Budget Label Artists

[pastoralguy]

Aaron Rosand was mentioned in a previous post. I heard him play the Brahms Concerto live with a community orchestra about 15 years ago. He was indeed a great player with a great sound. Many listeners were carrying old Vox lps for him to autograph. His case illustrates my point--an Artist of that stature shouldn't have to be playing with a 4th tier orchestra in a high school gymnasium. Was he undervalued because he recorded for Vox?
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Aaron Rosand was indeed a very fine player. However, his career was blighted when he was 'invited' to be concertmaster of one of the USA's 'Big 5' Orchestras by their music director. Rosand turned down the opportunity since he wanted to try to establish himself as a soloist. The spurned music director took umbrage and swore to do everything in his considerable power to blight the young violinist.

He succeeded.

[amateur51]

I remember hearing them at the Wigmore, and we weren't at all impressed with Frankl's contribution, which has rather put me off him ever since. Perhaps it was just a bad night.

Thinking about it further, I realise that most of the occasions when I saw them was as one of the celebrated Sunday lunchtime Coffee Concerts. Maybe Mr Frankl's better at lunchtime with the prospect of a free dry sherry hoving into view

Seriously, I think your 'off night' suggestion is about right, Don

[Don Petter]

Thinking about it further, I realise that most of the occasions when I saw them was as one of the celebrated Sunday lunchtime Coffee Concerts. Maybe Mr Frankl's better at lunchtime with the prospect of a free dry sherry hoving into view

Seriously, I think your 'off night' suggestion is about right, Don

It would have been an evening concert, for sure.

[Richard Tarleton]

For pluckers, two of the world's great lutenists are to be found on Naxos. Robert Barto has been steadily recording the works of Silvius Leopold Weiss - I have vols 1-10. For those not familiar with him, Weiss was an exact contemporary of JS Bach and wrote sublime music but only for the baroque lute, thus becoming a victim of musical Darwinism. A few of his works survived in the classical guitar repertoire, but his work has happily enjoyed a revival along with so much other early music and I heartily recommend exploring it. I believe M. Vinteuil is a fan.

The other is Nigel North, who used to record for Linn but now records on Naxos - including the complete lute works of Dowland, and works by Robert Johnson. Whilst the move from a specialist to a budget label might seem counter-intuitive, the attraction would be the incomparable (in guitar and lute terms) production team of Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver, who record in various churches and halls in and around Toronto. The list of guitar CDs produced by them is long - Kraft himself has recorded some of the core classical guitar repertoire. Nigel North though English is also currently based in the US where he is professor of lute at the Early Music Institute, Indiana

[LeMartinPecheur]

Peter Frankl was a regular collaborator until relatively recently with Ralph Kirshbaum (cello) and György Pauk (violin) in piano trios, certainly at London's Wigmore Hall and often on Radio 3.

What about another Vox/turnabout favourite, Walter Klien?

One of my early concerts as a student was a 1973 Frankl piano recital in Oxford Town Hall: Beethoven Op110 & 111 with Bartok Dance Suite and Suite Op14.

Enjoyed it hugely at the time, but very much wish I could teleport back to it with my now more knowledgeable ears!

[Richard Tarleton]

Enjoyed it hugely at the time, but very much wish I could teleport back to it with my now more knowledgeable ears!

Exactly how I feel about a Walter Klein all-Mozart recital in the QEH, c. 1972....