Sir Adrian Boult - From Bach to Wagner

[Edgy 2]

Yep,I return to this set often,just can’t listen to the Bach

[Bryn]

Yep,I return to this set often,just can’t listen to the Bach

ditto.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Apart from saying that I personally don't mind the Prelude without the Liebestod, in the belief that chunks ought to be bleeding, in order to tempt listeners to hear the whole operas.

Indeed - and I used to enjoy these unbandaged bits tremendously as a teenager (and later) when getting to know the Music. I suppose it's just that these days I don't really want "highlights", any more than I'd want to hear the Slow Movement of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata away from the rest of the work - I want to hear Parsifal, not just the Prelude & "Good Friday" Music.

[hmvman]

I've got that Brandenburgs set on LP (a Christmas present in 1975). They still get an occasional airing at Chez HMV and are still enjoyed...

[cloughie]

Yep,I return to this set often,just can’t listen to the Bach

You mean his Bach is worse than his Bite-hoven?

[Dave2002]

I tried the Brahms Serenades again tonight - pretty good. IIRC I didn't enjoy the Bach much at all.

[Bryn]

I tried the Brahms Serenades again tonight - pretty good. IIRC I didn't enjoy the Bach much at all.

I've tried to listen to the Bach as if it was sort of Wendy Carlos arrangement but for 1950(?)s orchestral forces and musicology. Those two discs can only ever expect to reflect a laser very rarely. The rest keeps its sheen, for me.

[Master Jacques]

Indeed - and I used to enjoy these unbandaged bits tremendously as a teenager (and later) when getting to know the Music. I suppose it's just that these days I don't really want "highlights", any more than I'd want to hear the Slow Movement of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata away from the rest of the work - I want to hear Parsifal, not just the Prelude & "Good Friday" Music.

Indeed so. Certainly Wagner's B.Chunks don't get programmed in concert anything like so often as they used to do, with a few exceptions such as the Tristan double-header. Likewise the cantatas RVW wrote, so that at least some music from his operas would get the odd hearing - now the operas themselves are readily available, those cantatas have little function. Williamson's suites (choral and orchestral) from Our Man in Havana are perhaps an exception, as professional companies foolishly steer clear of the complete work. Now if only Boult had recorded that!