Search found 3540 matches
- Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:43 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Bach's Brandenburg Concertos
- Replies: 12
- Views: 732
Re: Bach's Brandenburg Concertos
I certainly have not heard a piano version of these works as of yet. I do remember a version that used soprano sax rather than picc trumpet in #2. Was that a Casals recording? Yes, I believe so, Casals used a soprano sax instead of trumpet....supposedly, a trumpet player expired while trying to pla...
- Wed Nov 25, 2020 4:09 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: George Szell: Complete EMI (Warner) Recordings
- Replies: 13
- Views: 1037
Re: George Szell: Complete EMI (Warner) Recordings
Szell's Cleveland recordings have always seemed much to stiff and rigidly controlled to me with a few exceptions . They see like the work of a control freak Yes, Szell was a control freak, extremely so, the stories are legend - but, he could let it loose, and when he did the results are quite elect...
- Sun Nov 08, 2020 9:28 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Copland's Lincoln Portrait with New York Philharmonic and Carl Sandburg
- Replies: 2
- Views: 270
Re: Copland's Lincoln Portrait with New York Philharmonic and Carl Sandburg
I acquired this wonderful recording years ago, on a cassette tape - the concert also included Wm Schuman's New England Triptych - best recording of it I've ever heard....the 2nd mvt - "When Jesus Wept" is most moving - the solo work of Wm Polisi [bssn] and Harold Gomberg [ob] is superb. all the way....
- Thu Oct 01, 2020 9:32 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Fritz Reiner: Pittsburgh SO Recordings on CD Finally!
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1026
Re: Fritz Reiner: Pittsburgh SO Recordings on CD Finally!
Hello, Heck148! Always glad to hear from you! Reiner is, IMHO, one of the few consistently great conductors of the past century. The only recording of his that I don't care for is his Alexander Nevsky, which I find uneven. I preferred Thomas Schippers's account recorded in NY in the 1960's, and sti...
- Thu Oct 01, 2020 9:29 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Fritz Reiner: Pittsburgh SO Recordings on CD Finally!
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1026
Re: Fritz Reiner: Pittsburgh SO Recordings on CD Finally!
Some of those Reiner/PittsSO recordings are real gems - and in surprisingly good sound, as well - Ravel - La Valse from 4/47 - best "La Valse" I've ever heard, I have a blue label Columbia Masterworks ML4021 " Unbreakable" lp with Reiner/Pitts playing "La Valse " and Debussy's " Iberia " . Shall ha...
- Tue Sep 29, 2020 11:53 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Fritz Reiner: Pittsburgh SO Recordings on CD Finally!
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1026
Re: Fritz Reiner: Pittsburgh SO Recordings on CD Finally!
Some of those Reiner/PittsSO recordings are real gems - and in surprisingly good sound, as well - Ravel - La Valse from 4/47 - best "La Valse" I've ever heard, in knockout sound [Pristine Audio] - wonderful detail, plus the big sweep of sound. Shostakovich - Sym #6 - 3/45 - another great one - good-...
- Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:05 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: He Wasn’t Toscanini, but He Made Orchestras Sing
- Replies: 6
- Views: 762
Re: He Wasn’t Toscanini, but He Made Orchestras Sing
A professor once told me that the N.Y. Philharmonic had the best personnel because it was New York but I'm beginning to feel that the orchestra of the 1940s and 1950s was one in decline until the arrival of Bernstein and later Boulez. Actually, the NYPO in the 40s and 50s was a great orchestra, one...
- Tue May 12, 2020 10:25 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Rosalind Elias, a Popular American Mezzo-Soprano, Dies at 90
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2806
Re: Rosalind Elias, a Popular American Mezzo-Soprano, Dies at 90
Yes, lovely stories. Is the implication of the late arrival and wrong shoes that conductor and soloist were making the beast with two backs before the performance? Sorry, you need to spell it out for uncouth Australians... :D Yes, that was indeed the "implication"!! :mrgreen: Walter Hendl was known...
