BaL 18.01.25 - Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy overture)

[makropulos]

The extracts of the winning Ivan Fischer didn’t do much for me . Liked Bychkov and Bernstein though - a lot.

Muti was the one which surprised me (in a good way) – I'd forgotten how exciting it is.

[Pulcinella]

Anyone remember why the Bournemouth/Litton version (the one I have) got dropped despite at one point being praised?

[cloughie]

Thanks very much Seabright and Makropoulos. I will explore further.

[Wolfram]

The extracts of the winning Ivan Fischer didn’t do much for me . Liked Bychkov and Bernstein though - a lot.

I agree totally with Barbirollians. I couldn’t understand her final choice, especially as she said at the start of her final round up that she thought the Bernstein was the best interpretation. Well, if it’s the best interpretation and the sound is passable, which it is - I listened on Qobuz last night - then why is it not the top choice? If you must have the best modern sound then the Bychkov was very impressive. But the Fischer for me, excellently played as it is, is just not special enough. I have the Fischer recording, bought for the BaL winning 4th symphony, and I have played it twice now, once prior to the programme and then again afterwards, and each time I found it underwhelming.

Incidently, in the symphony Fischer introduces a mannerism in the opening brass fanfare, which I find irritating, and it spoils the performance as a whole. Rob Cowan did comment on it when he did the BaL back in 2017, but still went on to recommend it as his top choice.

[Barbirollians]

Good point . I know makropoulos has made it clear there is no direct pressure to choose a modern version but I felt that it was present even if indirectly yesterday - AMcG hurried MFW away from the 1944 Stokowski and if the Bernstein is the best interpretation and in passable stereo then surely it should have been the winner ?

Sony’s Bernstein conducts Tchaikovsky box is still available on CD from Amazon for £17 so I have invested .

[visualnickmos]

The extracts of the winning Ivan Fischer didn’t do much for me . Liked Bychkov and Bernstein though - a lot.

My thoughts, exactly. Quite oiften I find myself nowhere near as moved by Fischer's recordings, as many reviewers appear to be.

[Pulcinella]

My thoughts, exactly. Quite oiften I find myself nowhere near as moved by Fischer's recordings, as many reviewers appear to be.

I think I agree, but I've just found his Bartok Orchestral music set to stream to see if it is quite as unmemorable as I suspect it to have been from previous hearings.

[HighlandDougie]

I think I agree, but I've just found his Bartok Orchestral music set to stream to see if it is quite as unmemorable as I suspect it to have been from previous hearings.

Ooh, pistols at dawn! I wholly disagree - about his Bartok, Dvorak, Mahler and, having seen/heard him in the flesh a couple of months ago, Brahms. I'm very inclined to be supportive of whatever he and his orchestra in Budapest (or, indeed, the KCO in Amsterdam) are performing, given the rather repugnant and decidedly anti-semitic régime in his home country.

[Pulcinella]

Ooh, pistols at dawn! I wholly disagree - about his Bartok, Dvorak, Mahler and, having seen/heard him in the flesh a couple of months ago, Brahms. I'm very inclined to be supportive of whatever he and his orchestra in Budapest (or, indeed, the KCO in Amsterdam) are performing, given the rather repugnant and decidedly anti-semitic régime in his home country.

I'll reserve judgement until I've listened again.
But underwhelmed with the Concerto for orchestra (stopped midstream because of dinner preparations!).

[seabright]

The Fischer / Budapest "R & J" has been on YouTube since December 2022 but I'm not surprised it's only had 147 views because it is barely audible at the start. The loud bits are just about OK but anything marked pp gets lost altogether with a sound level far too low. How does it sound for anyone else? ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq5tn9VKCeI

[Petrushka]

The Fischer / Budapest "R & J" has been on YouTube since December 2022 but I'm not surprised it's only had 147 views because it is barely audible at the start. The loud bits are just about OK but anything marked pp gets lost altogether with a sound level far too low. How does it sound for anyone else? ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq5tn9VKCeI

I've not heard this performance either on YT or CD but the comments regarding the sound apply to most of the BFO/Fischer recordings I have on Channel Classics. The sound level is very low and the orchestra backwardly placed and it makes the resulting performances seem underwhelming and dull. His incomplete Mahler cycle suffers from this, sadly.

I've stopped buying any more discs from that source for this precise reason.

I've been to several live concerts from them and the difference between those and what you get on the CD is chalk and cheese.

[Pulcinella]

I've not heard this performance either on YT or CD but the comments regarding the sound apply to most of the BFO/Fischer recordings I have on Channel Classics. The sound level is very low and the orchestra backwardly placed and it makes the resulting performances seem underwhelming and dull. His incomplete Mahler cycle suffers from this, sadly.

I've stopped buying any more discs from that source for this precise reason.

I've been to several live concerts from them and the difference between those and what you get on the CD is chalk and cheese.

That might explain my reaction to the Bartok. Maybe our Highland friend has access to brighter (Japanese?) pressings?

[HighlandDougie]

Indeed I do. Not much wrong with Channel Classics SACDs. Nor with Universal Japan UHQ CDs. And judging sound quality from You Tube videos, unless officially uploaded by the record company, strikes me as a bit dubious.

[Lordgeous]

Have just listened to Boult's 1959 Tchaik 6. What a blistering performance! Exciting and at times quite moving, with the LPO playing their socks off!

[Ein Heldenleben]

The extracts of the winning Ivan Fischer didn’t do much for me . Liked Bychkov and Bernstein though - a lot.

Bernstein was terrific . Exactly what was so amazing about those final woodwind chords in the Fischer as singled out by the reviewer?