Full time geek. Classical Music lover. founding Head of 1729 Maths School. CUP book author. Opinions are my own. 🏳️🌈
St Albans, UK
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I’m currently working through the 234 box sets and 3 composer retrospectives in this thread. The craziness started in early 2020 with the Stravinsky box and I’ve been lost to it ever since. The link takes you to the END, so you’ll need to scroll up. I will continue to…..
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#NowSpinning Berlioz Symohonie Fantastique with Ormandy in Philadelphia. Well the cover certainly makes reference to the drug-induced content of the work. Let’s see if Ormandy found the trippier corners of the score.
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#NowSpinning the two Grieg Peer Gynt Suites, in Karajan’s last-of-many recordings in Berlin. One of those moments where all his previous versions seem better. It’s amazing how easy it is to undermine the drama of the Mountain King by playing it too fast from the start!
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The Eugene Ormandy Legacy on Sony. This set comprises the complete mono recordings Ormandy made with the Philadelphia Orchestra, for Columbia and RCA. I'll add comments as I listen to each disc.
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OrmandyColumbiaLegacy CD 38 also includes Debussy’s Iberia. Although the closeness of the mono recording means it’s not at atmospherically sultry as it would be in stereo, the performance is still very appealing. The seductive strings are just amazing.
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OrmandyColumbiaLegacy CD 39 is a cut version of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony. These days there are too many great versions of the complete work for this kind of thing to be competitive, but for what it is the performance is pretty magnificent. Powerful strings and melancholic winds, along with thrusting, exciting pacing make it all worth hearing.
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#NowSpinning Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2. It’s cut - composer-sanctioned excisions - but it’s totally luscious. Some of the phrasing is quite indulgent, but if you’ve got it, flaunt it!
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Karajan Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, 355 Discs. Part Four! 1980s DG orchestral recordings, avoiding massive threads!
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…disc. Zimerman strikes me as a touch hard-toned in the first movement. I would have liked more warmth and rustic charm, though things become more lushly romantic as the work proceeds. The end is slow but also grandly exciting.
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#KarajanDG1980s CD 29 and 30 Haydn Die Schöpfung. This is quite different to Karajan’s 1969 version. It’s softer-edged and much less grand. I like the sweet-toned purity of Edith Mathis, matched by similar qualities in the Vienna strings. Van Dam is smooth and noble, whilst Araiza is operatic and expressive.
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Antal Doráti Stereo Mercury Masters box from Minneapolis, released today. 30 discs. I do hope the London and Hungary Mercury discs also find a box!
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#DoratiMercuryMinneapolisStereo CD 2 Suite from Der Rosenkavalier. There is a lovely spark running through this performance. Doráti encourages his musicians to play with sensual charm, but also with energy and drive. The various waltz sequences are nicely flexible.
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#DoratiMercuryMinneapolisStereo CD 2 is completed by a skittish, witty account of Strauss’s Till. It’s good to hear the Mercury engineers were brave enough to let the bass drum rip; it only threatens to overwhelm the recording at a few tiny points. Very impressive.
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A thread for each Vaughan Williams work, to celebrate the music and recordings as I listen to them. This one is for the various folk song settings. As far as I can tell, there are 80 such songs, so this thread will be a rather wonderful journey. Thanks to Albion Records, we do…
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Track 6 ‘How Cold the Wind doth Blow’. Mary Bevan is joined by Nicky Spence, who sings the voice of the lover speaking from his grave. Jack Liebeck’s violin joins the two across the divide between life and death. Incredible.
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