Classic FM Magazine (February)

[Guest]

I am a little surprised that this information has not gone up already - perhaps it has and I have missed it. If so, sorry and remove this thread.

The February Classic FM Magazine continues the mag's new policy of offering complete works, many of great quality from the past. This time it is Tchaikovsky, a 2-CD set with :
1812 Overture - Minneapolis, Dorati (stereo version from 1958) - OK, I know we all scorn this, but I like it once a decade.
Piano Concerto 1 - Cliburn, Kondrashin - well-known classic
Violin Concerto - Ferras, PO, Silvestri - so much better than the Karajan version of a few years later. Silvestri's direction is wonderful.

There are also Dorati's Capriccio Italien and a completely obscure Nutcracker suite that I have not listened to yet; it is conducted by one Pietro Garda.

The real find for me is the Ferras. The slow movement is quite exceptional. The £5 for the mag (not really on our level, I feel - snob, snob!) is well worth shelling out for this alone.

[Bryn]

Already have that 1812 & CI + just got them again in the 50+1CD set of Mercuries. However, the concertos still look enticing.

[pastoralguy]

Many thanks for that, Pru. I'm a big Ferras fan - what a sad end to an exceptional player. There's a super Brilliant classics box set of his sonata recording.

I don't know that Tchaikovsky recording so I'll be down to the newsagents tomorrow.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Don't get too attached to the Classic fm magazine... it's closing. April 2012 is to be the final issue: http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/magazines...ry.asp?id=1276

[VodkaDilc]

Don't get too attached to the Classic fm magazine... it's closing. April 2012 is to be the final issue: http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/magazines...ry.asp?id=1276

Doesn't the last paragraph hint that it will emerge again? Surely they can't just want to dump Haymarket!

[amateur51]

Many thanks for that, Pru. I'm a big Ferras fan - what a sad end to an exceptional player. There's a super Brilliant classics box set of his sonata recording.

I don't know that Tchaikovsky recording so I'll be down to the newsagents tomorrow.

I second your thanks to Pru, pastoralguy and I certainly share your enthusisasm for the playing of Christian Ferras.

I've noted your mention of the sonatas box and wonder if you have heard any of his several recorded performances of Berg's violin concerto?

Finally by way of a trade, here's a live performance of Ferras playing the Sibelius violin concerto with an extremely young Zubin Mehta. I think it's a cracking performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Kq0qMMpgU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYR9ychIPJc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX-kUgjCAKo&feature=related

[Chris Newman]

Ammy, I think that YouTube Sibelius Violin Concerto with Ferras and Mehta is the best thing I have ever heard on YouTube. I have put the link on my desktop!!! Mant thanks!!!I am rushing out to get the CFM Mag tomorrow. Thanks, Alf, for the heads-up.

PS, Nice to see Charles Hawtrey on timps!!! See the opening of the third movement

[amateur51]

Ammy, I think that YouTube Sibelius Violin Concerto with Ferras and Mehta is the best thing I have ever heard on YouTube. I have put the link on my desktop!!! Mant thanks!!!I am rushing out to get the CFM Mag tomorrow. Thanks, Alf, for the heads-up.

PS, Nice to see Charles Hawtrey on timps!!! See the opening of the third movement

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, Chris

Here's another stunning concert with David Oistrakh and Gennady Rozhdestvensky (orchestra unnamed) breathing some fresh life into Tchaikovsky violin concerto - the whole concert is available on youtube but I've posted just the third movement because ... well who is it we see plain as a pikestaff applauding at around 10:00?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77DgEqwRnrA&feature=endscreen&NR=1

[Barbirollians]

There is so little difference between it and Gramophone anyway -except that recently Classic FM has had cracking CDs on the cover like the Horenstein mahler 1 and Gramophone has downloads of snippets following its CDs of snippets which were at least useful if you had any broken jewel cases to replace . This new issue looks worth buying too.

[Dave2002]

That CFM mag has been in the shops for a while now. I've so far left it on the shelves, though I did bite on the Horenstein Mahler 1 in the previous copy.

Is the Tchaikovsky really worth having? Aren't the performances available in any other ways currently?

PS: Perhaps the Ferras violin concerto isn't available at such a low price - http://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Vi.../dp/B00016ZKQW

[Dave2002]

Many thanks for that, Pru. I'm a big Ferras fan - what a sad end to an exceptional player. There's a super Brilliant classics box set of his sonata recording.

I don't know that Tchaikovsky recording so I'll be down to the newsagents tomorrow.

I didn't realise the thing about Christian Ferras - sad - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Ferras

[silvestrione]

The real find for me is the Ferras. The slow movement is quite exceptional. The £5 for the mag (not really on our level, I feel - snob, snob!) is well worth shelling out for this alone.

Thanks for the tip-off, Alf-Prufrock. Have just listened to the Violin Concerto...a joy.
Nice to find a Silvestri recording I have not got. Lovely woodwind and horn contributions in particular, but the main thing is the soloist of course.

[silvestrione]

By the way, since alerted to these things, I checked the March edition of Classic FM magazine as well, and the double CD cover-mount is even more tasty, with a wonderful Van Cliburn/Reiner/CSO Schumann Piano Concerto (reminds me in some ways of young Pollini playing the Chopin Piano Concerto 1), the magnificent Brahms Sym 1 from Karajan and the VPO, and Lisa Della Casa in the Four Last Songs.

The notes say they're transferred from vinyl, though, and I wasn't quite convinced that full spectrum of sound I remember from my old vinyl of the Brahms was available here.

[Alf-Prufrock]

The notes say they're transferred from vinyl, though, and I wasn't quite convinced that full spectrum of sound I remember from my old vinyl of the Brahms was available here.

The February issue said the same thing, that the items were transferred from EMI ALP series LPs. But since the music was in stereo, they weren't. At least not from the ALP LPs, since those were exclusively mono. The stereo LP equivalents were labelled as ASD.

As a technical point, I believe that music transferred from LPs can be quite wide-ranging, at least as wide as CD permits. You need virtually a pristine copy, though. Which reminds me, Pristine Audio do remarkable transfers from 78s and early LPs. I have their download of the famous Kenneth Alwyn disc of Tchaikovsky items, including 1812 and the Capriccio Italien. I decided to have the highest-fi version, which ranges wider than CD. It is very good indeed and retains the feeling of analogue graciousness admirably.

[amateur51]

The February issue said the same thing, that the items were transferred from EMI ALP series LPs. But since the music was in stereo, they weren't. At least not from the ALP LPs, since those were exclusively mono. The stereo LP equivalents were labelled as ASD.

As a technical point, I believe that music transferred from LPs can be quite wide-ranging, at least as wide as CD permits. You need virtually a pristine copy, though. Which reminds me, Pristine Audio do remarkable transfers from 78s and early LPs. I have their download of the famous Kenneth Alwyn disc of Tchaikovsky items, including 1812 and the Capriccio Italien. I decided to have the highest-fi version, which ranges wider than CD. It is very good indeed and retains the feeling of analogue graciousness admirably.

This is dreadful news Alf-Prufrock! Another way of spending money without leaving the house!

Seriously I'm glad that you're enjoying them - I'm thinking of getting the set of Schnabel performances of Beethoven piano sonatas from Pristine