Record Review: non-BaL discs reviewed, etc.

[Richard Tarleton]

Yes and no. Interesting about why the 'Williams sound' is so distinctive, for instance.

But I thought he seemed pretty naive. He said words to the effect that people tend to think Yo-Yo Ma or the Three Tenors or Nigel Kennedy created 'cross-over' - that it was some sort of big revelation that John Williams was doing it "ages ago" ...

He also seemed amazed that Williams and Bream could just use their first names for an album cover, such was their fame, and that "it's certainly not the case nowadays" that guitarists could just use their first names... Milos, anyone?

I must listen to this (out birding this morning). Bream has talked about JW's sound (with reference to their partnership) - even little things like JW's ability to avoid extraneous "squeak" on the strings, the respective quality of their fingernails...the very different instruments they chose made a difference to their sound (very different luthiers). But I'll listen before saying more!

[Nick Armstrong]

little things like JW's ability to avoid extraneous "squeak" on the strings

Quite a big thing for me, I remember - I was so used to the 'clean' sound of JW's playing that I remember being surprised and disappointed (initially at least) by more noisy playing from others.

[Barbirollians]

Yes and no. Interesting about why the 'Williams sound' is so distinctive, for instance.

But I thought he seemed pretty naive. He said words to the effect that people tend to think Yo-Yo Ma or the Three Tenors or Nigel Kennedy created 'cross-over' - that it was some sort of big revelation that John Williams was doing it "ages ago" ...

He also seemed amazed that Williams and Bream could just use their first names for an album cover, such was their fame, and that "it's certainly not the case nowadays" that guitarists could just use their first names... Milos, anyone?

BBC Breakfast's Tom McKinney came over as very irritating -his remarks about Segovia and bream being particularly daft.

[Richard Tarleton]

BBC Breakfast's Tom McKinney came over as very irritating -his remarks about Segovia and bream being particularly daft.

I've now listened to it - the opening remark from Peter Sculthorpe about "insane democracy", and the differences (further down the prog) about his and Bream's very different approaches to expanding the repertoire, were spot on. Both could be restated unkindly as saying JW played an awful lot of rubbish in his time.

I'm with TMcK on Segovia (sick-bag rubato perhaps putting it a bit strongly) but he did rather seem to lump Segovia's and Bream's ways of playing together, if I heard him correctly - couldn't be further from the truth. These days I enjoy You Tube clips of Segovia (e.g. those of him playing in the Alhambra) but that's about it. I saw him live in 1972.

As for the discs - I remember the Ormandy Conc. de A at the time, and it was/is superb (though my favourite at the time was Bream/Colin Davis ). The endless repackaging of the "Spanish" repertoire - I still have his great LP "John Williams plays Spanish Music" which came out in 1970. On the cover he's wearing one of his trademark Nehru shirts with a floral pattern - his contribution to guitar couture was referred to briefly (his and Peter Hurford's sweaters ). His 2003 disc of Venezuelan guitar music (El Diablo Suelto) didn't get a mention but is a favourite here - AMcG reviewed it on CDR at the time. And his tremolo, heard in the clip of the Barrios "Sueño en la foresta" from the Seville concert, is unsurpassed.

The stuff about guitars was interesting too. When I last saw him live he was still playing his fabulous Ignacio Fleta, referred to. For non-aficionados, the Greg Smallman guitars he plays today are made by revolutionary methods including balsa wood strutting and carbon fibre - some videos on the construction here. Bream by contrast, though constantly looking for the perfect guitar, went with those made by or derived from the German luthier Hauser (including his Bouchet, Rubio and Romanillos instruments) - his swan-song CDs on EMI were recorded on the legendary 1940 "Rose Augustin" Hauser. Incidentally Segovia played a Hauser for about 30 years (having started out, famously, on Ramirez) - when I saw him in 1972 he was playing a Fleta. The string-maker Augustin refused to let Segovia have the 1940 Hauser which he owned, but his widow Rose lent it to Bream - it had to be returned to her estate when she died.

AMcG mentioned "cleanness" and "self-effacing". Fair enough.

Altogether - all the Williams discs I want, I have - I don't want to wade through the duds (their word) in search of a few more truffles.

[Richard Tarleton]

One thing - a point of order, I've only just got round to looking it up. Tom McKinney made a point of contrasting John Williams's politics with those of Julian Bream. He said JW was on "the extreme left" and a member of the "north London intelligentsia", which is doubtless correct. He said that Bream, in his autobiography [sic - it's not an autobiography, it's a book by Tony Palmer based on travels and conversations with Bream] "A Life on the Road", said that being with John made him think more about politics, and that he (Bream) was ashamed of having voted for Mrs Thatcher.

"A Life on the Road was published in 1982 (I have a first edition), the conversations and travels on which it is based having taken place in the previous 2-3 years. Thatcher was elected in 1979. There is no mention in the book of this conversation, or indeed of politics, Bream's or JW's. He only talks about his collaboration with JW on pp165-6, and pays tribute to JW's extraordinary technique, talks about their different attitudes to performing, touring, what to wear on stage, etc. .

So while TMcK may have evidence for this conversation having taken place, it isn't where he said it is and must have taken place much later. A bit sloppy on his part, I think. Author Thea Abbott is currently working on a biography of Bream, collaborating with him.

