BaL 14.10.17 - Purcell: "My Heart is Inditing"

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Was there any mention of the Christ Church performance?

No. (Nor any of the boxed set, 2014 RR recommended recording.)

[DracoM]

EXACTLY.
Total anger-making mess.

[ardcarp]

I'm beginning to wonder if BaL might be more happily floated off Record Review to have an independent existence where careful argument and extended examples could be accommodated, leaving RR to act as a magazine for new releases for which the host is admirably suited.

I think I agree with you. Far too much chat in today's programme. I suppose the 'memory' theme (which was no doubt superimposed upon the programme by Higher Authority) was interesting up to a point; but the point was made quite quickly and then banged on about for the rest of the time. I am slightly amused that, as far a the Purcell was concerned, I guessed Early NCO, Voces 8 and Herrewegher, and was very surprised that Jeremy Summerly didn't! But hang on. BAL isn't supposed to be a perverted form of University Challenge....and as for getting 'the winner' in a sealed envelope . I admire JS enormously, and wonder if he was wise to participate in this particular BAL. And now we'e listening to...what?

[DracoM]

Esp as JS had a hand in ONE of the recordings!!
Might have been intended as a smug little insiders' joke between mates, but actually put his credibility and integrity as reviewer just a tad in the balance??

[BBMmk2]

How did Voices 8 fair?

I do hope CCC,, Oxford - Preston did well!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

How did Voices 8 fair?

Damned with faint praise very early in the Review, Bbm. Well ... "damned" is perhaps too strong; he respected the performance rather than being very enthusiastic about it.

I do hope CCC,, Oxford - Preston did well!

Not even mentioned. (That was the "CCC" recording I thought Pulcie was referring to earlier.)

[LeMartinPecheur]

How did Voices 8 fair?

I do hope CCC,, Oxford - Preston did well!

Voces 8 got a mention, CCC didn't - no reason give. Voces 8 was adjudged very well tuned and efficient, but 'aloof'; didn't make 1st or 2nd place.

The 2nd-placer was New College, Oxon/ Higginbottom.

The 2

[DracoM]

Not sure how Mr Purcell would have reacted to vibrato-frilled NCOxf choristers!!

[MickyD]

I find it unbelievable that the Preston set wasn't given a mention - it has long been a benchmark recording and to my knowledge, never out of the catalogue.

[ardcarp]

On the Lark, I was a bit surprised that that Nigel Kennedy wasn't mentioned as a fave

Me too. One of my grand-daughters used this CD....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CBSO-Edward-Elgar-Violin-Concerto-Ralph-Vaughan-Williams-The-Lark-Ascending-/172325769748

....to go to sleep to from the age of 5 to 15!

Not sure how Mr Purcell would have reacted to vibrato-frilled NCOxf choristers!!

They weren't especially vibrato-frilled in the early Higginbottom days.

[DracoM]

<< They weren't especially vibrato-frilled in the early Higginbottom days.[/QUOTE] >>

True - so it was one of the early generation of EH's choristers, was it? Aha.

[BBMmk2]

Well, I think that the CCC/Preston will be with me for as long as I am alive!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well, I think that the CCC/Preston will be with me for as long as I am alive!

So - at least another forty years, then

(But have a Spotify of the Herreweghe, too - on Harmonia Mundi, the extracts we heard were pretty good, too.)

[Nick Armstrong]

But hang on. BAL isn't supposed to be a perverted form of University Challenge....and as for getting 'the winner' in a sealed envelope . I admire JS enormously, and wonder if he was wise to participate in this particular BAL.

Yes, not a very satisfying experiment, I thought. One version was played and then the performer revealed (by the the voice in AMcG's ear) before any discussion, rendering that part of the exercise futile, for listeners at least.

I'd've much preferred a JS solo presentation, using the criteria he described at the start - an assessment based on two "blind" hearings of each recording, then a prepared script with the performers identified.

Completely agreed.

The "whodunnit" approach seemed to me to suggest that too much attention was being paid to identifying the performers than to the details of the performances themselves. So, with a limited number of recordings, it came down to a Christie-like (Agatha, not William) reduction of who could be left after earlier suspects have been bumped off - a sort of Ten Little Indes Galantes (or, as it was earlier known, Ten Little Nigra Sums).

Oh and I agree also with the disappointment expressed at the failure to mention the Preston/Westminster version - my 'go to' (and only) version.

I can't see why this experiment was taken as a warrant for abbreviating BAL to half an hour. The usual 45 - 50 minutes slot would have allowed all the contenders to be considered - given that the number of runners & riders was for once sufficiently small to allow that - and given time for some 'blind comparisons' which would have been much more interesting than the guessing game. As so often on R3 these days, the whole thing seemed more of a missed opportunity than anything else.

However, the 'winner' did sound good and I suspect I shall be streaming/downloading it... And I always enjoy Jeremy Summerly's contributions, however hampered he was on this occasion.


-

NB: I've moved the posts dealing with the rather irritating 'reminiscence bump' chat across to the relevant thread here; likewise comments about the Igor Levit/Sarah Walker discussion. Hope that's acceptable.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

NB: I've moved the posts dealing with the rather irritating 'reminiscence bump' chat across to the relevant thread here; likewise comments about the Igor Levit/Sarah Walker discussion. Hope that's acceptable.

- many thanks, Cali.