GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

12-17-2008

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tuga

Posts 174
Joined on 12-26-2007

Post #:	26
Post ID:	9188
Reply to:	9186

Faure by BSO and Ozawa: different material

Hello Romy,

My recording also features the Tanglewood Festival Chorus but the material is not the same (Requiem, songs). It was my mistake: I was confusing it with my version of Pelleas et Melisande that I can't have access to at the moment...

Cheers,
Tuga

"Science draws the wave, poetry fills it with water" Teixeira Pascoaes

01-28-2009

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mats
Chicago
Posts 85
Joined on 09-18-2005

Post #:	28
Post ID:	9572
Reply to:	9343

Tristan at Lyric Opera

If you missed the webcast of the opening night of Tristan on WFMT, perhaps you can catch it on your local station sometime in the future. Fortune smiled and blessed me with two 7th row seats. I leave the commentary to John von Rhein:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-0129-tristan-lyric-ovnjan29,0,1343266.sto

I will just say that the cellos and basses in the opening chords of act three were just amazing. Today I found that the Bohm on Phillips 434 425-2 captures much of that yearning growl. Furtwangler is perhaps even more haunting with the PO. As usual I had to attenuate the HF quite a bit to capture the feeling of opera sound.

Mats

01-28-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	29
Post ID:	9575
Reply to:	9572

The Bayreuther 1966.

Matt, if you have the Tristan with Birgit Nilsson and Christa Ludwig from Bayreuther 1966 then you might be all set. I am not a Wagner expert but the friend of my who is Wagner-infatuated gave me that brand new sealed 5LPs album and I am “working” on it for a couple years. A truly wonderful performance in my view…

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

01-29-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	30
Post ID:	9578
Reply to:	8359

Takashi Bruckner and the rice-paper walls.

This is in interesting Bruckner. Asahina plays this 9 in 2000 like someone would play Brahms. While I was listening it I did not think about the music but about audio. This Tokyo orchestra realty does not have “it”, even though I do like what Asahina was trying accomplishing. It like riding a bike on deflated tires. It is funny as the very same musicians sitting in western orders do very well. What I wonder if the course of everything are the wall of the Japanese concert holes and the slimier that makes the instrument to sound “simpler”..

The caT

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

02-20-2009

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Lbjefferies7
Southern California
Posts 49
Joined on 01-11-2008

Post #:	31
Post ID:	9813
Reply to:	9578

Aram Khachaturian

I listened to his Concerto-Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra today. I have only one performance of this piece, with Rostropovich/Svetlanov/Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and was wondering if anyone knew any other valuable performances.

May your ideal state be realized by living in accordance with your own nature, (I'm tired of "Regards,")
LBJ

I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer. Leonard Bernstein

02-20-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	32
Post ID:	9822
Reply to:	9813

Khachaturian, second echelon and the Stravinsky’s syndrome

Lbjefferies7 wrote:
I listened to his Concerto-Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra today. I have only one performance of this piece, with Rostropovich/Svetlanov/Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and was wondering if anyone knew any other valuable performances.

LBJ,

If you like the Khachaturian’s Concerto-Rhapsodyes then he had a few more of them, for different instruments and they all were identically good. It is hard to go wrong with Rostropovich and since I lately become much warmer to Svetlanov then I use to be then I think what you have might be good, I do not remember this performance now. BTW, Khachaturian the last 20 year of his live was actively conducting in Russian and abroad. If you like him then you might search for many record where Khachaturian led different orchestras with his own music. I personally feel that Khachaturian suffered from the Stravinsky syndrome in his conducting (Stravinsky never was a good conductor of his own works) but still I think the Khachaturian own performances are worth to explore.

What however I do remember from my feeling about Khachaturian’s rhapsodies and his both concertos were my feelings that it was good music BUT it was very obvious WHY Khachaturian was in some kind second echelon of composers…

The caT

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

02-20-2009

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Lbjefferies7
Southern California
Posts 49
Joined on 01-11-2008

Post #:	33
Post ID:	9847
Reply to:	9822

Second Echelon Conducting of Second Echelon Composing

Thanks Romy,

Yes, I will explore Khachaturian more...I like him even though he keeps company with the lesser respected of composers. It is kind of a shame that the secondary composers often get pushed aside by the major, important works of the First Echelon. Yes, it is obviously secondary and rather derivative, but does this piece deserve lesser admiration than, say, Beethoven's Appassionata or some of the other middle-period empty crap he composed? When will Monn's Cello Concerto in G Minor get its due?

