Building a Library - General Discussion

[antongould]

Personally I prefer all the detail providing it's not too much work for you .....

[BBMmk2]

I would like a programme that really goes into detail about the nuts and bolts of certain works.

[Cockney Sparrow]

A Question. : 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?

Looking at the Barber of Seville listing, it seems fine to me - enough detail to type into a search engine or CD seller's site and bring up the further details. Perhaps if its known the same forces recorded the piece more than once, add the date or record co. to differentiate (could be by way of update if its spotted later). The 2nd page of posting is not a problem for me.

Important thought - many thanks for all the effort you put into posting this information - much appreciated on my part and surely, most of us.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Importantly thought - many thanks for all the effort you put into posting this information - much appreciated on my part and surely, most of us.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Before anyone gets in, I've edited my post - I wasn't thinking importantly, but thought it important to thank EA for all his work. (Thanks for the tolerance Ferney..)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Before anyone gets in, I've edited my post - I wasn't thinking importantly, but thought it important to thank EA for all his work. (Thanks for the tolerance Ferney..)

Eh? 'Ave I missed something?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Eh? 'Ave I missed something?

I had to look, but a simple matter of an extraneous "_ly" that I hadn't noticed, so can't really claim any credit for any "tolerance" towards it. (Although, if I had, I would have ... which made sense right up to the moment I typed it!)

Anyroad up (and there are several such around here) - FWIW, I greatly value the information you give each week, Alpie; but I confess that I don't read every detail of every release when an opera cast is listed, nor do I regularly return to the lists. So, I would say that if you wished to save yourself the considerable time and effort required to gather and type the full information, a "highlights" list will be perfectly acceptable to me. (Missing information is readily available online should the need to discover whose Pong graces which Turandot become an essential one.)

[visualnickmos]

"Blind" listening BaL?

I may have got this completely wrong - but I was (am) under the impression that there was to be a "blind" listening BaL in November or December, along the lines of France Musique's 'Tribune des critiques'? I'm beginning to wonder if my sanity is intact!

[doversoul1]

I may have got this completely wrong - but I was (am) under the impression that there was to be a "blind" listening BaL in November or December, along the lines of France Musique's 'Tribune des critiques'? I'm beginning to wonder if my sanity is intact!

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?17697-BaL-14-10-17-Purcell-quot-My-Heart-is-Inditing-quot

BaL 14.10.17 - Purcell: "My Heart is Inditing"

Blame the cold weather

[Bergonzi]

Is BAL a flawed concept?

The problem with a review of such a huge work as Mahler 7 is that it is not possible within a time-slot of approximately 45 minutes to cover even some of the releases over a period of some 40+ years. (To do justice such a review would need more like 90 minutes or even considerably longer) Perhaps the reviewer should have either reviewed the live performances or the studio recordings, and not covered both. In the end it is just one persons preference, and in recent years we have this urge to always have a "winner" rather than say a choice of three or four equally good finalists. (This happens in instrumental competitions where there has to be a "winner" - rather than two or three "winners")

Therefore I would say that BAL is a failed concept, that probably worked in much earlier years, but fails now as the available libraries of recordings for most works has grown to such a large size.

It is of course about who the reviewer is, and your own personal opinion as to how you perceive the reviewer.

[Bergonzi]

Oh yes, and I'm surprised that little mention has been made of how well these works have been recorded (although some mention was made I think). With regard to chamber music no one seems to be aware of how in recent years the lower frequencies have become more and more exaggerated with some string quartets for example having extremely bloated bass, with cellists going over the top as far as their part is concerned. Is this the quest for "I must be heard" or just poor recording techniques?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Two posts moved from the Mahler #7-specific Thread for general discussion of the BaL format here.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think that essentially I agree that the Format, created when only half-a-dozen or so recordings were available for comparison, is flawed.

But it's invaluable to the Forum!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But it's invaluable to the Forum!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I note that the BBC MM lists BaLs for every Saturday in July, but this could be an error, as they normally drop this part of the programme during the Proms, which would make Don Giovanni (7.07.18) the last one until mid-September.