I have Octophorus and Amadeus Winds, both two good HIP versions.
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Can anyone recommend an HIP recording please?Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750Comment
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The aforementioned OAE Winds under Anthony Halstead gets my vote, even if Mr. H says the Adagio was too fast.Originally posted by BBMmk2 View PostComment
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If they were included, I suspect that Boult's last Elgar 1st at the Proms would be a worthy contender!Originally posted by BBMmk2 View PostComment
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That has of course been released commercially twice - firstly on a Pickwick Proms compilation disc and then more recently coupled with a superb Brahms 3 on ICA Classics - agree about the performance one of my two favourites - together with the live Barbirolli King's Lynn performance only days before he died.Originally posted by LMcD View PostComment
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I am very fond of the London Winds/Michael Collins account on Onyx - though I have a soft spot for the first version I had which I recall was panned in Gramophone for its blandness - with the BPO Winds.Comment
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Too many recommendations from knowledgeable board members to ignore, here. Mint second-hand copy ordered.Originally posted by Dave Payn View PostComment
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I didn't realize that performances issued on BBC MM CDs had also been issued commercially. (Every day I learn, Mr Fawlty ...Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post
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I've spent quite a bit of time over the past few days listening to the four versions of this Serenade for 12 Wind Instruments (not one of which is a Flute) and Double Bass that I have in my collection. What I've chiefly come away with is the general sense of what a splendidly good-natured and multi-faceted piece it is, and how malleably it "fits" such different performance ideas.
VPO/Furtwangler (recorded in April, 1947) - this is one of those performances that give the lie to my prejudice that Furtwangler wasn't very good at humour (his Magic Flute gives the impression that he thought the libettist was Schopenhauer). This is positively perky - pert and impertinent - and with a liveliness in the faster movements that enables the slower ones to make their point without ever dragging. The faster movements are consistently faster than on the three other recordings - and the First Movement Exposition repeat is observed is (as it is with all four of my recordings) - although I suspect that this has more to do with the engineer than the conductor: the repeat is exactly the same length (97 seconds) as the "first time through", and there are the same extraneous noises at exactly the same points in the score both times (the foot-stamping eleven bars from the start of the Expo, underlining the 3rd & 4th horn part; WF's out-of-tune groaning 10 bars from the end of the Expo [he shuts up for the rest of the work]; and the same slight sharpness in pitch in the first Oboe at around bar 52 of the Expo both times). This is the only recording I have that replaces the Double Bass with a Contrabassoon - and, I think, showing why such a substitution is a poor idea: apart from the loss of timbre between arco and pizz, the Contrabassoon is a bitt too overbearing here - in the Adagio Third Movement, it writhes and squirms chromatically under the texture, like Fafner dreaming before Wotan wakes him up. BUT, once you've heard this, it doesn't half bring home how wonderful Mozart's bass lines are in this work - you end up more aware of what's going on when you return to the Double Bass performances. The slightly boxy sound quality of this 72-year-old recording is perfectly acceptable, and I found I'd forgotten the age of the recording once taken into the quality of the performance.
Academy of St Martin in the Fields (no conductor - I'd always automatically presumed it was Marriner) recorded July 1984. I confess that my heart sank when I started to listen to this - rather a "resonant" acoustic, and dotted rhythm notes held so that they "bled" into the semiquavers that followed - I found that I wasn't really paying attention, so played this again the following day "fresh". It is a lovely performance, well-paced and full of character, once you've got used to the more homogenised sound of the "modern" instruments (if such "getting used to" is necessary - I came after hearing my HIPP instruments). Perhaps the "grip" on the Variations movement slips slightly, the "bounce" from one section to the next a bit "bitty"; but I'm very, very glad to have become better acquainted with such a life-enhancing performance of the whole work.
Orchestra of the 18th Century/Bruggen - I love the tang of the (copies of the) 18th Century instruments in this performance: the sonority is really something to relish. It is (perhaps surprisingly) the slowest performance of my four recordings, and I do feel that the Second Movement Minuet is a bit ... well ... perfunctory; a smidgen "plodding through" the notes without much sense of individuality. I was so surprised at my reaction that I left it for a day, and came back - and found much more to enjoy and relish the second time around. Even allowing for the underpowered Second Movement, this is such a "gutsy" peformance - played with real zest and brio.
-And, my favourite - yup the BBC Mus Mag cover disc OAE/Halstead, recorded 11th - 13th April, 1997 50 years after Furtwangler). Infectious, insightful, inspirational - I understand from elsethread that the ensemble took the director to the High Court to prevent his proroguing their choice of tempo for the sublime Adagio third Movement
. I'm glad they did - it is the swiftest performance of the four I have, but it sounds in no way "hurried" - the poise and pacing sound exactly right to me in context (as, indeed, do all four performances - Furtwangler's is the slowest at 6mins 27secs; 83 seconds longer than Tony's) and has an almost post-coital sense of affection; those lovingly knowing glances between the phrases). Everything else in the performance has a superb sense of "rightness" about it, too - speeds, balance, articulation, character - and there's a real sense of the whole being something even more than the sum of its parts. This is a performanced that really should be available much more readily.
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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Looking forward to receiving this in the post, as an HIP complementary to the modern instrument version from Linos Ens, who, interestingly, are 8" faster than Mr. Halstead and his OAE colleagues in the adagio, & yet also do not sound hurried, to my ears...Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post-And, my favourite - yup the BBC Mus Mag cover disc OAE/Halstead, recorded 11th - 13th April, 1997 . Infectious, insightful, inspirational - I understand from elsethread that the ensemble took the director to the High Court to prevent his proroguing their choice of tempo for the sublime Adagio third Movement. I'm glad they did - it is the swiftest performance of the four I have, but it sounds in no way "hurried" - the poise and pacing sound exactly right to me in contextComment
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... I certainly prefer the 12 plus double bass performances to those with 13 winds (incl. contrabassoon). I hope this edn of Interpretations on Record :sigh emoticon: will have time to discuss...Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
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I have only two versions: Marriner (from the Philips Complete edition) and Furtwangler.
Whilst acknowledging it's a great work, I do seem to have a problem with the key of B flat (even at A = 415), but the movement featuring in 'Amadeus' is in E flat, so that's OK.
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