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parsifal

The missing link from March 28. 2020 The link to John Francis’s Performing Arts Library presentation didn’t survive the journey from my computer to the chat room, but you can get to the video by (1) copying and pasting into your browser the URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg1yNIL8DMc&feature=yo...

parsifal

Here follows a little more of the activities of John W. Francis. Kjell Nilsson. Trelleborg, Sweden. John Francis’s brother Sam has provided a video of “Treasures from the Sound Archive,” John’s 2015 presentation at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. You can watch the video by clic...

parsifal

I find headphones ideal. I live in a rather small apartment, and when I listen to my favorite music with headphones other activities might go on in my apartment. Another advantage is that I can listen with loud volume without disturbing neighbors. In my little town there are no concert halls nor ope...

parsifal

I guess there is no use in saying that one doesn´t warm to the music of Bruckner. Anyone of the members of CMG can come up with stuff like that. I know there is no use for me saying that I don´t warm to Stravinskij adding that "Les Noces" is the ugliest music I have on disc. I follow the advice to l...

parsifal

De gustibus non est disputandum!

parsifal

Hillary Hahn performed the Schönberg concerto in Stockholm. I heard it and I have the recording from it. She brought off a splendid performance together with Salonen. I know Schönberg would have been happy to be present and what had made him even more happy would be that the enthousiastic applause f...

parsifal

Indeed we miss you, John. For me your passing away was a disaster. I never forget our almost daily e-mails and many transatlantic phone calls. All the times we went together to record stores and book stores in New York are unforgettable. Unforgettable are also the times you came to visit us in Swede...

parsifal

I heard Maris Jansons once in Malmö conducting the Moscow Phil. Orch. in Sjostakovitj´s 7th symphony. I also got his great recordings of the Tjajkovskij- symphonies on Chandos. A monumentum aere perennius.
Kjell Nilsson.
Sweden.
j

parsifal

Here follows an obituary of John W. Francis sent to me by his sister-in-law. John Winthrop Nelson Francis, author and discographer, died at home in Brooklyn, NY, on December 3 at the age of 78. Born in Lancaster, PA, he was an alumnus of William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia and a 1963 gradu...

parsifal

An instrument with (to my ears) got an ugly sound is the soprano saxophone. "Classical" music with a sound of a saxophone must be written after the invention of Sax. Of course any saxophonist can play music of Bach just for the fun of it. Once in Germany I heard a man play Bach´s Toccata and Fugue i...

parsifal

I know that John W. Francis didn´t warm to the saxophone. It is well known that the saxophone is mostly used in jazz music. I have some immortal favorites like Lester Young and Charlie Parker. I started with jazz and if course I came across those giants, and i still give my records with them an airi...

parsifal

John visited my wife and me several times in Sweden. Once he came for the premiere of Stjedrin´s opera "Lolita" in Stockholm and stayed with us for some days Once we sat talking until 3 in the morning. We always had a good time together. I also visited him in Brooklyn. I never forget when he played ...

parsifal

I just heard that my friend John W Francis just passed away. A terrible loss for us, his friends and a loss for CMG.
Kjell Nilsson.
Sweden

parsifal

I have always found Daniel Harding as being a good Schumann conductor. He is working in Stockholm. he says that Schumann is his favorite composer. My favorite recording is by Sawallisch. The Zinman-set is also good. The Klemperer-set is marred by the symphonies 2 and 3, I think.
Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

It was good to see someone who commented on Crespin´s wonderful interpretation of Ravel´s Scheherazade with the now forgotten Ansermet. I bought this record on LP, later on the CD. I love "Asie" too. There is much to enjoy when you turn back to the past. Another great Ravel-recording is Daphnis et C...

parsifal

I bet Bruckner´s fifth became an experience when Herbert Blomstedt conducted it. Blomstedt is a marvelous Brucknerian. He returns regularly to Stockholm where he often conducts just Bruckner. Fortunately these concerts are broadcast. I´ve heard that he will record a Bruckner-cycle. I do hope he does...

