Building a Library - General Discussion

[Panjandrum]

No contemporary music at all, which is sad, though there do need to be several recordings of works in order to make a comparison.

I couldn't disagree more. The goal should be to assemble a library of the most important works of that culture, and not based upon the criterion of how many available recordings there are.

CDR did show a little imagination a few years ago with a BAL devoted to the works of Berio. I would have thought this approach could have been extended to other late 20thc masters (eg Boulez, Stockhausen, Ligeti et al)

[silvestrione]

Bach - Goldbergs, Keyb'd Partitas, Fr and Eng suites, Well-Tempered clavier...

All these, bar the French Suites, have been done in my living memory. The list of recommendations does not go back very far...it should make that clear, surely.

[french frank]

The list of recommendations does not go back very far...it should make that clear, surely.

I thought it seemed like a short list. I suppose they've only indexed recent ones and the older ones still have to be accessed by date of broadcast. Anyone got a bit of spare time?

[Nick Armstrong]

... Orozco... Been trying for ages to get hold of that recording. Guess what: it's back on amazon! Yippeeeeee!!!

Me too, Pianorak!! Thanks for mentioning this!

What did you think of Lang Lang yesterday? (Haven't heard it yet...)

[Pianorak]

What did you think of Lang Lang yesterday? (Haven't heard it yet...)

Er - listen first! Don't want to prejudice your view.

[BBMmk2]

It would be good to have a bal on a work of a band composer, Eric Ball, Philip Wilby, etc.

[doversoul1]

Janacek: On an Overgrown Path or String Quartet No. 2 (Intimate Letters)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The amount on interest on this forum varies considerably, according to the works and recordings being reviewed. In order of the number of postings in 2011 so far, we have:

Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie - 121
Beethoven: Violin Concerto - 101
Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings - 78
Mozart: Piano Concerto 17 - 73
Beecham recordings - 71
Mahler: Symphony no. 10 - 68
Prokofiev: Symphony no. 6 - 61
Bruckner Symphonies - 60
Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor - 46
Mozart: Symphony no. 25 - 45
Rossini: Stabat Mater - 45
Wagner : Tristan & Isolde - 41 (and rising?)
Berlioz: Romeo & Juliet Symphony - 40
Liszt: Anneés de Pélerinage Deuxième Anneé: Italie - 39
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn - 38
Bach: St. John Passion - 37
Ravel: Alborada del gracioso - 35
Victoria's music - 32
Schubert Piano Trio in B flat - 29
Beethoven: String Quartet in E flat Op. 74 - 22
Liszt: Années de Pelerinage: Book 1 "Suisse" - 17
Dvorak: String Quartet in G - 14

[aeolium]

Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie - 121

A result for you then, EA

That list shows the predominant bias on BaL as well as R3 generally towards music from the period 1780-1950, with only the Bach BaL and the feature on Victoria focussing on music outside this period. That's a bit disappointing, as is the apparent lack of interest here in chamber music.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A result for you then, EA

Probably only because I put so many postings there myself.

I've been preparing my own detailed "BaL" of this work, using the recordings I have (now 22 - still a long way to go).

But yes, it is a pity about the lack of interest in chamber music.

[mikealdren]

Interest in the music may generate lots of postings but so does controversy. I would suggest that the volume of postings on the Britten and Beethoven VC were due in part to the reviewers and their controversial selections.

Mike

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, I did think the Beethoven Violin Concerto review was the worst I'd ever heard, but there were supporters too, so polarised positions inevitably caused further debate.

[BBMmk2]

I certainly enjoyed the Eine Alpeinesymphonie, EA!

[Karafan]

BaL reviewers - a question of taste?

I have been listening recently to some of my old BaLs from aeons ago (I know, I know, I need to get out more).

I listened back-to-back to the late Michael Oliver reviewing Die Walküre and John B Steane with Rigoletto. Their beautifully succinct, elegantly phrased and above all, deeply knowledgeable surveys started me thinking about reviewers. Music lovers suffered a great loss with the passing of men like these. Who among reviewers (whether on BaL or in written form, or both) seem always to stand out to you?

Of the current crop I must admit to a soft spot for dear old Professor Deathridge, but find my interest dips decidedly when Rob Cowan, for example (though I do not mean to single out RC for criticism particularly; I find him more suited to the 'convivial chat' format) is the reviewer. I find his 'take' too generalised and 'woolly' for my liking and it doesn't have the solid grounding and expertise which MEO and JBS, for example, so effortlessly embodied and, more importantly, communicated with such passion.

[subcontrabass]

[I][/I
dear old Professor Deathridge, .

At the age of 67 I am not sure that Professor Deathridge would appreciate being referred to as "dear old".