A place for our reviews of New Releases

[Barbirollians]

What is says on the tin

A thread to record our reviews of new releases and not simply the fact of their arrival !

I think it was JLW who commented recently that it was difficult to know where to put reviews of recent discs or even just our responses to them .

So I wondered whether it would be a good idea to have a thread devoted to them ?

In which case I will start with Dances - from Benjamin Grosvenor . Although I do think that in leaping from Bach to Chopin the programmme has somewhat of a hole in the middle this is a record that is really growing on me. There is nothing showy about his playing it reveals more every time you hear it .

I think I like his playing of the Chopin and Granados pieces best of all . The Bach is very fine too but the Morton Gould encore I just felt could have gone with a little more of a swing - very highly recommended though .

This weekend I cannot wait to hear this live 1959 Halle/barbirolli Mahler 2 just released by the barbirolli Society- having not found time to listen to it last week !!!

[richardfinegold]

Well, I will add my review of a recent SACD on Channel Classics pairing the Britten and Weinberg VCs, with Violinist Lionel Roth. I bought it for the Weinberg but while I am still absorbing that piece the Britten has bowled me over. Fantastic recorded sound as well.

[HighlandDougie]

I bought it for the Weinberg but while I am still absorbing that piece the Britten has bowled me over. Fantastic recorded sound as well.

I've just been listening to it as well (in 5 channel surround mode) - ditto on the reasons for buying it. The Britten is one of the best performances of the concerto I have heard and is on a par with Frank-Peter Zimmerman and Ida Haendel - but rather better recorded than either. The disc got a very enthusiastic response from, I think, Stanfordian (apologies if I have the wrong boarder) a couple of months ago which led me to buy it.

My suggested new CD is Christian Tetzlaff's coupling of the two Shostakovich Violin Concertos (with John Storgårds and the Helsinki Philharmonic). I would have normally said that there is a glut of recordings of the 1st Concerto and, in that light, does the world really need yet another recording of it (not so much in the case of the 2nd)? My pompous keeping of the moral high ground quickly eroded faced with the quality of the fiddling. Tetzlaff finds depths in both concertos which escape others on my shelves. The recording is excellent.

[french frank]

I thought something had been started on this (I wasn't quite clear what the title meant) - will look and if necessary merge.

I see Caliban has dealt - just forget me

[teamsaint]

I thought something had been started on this (I wasn't quite clear what the title meant) - will look and if necessary merge.

Oh yes.......!!!!!!!!!

Genius.




(I love a laugh while the veggies come to the boil.......)

[jayne lee wilson]

Just posted a review of Dutilleux.... turns out it's on the merged thread... maybe it should be here...? Uh-oh...**confused face**

[Don Petter]

Just posted a review of Dutilleux.... turns out it's on the merged thread... maybe it should be here...? Uh-oh...**confused face**

It's easy. You say what it is, here, and how it is, there, or is it, vice versa?

[Nick Armstrong]

It's easy. You say what it is, here, and how it is, there, or is it, vice versa?

You see? Two threads is definitely easier than one!

[Barbirollians]

It is very very simple - you say what it is over there and what you think of it over here !!!!

[Barbirollians]

Talking of which I am mightily impressed by Natalie Clein's new recording of the Saint Saens Cello Concertos - terrific passionate performances and wonderful transparency of texture .

[Don Petter]

It is very very simple - you say what it is over there and what you think of it over here !!!!

Ah! I get it. Just like we used to say about the Americans:

'There over specs, over played over here ...'

[Barbirollians]

Petrenko's Shostakovich 13 - I have seen some reviews lamenting the lack of a Russian choir but it does not bother me . Quite gripping throughout to my ears and a very fitting end to a generally excellent cycle .

[richardfinegold]

Petrenko's Shostakovich 13 - I have seen some reviews lamenting the lack of a Russian choir but it does not bother me . Quite gripping throughout to my ears and a very fitting end to a generally excellent cycle .

One of my favorite recordings of 13 is the NY Phil led by Kurt Masur. You wouldn't think that a German Conductor leading American forces could sound so idiomatic...

[jayne lee wilson]

Mozart
Piano Concertos Nos. 18; 22.
Mozart
Piano Concertos Nos 20;27.
Ronald Brautigam/ Die Kölner Akademie/Willens. BIS 24/96 FLAC or CD. Rec. 2013/2014.

Latest additions to a wonderful series which just gets better and better...


Startlingly clear and pure recorded sound, the hi-res file sounds smoother, fuller and more fluid on my system. Brautigam plays the usual McNulty 1992 after Walter c1795, the orchestra has up to 11 Winds, timpani and 14 strings (8-2-2-2)...
The freshness and alacrity of the playing, marvellously chamber-musical textures, sharply responsive in their dialogues... these performances are addictive and I've listened to little else for days... some reviewers find the andantes on the swift side, but for me this only adds to the compulsion. Performances utterly without mannerism or attention-seeking shaping of a phrase.

If you've followed this series, then you know. If you haven't, what are you waiting for? The latest 18 & 22 (the latter a really gorgeous performance, especially in those wind divertimento sections, wonderfully warm and colourful - those characterfully gruff bassoons! ) is a perfect place to start...

And don't forget...
Dutilleux Symphony No.1; Tout un monde Lointain; The Shadows of Time. Seattle SO/Morlot. 24/96 FLAC, Seattle Symphony Media 2014.

More details on the other New Releases thread... but a great album, and one of the best Dutilleux 1sts (at least as good as the totally different-sounding Tortelier...)

[Barbirollians]

Thanks JLW .

I am tempted to investigate the Dutilleux symphony as my collection of his music is limited to Rostropovich's classic account of the Cello Concerto or of course as it should properly be known Tout un monde Lointain.