BaL 30.03.24 - Britten: War Requiem

[Pulcinella]

Bumping this thread in anticipation of Saturday's instalment of BaL.

[Ein Heldenleben]

He did sing it full voice. It's a wonderful aria from a superb opera (Auber is a 'cause' of mine), and Spyres does it to perfection.

I was amused by Roger Parker's dryly humorous description of the plot ("A Prince falls in love with a fairy disguised as a swan") as "completely ridiculous". I suppose the world is divided up into people who find such an idea absurd, and those - like myself - who find it completely natural! I wonder if he'd have said the same about Swan Lake?

the Tenor singing in the War Requiem excerpts so far is of a standard so high who would dare record another version ?
And on cue comes Pears - unbeatable in this surely ? What wonderful singing

[Goon525]

It seems Elin doesn’t agree with me about the improvement in the recent remastering of the Britten. Now I’ll have to spend some time comparing!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Any mileage in starting a new thread (Recordings, not necessarily new, mentioned in Record Review), deleting this one and moving the two on Auber there?
I don't think my BaL host permissions would necessarily let me do that, and I don't want to bodge things up as I did with the JSB Easter oratorio thread yesterday.

Didn’t you notice the way I bought the Auber tenor diversion back on thread by using the linking tenor thought ? I was quite proud of that. Thing is as far as RR is concerned this seems to be the one that people use though I’ve noticed that far fewer people live comment on BAL than a few months ago. I suspect when it moves next week the number will drop further .

Note added by Pulcinella
I hope you won't mind that a new Topic has now been started (and some posts moved from here), partly to encourage future discussion of recordings mentioned on Record Review that don't come under the New releases or BaL banner. Who knows what the afternoon programme will be like, though.
Thanks for your contributions.

[Ein Heldenleben]

It seems Elin doesn’t agree with me about the improvement in the recent remastering of the Britten. Now I’ll have to spend some time comparing!

I can’t hear much difference to be honest.

[Master Jacques]

Didn’t you notice the way I bought the Auber tenor diversion back on thread by using the linking tenor thought ? I was quite proud of that. Thing is as far as RR is concerned this seems to be the one that people use though I’ve noticed that far fewer people live comment on BAL than a few months ago. I suspect when it moves next week the number will drop further .

This is certainly the last time I will ever listen to this programme live. And I certainly noticed your deft slight of hand in shifting the topic back on track - just as Bostridge was heard, singing some distinctly sour (and wrong) notes. No Pears he.

[Pulcinella]

Didn’t you notice the way I bought the Auber tenor diversion back on thread by using the linking tenor thought ? I was quite proud of that. Thing is as far as RR is concerned this seems to be the one that people use though I’ve noticed that far fewer people live comment on BAL than a few months ago. I suspect when it moves next week the number will drop further .

I fear you're right, but that's why I thought a more general thread under the Record Review heading might be of use in future.
And I did appreciate us being brought back on track!

PS: New Topic has been launched.

[Ein Heldenleben]

This is certainly the last time I will ever listen to this programme live. And I certainly noticed your deft slight of hand in shifting the topic back on track - just as Bostridge was heard, singing some distinctly sour (and wrong) notes. No Pears he.

So as I could have predicted it comes down to Britten and Hickox and I don’t think you can get a razor blade between them . For me it’s simply I very marginally prefer Shirley-Quirk and Langridge in Hickox.
But I wouldn’t give up either. You could certainly hear the hiss in that penultimate Britten clip.

[Master Jacques]

A very appropriate Requiem for Record Review itself - to end with Britten's own performance of the War Requiem as the BaL choice. Quite right too.

[Goon525]

Now she’s chosen Britten, the issue of which mastering to choose becomes even more important!

[Pulcinella]

A very appropriate Requiem for Record Review itself - to end with Britten's own performance of the War Requiem as the BaL choice. Quite right too.

And played complete tomorrow, we've just been told.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Now she’s chosen Britten, the issue of which mastering to choose becomes even more important!

Have to say I did find that hiss intrusive but I had the Hifi unusually cranked up for that BAL.

[HighlandDougie]

Now she’s chosen Britten, the issue of which mastering to choose becomes even more important!

The Blu Ray Audio version sounds fine to me - and, if anyone wants a copy of the 3 disc set containing it, the CD and the rehearsal disc, Amazon UK has a used copy for £1.25.

[Maclintick]

It seems Elin doesn’t agree with me about the improvement in the recent remastering of the Britten. Now I’ll have to spend some time comparing!

That was a bit odd, in that her comments reflecting an alleged lack of proper depth or perspective, IIRC, in the new remastering weren't entirely specific re the version she was judging. It appears the 2023 incarnation is available in CD, SACD, Blu-Ray & a pricy 3-LP vinyl. I'm not in a position to compare, as I only possess a CD iteration from the 90s, but I've always found Decca remasterings to be close in sound to the original vinyls -- the Solti Ring in James Lock's 90s transfer, for instance. More info here:

https://musicwebinternational.com/2023/12/britten-war-requiem-decca/

[silvestrione]

Has this thread got into the wrong place? Took me a while to find it....