The recording I have is in a box set of 10 Rostropovich CD's...Historic Russian Archives, I believe.

LBJ

I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer. Leonard Bernstein

03-09-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	34
Post ID:	9981
Reply to:	8359

Dupré’s Symphonie Passion for Organ by Pierre Cochereau

This performance is one of the few rare examples how to compose and to play organ properly. Pierre Cochereau plays the Cathedral of Notre-Dame’s organ in 50s, prior to the organ “improvement” in 60s. What a wonderful and tasteful play!

The Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

03-15-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	35
Post ID:	10006
Reply to:	8359

Sonata for String Orchestra by William Walton.

Wow,

what a magnificent new for me pieces and what a wonderful new for me orchestra! It was performed and recorded by European Broadcast Union in 2007 at London’s Wigmore Hall, and stunningly-good played by Scottish Ensemble under direction of Jonathan Morton

http://www.williamwalton.net/works/orchestral/sonata_for_strings.html

The caT

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

03-22-2009

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mats
Chicago
Posts 85
Joined on 09-18-2005

Post #:	36
Post ID:	10070
Reply to:	10006

Variations on a Theme from Bizet's Carmen

Heard this recording, by Valery Kuleshov on the Van Cliburn Competition 1993 disc, played on WFMT yesterday. A mezmerizing performance, fantastic arrangement, and superb sound. An Amazon reviewer writes:
"Though Horowitz wrote these variations and played them regularly, they were never written down. Valery listened to recordings of Horowitz performing the Carmen Variations hundreds of times and transcribed what he heard as closely as possible to the way Horowitz played the piece."

mats

05-25-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	37
Post ID:	10579
Reply to:	8359

Clemens Krauss’s Brahms Third.

It was on March 1930. Clemens Krauss lead Vienna Philharmonic. After Walter, Bernstein (with Vienna only),Toscanini, Barbirolli, Cantelli, Levine, Furtwangler and Got only knows who esle I finally “got” the Brahms Third! What a Sound Krauss thrown!

The Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

06-11-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	39
Post ID:	10757
Reply to:	8359

The recorder Concertos!

I kind of pooh-pooh the Concerto for recorder. I heard a few of them but they never attracted me – the simplistic whistling recorders never stroke me as an expensive not to say leading instrument. Well, I presume that I never heard it live…

Today the WGBH broadcasted LIVE Georg Philipp Telemann’s Concerto for recorder and strings in F Major. The recorder was played by Matthias Maute and it was accompanied by a collage of musicians under umbrella of Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, conducted by Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs.

What a play and what an interesting music a recorder can make! Apparently the regular audio media is too devastating for sound of recorder at the recordings that I heard was always sounded too flat and basically was caring a variation of one tone. Not anymore…

The Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

06-11-2009

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JJ Triode
Posts 99
Joined on 09-12-2007

Post #:	40
Post ID:	10758
Reply to:	10757

Recorder performances

I think the recorder has a split personality. At the lowest level it is one of the easiest instruments for kids to learn to play, often used in schools, usually with very cheap plastic instruments.

At the opposite end it is one of the hardest instruments to play "as it should be" and very few musicians do it. It also requires a very small performance space as the recorder just cannot produce much SPL, especially if tone matters. Probably to record it properly is difficult too, microphone setup will demand special attention and other things need to be "right."

All the Baroque masters did some very nice concertos and sonatas for recorder, including Bach, Telemann, Handel, and Vivaldi. I listened to a recorder concerto by Vivaldi just last night. It was even more popular in the Renaissance, among others Pretorius used recorders along with his krumhorns, shawms and such.

