Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

[Barbirollians]

… it was very much a throw-away remark, coupled with a dark “yes, that one..” …

I must say I like DON, but this was a bit pointlessly cryptic

I didn’t think the Gardner SFS was a patch on Boult,Barbirolli or the underrated Norman del Mar recordings.

[Nick Armstrong]

I notice that the forthcoming ‘special’ RR (10 September) is described in the new Radio Times as heralding the “relaunch” of the programme. Given R3’s recent track-record, I wonder if we should be afraid… Building a Library reduced to 20 minutes anyone?

Time will tell….

[smittims]

Hmm, yes, one tends to be suspicious these days. At least it still says 'classical music releases', though the rubric for BaL says 'how to start building a library' as if it's going back to lesson one for new kids.

Maybe I'm being cynical, having Built two Libraries, inthe 1960s/70s and again on CD in the '90s.

[cloughie]

Hmm, yes, one tends to be suspicious these days. At least it still says 'classical music releases', though the rubric for BaL says 'how to start building a library' as if it's going back to lesson one for new kids.

Maybe I'm being cynical, having Built two Libraries, inthe 1960s/70s and again on CD in the '90s.

Yes but was it really two libraries - how many CD purchases were of recordings you cherished on the play worn LPs in your collection?

[Andrew Slater]

It seems that BaL is being moved to 10.30am from the 17th September, with the 9.30am slot being taken up by a guest choosing some new releases.

17/09:

9.30 am
Violinist, Tasmin Little, discusses with Andrew some new releases that have caught her attention, including chamber music by Vaughan Williams, Ravel, Brahms and Rachmaninov; and she shares a special track that means a lot to her and which she has regularly On Repeat.

10.30 am
Building a Library
Allyson Devenish chooses her favourite recording of Schubert's Piano Trio No 1 in B flat, D.898

24/09:

9.30 am
This week's guest chooses their pick of new releases, as well as the track which they have regularly On Repeat.

10.30 am
Building a Library
Nigel Simeone with his pick of recordings of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.

With Recording of the Week beginning at 11.20am, it is possible that BaL might be extended slightly by 5 minutes, from its usual 45 minutes.

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks Andrew - curiosity about that weasel word “relaunch” partly assuaged!

[LHC]

It seems that BaL is being moved to 10.30am from the 17th September, with the 9.30am slot being taken up by a guest choosing some new releases.

17/09:



24/09:



With Recording of the Week beginning at 11.20am, it is possible that BaL might be extended slightly by 5 minutes, from its usual 45 minutes.

Perhaps they were concerned that AMcG was having to rush some of his interjections and interruptions, and have therefore agreed to give him more time, so he can include a few more “absolutely”s in this slot.

[smittims]

Ah yes, cloughie, I admit to buying CDs of recordings I had on LP, often years after giving away five-sixths of my LP collection , and many had the little reproduction of the original sleeve on the front. And now I've returned to the Gramophone I have even bought some of those LPs again. My father, a sworn enemy of consumerism, would have shaken his head in dispair.

[Sir Velo]

"and what you'll hear is really..er..amaz..er..incredible" - another off button outage due to "Loss of Service"

[Bryn]

I tuned in a little before 10 o'clock this morning to hear Kate Kennedy and Andrew McGregor uttering the most bizarre twaddle about the recording process used for the new Elschenbroich/Grynyuk Brahms Cello Sonatas CD/digital download. All that bogus fuss about it originating in a reel-to-reel analogue master and edit, supposedly because the performers did not want the intervention of a 'computer'. Yet they finally dumped the result to the digital domain and not analogue vinyl. Just how ignorant of the relative merits and demerits of the analogue and digital recording and editing processes are the two pairs? It was laughable enough that the performers took the ignorant stance they did but to have Kennedy and McGregor going alone with their bogus contentions was, frankly, a disgrace. Then, to top it all, we just had Seckerson recycling his evidence-free story about a mysterious, unreproduced handbill claiming a Mahler re-ordering of the middle movements of his 6th back o scherzo-andante. What has Record Review come to? Yes, I know that Mahler's 6th does not fit the title of this thread but I heard Seckerson's recycled comment as I was typing.

[jayne lee wilson]

I tuned in a little before 10 o'clock this morning to hear Kate Kennedy and Andrew McGregor uttering the most bizarre twaddle about the recording process used for the new Elschenbroich/Grynyuk Brahms Cello Sonatas CD/digital download. All that bogus fuss about it originating in a reel-to-reel analogue master and edit, supposedly because the performers did not want the intervention of a 'computer'. Yet they finally dumped the result to the digital domain and not analogue vinyl. Just how ignorant of the relative merits and demerits of the analogue and digital recording and editing processes are the two pairs? It was laughable enough that the performers took the ignorant stance they did but to have Kennedy and McGregor going alone with their bogus contentions was, frankly, a disgrace. Then, to top it all, we just had Seckerson recycling his evidence-free story about a mysterious, unreproduced handbill claiming a Mahler re-ordering of the middle movements of his 6th back o scherzo-andante. What has Record Review come to? Yes, I know that Mahler's 6th does not fit the title of this thread but I heard Seckerson's recycled comment as I was typing.

Absolutely, and the notes to the 24/192 Qobuz Stream are no better, with Elschenbroich(**) taking the same evasive action - no mention of the hi-res digital carrier at the user-end. Stereotyped generalised worship of "late-60s" sound, then a switch to...... a sneer at Ultra-HD TV screens as a stick to beat up "digital" with....dear me. They could hardly mention the hi-res files we were offered to so they just....avoided all mention.
(**) Quote: "at no point in the process was the wave translated into digits, ones and zeroes"...

I was going to suggest listening to this on Qobuz and hearing what others think of the sound balance (I'll reserve judgement for now)...
So - come on, lets hear a few other views on it.....and (saying exactly which carrier you listen to) comment back here later....

https://www.qobuz.com/au-en/album/brahms-cello-sonatas-12-four-serious-songs-leonard-elschenbroich-alexei-grynyuk/t7dp4v1lnxada

[Barbirollians]

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I can imagine a handbill mistakenly referring to the originally published score but even in those days I suspect it might have been quite a story had Mahler in performance reverted to the Scherzo-Andante order .o

[Bryn]

---

I can imagine a handbill mistakenly referring to the originally published score but even in those days I suspect it might have been quite a story had Mahler in performance reverted to the Scherzo-Andante order .o

Quite. For Seckerson to keep churning out this story without even having seen the supposed handbill looks, at the very least, like carelessness. Your point about the possibility of a handbill mistakenly taking the movement order from the originally published score (sans erratum) is well taken but we only have Seckerson's hearsay to go on. Having gone to the effort of getting the printers to issue an erratum, it seems most unlikely that Mahler might just switch back without further notifying his publishers.

[Barbirollians]

Quite. For Seckerson to keep churning out this story without even having seen the supposed handbill looks, at the very least, like carelessness. Your point about the possibility of a handbill mistakenly taking the movement order from the originally published score (sans erratum) is well taken but we only have Seckerson's hearsay to go on. Having gone to the effort of getting the printers to issue an erratum, it seems most unlikely that Mahler might just switch back without further notifying his publishers.

Exactly - I understand why many listeners might prefer the Scherzo - Andante order but find the handbill point very unconvincing as evidence that Mahler changed his mind.

[jayne lee wilson]

I listened again to the "Brahms Analogue" album as aforementioned (#955, #956)....certainly a very distinctive record...... but has anyone else any views after a hearing or two...?

Certainly the music is no hardship to listen to.......... as great & gorgeous as ever.