www.loiseau-lyre.co.uk - where is it?

[Bryn]

In the booklet for the L'Oiseau Lyre Classical & Early Romantic boxed set it gives www.loiseau-lyre.co.uk as the URL at which one can find the sung texts and translations for the works in the set. However, that URL gets redirected to decca.com and no further clues as to how to find the texts and translations are on offer. Has anyone here managed to find way round this mess?

[MickyD]

No idea, Bryn. Though it is good to have these recordings back in the catalogue, one cannot but help regret the days of the LP, when the notes inside L'Oiseau Lyre discs were plentiful. The booklets for the Malcolm Binns Beethoven piano sonatas and the Hogwood Mozart symphony series were exemplary.

[HighlandDougie]

I spent about half an hour last night trying to find the site - with no success whatsoever. I'll e-mail 'Decca Classics' and see if they can shed any light on its whereabouts. Having announced that texts for the vocal works in the box were available online, it's a bit galling to discover that, as yet, that doesn't seem to be the case.

[Tony Halstead]

No idea, Bryn. Though it is good to have these recordings back in the catalogue, one cannot but help regret the days of the LP, when the notes inside L'Oiseau Lyre discs were plentiful. The booklets for the Malcolm Binns Beethoven piano sonatas and the Hogwood Mozart symphony series were exemplary.

the Malcolm Binns Beethoven piano sonatas

ah, bliss!

the Hogwood Mozart symphony series

ah, 'modified bliss'!
if only the great and much under-appreciated Chris Hogwood hadn't sadly departed to the great 'orchestra in the sky' just over a year ago, I had been very much hoping that he could have re-visited the Mozart symphonies in the light of greatly improved orchestral playing techniques in the 30-odd years since he did that pioneering set for 'L'Oiseau-Lyre'.
I know, I know, this is/ was very idealistic. E.g. who could have paid for this?

[MickyD]

Tony, I used to say many times that if ever my lottery number came up, I would willingly pay for Chris and the AAM to complete their Haydn symphony series - I think it is really tragic that such a fine project remained unfinished (and that I never won the lottery!).

It would indeed have been good to hear their more polished take on the Mozart symphonies, although I have to say that there is still something rather exciting about those early attempts at them...they have a very raw, earthy quality which I personally find thrilling.

[Bryn]

No idea, Bryn. Though it is good to have these recordings back in the catalogue, one cannot but help regret the days of the LP, when the notes inside L'Oiseau Lyre discs were plentiful. The booklets for the Malcolm Binns Beethoven piano sonatas and the Hogwood Mozart symphony series were exemplary.

Indeed, I found a pdf of James Webster's notes for the Haydn Symphony recordings on the Internet, http://christermalmberg.se/files/pdf...olume_1-10.pdf . Perhaps a similar pdf of the Mozart notes are also out there. I have a couple of weeks leave coming up soon, so might use the opportunity to photograph the Beethoven sonatas booklets and convert them to pdf (I don't have access to an A3 scanner).

[MickyD]

Bryn, I do have all the original booklet notes from the Mozart symphony series when first issued on CD, but I have no idea how I could get them all to you save photocopying the lot! They are really well worth having - my memory may be wrong, but I'm wondering if Zaslaw ever had his notes put together in book form...it might be worth scouring the net to see if he did.

[Bryn]

Bryn, I do have all the original booklet notes from the Mozart symphony series when first issued on CD, but I have no idea how I could get them all to you save photocopying the lot! They are really well worth having - my memory may be wrong, but I'm wondering if Zaslaw ever had his notes put together in book form...it might be worth scouring the net to see if he did.

Thanks Micky, the notes are not available online in pdf format, as far as I can see, but Zaslaw's Mozart's Symphonies: Context, Performance Practice, Reception was available for £12.78 plus £2.80 p&p ("used - very good" condition) from an amazon.co.uk marketplace vendor, so I have ordered it:

[pastoralguy]

Thanks Micky, the notes are not available online in pdf format, as far as I can see, but Zaslaw's Mozart's Symphonies: Context, Performance Practice, Reception was available for £12.78 plus £2.80 p&p ("used - very good" condition) from an amazon.co.uk marketplace vendor, so I have ordered it:

This is going on my Christmas list!

Thanks for the heads up...

[MickyD]

Hey, well spotted, Bryn! I would suspect that the book pretty much mirrors all the notes in the AAM series booklets. Happy reading!

[Bryn]

This is going on my Christmas list!

Thanks for the heads up...

Actually, the £12.78 copy should soon be restored to availability. I just noticed what appears to be one in even better condition (described as "Used - Very Good - probably as new but listed fairly") for £13.00, so have switched to that.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hey, well spotted, Bryn! I would suspect that the book pretty much mirrors all the notes in the AAM series booklets. Happy reading!

From the Preface:

Work on this study was begun while I was involved as musicological adviser and programme-note writer for the complete recordings of Mozart's Symphonies by the AAM led by Jap Schröder, concertmaster and Christopher Hogwood, continuo. I learned a great deal about the Symphonies from preparing them, participating in rehearsals and recording sessions, and hearing them performed by superior Musicians. I owe an inestimable debt to Schröder and Hogwood and to members of the AAM, who in conversation and by their playing taught me things that I could have learned in no other way. The recordings were made, and the notes for them written over a period of six years (1977-83), during which my ideas evolved considerably. As the final revision of this book came after the recordings were finished, the reader should assume that, where there are contradictions between the programme notes and the book, they are intentional and the version in the latter contains my newest thoughts on the subject.

It is a wonderful book - and on many occasions, I have got it out intending to check a particular fact only to discover that an hour has flown by as other pages catch my attention. I cannot recommend or praise it highly enough.

[MickyD]

Thanks Ferney, so now we know! I may have to order a copy myself, although it is still enjoyable to read the original CD notes whilst listening to each disc from the series.

[Bryn]

Re. Zaslaw's "Mozart's Symphonies"

It is a wonderful book - and on many occasions, I have got it out intending to check a particular fact only to discover that an hour has flown by as other pages catch my attention. I cannot recommend or praise it highly enough.

The "Used - Very Good - probably as new but listed fairly" paperback copy arrived today, and the description was indeed fair, and "Very Good" an understatement. Also delivered today was a hardback first edition copy (in "Used - Very Good" condition) of "The Compleat Mozart". ed. Zaslaw and Cowdery. also £13 plus p&p. The latter nothing like as detailed, of course, but covering all authenticated original works by Mozart (plus the early arrangements of other composers' works into 'piano concertos', but rightly excluding such highly questionable works as the K297b Sinfonia Concertante for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Orchestra). Some interesting reading ahead.

[HighlandDougie]

While I don't suppose that my moan on Facebook had any effect, I'm delighted to report that there is now the promised website.