The Classical Music Guide Forums

gfweis

Rolf, thanks what is for me an introduction to Gouvy. I've never heard any of his music. I'm listening to the Piano Trio No. 2 as I write, using your Spotify link. It's not bad, but the surging swells in the first movement put me in a rolling boat (and I don't yet have my sea legs). The andante is m...

gfweis

Sorry lads, I have ordered the Abbado set. :D Ah...well, I shan't say, then, what I was going to say about it. At least you didn't get the Hogwood, which I liked even less. Of the HIP sets I've heard, Gardiner's was by far the best. Haven't heard the Zinman. But if I had to recommend just one set, ...

gfweis

How can you guys be posting messages dated in the early a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 20, when the current EST here in SC is 10:05pm, November 19? I'm not seeing any messages dated November 20, so whatever the glitch was, it appears to be fixed. Your post has this at the top on my screen, John: "Posted: Tue ...

gfweis

How can you guys be posting messages dated in the early a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 20, when the current EST here in SC is 10:05pm, November 19?

gfweis

I confess it has always seemed strange to me that something mailed (in any category of mail) would take so long to get from New Jersey to South Carolina. Perhaps they're still using the 'pony express'!! "In 10 days, riders could deliver a letter the 1,966 miles from the base in St. Joseph, Missouri...

gfweis

I live in South Carolina, and I too have not, as of today's mail (Nov. 15th) received the current Fanfare . But it's not unusual for me to have to wait till past the mid-point of the first month on the cover to get my Fanfare . The editor once, years ago, told me it simply takes the postal service a...

gfweis

As a nice antidote to that adagio from the Kaiser quartet, I submit the presto finale from the Op. 76, No. 5, in a spirited performance by the Fry Street Quartet. A friend once said about this movement that if it doesn't make you smile, you are already dead! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuHyY3CXVs8

gfweis

Now for some "seriously" funny instrumental stuff, I love the last "variation" of the finale of Piano Concerto #17 (K453). :D Teresa Teresa, I re-listened to the final movement of that concerto, and I see what you mean! Philip Huscher, in program notes for this concerto for the Chicago Symphony orc...

gfweis

The younger Sigmund Haffner was Mozart's age and their fathers were friends, but I can't find any evidence that the sons were intimate as gfweis suggests. I had to think for a few moments where I might have read about Mozart & Sigmund Haffner having been childhood friends. Fortunately the second pl...

gfweis

I can see why you might think that, but there's no reason to suppose it's what Mozart meant. Who would be laughing, at what, and why in this piece and why in this music, where it would be uncalled for? Thanks, John, for your reply and your musical references. It's all probably a fantasy on my part,...

gfweis

As many will know, Mozart's Haffner Symphony was written for the celebration of the ennoblement of Sigmund Haffner, Mozart's childhood friend. Very early in the first movement (about 35-40 seconds in, depending on the tempo adopted by the conductor) there occurs a musical phrase that consists in a r...

gfweis

bogshot, thanks very much for your work on this, and for sharing it. I'm listening right now, and am much impressed by your transfer. I've only heard two other transfers, but neither pulled me in the way yours does.

gfweis

(Notice the "silence"?)

gfweis

I surely enjoyed that hangos. Thanks. I would not have found that on my own.

gfweis

Thanks for the heads-up, Lance. At the current price of less than $15, plus amazon's $2.98 shipping, I could not resist. I look forward to seeing how/whether the sound has been improved on these re-issues (24-bit, etc., whatever that means).

gfweis

Many thanks, Wallingford. This will keep me occupied for weeks.

gfweis

Of the dozen or so I've heard, I have two favorites. First, the Swarowsky/VSOO (with organist Franz Eibner), which I have loved for many, many years, first on lp, then on a Forlane cd (coupled with the Goossens*/LPO Mendelssohn Reformation Symphony). Swarowsky's poco adagio is the one that always b...

