BaL 20.04.19/11.01.20 - Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm afraid those of us who dislike it must bite the bullet, on the grounds that 'owt is better than nowt'!

I don't feel that I do, MJ - given the "like it or lump it" options, I've plumped for lump; ending 46 years (minus a couple of months) when missing a BaL was a real disappointment.

I'll be 60 next year, and I suppose this is as good a time as any to begin to discover new/different ways to fill that part of the week in. (The Bouncers on the doors of the Saturday night programmes are also telling me I don't meet the dress code for entry any more.)

[verismissimo]

I don't feel that I do, MJ - given the "like it or lump it" options, I've plumped for lump; ending 46 years (minus a couple of months) when missing a BaL was a real disappointment.

I'll be 60 next year, and I suppose this is as good a time as any to begin to discover new/different ways to fill that part of the week in. (The Bouncers on the doors of the Saturday night programmes are also telling me I don't meet the dress code for entry any more.)

With a similar (though longer) history as ferney re BAL, I still enjoy it - not the programme, which I rarely now hear, but in terms of the discussion hereabouts.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... re BAL, I still enjoy it - not the programme, which I rarely now hear, but in terms of the discussion hereabouts.

In so many ways, the Forum is supplying what R3 used to, as far as I'm concerned.

[Wychwood]

The contributions above evoke nostalgia in me for "Interpretations on Record". But that's history.

Hang on, though: If the BaL twofer is here to stay, couldn't a re-invented Interpretations on Record go one better? If a single, well-informed expert would be too much for today's target audience, what about a panel discussion comparing recordings -- but absolutely forbidden to pick a "winner"?

[Alison]

In so many ways, the Forum is supplying what R3 used to, as far as I'm concerned.

But the forum needs FHG commenting on the BaLs! The Mahler 4 thread lacked something without you IIMSS!

[Barbirollians]

There is a review on Amazon by the US reviewer Santa Fe Listener which pretty much sums up what I recall of the Schiff/Dorati recording and which was backed up by yesterday's extracts.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But, by that criterion, I wouldn't be able to criticise any of the available versions.

She may be able to play the work better than any of us here, but that doesn't mean that her dismissals of pianists who can play it "orders of magnitude better than [she] can" are valid, against which we have no right to protest.

Are we, too, tired of experts?

[pastoralguy]

Sometimes I wonder if the problem with BaL is that there are very few recordings that are truly 'duff'. Almost everyone of the recordings would be more than acceptable so, in the end, it's really about splitting hairs and picking nits.

I recently ordered a cd of the Brahms violin sonatas that was on RCA by a violinist I'd never heard of. It was very cheap and my curiosity was pricked. It was TERRIBLE! Lethargic tempi, an uninteresting sound and just not very good. (I've always loved Isaac Stern's assertion that a great violinist should DEMAND your ears! Well, this player certainly didn't.)

So I do wonder if, like those articles in Gramophone, there should be a 'one to avoid' anti-recommendation. For how can one truly choose a single example of such masterpieces? In the case of the Brahms, how can one choose between Oistrakh, Grumiaux, Kovackos, etc, etc?

[DracoM]

They'd never dare! Think of the advertisers who'd de-camp!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

They'd never dare! Think of the advertisers who'd de-camp!!

Oooh - I bet the "One to Avoid" anti-recommendations sell at least as many as those with positive reviews; people wanting to see for themselves if it's really as dreadful as they suggest.

[Edgy 2]

The contributions above evoke nostalgia in me for "Interpretations on Record". But that's history.

Hang on, though: If the BaL twofer is here to stay, couldn't a re-invented Interpretations on Record go one better? If a single, well-informed expert would be too much for today's target audience, what about a panel discussion comparing recordings -- but absolutely forbidden to pick a "winner"?

[Barbirollians]

Oooh - I bet the "One to Avoid" anti-recommendations sell at least as many as those with positive reviews; people wanting to see for themselves if it's really as dreadful as they suggest.

I do not know whether it still does as I have not bought it for a while but BBCMM did when doing its own BAL had a recording to avoid.

[Bryn]

I do not know whether it still does as I have not bought it for a while but BBCMM did when doing its own BAL had a recording to avoid.

Yes, and I recall that sometimes they appeared to me to be way off-beam in such warnings.

[Alison]

Yes, and I recall that sometimes they appeared to me to be way off-beam in such warnings.

Dave Hurwitz has turned this into an art form: CDs from Hell

[Barbirollians]

Yes, and I recall that sometimes they appeared to me to be way off-beam in such warnings.

Exactly my view of their one to avoid ! Frequently , they sounded a good deal more interesting than the recommendations.