BaL 18.11.23 - Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D

[silvestrione]

Recent recordings only from Professor Mival. So if you were building a library of novels, you'd obviously ignore anything written before the last twenty years, wouldn't you?

An unfair, inaccurate analogy? A better one one would be, a survey of criticism on Middlemarch, that only looked at 21st century approaches...

[Parry1912]

Was there a recommendation for an uncut recording?

[Alison]

Good to be reminded of the Boris Belkin version
Esther Yoo, again with Ashkenazy, is pretty good too.
Hadelich my favourite among the reviewers final four.

I want to like Hannah French but I hear her as the Joshua Bell of presenters: overdoing the suavity and unnatural of utterance.

[Master Jacques]

An unfair, inaccurate analogy? A better one one would be, a survey of criticism on Middlemarch, that only looked at 21st century approaches...

If you're Building a Library, you're not building it from criticism, but from created artefacts which have inspired those critiques. Same with performance arts: we're choosing from created materials, not meta-criticism. In this case, Professor Mivel's 21st-century limited survey proved a waste of time and space, if the comments on this thread are anything to judge by. As I said, I voted with my feet, after enduring a second helping of "Josh" Bell's perfectly pedestrian rendition.

Having said which, I'd be all for a survey of Middlemarch criticism - though I doubt any of BBC Radio's current channels would be remotely interested in providing us with such pleasure!

[Goon525]

The debate above about whether recording quality has improved in the last forty or fifty years probably deserves more discussion thsn is appropriate in a thread supposedly about the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. But anyway, here goes - there are plenty of terrific late analogue and even some early digital classical recordings. Some companies took a while to get their act together with digital, but on the other hand, Decca in Montreal, and Denon with Blomstedt’s Bruckner showed how well it could be done. But these days, especially listening to high res at 96/24 or even 192/24, there are outstanding recordings being made - if you haven’t listened to Nelsons’ Boston Shostakovich cycle, you really should. Suggest starting with 4 and 11 - possibly the best recordings ever made by a mainstream company. I think they do outclass anything from decades ago, however agreeable and listenable many of those may be.

[Expianoman]

I am going to defend WM in his restriction to 21st century recordings. Whilst nearly all the recordings I have, and enjoy, are from many years ago, I am fully aware that we are nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century. So why cannot WM just consider those recordings where we might still have a chance of seeing these musicians live in concert?

[french frank]

I am going to defend WM in his restriction to 21st century recordings. Whilst nearly all the recordings I have, and enjoy, are from many years ago, I am fully aware that we are nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century. So why cannot WM just consider those recordings where we might still have a chance of seeing these musicians live in concert?

Hello Expianoman - Welcome to the fray!

[silvestrione]

If you're Building a Library, you're not building it from criticism, but from created artefacts which have inspired those critiques. Same with performance arts: we're choosing from created materials, not meta-criticism. In this case, Professor Mivel's 21st-century limited survey proved a waste of time and space, if the comments on this thread are anything to judge by. As I said, I voted with my feet, after enduring a second helping of "Josh" Bell's perfectly pedestrian rendition.

Having said which, I'd be all for a survey of Middlemarch criticism - though I doubt any of BBC Radio's current channels would be remotely interested in providing us with such pleasure!

You miss my point: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is a classic from the 19th century. If you were limiting your choice of novels in the way you suggested, none from the earlier canon would be present. And again you're too hard on the poor old BBC: In Our Time covered Middlemarch:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09z1dd7

[mikealdren]

Was there a recommendation for an uncut recording?

I suspect all the considered recordings are uncut, unlike the 'classic versions' it's very much the fashion nowadays. I must admit I still find the repeated scales early in the last movement a bit jarring having grown up with the traditional cut version.

[pastoralguy]

I suspect all the considered recordings are uncut, unlike the 'classic versions' it's very much the fashion nowadays. I must admit I still find the repeated scales early in the last movement a bit jarring having grown up with the traditional cut version.

Yes, I find that too, Mike. To me, it simply holds the movement up.

[Barbirollians]

I wonder was it Mival’s choice or imposed on him by the producers ? I doubt he would have been happy had that happened when he did Rachmaninov’s 2nd Symphony ? BAL is about best or favourite not most recent. McGregor is obsessed with recording quality and brings it up every week . I recall we did however have similar nonsense from Roy Goodman re the Beethoven VC some years back .

it sounded like he would liked to have chosen Oistrakh. Notably Lozakovich who IGI chose in his Gramophone collection was not mentioned at all.

[mikealdren]

I wonder was it Mival’s choice or imposed on him by the producers ? I doubt he would have been happy had that happened when he did Rachmaninov’s 2nd Symphony ? BAL is about best or favourite not most recent. McGregor is obsessed with recording quality and brings it up every week . I recall we did however have similar nonsense from Roy Goodman re the Beethoven VC some years back .

it sounded like he would liked to have chosen Oistrakh. Notably Lozakovich who IGI chose in his Gramophone collection was not mentioned at all.

They're probably under pressure to support the recording industry. Other than BaL the programme is all about new recordings, re-issues almost never get a mention.

[Alison]

I recall Marina F-W recently having a dig at A McG, when she chose a vintage recording, fearing it was against policy.

[Barbirollians]

Yes I remember - I think Richard Osborne once chose a Furtwangler recording from the 1930s for Beethoven Symphony No 5 - Mr McGregor would have spontaneously combusted.

[underthecountertenor]

I want to like Hannah French but I hear her as the Joshua Bell of presenters: overdoing the suavity and unnatural of utterance.

And she had a habit of replying ‘fair enough’ to Mival’s assessments which I found really quite annoying.