The Classical Music Guide Forums

hangos

I think that Sir Colin's decision to perform and record Nielsen's 6 symphonies epitomises his eternally youthful spirit ; how many 80 year old conductors would take on a challenge like that? Such invigorating music performed at full throttle! I still treasure his 1980s Dresden recording of Mozart's ...

hangos

I think this will mean more on this side of the Atlantic, but this sign of the times will strike a cord with all... http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/14/hmv-prepares-call-administrators So, HMV has been "rescued", but too late to save the only remaining music store in Chesterfield, Derbys...

hangos

The following words were written by a teenage girl in an essay about JS Bach ; "Bach not only wrote lots of music, but he also produced 20 children. He used to practise on a spinster in the attic and later nearly became blind" (I think she meant "spinet") LOL, but it is a true story!

hangos

The first pieces I remember hearing were Finlandia, 1812, The Hebrides overture. The big step into longer works came when I heard the opening of Tchaikovsky`s 4th on the radio - some of my friends had called round as we had arranged to go to the swimming baths in town, but we just sat there and list...

hangos

What is he doing? What is he currently aspiring to achieve? He is composer-in-residence at Carnegie Hall and I am fascinated by his current inspiration: I used to be inspired by people, to conceive of music as a theater of sounds. These days I am more intrigued by nature, and by music not so much a...

hangos

I love Sibelius's final masterpiece and have listened to lots of recordings, from Kajanus, Koussevitsky, Beecham and van Beinum right up to Segerstam and Vanska. All thing considered, my favourite recording has to be Segerstam's DSRSO take on Chandos, rather on the "slow" side but incredibly powerfu...

hangos

Sorry I missed this broadcast. I had the good fortune to see Boris perform Mussorgsky's Pictures a few years ago at the Crucible Theatre Studio in Sheffield, an intimate venue with only 250 seats . I was seated up on the balcony and had a birdseye view of the keyboard. At times his playing was so de...

hangos

Try Magnus Lindberg!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKJgTqRW ... J&index=25

hangos

Hi John I just received the Karajan 2-CD set. Everything is in mono except the 2nd symphony, just like you said. Not bad news, however, because I have read that the 1953 4th is legendary and the 1952 5th is better than the 1960 stereo 5th. Having attuned my ears to the Grondahl and Jensen Nielsen 4t...

hangos

It's a mixed box. According to John Hunt's Karajan discography, he and the Philharmonia recorded only the Symphony #5 and "Finlandia" in both mono and stereo. Symphony #2 was stereo only, in March 1960; Symphony #4 and "Tapiola" were mono only, in July 1953. The Philharmonia did record the Symphony...

hangos

Apologies for this strange request, but even the guys at mdt.co.uk can't answer this one! I am looking at a 2-CD set on "Major Classics" of Karajan conducting Sibelius 2,4 and 5 plus Tapiola and Finlandia. My problem is, there is no indication anywhere as to whether these are the 1952/53 mono versio...

hangos

A website poster raves about the whole cycle, especially the 7th. The 4th was the standout for you. How did you find the 5th? Cheers Martin Berglund's conception of the Seventh is outstanding, but I'm less convinced in the execution. The Bournemouth ensemble hits a few rough patches at critical jun...

hangos

Here's the link to that rave review;
http://dustofhue.com/1999/08/sibelius-s ... uth-cycle/
Martin

hangos

ouch, I wish I'd waited! I paid an arm an a leg buying the Toshiba EMI discs from amazon.co.jp. :oops: It's a nice set, more romantically inclined than his later sets w/ Helsinki or the COE, although not as well played. I can recommend it for a particularly excellent Fourth symphony. Thanks for the...

hangos

Having read a lot about the recently deceased Finnish conductor's 1970s Sibelius symphonies cycle with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, which is very hard to acquire for sensible money if at all, I stumbled upon this good news ; http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/EMI/9736002 Good price at Presto,...

hangos

Guitarist wrote:Berglund's may be a bit slower, but the 3rd movement builds to a massive climax. Superb sound, too. If you want it fast and raw, then Caetani is your man!

