NEW RELEASE OF THE DAY - Lintu Luto Lotto Winno!

[Bryn]

Yes, but it doesn't open up the Qobuz player in my quality level - or is there some software fix? I tried searching with Qobuz to no avail - trawled through lots of other recordings and couldn't find the new one.

I'm on a French HiFi sub (€199 per annum), and for me, if I select the stream quality as FLAC, rather than mp3, it jumps to the web player, I sign in again there and it plays fine at CD quality. That is not the usual procedure, it would normally jst play at CD quaity from the standard screen.

[Oops. I forgot to sign in on the main page. If I do, and make a point of selecting CD rate on the right-hand side of hte page, then FLAC for the streaming quality, it plays fine.]

[Dave2002]

I only have the basic level of streaming, which I use for previewing recordings I might want to buy, or just for music which I'm unlikely to want to listen to lots of times.

Fair enough if Qobuz wants to differentiate between different user groups - but if that is the case then I do wish they'd make it more obvious. I can only hear snippets of the recordings - samples - presumably in Hi Res as delivered. Doesn't necessarily make me want to change to a Hi Res subscription though, as I might prefer to simply buy the CD or SACD if such is actually available.

[Bryn]

I only have the basic level of streaming, which I use for previewing recordings I might want to buy, or just for music which I'm unlikely to want to listen to lots of times.

Fair enough if Qobuz wants to differentiate between different user groups - but if that is the case then I do wish they'd make it more obvious. I can only hear snippets of the recordings - samples - presumably in Hi Res as delivered. Doesn't necessarily make me want to change to a Hi Res subscription though, as I might prefer to simply buy the CD or SACD if such is actually available.

Just to clarify, I am on the basic "HiFi", not the "Hi Res" level. However, the selection on the right of the download screen defaults to "Sublime" and has to be changed to "CD 16 bit". Are you quite sure you are signed in?

[mathias broucek]

Dammit, Jayne, I’m trying to cut down having recently discovered Rautavaara (yes, I know I’m late that party)....

[jayne lee wilson]

I only have the basic level of streaming, which I use for previewing recordings I might want to buy, or just for music which I'm unlikely to want to listen to lots of times.

Fair enough if Qobuz wants to differentiate between different user groups - but if that is the case then I do wish they'd make it more obvious. I can only hear snippets of the recordings - samples - presumably in Hi Res as delivered. Doesn't necessarily make me want to change to a Hi Res subscription though, as I might prefer to simply buy the CD or SACD if such is actually available.

So you're signed up to Premium? If you are and have a playback problem, do write to them they're usually very helpful.
If you're not then you will indeed only be able to hear the excerpts on the album page or the web player. On that page again -

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/lutoslawski-symphonies-nos-1-and-4-jeux-venitiens-finnish-radio-symphony-orchestra-hannu-lintu/jpcsadgju4t0b

If you hit "web player" then the play button, it will playback the whole album if you have a sub....
And I'm pretty sure they don't differentiate in terms of albums listed/offered - they'd lose potential sales themselves.
With this one, try "Lintu Lutosławski" - a double-barrel search term often gets you there (composer/performer, label/composer etc...)

I know it's no help if you don't have it, but searching/streaming via Qobuz/Audirvana+ is sublimely easy, with a better, much simpler visual interface and incredible stability. (When I tried on Qobuz website itself just now playback stuttered fractionally just for loading the booklet note...

[Dave2002]

No - I think I'm signed up to the very Basic level. As I wrote before, I understand that Qobuz is trying to be financially viable, but given the option to access a few recordings in better quality sound via streaming, or simply buying the CDs I might decide to do the latter. To date I don't like subscription models which lock me in, either for audio, video or software - though it seems to be the way things are moving.

Qobuz could be slightly more transparent about this as it seems they have indeed split their catalogue. This seems to be something that other companies are also doing - for example Amazon - with segmenting between different sections of their video and audio catalogues. Prime members get access to some, but not the same as those who pay even more for "unlimited" access etc. It's a form of bait and switch [though I'd hesitate to call it fraudulent, which some definitions give - but it is rather sharp practice].

[jayne lee wilson]

"Locked in"? Options here....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/music/streaming/offers

I'm on Studio monthly. Personally I can cope with being locked in for all of a month. For me it's excellent value - as long as I've loved music, I always get excited about each month's New Releases, so Qobuz/Audirvana streaming (updated weekly, every Friday, even better - Friday Night is Music Night!) is a sublime way of following all that.

But I still don't get what advantage there'd be to Qobuz or anyone restricting album "visibility" or availability from potential streamers/downloaders, at whatever level....

[Dave2002]

"Locked in"? Options here....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/music/streaming/offers

I haven't checked out Qobuz details sufficiently really to be able to evaluate how "locked in" one would be. With some other subscription models, although one can opt out at any time, so in that sense not be locked in, there are definite downsides to cancelling a subscription - loss of playlists etc. With the GDPR and other fairly recent legislation, the "right to be forgotten" - which seems desirable - could mean that a lapsed subscription could not be reinstated. Whereas with a CD or DVD, once bought it can continue to enjoyed indefinitely as long as there is kit available to play those.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well it doesn't have to be either/or/or, of course..(especially for older Classical enthusiasts).... physical discs, downloads and streaming can all co-exist and be enjoyed alongside each other...

