BaL 2.03.19 - Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Op.70

[verismissimo]

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.

Time past and time future
Allow but a little consciousness.
To be conscious is not to be in time …

[Mal]

'But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool; And time, that takes survey of all the world, Must have a stop'

... it stops when the Borodins are playing.

[Mal]

In the programme they said they were playing the "wonderful" Chandos remastering, but afterwards they recommended Melodiya's original disc and Alto's remastering! I have the Chandos remastering which I reckon is a very good job, and thought the programme gave a reasonable indication of how good it sounds. So might be safer going for Chandos:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Tchaikovsky-Complete-Quartets-Souvenir-Florence/dp/B00005043D

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

In the programme they said they were playing the "wonderful" Chandos remastering, but afterwards they recommended Melodiya's original disc and Alto's remastering!

I'm glad you mentioned this, Mal - I was sure that I'd heard SJ refer specifically to the Borodin's Chandos remastering, but presumed, when AMcG summed everything up, that I'd mis-remembered the details (I'd noticed, because the "reveal" that dovers posted yesterday also referred to the ALTO reissue).

Thanks, too, for the link to the Chandos.

[soileduk]

If anyone wishes to purchase the Chandos set its £16.75 at Presto. Use them or lose them.

The Alto issue uses the Paul Arden-Taylor mastering as of Regis from CDK Music.

[Master Jacques]

What a good BaL this was, whether one knew the work or not!

The 2000 Chandos 2-CD set (a library staple for me) has always intrigued me slightly, having been remastered anonymously and with a very odd disclaimer:

"Despite our best endeavours, we have not succeeded in discovering the precise dates and locations of these recordings ... We would welcome any information which the public may be able to supply in this regard."

As everyone knows - then and now - that the recordings were Moscow Radio c. 1965, and first issued on Melodiya LPs, this seems oddly disingenuous. Were Chandos merely getting round paying any licence fee? Yet that seems unlike their normal, scrupulous dealings. Bit of a mystery....

[Bryn]

What a good BaL this was, whether one knew the work or not!

The 2000 Chandos 2-CD set (a library staple for me) has always intrigued me slightly, having been remastered anonymously and with a very odd disclaimer:

"Despite our best endeavours, we have not succeeded in discovering the precise dates and locations of these recordings ... We would welcome any information which the public may be able to supply in this regard."

As everyone knows - then and now - that the recordings were Moscow Radio c. 1965, and first issued on Melodiya LPs, this seems oddly disingenuous. Were Chandos merely getting round paying any licence fee? Yet that seems unlike their normal, scrupulous dealings. Bit of a mystery....

"Moscow Radio c. 1965" hardly constitutes "the precise dates and locations of these recordings". Which studio or hall was used and which of the 365 days of that year were the sessions held on?

[Mal]

"Moscow Radio c. 1965" hardly constitutes "the precise dates and locations of these recordings". Which studio or hall was used and which of the 365 days of that year were the sessions held on?

At least it gets a bit closer than the booklet! (Which mentions Moscow but not radio c. 1965...) But is this information correct?

"Third ear" in their "quartets" section suggests early 70s for the Chandos 9871 recordings. They also suggest the Borodins, in various incarnations, have produced three cycles, the second 1978-79 on Melodiya, and third in 1993 on Teldec. In an earlier section they suggest Souvenir appeared on Melodiya/EMI 49755

Penguin 1999 also give full details of an earlier disc on which this Souvenir appeared: BMG/Melodiya 74321 18290-2, and suggest Souvenir was recorded in 1965, but the quartets were recorded 1979-80 (!) Surely this can't be right, as it means the first Borodins were performing after the second, if "Third Ear" is correct...

Rough Guide, very roughly, suggests all the recording on Chandos 9871 were originally made in the 1960s.

Total confusion!

I googled the disc numbers without much success, the best I could find was a disc with recording date indicated as 1965, and the name of the recording engineer. Might be more info. but I don't understand Russian:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/P-Tchaikovsky-Variations-Souvenir-Florence/dp/B004YAPXHM

[underthecountertenor]

What a good BaL this was, whether one knew the work or not!....

Absolutely. A thoroughly absorbing 50 minutes or so, and an object-lesson in how these things should be done (and why ‘twofers’ are unnecessary and a distraction).

Good to hear Stephen Johnson again. Let’s hope he becomes a R3 regular again.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What a good BaL this was, whether one knew the work or not!

Absolutely. A thoroughly absorbing 50 minutes or so, and an object-lesson in how these things should be done (and why ‘twofers’ are unnecessary and a distraction).

Good to hear Stephen Johnson again. Let’s hope he becomes a R3 regular again.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

My thumb hurts.

[Nick Armstrong]

My thumb hurts.

[Mal]

If anyone wishes to purchase the Chandos set its £16.75 at Presto. Use them or lose them.

The Alto issue uses the Paul Arden-Taylor mastering as of Regis from CDK Music.

So which should people go for? (And don't forget the Melodiya!) Listening to the Alto on utube I'd hazard that it has slightly more edginess than Chandos, but this is not a CD to CD comparison, so don't trust my judgement here...

SJ should have considered these different transfers, so that's one thumbs down from me , but otherwise I agree it was a good BAL.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

SJ should have considered these different transfers

Well, in the sense that he specifically mentioned how good he thought the CHANDOS release was, he sort-of did; it was AMcG and the Beeb website who muddied the waters by emphasising the ALTO version.

[Mal]

Well, in the sense that he specifically mentioned how good he thought the CHANDOS release was, he sort-of did; it was AMcG and the Beeb website who muddied the waters by emphasising the ALTO version.

Sorry thumb is still down, SJ should have said that Chandos had provided the best transfer, if he thought that. Did he even listen to the Alto or Melodiya transfers? Given that he obviously thought this Borodin performance was streets ahead of the rest he should have tied down *exactly* which release was the one to go for, and AMcG should never have been in a position to muddy the waters. The Chandos release might be out of print, as it's not on the Chandos web site, and it's become scare & expensive in the last year. So maybe AMcG's researchers had spotted this, hence the alternatives. But if this is so, why not spell that out? And why isn't the Chandos release easily available? Is it a copyright problem? Also, surely, with its resources, the BBC should have been able to sort out the "when & where" question. It's so much easier to just sit there and listen to CDs than do proper investigative journalism...

I spotted "Valentin Berlinsky: A Quartet for Life" compiled and edited by Maria Matalaev has been published recently (1 Oct 2018). Anyone have access to that? Maybe it will throw some light on "when & where"?