- Mon May 11, 2020 8:24 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Rosalind Elias, a Popular American Mezzo-Soprano, Dies at 90
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2806
Re: Rosalind Elias, a Popular American Mezzo-Soprano, Dies at 90
When I was at music school, Rosalind Elias came to appear as guest artist with the Philharmonia, the school's top orchestra...She sang a number of selections from "Carmen", and a couple other numbers - but the Bizet arias were most memorable...Walter Hendl conducted...obviously they had worked toget...
- Mon May 04, 2020 11:13 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: A Superb Planets from an unexpected conductor and orchestra
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1933
Re: A Superb Planets from an unexpected conductor and orchestra
Some of the "Asian" orchestras are quite good...there is a huge proliferation of Asian string players, mainly violinists, and many young Americans wind players have sought and gained positions in these orchestras...they are well-funded, and vacancies in US orchestras are few, and competition is brut...
- Mon Apr 27, 2020 9:05 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Loud, Louder, Loudest: How Classical Music Started to Roar
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3501
Re: Loud, Louder, Loudest: How Classical Music Started to Roar
Heck148-- Thanks for such a deeply informative post! Glad to know you're still lurking. Please post more often, when you can. :) I would say that, as halls have gotten larger, especially in America, the decibel level to fill them has also grown. Yes, indeed!! larger concert halls have certainly mad...
- Sat Apr 25, 2020 3:18 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Loud, Louder, Loudest: How Classical Music Started to Roar
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3501
Re: Loud, Louder, Loudest: How Classical Music Started to Roar
It's true that orchestras have gotten louder....this is certainly true post WWII - this was definitely true in America, but it occurred in Europe as well... Imo, this trend began developing before the war - orchestras like NBC, NYPO, and then Chicago began producing unprecedented sound levels...some...
- Fri Jan 10, 2020 12:23 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Tchaikovsky "Little Russian" Symphony #2/Jansons
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6636
Re: Tchaikovsky "Little Russian" Symphony #2/Jansons
I've always been drawn to that second theme in the finale. I found it the catchiest part of it. I was a teenager when I was first getting to know it, and I found that little syncopation really charming. "Hey, Tchaikovsky's gettin' jazzy!", I thought. And then when he really goes to town with it in ...
- Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:19 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: A loss
- Replies: 54
- Views: 24458
Re: A loss
so sorry to hear this....I met John when he was in Boston....very fine visit. John was very intelligent, knowledgeable and articulate..he will be missed...
- Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:48 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Is ‘Playing It Safe’ Bad for Classical Music?
- Replies: 41
- Views: 16253
Re: Is ‘Playing It Safe’ Bad for Classical Music?
Like orchestras in general, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't . No matter what the music director, guest conductors and administrative staff in charge of programming choose in any given season , someone will complain bitterly . The NY Phil. either doesn't play enough new music or ...
- Sat Oct 19, 2019 9:55 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: John Corigliano
- Replies: 16
- Views: 14610
Re: John Corigliano
I very much appreciate this information and your comments. Thank you. Another good piece by Corigliano - Flute Concerto "Pied Piper Fantasy" ['81] - an extensive tour de force for the soloist and orchestra....the final section - "Children's March" stands alone quite well as an individual presentati...
- Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:10 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: John Corigliano
- Replies: 16
- Views: 14610
Re: John Corigliano
This is a performance I don't have on record, the Symphony No. 1. I very much enjoyed his Fantasia on an Ostinato and have prepared pianos for this work. But the Symphony No. 1 has a number of recordings. I am thinking about the RCA with Slatkin conducting. Another with Barenboim conducting, and ye...
- Thu Oct 17, 2019 6:48 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: John Corigliano
- Replies: 16
- Views: 14610
Re: John Corigliano
Thanks so much for this. I'll check them out and see if they're available on U-Tube as well. It should be noted, and this might help your presentation - might make an effective contrast - The Last Gazebo Dance [1972] - Tarantella- was used again by Corigliano in the 2nd mvt [Tarantella] of his Symp...
- Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:33 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: John Corigliano
- Replies: 16
- Views: 14610
Re: John Corigliano
Some good Corigliano works - - Gazebo Dances - 4 short dances, quite readily approachable - 17 mins - Circus Maximus [Sym #3 for large Wind Ensemble] - neat piece, pretty wild - 35mins/8 mvts [Naxos Disc - Jerry Junkin - Univ of Texas WE] - Three Hallucinations [from Altered States] - good stuff, pr...
- Sun Sep 01, 2019 10:19 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: 13 strange deaths of composers ...
- Replies: 16
- Views: 11323
Re: 13 strange deaths of composers ...
This link comes courtesy of Australia's LIMELIGHT. https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/features/the-13-strangest-composer-deaths-in-classical-music/ 2 other odd deaths of composers - Wallingford Riegger - (April 29, 1885 – April 2, 1961) - died when he became entangled in the leashes of two fighti...
- Fri Aug 23, 2019 10:17 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Schumann's symphony number 2
- Replies: 24
- Views: 12768
Re: Schumann's symphony number 2
Schumann Sym #2 is an excellent work...I don't know if it's my favorite Schumann - but as with Brahms - whichever I'm listening to is my favorite at the time!! :) Bernstein/NYPO and Szell are very good - Barenboim/Chicago is excellent and has the best mvt II Scherzo I've ever heard - crackling fast ...
- Thu May 23, 2019 10:00 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
I agree with everything you say except for two words: "except Toscanini." Time after time he demanded that his musicians play the music come è scritto, as written. He was famous for that and praised for it by his enthusiasts. but Toscanini was not a rigid purist, enslaved to merely the notes on the...
- Wed May 22, 2019 10:18 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
I've looked a little further to find out which conductors Toscanini did criticize, if not Furtwängler. "He calls Stokowski and Mengelberg 'clowns' because of their thirst for publicity" - note, not because of Mengelberg's performing style Toscanini thought Mengelberg talked too much on the podium. ...
- Tue May 21, 2019 3:47 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
My point is that Toscanini wanted to establish a universal understanding for how music should go, i. e. basic rules of the road No he didn't! He established the rules of his road, and other conductors (except for WF) submitted to the powerful influence of his music-making as they heard it. Yes, Joh...
- Mon May 20, 2019 7:08 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
I believe Toscanini, Weingartner's motivation for "going by the score" was primarily a reaction to the perceived excesses, and mannerisms that had developed during the Romantic Era - the so-called Austro-German [Liszt-Wagner-Bulow] tradition....in which the conductors sought to insert themselves int...
- Fri May 17, 2019 8:45 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
Well there it is. We probably wouldn't be having this discussion, or it wouldn't have gone on this long, if you and Heck148 didn't dismiss performances I think well of as "erratic," I don't regard Furtwangler's performances as "erratic"...I believe he had what he thought were very sound reasons for...
- Wed May 15, 2019 9:42 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
By the way, concerning fidelity to the score: Furtwangler's extremely fast tempo for the very end of the 9th symphony is controversial, and it's not how I'd like to hear that music. But I got out my score and find that Beethoven marked the passage "Prestissimo" as well as fortissimo, and prestissim...
- Tue May 14, 2019 10:21 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
Also, it seems that the softer, more elegant sound of rotary trumpets would be more difficult to balance with the other brass instruments in the climactic moments of Bruckner and Mahler. Am I right? Orchestras that use both, such as the Staatskapelle Berlin are a mystery to me. yes - I think so. A ...
- Mon May 13, 2019 6:18 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
Heck, the kind of vibrato ridden , blaring trumpet sound may be ideal for Gershwin , but it's grotesquely wrong for composers such as Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss etc . It's like an actor playing the role of a German or Austrian aristocrat and using a Brooklyn accent . It was the pr...
