BaL 8.06.19 - Janácek: Glagolitic Mass

[Goon525]

Just out of interest, what is the name of the Facebook equivalent of this forum?

[visualnickmos]

Just out of interest, what is the name of the Facebook equivalent of this forum?

That's exactly what I would like to know, too.....

[jayne lee wilson]

Just out of interest, what is the name of the Facebook equivalent of this forum?

OK try this....

https://www.facebook.com/pg/friendsofradio3/posts/?ref=page_internal

[Mal]

Life expectancy in the Czech republic for a new born between 1960 and 1980 was 71 (rounding up). Haven't data before 1960, but looking at the flat graph, 71 looks as timely as you can get:

https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_dyn_le00_in&idim=country:CZE:SVK:HUN&hl=en&dl=en

Actually, the life expectancy for a 1960 new born in the UK is also near enough 71 , but if you are actually alive at 71 you should make it well past 80

http://www.riskprediction.org.uk/index_lifeexp.php

[Goon525]

OK try this....
https://www.facebook.com/pg/friendso...=page_internal

Thank you.

[BBMmk2]

A most rewarding BaL yesterday. Despite being a twofer. As Bryn recommended this to me. I heard a snippet and was bowled over. Thank you Bryn.

[Bryn]

Looking forward to this, as after listening to the BBC MM cover disc (Hickox) recently I was contemplating launching a Recordings in Discussion or Summer BaL thread to coincide with its appearance in the First Night of the Proms. . . .

I recall feeling a tinge of disappointment when I saw that they had chosen the 2001 BBCNOW, Hickox over a 1998* BBCPO, Mackerras broadcast performance I had found particularly impressive. However, given the proximity to Hickox's passing, it made sense and turned out to be a generally very good performance of the Wingfield edition.

* ChristineBrewer, Ameral Gunson, Graham Clark, Geoffrey Moses, Thomas Trotter, organ, CBSO Chorus, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (28 February 1998, Bridgewater Hall).

[richardfinegold]

I don't have earlier issues to compare, but on the Ancerl Gold CD, a quick check of some of the fiercer moments revealed, as I'd remembered, a very good top-to-bottom balance (no problem with lower strings here at least, which are gutty, full and powerful - that classic Czech sound...) Excellent clarity and dynamic range, in fact a surprisingly modern-sounding remaster given the age of the source.
Stage depth/layering is less well-defined but there's still good ambience and atmosphere and vocals are not grating or too close. The c/w Taras Bulba (1961) is scarcely less fine. I'd be surprised if anyone finds this album wanting.

Musically it is a stone-cold classic. Wild and free, but never out of control. So fully expressed. The orchestra sound wonderful - glorious in every department.

I love the Czech Phil of that era and bought several of the Ancerl Gold issues as they appeared (including Brahms 2, Dvorak 6 etc) and apart from some minor cavils about the 1950s Martinu, have rarely had any disappointments - the remastering always sounded good to me. Golden strings indeed!

I completely agree with everything you said. I have about 20 of the Ancerl Gold issues, the bulk of which sound really modern in their current remastering, but shied away from repurchasing discs that were already in my collection. The one exception is Mahler 1, where I had burned the older CD to iTunes and bought the AG edition. I remember making a comparison a few years ago, and the AG edition had a bit more air in it, but perhaps with better ripping software I might not have noticed. At any rate, the Glagolitic here sounds pretty decent in iTunes, but it resides on a HD that I no longer use, so I will have to convert it to FLAC and transfer it to my NAS.... a First World Problem, to be sure

[Master Jacques]

The wild restlessness, the energy and sheer excitement are all there in the Frantisek Jilek recording I mention in my #10. Surprised there aren't more who've discovered this one.

Count me in with you, in the Jilek fan club! Just about the best 'specialist' Janacek conductor on record, for me. That's just one of several excellent Czech versions which weren't even mentioned, and which run Ancerl pretty close (as I think you've said, his soloists are notably good, too).

[Master Jacques]

I completely agree with everything you said. I have about 20 of the Ancerl Gold issues, the bulk of which sound really modern in their current remastering, but shied away from repurchasing discs that were already in my collection.

I think that's well put, and now you've said it I think this identifies my underlying problem with the Ancerl Gold remasters: they've been shoehorned into a modern 'civilised' style, smoother, more homogenised and less vividly - even blowsily - 'technicolor' in sound than the old LPs, and those earlier (excellently reflective) CD issues. The Ancerl Gold remasters are milder and more muted than the edgy, bold originals, and (for me) monkeying about equalising the sound Supraphon originally produced has not improved it - quite the reverse. Those lower strings lack the bite they had, just as the violins lack the edge.

[jayne lee wilson]

I think that's well put, and now you've said it I think this identifies my underlying problem with the Ancerl Gold remasters: they've been shoehorned into a modern 'civilised' style, smoother, more homogenised and less vividly - even blowsily - 'technicolor' in sound than the old LPs, and those earlier (excellently reflective) CD issues. The Ancerl Gold remasters are milder and more muted than the edgy, bold originals, and (for me) monkeying about equalising the sound Supraphon originally produced has not improved it - quite the reverse. Those lower strings lack the bite they had, just as the violins lack the edge.

