Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

[Barbirollians]

I look forward to the Rattle Berlin Rite - I found his CBSO version a bit of a let down from an incendiary performance he gave with the CBSO in one of their very rare visits to Sheffield in 1987.

In fact that Rite was probably the most thrilling half of a concert I can recall .

[Thropplenoggin]

I look forward to the Rattle Berlin Rite - I found his CBSO version a bit of a let down from an incendiary performance he gave with the CBSO in one of their very rare visits to Sheffield in 1987.

In fact that Rite was probably the most thrilling half of a concert I can recall .

Didn't they say it was rather tame and dutiful on the programme, in comparison to the violence of the Bernstein reissue? Ol' fuzzy-head fluffs again in his pristine take on the classics. If you want savagery in the Rite, try Muti/PO.

I'd be interested in learning what Sony's reissue of the Bernstein adds to the original in terms of sound, as the original is still widely available both new and s/h and comes with the Firebird suite rather than just the Rite.

[cloughie]

Didn't they say it was rather tame and dutiful on the programme, in comparison to the violence of the Bernstein reissue? Ol' fuzzy-head fluffs again in his pristine take on the classics. If you want savagery in the Rite, try Muti/PO.

I'd be interested in learning what Sony's reissue of the Bernstein adds to the original in terms of sound, as the original is still widely available both new and s/h and comes with the Firebird suite rather than just the Rite.

I find your dismissive comments inappropriate and offensive - who are you to judge a great conductor in this trivial way - please take care in future how you choose your words.

[Thropplenoggin]

I find your dismissive comments inappropriate and offensive - who are you to judge a great conductor in this trivial way - please take care in future how you choose your words.

Or what?

I've seen him referred as that on here before without prompting such objections.

Furthermore, I find your avatar inappropriate and offensive for what is, essentially, a classical music forum.

[cloughie]

Or what?

I've seen him referred as that on here before without prompting such objections.

Furthermore, I find your avatar inappropriate and offensive for what is, essentially, a classical music forum.

Well perhaps I'm the first - on the question of avatars how appropriate is yours to music, classical or otherwise?

[Thropplenoggin]

Well perhaps I'm the first - on the question of avatars how appropriate is yours to music, classical or otherwise?

Um, it's entirely appropriate, as it is the image I have always used for my pseudonymous online personage, Dr. Y.U. Thropplenoggin, coiner of such household phrases as: "Behold the proper bosh!", "perspicacious persiflage" and 'the deipnosophist abides'. This is a forum for people - and it represents my persona.

King Crimson wept.

[cloughie]

Um, it's entirely appropriate, as it is the image I have always used for my pseudonymous online personage, Dr. Y.U. Thropplenoggin, coiner of such household phrases as: "Behold the proper bosh!", "perspicacious persiflage" and 'the deipnosophist abides'. This is a forum for people - and it represents my persona.

King Crimson wept.

21st Century Schizoid Man fears tomorrow you'll be crying.....confusion will be your epitaph.....think on Moonchild as you are tried in the court...of the Crimson King.... ah but I may as well talk to the wind.

[Thropplenoggin]

21st Century Schizoid Man fears tomorrow you'll be crying.....confusion will be your epitaph.....think on Moonchild as you are tried in the court...of the Crimson King.... ah but I may as well talk to the wind.

That album cover haunted my youth - pater was (is) a fan.

[cloughie]

That album cover haunted my youth - pater was (is) a fan.

Just goes to show - Dad knows best - a propos of not a lot - is he a Gemini by any chance?

[Thropplenoggin]

Just goes to show - Dad knows best - a propos of not a lot - is he a Gemini by any chance?

Libra.

[Thropplenoggin]

I'd be interested in learning what Sony's reissue of the Bernstein adds to the original in terms of sound, as the original is still widely available both new and s/h and comes with the Firebird suite rather than just the Rite.

I've just done a comparison and the difference is monumentally in favour of the newer cleaned-up version - far better balance, depth and clarity of the sound stage. It's like hearing a different performance.