- Sat May 11, 2019 10:45 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
The NBC's principal oboe from the beginning to 1943 was Robert Bloom, an excellent player who was a Tabuteau pupil and sounded like it. Nothing harsh about that. The principal flute was John Wummer, who went to the New York Philharmonic in 1942. The clarinetist Augustin Duques wasn't so great. Duqu...
- Sat May 11, 2019 5:17 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: New Skalkottas' piano works cd
- Replies: 3
- Views: 5427
Re: New Skalkottas' piano works cd
a few years back played some of his Greek Dances for Orchestra....very fun to play, a bit like "Greek" Bartok!!
- Sat May 11, 2019 5:14 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Young Concert Artists
- Replies: 1
- Views: 2712
Re: Young Concert Artists
for years, my primary orchestra booked up and coming soloists thru this program....fine artists, many of whom went on to have very successful careers...too many to name...
- Sat May 11, 2019 4:44 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
The main source of coarseness in sound in Toscanini's NBC symphony recordings are the crude, blaring ,vibrato ridden trumpets . The woodwinds also have an unpleasant fluttery rapid vibrato which may have been induced by fear of playing under him for all I know . This interferes with orchestral blen...
- Fri May 10, 2019 3:58 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Sir John Barbirolli
- Replies: 75
- Views: 41087
Re: Sir John Barbirolli
That's just guessing. The orchestra's four Jewish players had high-quality replacements; the new concertmaster, Gerhard Taschner, appointed by Furtwängler in 1941 when he was only 19, can be heard on YouTube in solo works and he sounds excellent. If you like you can compare the many wartime perform...
- Fri May 10, 2019 10:49 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Sir John Barbirolli
- Replies: 75
- Views: 41087
Re: Sir John Barbirolli
People asked how performers in Germany were able to rehearse and keep up that standard in the middle of the war. Though doubtful about all this, I'm sure these musicians were a 'protected' species, but as to regular rehearsals.... I think the quality of the BPO did suffer during the war...they lost...
- Fri May 10, 2019 10:43 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
Toscanini partisans always say that his tempos were flexible, but while that may have been so in the opera house and in recordings before 1936, it isn't really true of most of his NBC Symphony concerts. His tempos may not have been metronomic but I certainly wouldn't call them flexible. Toscanini c...
- Thu May 09, 2019 10:54 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
....I don't think orchestras such as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic etc played all that sloppily " for him . But he wasn't concerned with neatness and accuracy..... for sure...I find that a distraction....I know there was "method to his madness", but it really doesn't click with me. Most of Tos...
- Thu May 09, 2019 1:25 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
- Replies: 63
- Views: 43962
Re: Alex Ross on Furtwangler
.....Furtwangler may have been "Hitler's favorite conductor," but he's not mine......Some may admire him. I do not. Thanks, John, for posting Alex Ross's most informative review. I tend to agree with you, Maestro...when I first started listening seriously to music I was most impressed by Furtwangle...
- Tue Apr 30, 2019 11:07 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Sir John Barbirolli
- Replies: 75
- Views: 41087
Re: Sir John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli was quite popular with musicians...I had a good friend, violinist, who played with him in Houston...he loved Sir John, and had great respect for him. Barbirolli, child of Italian father, French mother, was born in London and grew up there... Sir John was very fluent in at least 3...
- Tue Apr 30, 2019 10:54 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto
- Replies: 10
- Views: 6545
Re: Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto
VWms Tuba Concerto is a good piece, excellent solo work for tuba....the orchestration, done by one of his students, IIRC, is a bit thick and overdone, but it does not subtract much from the solo piece.... I've played it a few times, once with soloist Sam Pilafian, a virtuoso player [Empire Brass 5te...