06-11-2009

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Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,577
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #:	41
Post ID:	10759
Reply to:	10757

Novel Instrument Syndrome

It has been a long time since I enjoyed "early music", and I think I can pretty much trace my falling out with the genre to the meteoric rise of Christopher Hogwood and Company, with their twistedandpained "authentic" expression, using the well-researched, "period" instruments. Sorry, but the most charitable thoughts I can muster on the matter at this time is that they (CH&C), like Sir Nevil Mariner and AoSMitF, just did too much too fast, and I was not only bowled over but also knocked flat and left weary and disgusted in their wake(s).

HOWEVER (being nothing if not Mercurial): At the same time, during my long disaffection with "early music", I have yet compulsively picked up just about every oddball "classical" LP I have noticed, inlcuding glass harmonica and recorder. I actually like the sound of both instruments - at times - and also there are apparently some compositions for them that are not instant-sleep-inducing "correct" versions, but they date to a happier day and time before anyone made such a gigantic deal of "authenticity', but they just played the piece well, and damn the torpedoes.

Because of or despite the foregoing, I will look for the performance you tout, with the same high hopes that prompted the idiotic purchase of my most recent Gregorian Chant CD...

Best regards,
Paul S

07-22-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	42
Post ID:	11151
Reply to:	8359

Prokofiev’s Second Concerto

It is not unknown work to me, I never was hugely thrilled about it but I heard it today for the first time that I suddenly turned to like it. Ironically it was the performance today that I liked but rather it was a bliss to me, an inspiration why I did not like it before.

Today I heard Kissin played Prokofiev’s Second Concertos with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra under Ashkenazy. Evgeny Kissin was at the top of his shape – flawless but empathycal technicality and flooding the nuances of melody with barbaric pianisic chops. The notes taste like tune cans in super market… It did not have on merits but how truly musical was it? Well, probably it was as musical as the Baron Cohen’s film “Bruno” is funny….

Still, listening Kissin it suddenly comes to me how to play Prokofiev’s Second Concertos in order the concert did not created just a motor reaction of pianisic impressiveness but rather work as a serious piano concerto…

The Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

07-25-2009

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Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,577
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #:	43
Post ID:	11184
Reply to:	9176

'55 vs. '81 Re-set, Anyone?

Add me to the list of people who think Gould's '55 Golberg sets the bar. I recently compared the '55 and '81, and now I appreciate the '55 more than ever. Sure, it's fast, but it's certainly not like it gets away from hm or anything.

OTOH, I found/find the '81 to be rather eccentric, with Gould seeming to get lost in "alternate" (and sometimes antithetical) threads. Maybe G had done it so often that this was just a new way to play it; or maybe his perceptions were skewed...

I agree that the '55 is "straight up", and I can see where one might feel steam-rollered by it if not ready for it; but boy, does G pull it off, IMO. Nowhere to hide, and no reason to hide.

Best regards,
Paul S

07-26-2009

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Lbjefferies7
Southern California
Posts 49
Joined on 01-11-2008

Post #:	44
Post ID:	11185
Reply to:	11184

'55 Gould Vs. '81 Gould

It appears that I need both. I have had quite a relationship with these pieces. I go back and forth between them. I think that this is purely because of the differences between young and old Gould. For me, they need eachother, in a way. I think some of the things in '55 were indicative of Gould still finding what he really wanted to do.

I am very much more inlined to like the '81 because of its clear purpose of creating a rhythmic design to the Goldberg Variations. It's more logical...more structured.

However, the '55 performance is Bach in the eyes of romanticism. Kind of like Richter did with The Well-Tempered Clavier, but much less intensity. It seems kind of like I.M. Pei's Pyramid at the Louvre only in reverse. '81 is just the Pyramid. Maybe more like the Getty Center.

I've recently been quite fascinated by the unorthodox piano regulation in his performances of the Two and Three Part Inventions (1963). I have never encountered a pianist using (really using!) too-strong repetition springs, not enough drop, and perhaps tweeked back checks. He certainly changed between '55 and '81, but he was always a musical genius.

Interesting that he apparently took 5 years to find his piano. I have been surrounded by pianos for about 20 years and have found exactly two exceptional pianos. Two out of about 2300. I can't wait untill that next one comes.