[duncan]

I look forward to the Rattle Berlin Rite - I found his CBSO version a bit of a let down from an incendiary performance he gave with the CBSO in one of their very rare visits to Sheffield in 1987.

In fact that Rite was probably the most thrilling half of a concert I can recall .

That's interesting. This was one of the very earliest classical concerts I ever went to. I also though it was tremendous but had put this down to the thrill of new discovery. Rattle's conducting of that era seems less careful and constrained than it can sometimes these days.

[Barbirollians]

That's interesting. This was one of the very earliest classical concerts I ever went to. I also though it was tremendous but had put this down to the thrill of new discovery. Rattle's conducting of that era seems less careful and constrained than it can sometimes these days.

. The Sheffield audience seemed somewhat baffled by Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces and Christian Blackshaw turned in an elegant account of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto . It was not really a preparation for such a performance of the Rite of Spring. I think it was as good as that - have you heard better since duncan ?

[jayne lee wilson]

That's interesting. This was one of the very earliest classical concerts I ever went to. I also though it was tremendous but had put this down to the thrill of new discovery. Rattle's conducting of that era seems less careful and constrained than it can sometimes these days.

Yes, I think I'd agree... a few months ago I tried to round up as many original Rattle/CBSO CDs as I could, from Ravel (with Ousset) to Bartok (Donohue), Szymanowski, 2nd Viennese School, Henze 7, his terrific Sibelius and Haydn, Prokofiev 5, John Adams... they really stand up very well over time as a great catalogue. In Berlin? A sadly patchy series of recordings in an often recalcitrant acoustic - I didn't care much even for the garlanded Brahms Requiem (did like those Dvorak poems though). The live Berlin DCH concerts seem to show a livelier partnership. You wonder if Rattle wasn't able to be as adventurous as he might have liked in his Berlin recordings, though in concert he's recently included Lutoslawski and Dutilleux - but there seems little chance of these being recorded there... what he does AFTER Berlin might be much more interesting, at least on record.

[cloughie]

Yes, I think I'd agree... a few months ago I tried to round up as many original Rattle/CBSO CDs as I could, from Ravel (with Ousset) to Bartok (Donohue), Szymanowski, 2nd Viennese School, Henze 7, his terrific Sibelius and Haydn, Prokofiev 5, John Adams... they really stand up very well over time as a great catalogue. In Berlin? A sadly patchy series of recordings in an often recalcitrant acoustic - I didn't care much even for the garlanded Brahms Requiem (did like those Dvorak poems though). The live Berlin DCH concerts seem to show a livelier partnership. You wonder if Rattle wasn't able to be as adventurous as he might have liked in his Berlin recordings, though in concert he's recently included Lutoslawski and Dutilleux - but there seems little chance of these being recorded there... what he does AFTER Berlin might be much more interesting, at least on record.

I think that is a very good point - with the CBSO was he in the position of developing the orchestra and its repertoire - very much loved by his orchestra and audiences. The CBSO Mahler 2 is very interesting and recently seems to have come in for quite a bit of stick on these boards. I remember first hearing it - previously my choices were CSO Abbado and NYPO Walter - and thinking this is different. The singing of Arleen Auger and Janet Baker is spot on but his researches into the interpretation eg with Berthold Goldschmidt are what make it a unique interpretation. I am not an analytical expert in the way that many boarders are but could the difference between the CBSO and BPO recordings be in the nature of the orchestras he inherited. With the BPO a well-honed machine that has been turning out the core European repertoire for years has Rattle added much to interpretation of these - possibly not - but he has had rave reviews for his 'full' Bruckner 9 - the finale presumably new to the orchestra. There is much to like in his Schubert 9 and Heldenleben - standard BPO fare - but for me one of the disappointments is his Borodin 2, which somehow does not come alive in the way it should. After Berlin I hope he will take on an orchestra in need of rebuilding and developing in the way he worked with the CBSO.