It's not a bad time to be a musiclover really, is it?

[Bryn]

Well it doesn't have to be either/or/or, of course..(especially for older Classical enthusiasts).... physical discs, downloads and streaming can all co-exist and be enjoyed alongside each other...

It's not a bad time to be a musiclover really, is it?

Indeed, and not only can they co-exist but, to a considerable extent, the music can transfer across those modes. Downloads can be burned to optical media. Optical media can often be 'ripped' to magnetic or solid state media, and come to that, streaming can be captured or recorded (though not necessarily legitimately).

[teamsaint]

I can’t pick up those Arnold resonances myself, but If you don’t know it, or not well, you must listen closely to Roussel’s 3rd (surely a welcome chore!), to recognise (with an indulgent smile) the closely similar shaping and character of Luto’s first movement compared to the Roussel first movement (the climax is, well, a bit of a steal), and the shape and character of the adagio as well.

Listen to the scherzos of Roussel 3 and 4 (especially its 2nd strand), then the Lutosławski.
Note the picking out of those brief trumpet solos. I do recall Luto mentioning this composer as a formative influence, on Radio 3 back in the day; he seems to have learnt a lot from Roussel about orchestral colour and layering - sheer playfulness co-existing with depth. The influence is all over the piece really - It seems pretty clear to this devoted Roussellina, anyway.
I’d go so far as to say that you won’t really understand Lutosławski’s 1st until you know the Roussel 3rd. (There’s some wide-ranging 20thC historical crosslights in there - as in my latest obsession Maderna, early works composed late 40s early 50s, another tale.)…
It’s fascinating and touching to hear Luto’s own voice emerging sometimes from within that force-field, especially in the finale which often anticipates the Concerto for Orchestra..

I just found this insightful piece, showing how a main theme in Luto 1 (i) is modelled on the Roussel 3 motto…(and much else..).

https://onpolishmusic.com/2015/01/01/•-wl10081-roussel-3-lutoslawski-3/

But it’s amazing how long you can live without recognising who your true favourites are isn’t it? Lutosławski’s been at the heart of my musical universe for years really. I never quite saw how intensely until now, thanks to Maestro Lintu.
***
(NDRSO/Urbanski 4th - slightly distanced ( I feel the 4th benefits from closer focus), seems to lack colour or character early on, misses the wonderful sense of timing and follow-through Lintu so specially creates. Great final climax and coda(s) though! (even if those violins/marimbas etc. are a bit too explicit).
Should hear it again with volume well up, longterm thinking in mind…)

Thanks for all this Jayne. Had a good listen to the respective first movements last night, a couple of times each, and a read of that link.
The influences are clear to hear. Unfortunately I have a bit of a cold right now which isn’t helping the critical faculties or concentration, so I’ll return to the listening later.

[Beef Oven!]

A good listen, but I much prefer Lutoslawski and Rousell's 2nd symphonies to their others, although WL's 3 is the one I listen to often these days.

I prefer WL's fourth symphony to his first and my go-to remains Esa-Pekka Salonen. But the Lintu is well played and recorded.

I'm reminded that Lintu does a mean Turangalila and Rautavaara 3, too.

[Richard Barrett]

I'm reminded that Lintu does a mean Turangalila and Rautavaara 3, too.

Do you know his Ligeti disc (Lontano, Atmosphères, San Francisco Polyphony and the Violin Concerto)? I don't think there are better recordings of any of those pieces. There's also the Berio disc, though I don't yet know that one so well. I hope he gets a change to release more of that kind of late 20th century repertoire (Stockhausen, Boulez, Xenakis, Nono) which is generally a bit neglected these days.

[jayne lee wilson]

Lintu's is a very rich and individual catalogue.
Besides that Ligeti stunner he's recorded several excellent Saariaho records, outstanding Bartok Violin Concertos with Tetzlaff, and gorgeous hi-res accounts of the first three Enescu Symphonies. Not to mention much less well known Scandinavians like Fagerlund and Rasmussen (his strange elemental 1st Symphony, "Oceanic Days"), for Ondine and Da Capo...
My personal request would be for Enescu 4 and 5, with the Vox Maris and the Isis.

Oddly enough Beef that Salonen Lutoslawski 4th - its premiere recording - was by far the most disappointing I heard during the last week. It isn't terrible, but seemed comparatively pale and featureless to me, like a studio try-out of unfamiliar music... IIRC you have the Naxos Wit series? The last one I returned to was his and it came up remarkably well, sharply-defined but atmospheric and dramatic. Great birds too! (The poor creatures are often left to fend sadly for themselves..) It had at least some individuality in what can seem, interpretatively, a rather uniform field. I was very pleasantly surprised!

But as I implied, after the Lintu (which really is in a class of its own, for sound and sense) the most characterful and above all individualised reading, big and warm with a uniquely "epic" feel, is the Kaspzsyk on that Accord "Opera Omnia" series. Seek it out on the great Q...

[BBMmk2]

Isn’t it rather good seeing a conductor whose repertoire does not transverse the more usual route. Just had a look at his discography and every recording looks worth a listen!