's included in the Furtwängler boxed set of complete recordings on Warner.