gfweis

Of the dozen or so I've heard, I have two favorites. First, the Swarowsky/VSOO (with organist Franz Eibner), which I have loved for many, many years, first on lp, then on a Forlane cd (coupled with the Goossens*/LPO Mendelssohn Reformation Symphony). Swarowsky's poco adagio is the one that always br...

gfweis

I don't know enough to have an opinion on the subject of this thread, but I have enjoyed reading it. One question: it appears to me that Ms. Jenkins is lip-synching in the youtube video. If she is, is that in any way relevant to the discussion?

gfweis

There's a great Tretyakov Shostakovich No. 1, conducted by Temirkanov, that is worth getting to supplement the Brilliant box (which has in it the No. 1 conducted by Fedoseyev, as I recall). It comes either on a Russia Revelation cd (which is the one I have): http://www.amazon.com/Plays-Shostakovich-...

gfweis

When I was about 14, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini was one of the handful of pieces that really turned me on to classical music (I'm almost certain it was the Fleischer/Szell recording). Now, fifty years later, the piece still rouses and delights me.

gfweis

As has been said, get all the Haskil and Curzon you can. But don't fail, if you can afford it, to get Haebler: http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Piano-Conc ... B00000410O (might be cheaper from Japan).

gfweis

In my experience, Andromeda's are often harsh-sounding, with unbearable trebles; and Membran's are routinely over-filtered/dull. Tempting, I know, because of the price; but I'd say you should pass on both. They're a false economy.

gfweis

Lance wrote:I added many titles for CDs (including multi-CD sets), probably my least productive year in the last 10.

Perhaps "consumptive" might be a better word than "productive"!

gfweis

As the subject of Steinberg's recordings with the BSO has been raised, I feel obliged to mention his excellent Schubert 9th: http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Symphony-No-Major-Great/dp/B00000E6KH?SubscriptionId=AKIAJ5K7PY4I6TJRVFLQ&tag=httpwwwcrimco-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeAS...

gfweis

Thanks, John. I hadn't thought of a tape. I'll ask him if he has access to a tape player. This is a marvelous recording, the first I owned and still my favorite. But Westminster's many chamber music recordings made in Vienna and London in the '50s have had few reissues on CD. So I'm holding on to my...

gfweis

As some, at least, will no doubt remember, Jean Pougnet, Frederick Riddle, and Anthony Pini recorded Mozart's K.563 Divertimento, and it appeared in the 1950's on a Westminster lp. I have been surprised that I have not been able to find, searching all the sites I know of, and using Google as well, a...

gfweis

That was fun indeed! Thanks. I'd have said that Busoni's music generally, and this cadenza too, is harmonically rather more astringent than lush, though for me attractively so. But then I'm a serious Busoni fan. And Busoni was a serious Mozart fan. He played 11 of the Mozart concertos from the begin...

gfweis

John, I too want to thank you for this video. I knew I'd heard this cadenza, but wasn't sure where/how. I do think now it must have been a Horowitz recording. When the NYT's reporter, Daniel Wakin, says the "Busoni also has a lush, Romantic sound with hints of Brahms and Liszt," he's hearing somethi...

gfweis

One thing puzzles me about the events described in the NYT article (and one must remember that we are getting essentially Grimaud's version of what happened...Abbado himself refused to comment). It is reported that Abbado and Grimaud re-convened with the orchestra to do the touch-ups, and that it wa...

gfweis

Thanks to Sean I can report in detail, for those who are interested, that on amazon.co.uk, amazon seller harmonia_mundi is currently offering the United Archives box of cd transfers of the early 1950's Budapest SQ Carnegie Hall Beethoven string quartets (8 cds) for 21.75 pounds plus 3.08 pounds ship...

gfweis

Sean, many thanks for this heads-up. I had not known about it and am about to act!

Greg

gfweis

Very sorry to hear about your loss, Heck. You have my deepest condolences.

gfweis

Perhaps there is a participatory/communal dimension operating in listening to music on the radio that is absent in purely private listening. As with Lance, most of the classical music I listen to on the radio is heard in the car, where I think I am always at least faintly aware, as I listen, that I ...

gfweis

John, thanks very much for the link to the movement from the Marguerite Long Ravel concerto. I did not know about this recording, and was just captivated by it.

gfweis

On the basis of several earlier recordings, but especially of Belohlavek's recording of Mozart's Symphonies 35 & 36 with the Prague Philharmonic (2005, Harmonia Mundi), which is astonishingly good, I'm delighted with this appointment.

gfweis

Those three--Sibelius, Shostakovich, Walton---are surely good ones. I think I would say: Brahms, Mahler, Prokofiev. But your three would not be far behind (and the Sibelius would challenge the Prokofiev).

gfweis

I have only heard her Beethoven Cello Sonatas. I thought that, although she and Bailey employ rather extreme rubato, the performances were utterly convincing, even captivating. On the basis of that recording, I would say she (and bailey) are superb musicians.

gfweis

Thanks. That was just a slip. I meant to say ACO, not LSO.

gfweis

I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I not only have trouble ranking the Eroica's I like best, but I even have trouble deciding whether I like the faster, propulsive approach, or the monumental approach. I quite appreciate the wonderfully paced '49 Toscanini and the Reiner, but they actually wouldn't b...

gfweis

Chalkperson wrote:How can you answer a list that contains Composers and that puts Menuhin at the top...

...and that leaves out Kogan.

gfweis

Justin, thanks for this information. France is not a place from which to obtain cds cheaply! I will keep my eye out for this set on ebay. I do not hold you responsible for being the bearer of news that is largely depressing!

Greg

gfweis

arthound has usefully shown us an image of the red cd box of the early '50's Budapest mono recordings. I have been able to learn that this box is catalogued as United Archives UAR 001.8. I cannot, however, find it anywhere currently for sale. Anyone know of a vendor? I would dearly love to get these.

gfweis

I like mdt and use them frequently. They not only charge only .75 pounds per cd to ship to the U.S., but they often, maybe always, ship twofers for the same .75 pounds. My wife said just yesterday that she cannot believe that I can get a cd from the U.K. cheaper than I can from an amazon seller or o...

gfweis

Did I miss it, or has no one yet mentioned the Munch/BSO? A great one. In this symphony I prefer what I think it is correct to call a "true" allegretto, i.e. not the slow movement that so many conductors turn it into. In addition to the Munch, I like best the Steinberg/PSO, the one that came out on ...

gfweis

I recently acquired both the Goodman and the Kamu Berwald Symphonies 1-4 (the Goodman was surprisingly somewhat disappointing). As I had been very impressed by the online musical excerpts from Bjorlin's recordings of these symphonies, which seem to have wonderful pace (the relatively reverberant aco...

gfweis

I'm a big fan of Schuricht, and I saw this Beethoven box for less than $30 on amazon in the past year. I did not pull the trigger. I still ask myself why.

gfweis

Lance raises an interesting question: does the 2006 EMI Classics box "Les 9 Symphonies" (I think is the latest iteration of these recordings) consist of re-mastered cds relative to the circa 1997 Seraphim cds (which are the ones I, like Lance, have). Anyone know? I have the newer set you mentioned,...

gfweis

Lance raises an interesting question: does the 2006 EMI Classics box "Les 9 Symphonies" (I think is the latest iteration of these recordings) consist of re-mastered cds relative to the circa 1997 Seraphim cds (which are the ones I, like Lance, have). Anyone know?

gfweis

Just to second some remarks already made, especially by val and Holden Fourth, I think the set is absolutely worth getting. The orchestra plays superbly (it was very much still the orchestra Furtwangler built, as these were recorded not long after he died), and the conducting has good drive and pace...

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