Curiouser and curiouser: clearly a pre-recorded twofer.
-
-
Clearly a pre-recorded twofer, despite being billed in the schedule as:
"Andrew Mellor compares recordings of Sibelius's Lemminkäinen Suite"
In fact it turns out to be:
"Two Andrews waffle with time-spinning vacuity about Sibelius's Lemminkäinen Suite".
Mr Mellor has a few buzzwords in his vocabulary ("momentum", "clarity", "structure", "resonance" ...) and a lot of unsupported opinions, which aren't backed up by the extracts he's chosen. He didn't even bother to look up the correct pronunciation of "Elias Lönnrot". Lazy and insulting.
I think this is the worst twofer so far, a complete waste of bandwidth. I am turning it off.
What happened to the buzzwords "integrity" and "quality" at R3?Comment
-
Have I missed it, or has the BIS Neeme Jarvi version not been mentioned?Comment
-
Crikey! Talk about pressing the self-destruct button.
There are so many complexities in this Sibelius work in terms of writing, intention, and that's before we get to performances, and Andrew Mellor valiantly tried to keep going in a single direction, but AMcG KEPT interrupting, re-structuring the segment, and chittering and chattering and sniffing around the central talk like an over-anxious poodle.Comment
-
Andrew Mellor compares recordings of Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite, quotes are from him.
We open with a few seconds from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam; sounds magical, but it would have been nice to hear a few minutes more rather than suffer the two-fer chat.
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mikko Franck follows, "momentum suffers in this recording".
Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Järvi is praised for "releasing the music wonderfully", "elemental feel", "power of horns", "momentum so well handled".
Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä (1999) is "garbled and too fast and we certainly lose some detail".
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen "orchestral playing so good", virtuosity of LA players really gets the bird song right "without disturbing bigger tapestry".
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu - "huge arching roof" of first movement, needs smoothness, "this is lumpy"... Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Petri Sakari show how to get the stricture right "a very, very fine recording" BUT Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Järvi has the same qualities with "a much, much better orchestra".
Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä (1999) gets to open the Swan - "a masterstroke of production". 1999 is generally preferred to 2007, but the Swan development section of 2007 is played and declared "very special" [it does sound it - shiver down the spine experience for me...] "strings so wonderful, mysterious".
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu's Swan "is a little straight necked".
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen get to open L in T, they have the swan third, good for symphonic momentum, but destroys narrative sense. Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam's (1994) brass is [rightly!] praised
First and only Brit. mention! London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis "a little polite and smooth, smooth in the wrong sort of way". He's not on the short list. "Beautiful incantation... wonderful cello... but low on energy throughout".
Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Järvi is particularly notable [again!] in the third movement. I think this may be the front runner...
Final movement, perpetual motion ride is demonstrated by Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam, "rich, confident sound". Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen LA gets the hooves clipping BUT doesn't handle the gear change well. Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Järvi gets it right... and this is the winner... led all the way really and came home an easy winner.
The performance I have, Neeme Järvi (Göteborgs Symfoniker), holds up quite well against his son's effort, I feel, so I'll probably not be purchasing the winner.Comment
-
With our own usually quite lively and certainly well-informed discussions and recommendations in these threads, as well as in our Summer BaL and Recordings in discussion threads, I'm increasingly giving up on this segment of Record Review.
The streaming options available mean that many of us can now listen to alternative versions more readily too, and we can make up our own minds without AMcG leading the way.
PS: And Mal's excellent summaries certainly do the business without our having to endure the waffle!
Thanks.
Comment
-
Neeme wasn't mentioned at all; I was listening carefully for comments about him as I have his DG performance.Originally posted by MickyD View PostComment
-
Originally posted by Pulcinella View PostMal's excellent summaries certainly do the business without our having to endure the waffle!
Thanks.
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
-
The great advantage for those of us streaming rather than buying is that we don’t have to purchase anything. But I’ve added Parvi minor to my ‘listen soon’ list via Qobuz and Roon.Comment
-
Originally posted by Pulcinella View PostWith our own usually quite lively and certainly well-informed discussions and recommendations in these threads, as well as in our Summer BaL and Recordings in discussion threads, I'm increasingly giving up on this segment of Record Review.
The streaming options available mean that many of us can now listen to alternative versions more readily too, and we can make up our own minds without AMcG leading the way.
PS: And Mal's excellent summaries certainly do the business without our having to endure the waffle!
Thanks.
Exactly the reasons I don’t listen to BaL nowadays“Music is the best means we have of digesting time." — Igor StravinskyComment
-
And many thx to Mal.Comment
-
Just a query from this Forum's settings which differ from those on my iPad.Originally posted by cloughie View PostComment
-
Well diagnosed, Dr BBM, there are no emoticons on you.Originally posted by BBMmk2 View PostComment
-
Oh deary me, this Bal was emasculated.
No Ball!Comment
-
Comment