Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

[Nick Armstrong]

Oooops

Andrew McGregor @andrewCDmcg 55 seconds ago
Hah! Temporary studio issues...you just heard Vivaldi motet Filiae maestae Jerusalem from Philippe Jaroussky's new Vivaldi recital on Erato

BBC Radio 3 @BBCRadio3 1 minute ago
Back-anno from the last piece wasn't transmitted - sorry!

Thought me DAB was playing up...

[Nick Armstrong]

Where on earth do they get the photos of composers from?!

Would anyone have recognised Schumann and Chopin from the pictures here?

[amateur51]

Where on earth do they get the photos of composers from?!

Would anyone have recognised Schumann and Chopin from the pictures here?

I think you'll find they're not photos Cali

Mind you, I do agree that the pictures used are not what we're used to but then who knows?

[visualnickmos]

Where on earth do they get the photos of composers from?!

Would anyone have recognised Schumann and Chopin from the pictures here?

It's the same bloke in both!

[Alison]

im keeping a look out for Brahms ...

[Petrushka]

I think you'll find they're not photos Cali

Mind you, I do agree that the pictures used are not what we're used to but then who knows?

This recalls a memory of an old school teacher of mine who taught history. She used to berate us children for drawing some figure in our exercise books and calling them Queen Elizabeth 1 or Henry VIII or whatever when it plainly wasn't. In any case, isn't there a photograph in existence of Chopin in which he looks like he's suffering from a terrible cold? The pictures of Schumann all look much the same and nothing like the one above.

[Nick Armstrong]

In any case, isn't there a photograph in existence of Chopin in which he looks like he's suffering from a terrible cold? The pictures of Schumann all look much the same and nothing like the one above.

There are photos of both composers, looking nothing like the R3 images (thanks for the ahintonesque correction. ammy )

This is the one of Chopin you mean Pet, I think, in 1849



Actually a Google image search shoes both the R3 images to be etchings of each when relatively young, so a bit like using one of those images of Brahms looking about 12 which were discussed on the Forum a week or two ago...

[Petrushka]

There are photos of both composers, looking nothing like the R3 images (thanks for the ahintonesque correction. ammy )

This is the one of Chopin you mean Pet, I think, in 1849

Yes that's the one. He looks ill and worried. I wasn't sure if any of the images of Schumann were, in fact, photographs.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes that's the one. He looks ill and worried. I wasn't sure if any of the images of Schumann were, in fact, photographs.

Some are (or perhaps, more technically, daguerrotypes) - like this one taken the year after the one of Chopin:

[Barbirollians]

Did anyone else hear the extract from the highly puffed Lang Lang/VPO/Harnoncourt -K453 and K 491 .

What a car crash - jabbing finger accents from Harnoncourt that sounded completely wrong , a recording that appeared to give absurd prominence to the woodwind and dull clumping heavy handed playing from Lang Lang .

[Nick Armstrong]

Did anyone else hear the extract from the highly puffed Lang Lang/VPO/Harnoncourt -K453 and K 491 .

What a car crash - jabbing finger accents from Harnoncourt that sounded completely wrong , a recording that appeared to give absurd prominence to the woodwind and dull clumping heavy handed playing from Lang Lang .

Yes I did, and I couldn't agree more; I alluded to it by way of an off-topic PS on the BaL thread, responding to visualnick:

PS:

Slightly related to the thread (only slightly) I just heard Lang Lang murdering some Chopin on a French TV chat show. Reminded me of Mrs Mills, and that is not intended as an insult to the Grande Dame of the old Joanna, an entertainer who I actually remember as a kid, and quite liked!

He murdered some Mozart on this CD Review too. He really is a carbuncle on the rear end of music.

[Barbirollians]

I found it hard to believe it was K453 - a lovely, sunny concerto to my ears - have had to get Perahia/ECO in the player to confirm it .

[Lento]

Love the "starling" finale of this work.

[Nick Armstrong]

The 'programme' of CD Review tomorrow (22.11.14) is as attractive to my inclinations as last week's was dull.... Apart from the Purcell BAL, the line-up suits me down to the ground.

9.05 Choral music, Four Last Songs...
- BAL -
10.20 Rachmaninov Box Set
11.20 New Releases: French chamber and piano music
11.40 Disc of the Week: Gerontius (downside: Ms. Connolly Hope he concentrates on the tenor, and ignores the Sea Pictures filler )

.

Random OT fact: I remember the conductor of the first CD in the first segment sleeping some years ago on the floor of my living room along with 3 or 4 other people after a party ... i.e. long into the following day. The place was like a hastily improvised morgue in a war-zone. But that's another story....

[Alison]

Enjoy Mr Caliban! Shame it isn't Harriet Smith reviewing the Rachmaninov to complete your pleasure ....