Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

**richardfinegold** · 19-01-13, 13:35

Originally posted by Thropplenoggin View Post

Today's programme, which I haven't heard (clearing a snow-filled drive, then marvelling at hare and deer footprints in the woods), seemed to cover a nice array of releases: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pyffm

Vivaldi - Bassoon Concertos Volume 3
Sergio Azzolini (bassoon), L'Aura Soave Cremona
NAIVE OP30539 (CD)

Beethoven - Piano Sonatas Volume 2
Jonathan Biss (piano)
ONYX ONYX4094 (CD)

STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite 1919; The Rite of Spring
Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Tugan Sokhiev (conductor)
NAIVE V5192 (CD+DVD mid-price)

Romantic Symphonies and Overtures
BERLIOZ / DVORAK / FRANCK / MENDELSSOHN / SCHUBERT / SCHUMANN / J STRAUSS II / TCHAIKOVSKY / WEBER
Otto Klemperer (conductor)
EMI 4043092 (10CD budget)

SCHUMANN: Symphony no.1 in Bb; Symphony no.3 in Eb
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Christian Zacharias (conductor)
MDG94017726 (Hybrid SACD)

SCHUMANN: Symphony no.1 in Bb ‘Spring’; Symphony no.2 in C; Symphony no.3 in Eb ‘Rhenish’; Symphony no.4 in D minor
The Deutsche kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Jarvi (conductor)
C MAJOR 712208 (2DVD)

BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 in C minor Op. 68; Symphony No. 3 in F major Op. 90
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt (conductor)
LPO LPO0068 (2CD mid-price)

plus various Ravel disc and Bach cantatas!

Interestingly, having persuaded myself that I didn't like Brahms (apart from the second movement of his Requiem), I gave the Tennstedt LPO Live disc a whirl on Qobuz. Symphony No. 1. I can't comment on the performance, but I was certainly a Brahms convert afterwards. The sound is superior for Symphony 1 than Symphony 3.

Any thoughts on what was covered this week?

I would definitely want to check out the Bis recording of the Beethoven Sonatas. I've heard him in Concert several times, including Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. His playing always fantastic combination of youthful energy, poetry, and insightfulness. He takes a lot of chances in concert but I've noticed that his recordings tend to "play it straight".
The Schumann disc with Zacharias interests me. Schumann's orchestration can frequently sound opaque, and I'm wondering if SACD technology might help the clarity. The Janowski/Brahms recordings on Pentatone benefit greatly from this. Brahm's inner voices ("cross-rhythms") sound more natural, part of the musical fibre and less likely to gum everything up as they frequently do on recordings.
I had recently bought a spate of Tennstedt/LPO recordings, chiefly Mahler, and I have to admit that I don't understand the adoration. I had been a non fan since I had heard him conduct a Beethoven Choral Fantasy with an American Orchestra (Boston? my memory fails here) that came apart at the rails. His Mahler
tends to leave me cold. It sounds calculated, as if he is contemplating the music from afar and throwing around changes in tempo and rubato that can sound arbitrary. I realize that he has icon status in the U.K., and I would like to hear him in Brahms/1 out of interest, but I won't be paying for the privilege.

**BBMmk2** · 19-01-13, 13:44

I enjoyed today's CD Review! No Mozart!! :)

**Nick Armstrong** · 19-01-13, 13:45

Useful thread, Throppers, thanks. (Though the baroque bits are often covered on the Early Music board).

I have only listened to the latter (Ravel and Bach) sections of the programme. Enjoyed those v much, even though none of the Rave recordings featured made me want to rush out and purchase.

Will listen to the above over the weekend

All I know is that this is a pretty ideal CD Review for me! Bit of Baroque and Beethoven etc to start, Fauré, Schumann, Brahms and Ravel orchestral (& instrumental), and a Bach cantata to finish. That's my kind of programme!

**Barbirollians** · 19-01-13, 14:57

Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post

I would definitely want to check out the Bis recording of the Beethoven Sonatas. I've heard him in Concert several times, including Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. His playing always fantastic combination of youthful energy, poetry, and insightfulness. He takes a lot of chances in concert but I've noticed that his recordings tend to "play it straight".
The Schumann disc with Zacharias interests me. Schumann's orchestration can frequently sound opaque, and I'm wondering if SACD technology might help the clarity. The Janowski/Brahms recordings on Pentatone benefit greatly from this. Brahm's inner voices ("cross-rhythms") sound more natural, part of the musical fibre and less likely to gum everything up as they frequently do on recordings.
I had recently bought a spate of Tennstedt/LPO recordings, chiefly Mahler, and I have to admit that I don't understand the adoration. I had been a non fan since I had heard him conduct a Beethoven Choral Fantasy with an American Orchestra (Boston? my memory fails here) that came apart at the rails. His Mahler
tends to leave me cold. It sounds calculated, as if he is contemplating the music from afar and throwing around changes in tempo and rubato that can sound arbitrary. I realize that he has icon status in the U.K., and I would like to hear him in Brahms/1 out of interest, but I won't be paying for the privilege.

I am afraid I have to agree about Tennstedt - his EMI Mahler 3 put me off the composer for years .

**Thropplenoggin** · 19-01-13, 15:09

Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post

I am afraid I have to agree about Tennstedt - his EMI Mahler 3 put me off the composer for years .

In today's CD Review, AMcG describes him as "idiosyncratic", Richard Wigmore agrees that "idiosyncratic" is le mot juste .