But the Ancerl Gold Edition issues just don't sound like that here, and rfg was in agreement with my comments above. By "modern-sounding" we don't mean mild or smooth or "too civilised" (why should it?); rather that the remasters lack any obvious flaws you might expect given the age of the analogue originals.
In other words, they are fresh, dynamic, present, realistic.... vividly immediate without overt distortion or noise...(in fact some of the earlier 1950s Martinu transfers do not wholly escape such problems anyway).

As I said above the lower strings in the Glagolitic are "gutty, full, powerful" .... the violins well-balanced and well-defined, whether sweet and songful or driving along swiftly....the brasses are thrillingly full and resplendent.
They certainly don't sound over-processed or "equalised" on my system at least, which is a fairly revealing and analytical one.

[Master Jacques]

But the Ancerl Gold Edition issues just don't sound like that here, and rfg was in agreement with my comments above. By "modern-sounding" we don't mean mild or smooth or "too civilised" (why should it?); rather that the remasters lack any obvious flaws you might expect given the age of the analogue originals. In other words, they are fresh, dynamic, present, realistic.... vividly immediate without overt distortion or noise...(in fact some of the earlier 1950s Martinu transfers do not wholly escape such problems anyway).

As I said above the lower strings in the Glagolitic are "gutty, full, powerful" .... the violins well-balanced and well-defined, whether sweet and songful or driving along swiftly....the brasses are thrillingly full and resplendent. They certainly don't sound over-processed or "equalised" on my system at least, which is a fairly revealing and analytical one.

I'm glad to hear that you don't experience the same negative effects with the Ancerl Gold edition that I do - systems are notoriously different, of course. I'd also admit that the general level of Ancerl Gold remasterings isn't so interventionalist as in Supraphon's Talich series. I suspect that they went back to the original tapes, and we know how master tapes can deteriorate under time - that could explain why these millennial transfers needed more "help" than the ones made in the early days of CD: this one has undoubtedly been rebalanced.

Some of us - like Jayne - will prefer these newer results, others won't. Some of us (perhaps unreasonably!) are addicted to that "old" Supraphon LP sound, better reflected on Supraphon's 1980s and 1990s transfers, and some aren't. Some will prefer the essentially modern smoothing of the LP sound we find on the Ancerl Gold edition. I see that Robert Hugill on Music Web agrees with Jayne in finding Ancerl Gold "... seems to have cleared up a few of the original problems with the recorded sound" (though he underrates the performance itself, failing to appreciate the qualities of the Slav, vocal soloists).

It would seem to be a question of individual taste whether one finds that original recorded sound a "problem" or not! I prefer the bolder 1990s transfer (with two works by Kabelac) to the Ancerl Gold, despite the improved convenience of the coupling. At all events, we're lucky to have a choice.

[Bryn]

I'm glad to hear that you don't experience the same negative effects with the Ancerl Gold edition that I do - systems are notoriously different, of course. I'd also admit that the general level of Ancerl Gold remasterings isn't so interventionalist as in Supraphon's Talich series. I suspect that they went back to the original tapes, and we know how master tapes can deteriorate under time - that could explain why these millennial transfers needed more "help" than the ones made in the early days of CD: this one has undoubtedly been rebalanced.

Some of us - like Jayne - will prefer these newer results, others won't. Some of us (perhaps unreasonably!) are addicted to that "old" Supraphon LP sound, better reflected on Supraphon's 1980s and 1990s transfers, and some aren't. Some will prefer the essentially modern smoothing of the LP sound we find on the Ancerl Gold edition. I see that Robert Hugill on Music Web agrees with Jayne in finding Ancerl Gold "... seems to have cleared up a few of the original problems with the recorded sound" (though he underrates the performance itself, failing to appreciate the qualities of the Slav, vocal soloists).

It would seem to be a question of individual taste whether one finds that original recorded sound a "problem" or not! I prefer the bolder 1990s transfer (with two works by Kabelac) to the Ancerl Gold, despite the improved convenience of the coupling. At all events, we're lucky to have a choice.

I have not heard the 1992 release (with the Kabelac works) but I do hear some smoothing of attacks when comparing the 'Ancerl Gold' to the 1988 'Crystal' transfers. The opening of the Veruju is a case in point. However, I find the overall sound to be improved in the 'Ancerl Gold' re-master.

[Master Jacques]

I have not heard the 1992 release (with the Kabelac works) but I do hear some smoothing of attacks when comparing the 'Ancerl Gold' to the 1988 'Crystal' transfers. The opening of the Veruju is a case in point. However, I find the overall sound to be improved in the 'Ancerl Gold' re-master.

Agreed, that the opening of the creed is very much a case in point. I don't have the Crystal transfer to hand (it's in my Northern eyrie!) but as far as I remember, the 1988 and 1992 releases use the same transfer. Doubtless forumites can put me right if that's not the case.

[makropulos]

The first UK performance was given at the Norwich Festival on 23 October 1930, conducted by Henry Wood.