BaL 11.03.17 - Schoenberg: Gurrelieder

[Richard Barrett]

I'm sure that Kubelik recording is marvellous but I think I'm going to wait for the programme and hear some of the others before committing myself. I got to know the work courtesy of Boulez; I'm not sure anyone else has equalled the way he renders its often overloaded textures so transparently. Certainly not Ozawa which I also had for a while before passing it on.

[Bryn]

So you and ferney both plan on living to 114!!?

Bryn, has it ever occurred to you that even if you live to 150, you’ll not be able to listen to all those CDs!!?

One of the reasons that I intend to work part time from April, then maybe even retire from my current remunerative occupation when I get to three score and ten in 2018. I will probably leave my recorded music collection to some young enthusiast, hoping that not too much of it goes to land-fill.

[Beef Oven!]

One of the reasons that intend to work part time from April, then maybe even retire from my current remunerative occupation when I get to three score and ten in 2018. I will probably leave my recorded music collection to some young enthusiast, hoping that not to much of it goes to land-fill.

[seabright]

It's Boulez for me (with the divine Yvonne Minton among others).

But I think they all - so many of them! - have to get past Stokowski. I have a version by him with the Philadelphia from 1932. NLA?

I doubt if the 1932 Stokowski / Philadelphia is "still available." It was a live recording, on 78s, of the US Premiere and was issued on a pair of 'Pearl' CDs back in the 1990s. However, his August 1961 Edinburgh Festival performance with the LSO et al is still available on 'Guild Historical,' though a stereo Philadelphia broadcast of the work from March 1961 hasn't been officially released, as far as I know, though it may have come out on some European 'pirate' label.

[Bryn]

The 1932 Stokowski is available, at a price. In fact it can be had in either the Pearl transfer, or in a sumptuous 4 CD Andante package.

Re.the 1961 Philadelphia radio broadcast, see http://www.operapassion.com/cd92444.html. There is no mention of whether mono or stereo is on offer. However, it is indeed in stereo, though the balance between the channel appears to start off favouring the left, but gets corrected as the performance progresses. The 320kpbs mp3 is priced higher than the CD version, but when p&p is taken into consideration the mp3 works out cheaper. As the CDs are derived from a 320kbps mp3 source, the download of that seems the best option.

[Beef Oven!]

I’ve listened to the Sinopoli (which I found a bit opulent) and Boulez today.

I had forgotten just how good the Boulez BBCSO et al is. Jess Thomas gives an gloriously Wagnerian (he can’t help it) performance of Waldemar, but the real star IMV, is Yvonne Minton as Waldtaube. Her Tauben von Gurre is simply sensational. I think that this was recorded at the time when I listened to R3 a fair bit, not knowing or bothering to find out what was being performed, but enjoying it all the same. The choral singing is also very good to my ears. Boulez directs undemonstratively, which puts him head and shoulders above my beloved Sinopoli in this music.

Like many forumistas, I’m sure, I bought the Rattle on its release. I read in Gramophone at the time, him saying it’s a huge string quartet, the biggest in all music, or something like that. Well anyway, it doesn’t do it for me, I never took to this set. I may play it tomorrow and try to be objective, but unless something extraordinarily interesting comes about when this BaL is broadcast, I doubt that I’ll be shifted from the Boulez et al on Sony.

[Bryn]

Being a bit of a Pierre Audi fan (he was, after all, behind the first complete performance of Cardew's The Great Learning at the Almeida Festival back in 1984, though he kept well away from 'staging' it), I have just ordered the Blu-ray of the Audi/Albrecht production recently released. It got pride of place (Blu-ray of the month, or some such) in the current issue of the Gramophone. I ordered from English Postbox (amazon.co.uk marketplace). Strangely, Amazon do not sell it direct at the moment.

[Richard Barrett]

Being a bit of a Pierre Audi fan

He did put on a lot of really interesting stuff when he was at the Almeida Festival, but I've seen a number of his opera productions in Amsterdam and really don't think he's much of a director; his name on a DVD of a stage production would be enough to put me off it.

[Bryn]

He did put on a lot of really interesting stuff when he was at the Almeida Festival, but I've seen a number of his opera productions in Amsterdam and really don't think he's much of a director; his name on a DVD of a stage production would be enough to put me off it.

I rather liked his production of Saint François d'Assise, though it certainly did not follow the composer's prescription.

[verismissimo]

... I had forgotten just how good the Boulez BBCSO et al is. Jess Thomas gives an gloriously Wagnerian (he can’t help it) performance of Waldemar, but the real star IMV, is Yvonne Minton as Waldtaube. Her Tauben von Gurre is simply sensational ...

Oh yes! And Minton's Pierrot Lunaire with Boulez is outstanding. More sung than said.

[Beef Oven!]

This morning my Rattle CDs weren’t to hand, so I spun the Sinopoli discs again and really enjoyed the performance. I think I need to listen to my recordings a little more and not be quick to draw conclusions as I did in post #21. Based on this morning’s listen, I’d rate the Sinopoli just as high as the Boulez. Different approaches.

I wonder how I’ll find the Rattle when I find the discs.

The Esa Pekka Salonen recording looks very interesting and I hope it gets some discussion on Saturday, although I really hope that I do not succumb to another recording, surely three’s enough!

[Beef Oven!]

Oh yes! And Minton's Pierrot Lunaire with Boulez is outstanding. More sung than said.

You’ve prompted me to listen, now. This is, all-round, a breathtaking performance, IMV.

[Pulcinella]

The Esa Pekka Salonen recording looks very interesting and I hope it gets some discussion on Saturday, although I really hope that I do not succumb to another recording, surely three’s enough!

Not for Bryn it isn't!
See if you can tempt him to add it to the pile of CDs he's hoping to listen to once he retires.

[gurnemanz]

I had known the work from radio broadcasts but did not own a recording until I got the Kegel via his excellent 15 CD "legendary recordings" box recently. (also available separately on Brilliant) Fine orchestral sound and I like all the singers involved.

I noted that with some sadness via Norman Lebrecht's site that his Wood Dove, Rosemarie Lang, died a few weeks ago at only 69. She was a stalwart of the Leipzig and Berlin music scene. I can remember hearing her in Leipzig in the 70s.

[Conchis]

I’ve listened to the Sinopoli (which I found a bit opulent) and Boulez today.

I had forgotten just how good the Boulez BBCSO et al is. Jess Thomas gives an gloriously Wagnerian (he can’t help it) performance of Waldemar, but the real star IMV, is Yvonne Minton as Waldtaube. Her Tauben von Gurre is simply sensational. I think that this was recorded at the time when I listened to R3 a fair bit, not knowing or bothering to find out what was being performed, but enjoying it all the same. The choral singing is also very good to my ears. Boulez directs undemonstratively, which puts him head and shoulders above my beloved Sinopoli in this music.

Like many forumistas, I’m sure, I bought the Rattle on its release. I read in Gramophone at the time, him saying it’s a huge string quartet, the biggest in all music, or something like that. Well anyway, it doesn’t do it for me, I never took to this set. I may play it tomorrow and try to be objective, but unless something extraordinarily interesting comes about when this BaL is broadcast, I doubt that I’ll be shifted from the Boulez et al on Sony.

Erm....isn't it meant to be opulent?

Rattle's set is hobbled by an inadequate tenor (Thomas Moser, who hobbles a couple of other Gurrelieders). In the absence of Heldentenors (and there's only ever been one - and I don't think he ever sang it), you need a good lyric tenor with heft - Jerusalem, Heppner, Kollo, King, etc. Moser doesn't cut the mustard, though he is admittedly preferable to the likes of Robert Dean Smith.