Buying a record against your prejudices

[Barbirollians]

Barbirollians

That's quite a coincidence, as I also bought the new Chandos, and have decided not to keep it. Frankly, I wondered at the time why I did get it, since I already have the earlier Little version with Mackerras, and the Pougnet as well. I love the music of Delius, but the concertos do not do very much for me, so why buy yet another version? My reason for not keeping the new version is partly due to the rather characterless playing, but also because I find the recording rather boomy and lacking in real clarity, especially where the top end of the cello register is concerned. It's a shortcoming that I find with quite a few Chandos recordings, they used to have space and detail in excellent balance but seem to have lost the trick.

Listening to the record on my main system FF I hear what you mean especially about the cello top but it does not disturb me as much . I do not think that the playing is characterless but I have to admit direct comparisons with my favourites Holmes and Du Pre in the Violin and Cello concertos do not flatter it (still think the Double Concerto is excellent) but on its own terms I think it is a good record and you do get all three on one disc.

[Mandryka]

I keep buying records by Boulez in the hope (vain, so far) that I'll find anything to admire.

[vinteuil]

... well, not quite buying against my prejudices, but certainly confronting my prejudices...

Some years back I remember being invited to the launch of the Classic FM CD range - I only went (of course) for the champagne and the canapés...

We were given goody-bags - including the ClassicFM Mozart Concerto disc. I have to say their Sinfonia Concertante K297B (Nicholas Daniel, oboe; Joy Farrall, clarinet; Julie Andrews, bassoon; Stephen Bell, horn; with the Britten Sinfonia, Nicholas Cleobury) is the best I have yet to find...

[Barbirollians]

I keep buying records by Boulez in the hope (vain, so far) that I'll find anything to admire.

The Bruckner 8 is pretty good Mandryka and I am not much of a Boulez fan

[Mandryka]

The Bruckner 8 is pretty good Mandryka and I am not much of a Boulez fan

Will give it another listen, Barbirollians: found a bit typically 'cool' and underwhelming on my first listen.

Most of the things people said about Sinopoli, I would apply (with bells on!) to Boulez.

[Biffo]

Most of the things people said about Sinopoli, I would apply (with bells on!) to Boulez.

Personally I can't see any resemblance between the two. I was a subscriber to the Philharmonia Orchestra when Sinopoli took over. I had never previously even heard of him and purchased tickets in advance. I found all his concerts distinctly underwhelming, except for his Brahms (one of his specialities apparently) which was atrocious.

I have no problems with Boulez in French repertoire and even like some of his much-criticised Mahler eg. Das Lied von der Erde. One (fairly) recent pleasant surprise was his DVD of Janacek's 'From the House of the Dead' which I found excellent. His Bayreuth 'Ring' DVD set has faults but I still return to it fairly frequently.

[Pilchardman]

I once bought a Queen record as a present for my sister. I found myself saying at the counter: "It's not for me". To his credit, the assistant said: "That's what they all say".

[barber olly]

I keep buying records by Boulez in the hope (vain, so far) that I'll find anything to admire.

Try some of his DG Ravel - Daphnis, Mother Goose and Scheheazade (with von Otter) all excellent!

[pastoralguy]

Time to resurrect this interesting thread!

Back in the days when Edinburgh had more than one good cd store, the proprietor of one had a real downer on Lang Lang ( or 'Bang Bang' as he called him!) saying that 'there are many, many players as good as he is". Another friend with tremendous knowledge of piano playing once spent a couple of hours comparing Lang Lang to Richter! As I'm sure you can imagine, Lang Lang did not come out well!


And yet, I heard him play Bartok no. 2 with the LSO under Daniel Harding and I thought he was superb! Likewise, his CDs seem, to me, to be very well played.

[verismissimo]

Yes, good resurrection, Pastoral One.

The old premises of Gramex used to be on York Road up a rather steep, dingy staircase. At the top was a plain closed door on which was a sign:

GRAMEX
No cheques
No credit
No Hugo Wolf

[salymap]

I may have mentioned rhis before - a friend persuaded me to buy Howard Goodall's Requiem, 'Eternal Light'.

Oh dear

[MrGongGong]

I've mentioned elsewhere that I bought Horst Stein's Eine Alpensinfonie with quite low expectations. It turned out to be number 1 out of 55

Surely there are only 50 "essential" recordings ?
sounds like you have a few spares
swap one for a duplicate Xenakis CD ?

We were given goody-bags - including the ClassicFM Mozart Concerto disc. I have to say their Sinfonia Concertante K297B (Nicholas Daniel, oboe; Joy Farrall, clarinet; Julie Andrews, bassoon; Stephen Bell, horn; with the Britten Sinfonia, Nicholas Cleobury) is the best I have yet to find...

That certainly is Joy For-All (as they say) and a great recording IMV

[pastoralguy]

I'm listening to Lang Lang's new cd of Prokofiev 3 and Bartok 2. Sounds pretty good to me! ( if not perhaps hitting the heights of one Ms. M. Argerich...)

[pastoralguy]

I may have mentioned rhis before - a friend persuaded me to buy Howard Goodall's Requiem, 'Eternal Light'.

Oh dear

A real charity shop staple, this one, saly.

[amateur51]

A real charity shop staple, this one, saly.

I like it - CSS must enter the lexicon, surely