Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

[Barbirollians]

I wasn’t very taken with the new Capucon/Rattle Elgar extract. Frankly, it sounded like he did not know the work well and the ending of the movement was spoiled by that grandiose flourish.

I wish he had played the violin sonata instead.

[kea]

.

... the 'Record of the Week' - Pavel Kolesnikov with the Goldberg variations - did others find the piano sound distractingly strange? Muffled, almost as if the hammers didn't move away from the strings cleanly. Or perhaps the tinny radio in the kitchen was at fault...


,

I listened to the whole thing just recently and found it one of the best played piano albums I've heard, from a purely technical point of view: Kolesnikov's level of control over his hands and fingers is near superhuman, in the same tier as pianists like Arcadi Volodos and Yeol Eum Son. I'm not sure I liked the interpretation very much—from that point of view it seemed a bit of a rehash of Zhu Xiao-Mei and Angela Hewitt, with a lot more control over the tone colour and dynamics, but perhaps a bit less command of the long line and shaping of the large-scale phrases (not only in the sense of 16- and 32-bar phrases but also in the phrase rhythm of a sequence of variations). It did however prompt me to acquire every other Pavel Kolesnikov album on Hyperion. The standout among those is I think his recording of the Chopin Impromptus, which to my ears equals any other version out there, while being obviously very different from e.g. Perahia or Cziffra.

[cloughie]

I wasn’t very taken with the new Capucon/Rattle Elgar extract. Frankly, it sounded like he did not know the work well and the ending of the movement was spoiled by that grandiose flourish.

I wish he had played the violin sonata instead.

Who Rattle? I know he’s talented but...

[Nick Armstrong]

I wish he had played the violin sonata instead.

You might get it on the Hannah French spill-over programme this evening

[Nick Armstrong]

I wasn’t very taken with the new Capucon/Rattle Elgar extract. Frankly, it sounded like he did not know the work well and the ending of the movement was spoiled by that grandiose flourish.

I wish he had played the violin sonata instead.

You might get it on the Hannah French spill-over programme this evening

Bad luck, Barb

[Alison]

It seems impossible to get an advance listing of ‘tracks’ for the Hannah French prog.

[Nick Armstrong]

It seems impossible to get an advance listing of ‘tracks’ for the Hannah French prog.

Correct

[Beresford]

I was taken with the Danny Driver version of the Ligeti Etudes. I am not familiar with the piece. Any recommendations? (I prefer Interesting to Dramatic.)

[Bryn]

I was taken with the Danny Driver version of the Ligeti Etudes. I am not familiar with the piece. Any recommendations? (I prefer Interesting to Dramatic.)

The Aimard recordings are probably the best known and, in the case of the later studies, are placed in the context of one of Ligeti's major late interests and influences, the music of the Aka 'Pygmies'. There is a Sony boxed set of "Györgi Ligeti Masterworks" but it only has books 1 an 2 plus the first of book 3, "White on White". I would suggest avoiding the Idil Biret recordings on Naxos. She just does not manage to get up to speed on this occasion, though Jed Distler manages to find this an advantage. I don't. I have not yet listened to many of the Driver recordings of these pieces yet but what I have heard have driven me to download the set from the usual source.

I should add that I do not know the Thomas Hell recording but it appears to have been well received.

Come on folk. who's going to speak up for Ullen?

[Edgy 2]

I wasn’t very taken with the new Capucon/Rattle Elgar extract. Frankly, it sounded like he did not know the work well and the ending of the movement was spoiled by that grandiose flourish.

I wish he had played the violin sonata instead.

I tend to agree having listened to the recording today (I did read a review, can't remember where, something like 'Capucon clearly knows the piece intimately' )

The Sonata is absolutely stunning though IMVHO

[johnb]

Has anyone listened to the new Rattle/LSO Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 that was included in Saturday's Record Review?

I was browsing Qobuz on Saturday night and noticed the recording so gave it a listen. Very beautiful with lots of things to admire .... and yet it left me totally unmoved. The day after, worried that I might just have lost sympathy with the piece, I listened to parts of the Previn/LSO and Edward Downes/BBC Philh (a BBC Music Mag recording that I am fond of) - what a difference.

[Bryn]

I do hope the dynamic level of the recording is nothing like that being broadcast. It's up and down all over the place. Dreadful cover illustration:

[Ein Heldenleben]

This ninth sounds pretty good to me . Some nice wobble free singing for a start . Lovely approach to the recitative from the Bass...
PS a I wonder if they make the covers really lurid because they stand out better on streaming galleries like Qubuz.

[Pulcinella]

This ninth sounds pretty good to me . Some nice wobble free singing for a start . Lovely approach to the recitative from the Bass...
PS a I wonder if they make the covers really lurid because they stand out better on streaming galleries like Qubuz.

Maybe it's to herald a new, fresh approach?

[HighlandDougie]

Maybe it's to herald a new, fresh approach?

I was a bit rude about the recording quality a few weeks ago on WAYLTM - and not very keen on the performance. Honeck does, I think, try to keep to the metronome markings in the score so, despite the good singing (I agree with Heldenleben on that), I found the final movement to be a bit hectoring rather than joyous, given the size of the forces at his command and the rather unappealing acoustic. But, à chacun son goût - just not mine.