- Tue Apr 30, 2019 10:50 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto
- Replies: 10
- Views: 6545
- Mon Apr 29, 2019 10:16 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Sir John Barbirolli
- Replies: 75
- Views: 41087
Re: Sir John Barbirolli
One of my favorite Barbirolli discs is his Sibelius works with Halle Orchestra [EMI 1/66] - the "Karelia" Suite ,and "Leminkainen's Return" are real highlights... Halle was perhaps not the greatest orchestra, but they are good, and Sir John has them playing with great panache, bravura, on this disc....
- Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:40 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Chicago Symphony Orchestra on strike
- Replies: 31
- Views: 17365
Re: Chicago Symphony Orchestra on strike
This is a source of aggravation to me!! I'm was planning on going to Chicago next week - to hear 2 concerts - the Also Sprach Zarathustra, Bluebeard's castle concert 4/2; then the 4/4 program with Shostakovich Sym #2, Borodin #2... The April 2nd concert is already cancelled...no word yet on 4/4, but...
- Sun Mar 03, 2019 10:29 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Daniel Barenboim Seemed Untouchable. Now He’s Accused of Bullying
- Replies: 7
- Views: 6675
Re: Daniel Barenboim Seemed Untouchable. Now He’s Accused of Bullying
Barenboim's actions seem pretty lukewarm when compared to some of the past tyrants - Toscanini, Reiner, Szell were all domineering tyrants - perhaps worst of all was Rodzinski, who had a volcanic temper and would execute summary firings....Toscanini, for all his histrionics was not known for summary...
- Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:47 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: BSO to Flutist: You're Worth Less Than an Oboist
- Replies: 15
- Views: 13797
Re: BSO to Flutist: You're Worth Less Than an Oboist
Might they be looking for anything and everything that may led to her leaving the orchestra? Will they continue to feature her as they have in the past? We'll see, but one would hope that there wouldn't be any retribution as such....it would certainly be grounds for Ms. Rowe to file an action for m...
- Wed Feb 20, 2019 7:32 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: The Biggest Waste of Money Ever?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 8281
Re: The Biggest Waste of Money Ever?
The Berlin Philharmonic label has just released a 22-CD set of Wilhelm Furtwängler’s wartime recordings with that orchestra, remastered in SACD. This is probably the most pointless set of recordings ever released. .......Secondly, given that all of the Jewish members of the orchestra had been dis...
- Mon Feb 18, 2019 4:56 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: "Great" new Schubert 9 release...
- Replies: 4
- Views: 4512
Re: "Great" new Schubert 9 release...
How I do want to hear it is as conducted by Furtwängler with the Berlin Philharmonic in a DG studio recording. But from the versions you prefer, I guess you wouldn't like it. I'm not much of a Furtwangler fan these days. When I first got into classical music -high school - I was greatly attracted t...
- Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:52 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: "Great" new Schubert 9 release...
- Replies: 4
- Views: 4512
"Great" new Schubert 9 release...
I latched on to a real prize – one that I did not know existed – Schubert – Sym #9 in C Major “Great” – Reiner/ChicagoSO – 12/57 - recorded at WGN TV Studios, live broadcast on WBAI Radio NY – http://www.norpete.com/c1632.html This is a great “Great” Symphony performance, and has moved to the top of...
- Sat Feb 09, 2019 9:20 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Salonen Cello Concerto
- Replies: 9
- Views: 8940
Re: Salonen Cello Concerto
I heard the premiere of this work, live in Chicago with Salonen conducting, Ma as soloist...
- Tue Jan 15, 2019 5:30 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Memo to the New York Philharmonic: Louder Isn’t Better
- Replies: 27
- Views: 21563
Re: Memo to the New York Philharmonic: Louder Isn’t Better
I saw the NY Phil. new year's eve concert on PBS conducted by the new man Jaap Van Zweden , and to my ears the brass section was on its bets behavior and at least on television, nothing was harsh or too loud . I heard van Zweden conduct Shostakovich 5 and Prokofieff 5 in Chicago a couple of years a...