I discovered Mahler 2 through Tennstedt's live account. Since then, I've heard Rattle, Mehta, Klemperer, Nott and Fischer. When I then went back to Tennstedt after the others, I did find his use of rubato much more distracting.

As for Brahms, I don't know the composer or other recordings well enough to comment on Tennstedt's performance. The account of No. 1 does have a remarkable ambience about it, a mesmerising, almost palpable static charge that some conductors seem to generate in live accounts.

**LeMartinPecheur** · 19-01-13, 15:14

Originally posted by Caliban View Post

I have only listened to the latter (Ravel and Bach) sections of the programme. Enjoyed those v much, even though none of the Rave recordings featured made me want to rush out and purchase.

While I don't need any more orchestral Ravel I was greatly struck by the clarity and subtlety of the recording that used valve microphones. If this was a representative sample there are still improvments for recording engineers to work at, and valve mikes need checking out as a way to do it!

Can somebody remind me which recording this was? - I was building a flatpack desk for my daughter at the time

...

...but in the same room as the hifi

**Thropplenoggin** · 19-01-13, 15:23

Originally posted by LeMartinPecheur View Post

While I don't need any more orchestral Ravel I was greatly struck by the clarity and subtlety of the recording that used valve microphones. If this was a representative sample there are still improvments for recording engineers to work at, and valve mikes need checking out as a way to do it!

Can somebody remind me which recording this was? - I was building a flatpack desk for my daughter at the time

...

...but in the same room as the hifi

In my OP, click on the link: all recordings, codes and details are listed therein.

**ferneyhoughgeliebte** · 19-01-13, 16:22

Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post

I am afraid I have to agree about Tennstedt - his EMI Mahler 3 put me off the composer for years .

There is a distinct difference between the Studio Mahler recordings on EMI (which I find can tend towards the rather tepid) and the LPO Live concert recording,( which are white hot). The two "Resurrection" Symphony recordings perfectly illustrate this - the EMI is okay but a bit "safe" (= careful, or, yes, calculated) which this work just should not be IMO. The Live event is one of those recordings where it seemed that I hadn't drawn breath in each Movement: a real and palpable sense of occasion, here.

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 19-01-13, 16:26

Originally posted by Brassbandmaestro View Post

I enjoyed today's CD Review! No Mozart!! :)

I could have done with some well-played Mozart to counterbalance that inflexibly harsh finale of Symphony no. 41 played at the end of "Breakfast".

**Thropplenoggin** · 19-01-13, 16:38

Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post

I could have done with some well-played Mozart to counterbalance that inflexibly harsh finale of Symphony no. 41 played at the end of "Breakfast".

IIRC,our man BBM is not a Mozart man, full stop. As was I, until one day it clicked (a chance hearing of Symphony No. 38 'Prague' on R3 one morning). Such chance encounters are always most efficacious in such cases: blind and, as it were, anonymous listening, where the music can seize us in spite of our prejudices.

**amateur51** · 19-01-13, 18:26

Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post

I had recently bought a spate of Tennstedt/LPO recordings, chiefly Mahler, and I have to admit that I don't understand the adoration. I had been a non fan since I had heard him conduct a Beethoven Choral Fantasy with an American Orchestra (Boston? my memory fails here) that came apart at the rails. His Mahler
tends to leave me cold. It sounds calculated, as if he is contemplating the music from afar and throwing around changes in tempo and rubato that can sound arbitrary. I realize that he has icon status in the U.K., and I would like to hear him in Brahms/1 out of interest, but I won't be paying for the privilege.

'Calculated' is the last word I would ever apply to a Tennstedt Mahler performance. I write as an unashamed fan who saw KT in performance many times in London and from the choir seats (facing the conductor) for Mahler 1, 5, 6 & 7. He seemed to hover above the orchestra and once the piece was under way you realised that there was a sort of telekinesis going on - he assumed different shapes with his hands and arms as the piece progressed, there could be great lunges at a section of the orchestra resulting in a great cry from that section, frequent screw-tightening gestures at the brass, and all the time a look of ecstatic agony on his face until the music stopped, when he wouild apparently 'come down' and chat and laugh with the leader and others, mopping himself furiously with his hanky. Then he'd crank himself up for the next movement. He always appeared to me to be modest, surprised by it all even, and very popular with orchestra and audience alike.

Many thanks, Maestro!

I was here too

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**Barbirollians** · 19-01-13, 19:32

Calculated is not a word I would use to describe that Mahler 3 - boring and noisy is more accurate .

Horenstein, Barbirolli and most of all to be honest the Rattle recording won me over . I think the Rattle Mahler 3 is one of his greatest achievements in the recording studio.

The Boult is amazing and Ferrier stupendous in O Mensch despite the very ropey sound.

**Barbirollians** · 19-01-13, 19:34

Btw I can understand why Richard Wigmore did not like the Klemperer Schumann symphonies - they are slow but the other recordings hardly sounded likely to displace Kubelik , Szell etc .

**amateur51** · 19-01-13, 20:42

Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post

Calculated is not a word I would use to describe that Mahler 3 - boring and noisy is more accurate .

Horenstein, Barbirolli and most of all to be honest the Rattle recording won me over . I think the Rattle Mahler 3 is one of his greatest achievements in the recording studio.

The Boult is amazing and Ferrier stupendous in O Mensch despite the very ropey sound.

Do you know either of Mitropoulos' recordings of Mahler symphony no 3, Barbs?

Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

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