Building a Library - General Discussion

[Petrushka]

I recall William Mival only getting to the "summit" in Strauss's Alpine Symphony, and his allotted time was up, so he had to skimp over the rest in a minute or so. The Ausklang deserves an hour to itself!

Richard Osborne once did an Interpretations on Record on Beethoven's 5th and spent most of the time on the first eight notes.

[verismissimo]

Professor Parkinson would have been clear that BAL expands to fill the time allocated to it.

[PJPJ]

And in my not so humble opinion too.
But at the same time bring back Interpretations on record!

Yes, please, especially to the latter.

[ahinton]

"The 'Pre-Weed' style"?? (Well, it is quite early for a Saturday.)

Yes, please (I think that there have been some hour-long non-Wagner editions more recently - or perhaps I just disagreed with the presenter.) But not for the twofers - or at least have two people who know what they're talking about discussing the recordings: the Andrew McGregor Show format of "oh, isn't it lovely", "don't you think it's a little slow?", "not bad for 1970s sound", "Kindly take your hand off my knee" is such a waste of everyone's time!

I must have missed that last one; did it occur in a review of available recordings of Bone Alphabet, by chance?

Coat's already on...

[visualnickmos]

And in my not so humble opinion too.
But at the same time bring back Interpretations on record!

YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES,

[seabright]

BAL is constrained by recordings being "currently available in the UK," despite the fact that the programme is listened to all over the world. Only the other day on Breakfast they played Bernstein's incredibly slow "Nimrod" from the 'Enigma Variations' and after it was over, PT read out an email he'd just received from someone in New Zealand saying how gorgeous it was. I have a friend in Holland who listens regularly to Radio 3 and has had a request or two played on Breakfast and another in Philadelphia who tunes in regularly to the "Listen Again" facility. In other words, what is "unavailable" in the UK may well be available to listeners everywhere else in the world, so in that respect the BAL segment is somewhat parochial.

In any case, in these internet days of eBay and Amazon and MusicStack, etc., to say nothing of second-hand record dealers world-wide, practically everything you could want is available. And what is the definition of "available" anyway? I've lost count of the number of times a reviewer has said this or that recording is "no longer available" yet I've tapped the details into Google "search" field and found any number of places where it can be ordered and delivered within 48 hours. Also, it's well-known that Nimbus have a "short run" service that is used by many CD labels. Under this scheme, if a recording company's stock has run dry and they need another 25 copies of a particular title then they simply put an order in and Nimbus supplies them.

In any case, who today is BAL aimed at? Whenever a new BAL is announced, everyone who contributes to this forum immediately lists all the recordings of the work they already own, sometimes half-a-dozen or more. Does everyone really buy yet another copy purely on the say-so of some reviewer? I somehow doubt it! Anyway, Interpretations on Record removed these "availability" constraints and let us hear some great recordings of the past, so I totally agree that it should resurrected!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, BaL does increasingly recommend recordings that are not generally available in the U.K. However, when preparing lists I do stick to recordings that are generally available, rather than those requiring Sherlockian skill and/or a large bank balance.

[mikealdren]

Does everyone really buy yet another copy purely on the say-so of some reviewer? I somehow doubt it! Anyway, Interpretations on Record removed these "availability" constraints and let us hear some great recordings of the past, so I totally agree that it should resurrected!

Based on lots of posts this forum I'm sure that many of us do buy based on what we hear although not necessarily the recommended version

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Based on lots of posts this forum I'm sure that many of us do buy based on what we hear although not necessarily the recommended version

- that's the attraction for those of us who already have a/some/many recordings of a work already: hearing the excerpts from other recordings and wanting to hear more - in spite of the reviewer's immediately subsequent slagging off what has just captivated us!

The more general target audience is someone looking for their first (and possibly only) recording of a work. I think that on most occasions it succeeds in achieving this - whenever my gruntle is dissed by a BaL, it's because of what has been left out/derided, rather than strong disagreement with which has "won".

[Pulcinella]

Based on lots of posts this forum I'm sure that many of us do buy based on what we hear although not necessarily the recommended version

Or indeed buy what other forumites recommend, my purchase yesterday of the Tashi version of Messiaen's Quartet for the end of time before the BaL being a case in point!

[BBMmk2]

Depending on the work.

[ahinton]

Some works have so very many currently available recordings that it would require a disproportionate amount of time in the usual BaL slot just to read through the list of them, never mind discuss them; clearly, the more there are of any given work, the more time would be needed but, even if extended to up to an hour, there would still be insufficient time to give attention to each recording in cases where there as as many as 50.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Or indeed buy what other forumites recommend, my purchase yesterday of the Tashi version of Messiaen's Quartet for the end of time before the BaL being a case in point!

- I played that through yesterday, following with the score ... it's very good!

[MickyD]

Extended BaLs would help:

a) When there's a vast number of recordings of a popular work
b) When the work being reviewed is long or complex
c) When a work has a good number of HIPP and unHIPP versions to discuss, enabling choices in each category.


I recall William Mival only getting to the "summit" in Strauss's Alpine Symphony, and his allotted time was up, so he had to skimp over the rest in a minute or so. The Ausklang deserves an hour to itself!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A Question.

When I prepare lists in advance for Building a Library reviews, I have to decide on what level of detail to include.

If it's a solo piano work, it's straightforward enough - I list each player alphabetically.
For works for soloist and piano, I list alphabetically by the soloist, though that's a bit unfair on the pianist, as he/she may well be an equal partner.
Orchestral works are listed alphabetically by conductor, as are operas and choral works.

Operas and choral works are the Big Issue here. Listing soloists as well as the orchestra, chorus and conductor may well result in the list exceeding the number of characters allowed by the software for a single post, which can result in forumites thinking their favourite versions are missing. Actually, it's more than likely that I've split the list over two posts. Sometimes, I've taken the easy option of not including the soloists, but that seems a bit unhelpful, particularly for opera recordings.

Sneak preview: the BaL work for the first Saturday in April will be Verdi's Aida. There are lots of versions, each with lots of soloists, so it will overspill the opening post. Do you refer it this way, or would a single less informative list be better for general reference?