parsifal

Thank you Lance for bringing this up. I have some Pittsburg recordings and they are good. I think one reason for not publishing them is that they say that much of it Reiner rerecorded with CSO and that those recordings are better. Personally I can´t get enough of Reiner, so please give it to us! Kje...

parsifal

Are we also changing the end of Otello in order to support women who are killed in operas?
K. Nilsson

parsifal

Great recordings of these masterworks are numerous. To be sure of getting the best why not trying to get Mravinskij on DG, if they are still available. Added to that set is a breathtaking account of the fourth.
Kjell Nilsson

parsifal

I´ll thank John Francis for taking up the cudgels for my countryman´s music. The four symphonies of Berwald were written the same decade as the four of Robert Schumann, in the 1840s. Both sets are good but very different as John points out. I don´t understand why the symphonies of Berwald are not mo...

parsifal

I life without recordings! Think of people living out in the "diasphora" far from places where great music is produced. Also, recordings let us listen whenever we want to. If I want to listen only to a part of a work I do that. We are able to get the views of how great masters from the past played -...

parsifal

An opera could be divided into two parts, the musical part and what we see from the stage. But if I must prefer one of the elements I prefer the music. It is fully possible to attend a great concert performance of - say - Il Trovatore, but barely a staged performance without Verdi´s music. When I le...

parsifal

I know that the idea of opera is to see it staged. But isn´t the musical satisfaction greater when you attend a fine concert performance than to see an awful staging of an opera which you have paid a fortune to see. Your anger diminishes the enjoyment of the genial music of Mozart or whoever. Some o...

parsifal

Riccardo Muti is now in Stockholm conducting a concert performance of Verdi´s Macbeth (1865). That he chooses concert performance is a statement. As sick and tired of what modern opera directors bring about he has now decided to conduct operas in concert versions only. His Stockholm concert was a tr...

parsifal

Riccardo Muti is now in Stockholm conducting a concert performance of Verdi´s Macbeth (1865). That he chooses concert performance is a statement. As sick and tired of what modern opera directors bring about he has now decided to conduct operas in concert versions only. His Stockholm concert was a tr...

parsifal

Schönberg who must have suffered from his unpopularity once said that he just wanted to be another Tjajkovskij, although a little better. Well, it is a matter of opinion.

Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

Diegobueno mentioned the violin concerto, preferably with Hillary Hahn. I remember when she played that one on a live performance on the Swedish Radio, masterly with Salonen conducting. The enthusiastic applause afterwards made her give tow encores. Oh, I would hope Schönberg himself had been there ...

parsifal

Today John Francis turns 75. The warmest congratulations from somebody who has the great privilege to have him as a personal friend since the middle of the 1960-ies. Go on dear friend, the first 75 are the trickiest, then it turns easier! Your wit and knowledge are a blessing for all the members of ...

parsifal

I think it was Mozart.

Kjell Nilsson

parsifal

My first contact with Sibelius 4th and 5th symphonies came through Ormandy´s Columbia mono-recording with the Philadelphia orchestra. I liked it pretty much. Then I´ve asked myself what happened to the recordings of Ormandy? He was a great orchestra leader, but was he a great conductor?

parsifal

Dear friends, "Dich teure Halle, grüss ich wieder" : It is of course the correct form here. It was just a misspelling from my side, or my fingers got wild. Well, this was not the subject of my post anyway.

Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

We saw and heard Met´s Tannhäuser here in Sweden (Live on screen). It was good. Botha´s voice was impressive and so was Peter Matthei´s. But Eva- Maria Westbroek´s vibrato in "Dich theure Halle" was indeed ugly, I think. I also like Levine´s happy face while conducting. Some conductors look like the...

parsifal

When I saw Albert Schweitzer I was 21 and had read much about him. he was on his way to Copenhagen to receive the Sonning award.

Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

Once, back in the fifties I happened to see Albert Schweitzer on the same ferry as I travelled with. I went up to him and asked for an autograph. Unfortunately I had no paper at hand so I took up a picture postcard with a picture of - Wagner!. He kindly signed it, but I felt embarrassed. Even though...

parsifal

What we can be happy about is that nobody forces us to spend money on productions like this. It is far better to stay home with Kna´s recordings and feel stimulated instead of annoyed with what we see. As long as we attend the crap those directors provide us with they´ll go on. I´ll say as always: T...

parsifal

In case a conductor expects riot-like enthusiasm after the march why not programme only this movement and play something else as pièce de résistance, for instance a Schumann symphony which usually doesn´t awaken such tumultuous feelings.

Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

When I found ´the recordings of Maazel good I meant his recordings of #4 and #7. Another set that should not be overlooked is the one by Sixten Ehrling on Finlandia, formerly Metronome.
Ehrling also had good relations with the master.

Kjell Nilsson

parsifal

I see that there is a huge response to Sibelius and the recordings of his symphonies. "As a beginner" I had a hard work to come to grips with the 4th. Because of that it is now the most beloved of his symphonies. I started with Ormandy. Then I like Maazel and Beecham. I Think there is a special rela...

parsifal

To Jserraglio I can answer that Rosenberg was a great Swedish composer. I count him among the moderns, or better let´s call his style moderate modernism.

Kjell Nilsson

parsifal

Other contributors have already mentioned some good Swedish Composers or symphonists like Berwald and Stenhammar. To them I might add Hugo Alfvén, Ture Rangström, Erland von Koch and Eduard Tubin, who was Estonian originally but lived and worked in Sweden and his ten very fine symphonies exist in ve...

parsifal

I´m the Swedish friend John mentioned, and I can say that Segerstam is a serious conductor, very good in Sibelius, Nielsen and Mahler. He also recorded an overlooked Mahler cycle on Chandos. I have a very fine recording of Wozzeck with him. He is a splendid conductor of modern music. He works pretty...

parsifal

It is common to like new and "awful" music after repeated listenings and with a real interest to come to grips with it. John, if you meant me with your example of the Bartók quartet I´ll correct you by saying that it was the 4th quartet I found so abominable at the first hearing(s) Perhaps I´ll disc...

parsifal

Unfortunately opera has become a playground for directors. Thanks heaven for recordings!

Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

Oh John! I would like to come all the way from Sweden to attend your show. To see you as well, as a good friend of mine is also something that attracts me. To see your show in a direct transmission on our TV is maybe to ask for too much, (unfortunately)

Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

I started with Walter´s account of the 9th, which I still like very much. You don´t have to go for cycles. If you want good and cheap recordings of the symphonies try Tintner on Naxos. Good brucknerians beside the others mentioned are Skrowaczewski, Haitink and Van Beinum. as a matter of fact you ha...

parsifal

In case you want one outstanding CD with Schubert symphonies, please don´t miss Beecham´s #3, #5 and #6 (EMI) Krips´s #9 is also a great account.

Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

A great Brahmsian who isn´t mentioned her was Otto Klemperer whose cycle is fine, especially the very beginning of the first symphony is breathtaking. Walter´s account of the second sym. with NYPO is also very good. You do well in choosing recordings by the old heroes in these so often recordig work...

parsifal

We have heard of how chemical preparations have lenghtened the agony of the sentenced. European enterprices refuse for ethical reasons to send their products to American prisons. Now they experiment with combinations of different preparations. The result is inhuman executions not unlike torture. The...

parsifal

Jessye Norman made good recordings, but her 4 last songs (Strauss) with Masur is almost unbeatable, (I think) These so often recorded songs give me a great pleasure.

Kjell Nilsson.

parsifal

As I am a rather new member of CMG I don´t know if this question has been up for discussion. I often wonder why the overwhelming number of Mahler-conductors exclude the third hammerblow in the final mvt. Everyone who has heard it knows what a devastating effect it has in its right place "when it fel...

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