Cheers, Guitarist! He also draws excellent, taut playing from the string section, and his trumpeter is out of this world!
Martin

hangos

Anyone have any views on this matter? Martin I've not heard Barshai, but I like Solti and Mravinsky, and they had the troops to grind out the nastiness. there's a really relentless "meat-grinder" quality that needs to be present in this mvt.. Shost 8 is definitely the dark side of war - this is not...

hangos

You mean the fourth movement, right? 1. Adagio - Allegro non troppo 2. Allegretto 3. Allegro non troppo - 4. Largo - 5. Allegretto The last three movements are played without pause. I haven't heard the Barshai and Berglund recordings, but I haven't yet heard a bad performance or recording of this s...

hangos

I have listened to several recordings of Shostakovich 8 and my favourite movement, the 3rd movement. I think that a slower, steady tempo, such as that adopted by Barshai/Cologne and Berglund/Russian National SO, works better here than for example Solti/CSO and Mravinsky's various recordings. IMHO it...

hangos

Peter Bartok may still be alive, he certainly was still alive in 2007 but since then nobody seems to know for sure.
Martin

hangos

More stupid PC terms ;
Cleaners are now called "surface technicians"
11-year old pupils at secondary school are now all "students" !!
Can it get any worse? Probably .....
Martin

hangos

This could lead us down the treacherous and rocky road of poor English usage, spelling and grammar. I know "usage" is generally regarded as 'arbiter' by those who argue that language is 'organic' (shorthand for 'bottom-up change'?) and therefore we should just accept changes as natural and desirabl...

hangos

A few observations ; Toscanini got faster as he aged, sometimes verging on the mechanistic Mitropoulos concentrated almost exclusively on dynamic range in his final years Klemperer got slower Celibidache stayed slow Karajan became more polished with age Arrau turned from breakneck speed virtuoso to ...

hangos

diegobueno wrote: although most often Mendelssohn is the reference point.

Hence "Mendelssohn with teeth"

Martin

hangos

I remember the first time I ever heard an LP of Berwald's music. Afterwards, a friend of mine summarised it as " Mendelssohn with teeth " - quite an apt description. Like John F, I also find links with Berlioz and harbingers of Nielsen.
Martin

hangos

But I say again, they are getting an incomplete experience of the music as Beethoven not only wrote but defined it. Perhaps - but the point is, the listener really only has the actual sounds to go by. How he/she reacts, or interpets those sounds evoke the composer's intention. extra-musical concept...

hangos

Hoch soll er leben!
And many happy returns!
Martin

hangos

Lance wrote:I love these big boxed editions ... but not THIS one. I admit, it's a novel idea and I'm sure there's a segment of the population that will go for this.

Yes, perhaps a sectioned section (perhaps only Brits will understand this?)

hangos

Always an interesting question - music is essentially - sound, nothing more - tho it may be organized and presented in various forms to the listener... our reactions to it however, are most subjective, and will very likely produce a wide spectrum of different reactions . but, basically, it is simpl...

hangos

I agree with John F's point about music connecting with the listener. Music is very personal to its composer but also to the listener. I have very open ears and am not scared of any new music, I'm always looking for new pieces ; some connect with me instantly, e.g lots of Xenakis, some Boulez, Pende...

hangos

Many happy returns, John!
Martin

hangos

Thousands of times, complete! It does of course help that there are lots of different recordings .....
Martin

hangos

I'm sorry, but the only response I could find for this - in a huge repertoire of possible responses - was that it was funny! I laughed. And I could only last about 2 minutes before I had to shut it off. As I see it, this kind of 'work' has, at the very least, an ontological problem. It 'exists' pur...

hangos

Before I read the article, the first thing that occurred to me, coincidentally, was to calculate the year of the 100th anniversary of the Ninth Symphony (1924), four years after my mother was born. Though there is enough continuity in Western music for our appreciation to remain fresh, by 1924 the ...

hangos

I used to record a lot off FM radio with some very good results, but I didn't buy that many pre-recorded cassettes because many were of poor quality. The advantage of cassettes was that they were smaller and thus more portable than CDs, for use in the car etc. Sadly, I dumped all mine a couple of ye...

hangos

Just wondering where Dulcinea has got to, as she originated this thread but doesn't seem to have revisited it lately despite several helpful and positive replies :? ..... :? Martin Since I really have nothing knowledgeable to say about Herr X I preferred to wait for a general consensus. So his quar...

hangos

Karajan may have joined the Nazi party as a young man(purely as a formality), but there is not one shred of evidence that he was actually anti-semitic , and was in any way hostile to Jews. In fact, his first wife was part Jewish . so merely a shameless opportunist? Definitely - he himself admitted ...

hangos

Just wondering where Dulcinea has got to, as she originated this thread but doesn't seem to have revisited it lately despite several helpful and positive replies

.....

Martin

hangos

This is quite fabulous, thank you!! I think Prokofiev really started something, don't you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaKK-l7mGds&feature=related You're welcome! I never made the link with Prokofiev's toccata as a prototype for these two pieces, but now it is so clear! The Gilels performance is...

hangos

This chestnut has been roasted so many times and always evokes strong feelings among CMGers too. Nobody ever mentions the fact that Hitler's favourite composer was actually Franz Lehar and that Hitler also loved Bruckner's music, or that most high-ranking Nazis dreaded having to sit through Wagner p...

hangos

This is Gavrilov having an interesting time on the keys in Scarbo ;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qD4BOPpe9M

Enjoy!

Martin

hangos

I prefer her intensity to Aimard's rather bloodless approach, but she seems to rush a bit too much for my taste. I still prefer Pogorelich on DG and Andre Gavrilov on EMI (I don't think he's been mentioned yet.) I remember watching Gavrilov do Scarbo on youtube a couple of years ago - his performan...

hangos

No, the control is there, but it would appeal to fans of the film Too fast, too furious .... or maybe not, on reflection

Check out her Scarbo on the youtube link I posted earlier in this thread and don't forget your seatbelt!

Martin

hangos

Tarantella,
on a completely different tack - please check the Ligeti Etude thread you started, because I have posted a useful link for you on there
Best wishes
Martin

hangos

the Aimard disc is a fine recording and is paired with Carter's Night Fantasies Just shows you, never trust the critics! Aimard's recording received a lukewarm reception from them on its release :shock: Martin I didn't care for it at all! To me, "Scarbo" had very little atmosphere. He played the no...

hangos

I've just remembered the piece which got me into Xenakis's music - Phlegra ! It is relatively unforbidding, especially the opening, where I for one certainly hear something like Greek folk music reminiscent of a shepherd's pipes playing off key with an undercurrent in the double basses (starting at ...

hangos

BWV 1080 wrote:the Aimard disc is a fine recording and is paired with Carter's Night Fantasies

Just shows you, never trust the critics! Aimard's recording received a lukewarm reception from them on its release

Martin

hangos

Not that there's anything wrong with that. An airplane engine, troubled or not, and radio static are both interesting noises. Complex and various enough to be easy to listen to and easy to use either alone or together with other sounds. But you asked about Xenakis, whose music you have not yet list...

hangos

His whatever sounds like a cross between an airplane with engine trouble and radio static. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: Do you enjoy Bartok and Jimi Hendrix? If so, you might enjoy Xenakis's music for strings (Syrmos, Aroura) and his string quartets (Tetras). If not, you probably won't! ...

hangos

John If you like string music you might enjoy Syrmos and Aroura . His string quartets are also interesting. Personally, I find that much of his music speaks far more directly to me than, for example, Boulez. It is certainly more visceral. At times I think of "Bartok meets Hendrix" - silly perhaps, b...

Search found 974 matches