[aeolium]

I really enjoyed the section on New Baroque Releases on CDR this morning, some lovely and interesting recordings: particularly the Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto recordings with Sergio Azzolini and L'aura Soave Cremona, the C F Abel aria with gamba accompaniment (which I'm sure the late lamented gamba of this forum would have relished) and the Roman keyboard sonatas from Anna Paradiso. And though purists will probably have dismissed it, I was interested in the Robert King reconstruction of Mendelssohn's adaptation of Israel in Egypt. I think seeing major works through the perspective of later composers is fascinating - e.g. Busoni's Chaconne, Webern's Ricercar a 6 - and it does not detract from the original work which is always available. And the discussion between Hannah French and AMcG was enlightening and not irritating as the duologue format can sometimes be (especially for BaL).

[DracoM]

Dunedin Bach violin material really caught my ear. Could be an upcoming purchase..............!!

[Barbirollians]

This is a very beautiful Elgar 1 from Barenboim . Is beauty everything though ?

[Ferretfancy]

Has anyone elsde listened to the recent Copland CD with the BBC PO conducted by John Wilson? This is intended to be a new survey of Copland's music.
I looked forward to receiving this disc, but have to say that I'm rather disappointed, since I thought that John Wilson would be really in tune with these popular scores.He adopts a very lyrical approach in the quieter passages, the opening of Billy the Kid for example, but although the climactic passages are certainly loud there simply isn't the snap that you find in much older versions by Boulez or Dorati. This is partly due to the recording, made in Salford's Media City studio.
It's a typical multi-miked sound, with a huge dynamic range, but the climaxes sound oddly congested with massive brass and tremendous bass which often overwhelms the detail. Yes, the gun battle effects are spectacular, but it's very obvious that this whole section has been miked differently with what is at last a more open quality and a wider soundstage.

This may seem like nit picking, but this prairie music should not feel so dense and overbearing as it does here. What has happened to modern recordings? I find myself increasingly exasperated with a sort of technicolour artificiality which ruins enjoyment

[mahlerei]

Ff

Couldn't agree more about this recording in particular and that venue in general. Chandos get decent results in Geneva, Glasgow and Bergen, but their MedaCity recordings strike me as oddly contrived/synthetic. If you want to hear a top-flight recording of the complete Copland ballets - not just the suites - do try the new BIS recording with Andrew Litton and the Colorado Symphony. Litton plays a mean honky-tonk piano, too.

[Alison]

Thanks FF you have saved me a few quid there!

The previous BBCPO recordings at New Broadcasting House(?) were much preferable to my ears.

Colorado/Litton recommendation heartily endorsed. I was gobsmacked to read the lukewarm review in Gramophone - or was it BBCMM?

[mahlerei]

Thanks FF you have saved me a few quid there!

The previous BBCPO recordings at New Broadcasting House(?) were much preferable to my ears.

Colorado/Litton recommendation heartily endorsed. I was gobsmacked to read the lukewarm review in Gramophone - or was it BBCMM?

hi Ali

Yes, it was New Broadcasting House. Those recordings sound much better to me too.

[Nick Armstrong]

2nd April, 10.50am - David Owen Norris on Russian Pianists

Youri Egorov: The 1980 Ambassador Auditorium Recital
FIRST HAND FHR44 (CD)

Vladimir Sofronitsky: Concert Recordings (Live)
MELODIYA MELCD1002312 (5 CD + DVD Video budget)

Lazar Berman: The Complete Sony Recordings
SONY 88875168362 (6CD supra-budget)


I really enjoyed this section of yesterday's programme - once DON had imposed himself and stopped AMcG chuntering on a bit too much early on, I learnt a lot and was fascinated by the examples.

Lazar Berman was big when I was just getting into music, but I never got on with his playing... and that remains the case. There's something about his 'steel-fingered' style and approach to expression which I find completely unsympathetic, I just want it to stop, by and large. Although his 'wall of sound' way with the big solo in the first movement of Rachmaninov's 3rd PC was pretty breathtaking - might have to investigate further. Amazingly, it was with Abbado (& LSO) - Berman/Abbado seems like the definition of a meeting of opposites.

What it came down to in my mind, was that there's a big element of 'horses for courses'. I loved Sofronitsky in Schumann and Scriabin but really disliked his way with the Schubert Impromptu where the rubato, the 'unmetronomic' playing style which DON stressed, sounded to my ears to spoil the music. Whereas a similar style in the dreamier Schumann Fantasie was entrancing. (I find to my delight that I have Kreisleriana by Sofronitsky, from a Diapason cover disc - look forward to playing that).

I enjoyed all the Egorov extracts - especially the Debussy Reflets dans L'Eau encore. (Impossible to imagine what Berman playing a Debussy piece of that kind might sound like ....)

[Cockney Sparrow]

In the record store day discussion, Jim Elliott , from Foyles was regretful that they hadn't managed to obtain a DVD recording which he finds very moving (the Beethoven).
Mendelssohn & Beethoven: Violin Concertos. Nikolaj Znaider (violin) Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Riccardo Chailly
Accentus Music Cat No:ACC20345

There's a 4-5 minute You Tube trailer I found via the Presto site. Great sound.....

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Accentus%2BMusic/ACC20345#video

Quite an interesting discussion overall I thought. Not so much of it about vinyl, for those of us who have cut the ties with the click/pop/wow/flutter/etc medium (and will not be going back to it!).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

First subject
Today's Record Review embraced many of the worst aspects of Radio 3 in recent years.

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Development:
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Recapitulation:
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The place to air one's opinions on a particular subject is on internet forums, such as this one. People who want to join in can do so; those who do not can ignore the threads which don't interest them. On radio, everyone who has tuned in has to listen to the claptrap.