LBJ

I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer. Leonard Bernstein

07-26-2009

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Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,577
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #:	45
Post ID:	11186
Reply to:	11185

Not For Sale

LBJ, in the bright clear air of morning, it looks like I made yet another "tired" post, after a long day out in the heat. I actually love and respect both versions, but it was not my aim or desire to include the relevant back stories, probably because I was just too tired when I got hooked by JL's earlier post.

I am somewhat surprised to hear your thought that the '55 was "Romantic", but I guess I can hear a sort of very fleeting Romanticism. And now that you mention it, I do react to parts of it that way, pre-programed, as I am, with the "sense" of Romanticism.

I certainly agree with the idea of G "creating a rhythmic design" in the '81; in fact, it's as though he aims (and in some cases he is "waiting") to "channel" the work most of the time, and I think he winds up taking a few weird turns with respect to his attention, relative to any musical/temporal thread one might expect/anticipate. Certainly not Romantic, or...; but, just Gould; almost like a very long jazz concert.

Yes, there are too few truly great instruments out there, and what a difference they can make when played by the greats. I wish that Gieseking had cared more, and I will be forever greatful that Gould, Richter, Malcuzynski and others did care.

Best regards,
Paul

07-29-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	47
Post ID:	11221
Reply to:	8359

Glazunov 9th unfinished symphony.

Glazunovs’ symphonies are not well know but his 5, 6, 7, 8 symphonies are quite good with some movements from the 6th and 8th are almost great. Glazunov’s composed 9th symphony, well, only first movement and then he died. The 9th symphony practically never played, l I never hear it and last night WHRB broadcasted it with Dmitri Kitaenko leading some kind of Russian orchestra. It was very interesting, I think I will get myself this recording…..

The Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

08-08-2009

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JANDL100

Forest of Dean, UK
Posts 71
Joined on 09-27-2007

Post #:	48
Post ID:	11316
Reply to:	11221

Elgar 2nd Symphony - Vernon Handley

Although I am a Brit and have been an avid fan of classical including British music (RVW is my fave) for several decades, I just haven't been able to appreciate what the hell Elgar was on about in his 2 symphonies. (I've loved his '3rd' as completed by Anthony Payne since I first heard it).

I've also generally had a fairly passionate dislike for the conducting skills of the recently deceased Vernon Handley.

But every know and then, if only to try and keep an open mind, I have another listen.

This time around, I followed the advice of some music critics and bought the Elgar 2 conducted by Handley on EMI. Well, maybe two wrongs do make a right!
In this case, this is certainly the situation for me. Something, just a smidgeon, captivated me from the start, although the other 99% was still unintelligible to me! I have now listened to this recording about 8 or 9 times in the course of a few days - and I am now totally bowled over by the music. Fantastic. What were seemingly disjointed chords now coalesce into a magnificent whole. And what great sound quality too - oh, that brass! My love of Vaughan Williams' symphonic (and other) works is undimmed - but Elgar's 2nd symphony is fast approaching their exalted level in my view. I must now try other versions - I have also just bought Handley's Elgar 1, perhaps that will work some magic on me, too!

Jerry

09-07-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	49
Post ID:	11686
Reply to:	8359

Alfred Schnittke’s Psalms of Repentance

After a 10 years or I have today wonderful listening of Schnittke’s Psalms of Repentance. It is Swedish Radio Choir under Tonu Kaljuste on ECM New Series. As anything more unearthy-sublime then the 12the psalm? In fact it not only the 12 – I like all of them, I like them a lot. It is certainly not for dally listening and your need to be a VERY special mood to be able to listen the Psalms of Repentance. You will know what I mean if you in the mood….

The caT

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

09-08-2009

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Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,052
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	50
Post ID:	11705
Reply to:	8359

The Lute Music of Johann Sebastian Bach

It is by Eduardo Eguez and it is transcendently good. I still miss that Glen Gould psychedelic “nervousness” but I do not think that Lute or Guitar can play like a percussion instilment. Still, for whomever it is the Eguez’s Bach is just phenomenal. It has become my Sunday morning music .

The Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche