Post
by RebLem » Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:49 am
In the week ending Saturday, 27 January 2007, I listened to the following:
1. 10/10 The Fine Arts Quartet at WFMT, CDs 5 & 6 OF 8. Recorded 1967-73. CD5--Mozart:SQ 17 in B Flat, K 458 "Hunt" |SQ 20 in D, K 499 |Piano Quartet in E Flat, K 493. CD6--Mozart: Adagio & Fugue for String Quartet, in C Minor, K 546 (7:21) |Brahms: SQ in A Minor, Op. 51 #2 (30:05) |Husa, Karel: SQ 3 (31:09) |Shifrin, Seymour: SQ 4 (20:58 ) The shift from Brahms to the harsh and dramatic dissonance of Husa is rather jarring at first, and takes some getting used to. But it does nothing so much as demonstrate the breadth of the Fine Arts Quartet's repertoire, and the excellence of both performances and all the others in this set demonstrate that this was truly a great ensemble, now, sadly, in the past.
2. 10/10 Bach, J.S.: Cantatas 38, 39, & 40--Rilling, cond, the usual suspects. Superb performances, as almost always in this series. Vol. 13 of hanssler CBE.
3. 10/10 CDs 6 & 7 of the Annie Fischer 9 CD Hungaroton set of Beethoven piano sonatas. CD6--15 "Pastorale," 17, & 23 "Appassionata" |CD7--2, 16, 24, 30. Superb performances.
4. 10/10 Mahler: Sym 4 (51:50)--Kubelik, cond. Bavarian RSO, Elsie Morison, soprano. Excellent performance. DG
5. 9,10/9,10 Prokofiev: Syms 1 (13:54), 2 (34:33), 3 (31:48 ), 4 (1947 revised version) (36:32)--Gergiev, LSO. Syms 2, 3, & 4 are excellent, and, in particular, Gergiev makes an impressive case for the revised version of # 4, though I prefer the original, also recorded, on disc 3, in this set. Superb performances and sound. However, the Classical Sym, # 1, is a different story. It is recorded at a lower level than the others, and the performance is surprisingly lackluster. 9/9 rating on #1, 10/10 on the other three--CDs 1 & 2 of 4 CD Philips set of the complete Prokofiev Symphonies. I feel constrained to point out they could have included a Sinfonietta in A without increasing the number of discs, but chose not to.
After I wrote the above, I did something I should have done first--reviewed all the posts since my last post in this thread. Yes, walboi, I was a bit put off by Gergiev's grunting, too, but not as much as you--perhaps because I recently listened to some Barenboim, CSO performances in which Danny's grunting was even more obtrusive. And while the First does pick up a bit after the 2nd movement, I don't think even the last two meet the standard met by 2, 3, and the revised 4th.
Last edited by
RebLem on Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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