Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

[gurnemanz]

Re Rachmaninov Box Set. Though it looks quite interesting and cheap, I got the Brilliant Classics set a few years ago which is also pretty good and two complete boxes would surely be gluttony.

[Bryn]

Damned silly having that DoG recording as CD of the week. Is not the whole thing available on the iPlayer offering of yesterday's Ao3. It is that performance upon which the Chandos SACD issue is based, is it not?

[Cockney Sparrow]

.................11.40 Disc of the Week: Gerontius (downside: Ms. Connolly Hope he concentrates on the tenor, and ignores the Sea Pictures filler )

As one who made it to the performance, I hope you know what you are wishing for. The experience of the Gerontius was to transform the role into a Wagnerian setting.
(Something of a shock to the system - well, my system. Like expecting a performance from John Gielgud, but finding his last minute replacement is Russell Crowe......).
However, its a good opportunity to check the studio recording. (There were recording sessions in Croydon, prior to the Barbican performance).

[Nick Armstrong]

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

Oh yes

[Nick Armstrong]

Damned silly having that DoG recording as CD of the week. Is not the whole thing available on the iPlayer offering of yesterday's Ao3. It is that performance upon which the Chandos SACD issue is based, is it not?

Oh yes it looks to be.... Well, damned silly or an interesting opportunity to compare the live performance with the studio as Cockney Sparrow suggests. Or was the Chandos issue compiled from the Croydon performances? In which case - yes, it's the same thing ...

And I've just noticed that there are two Discs of the Week, bits of DoG being followed by bits of the MusicAeterna/Teodor Currentzis Cosí fan Tutte. In which case it might be doubly-silly if they're cramming in the same DoG as was broadcast in toto yesterday... because the Currentzis Nozze di Figaro was such a revelation that I'd rather hear more of that.

And an hour of cosy chat with Harriet Smith

You lot have put me right off the whole thing

[Cockney Sparrow]

[COLOR="#0000FF"]........ Or was the Chandos issue compiled from the Croydon performances? In which case - yes, it's the same thing ... ....................

At the risk of labouring the point,the booklet available on the link below(last page,small type)states it was recorded in Croydon on dates preceding the Barbican performance. There were no performances at the Fairfield Hall. So CD review will offer the chance of comparison to the performance which was re-broadcast on Thursday.

http://www.theclassicalshop.net/Details.aspx?CatalogueNumber=CHAN%205140M

[Nick Armstrong]

At the risk of labouring the point,the booklet available on the link below(last page,small type)states it was recorded in Croydon on dates preceding the Barbican performance. There were no performances at the Fairfield Hall. So CD review will offer the chance of comparison to the performance which was re-broadcast on Thursday.

http://www.theclassicalshop.net/Deta...r=CHAN%205140M

Got it! No labouring - just helpful elucidation, thanks CS!

[Nick Armstrong]

And an hour of cosy chat with Harriet Smith

You lot have put me right off the whole thing

I misunderstood (it was late!) ... not Harriet Smith, but Sarah Walker! That's alright, looking forward to hearing Sarah released from the shackles of the weekday morning format.

Let's have a butcher's at her critical faculties !

[Nick Armstrong]

Damned silly having that DoG recording as CD of the week. Is not the whole thing available on the iPlayer offering of yesterday's Ao3. It is that performance upon which the Chandos SACD issue is based, is it not?

Haha - did you hear the explanation / mea culpa , Bryn?

Hope he ... ignores the Sea Pictures filler

And... no.

[Bryn]

I misunderstood (it was late!) ... not Harriet Smith, but Sarah Walker! That's alright, looking forward to hearing Sarah released from the shackles of the weekday morning format.

Let's have a butcher's at her critical faculties !

It was Sarah's reinforcement of John Tilbury's advocacy for Rachmaninov's music that got me listening to it again a few years ago. Many thanks to both for re-opening my ears to his muse.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Just re-read your post Caliban - yes Aft on 3 was the Chandos recording. So worth a listen -Stuart Skelton sounded more mellifluous this morning than in the Barbican performance.

[Nick Armstrong]

I really enjoyed the piano three-way on this morning's CD Review. A lot of piano playing to enjoy - above all, for me, the extracts from Alessio Bax's 'Hammerklavier' sonata! They sounded revelatory, and the piano and its recording seemed miraculously good. I have duly purchased the Studio Master ALAC download via the Hyperion site and am revelling in it !!

Vignoles is fast becoming one of my favourite contributors to CD Review.

[silvestrione]

I really enjoyed the piano three-way on this morning's CD Review. A lot of piano playing to enjoy - above all, for me, the extracts from Alessio Bax's 'Hammerklavier' sonata! They sounded revelatory, and the piano and its recording seemed miraculously good. I have duly purchased the Studio Master ALAC download via the Hyperion site and am revelling in it !!

Vignoles is fast becoming one of my favourite contributors to CD Review.

Followed your lead here, Caliban, and downloaded the 'Hammerklavier', and marvelled at it, especially the endless imaginative detail in the first movement.
Also downloaded the Haydn Sonata E Flat they excerpted, from Rozhukhin, a pianist I'd not heard of. He plays Haydn on the piano with the naturalness and spontaneity that Colin Davies brings to the symphonies....lovely.

I agree with you about Vignoles.

[Nick Armstrong]

endless imaginative detail in the first movement.

[teamsaint]

I really enjoyed the piano three-way on this morning's CD Review. A lot of piano playing to enjoy - above all, for me, the extracts from Alessio Bax's 'Hammerklavier' sonata! They sounded revelatory, and the piano and its recording seemed miraculously good. I have duly purchased the Studio Master ALAC download via the Hyperion site and am revelling in it !!

Vignoles is fast becoming one of my favourite contributors to CD Review.

Available in the Naxos library.

http://wiltshire.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=SIGCD397

also, this looks interesting.....