BaL 10.10.20 - Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor

[Darloboy]

Last time out, in March 1999, William Mival chose the Eschenbach/Amadeus Qt. Back in March 1992, Stephen Johnson chose Serkin/Budapest Qt with Frankl/Lindsays as an additional recommendation - presumably modern recording choice. I think the most recent recording I have is the Yamamoto/Ebène Qt.

I know I'm showing my age but I'm hoping that BaL might actually get around soon in this series to covering a piece that it hasn't done before during the 30 years I've been following the programme - even if it's just a composer survey. I appreciate that it needs to go over old ground for new listeners and to take account of new recordings but it seems to me that the repertoire covered by the programme is becoming less challenging and/or interesting - hopefully not in response to the culture wars currently being waged against the BBC by elements of the government and media.

[Goon525]

Last time out, in March 1999, William Mival chose the Eschenbach/Amadeus Qt. Back in March 1992, Stephen Johnson chose Serkin/Budapest Qt with Frankl/Lindsays as an additional recommendation - presumably modern recording choice. I think the most recent recording I have is the Yamamoto/Ebène Qt.

I know I'm showing my age but I'm hoping that BaL might actually get around soon in this series to covering a piece that it hasn't done before during the 30 years I've been following the programme - even if it's just a composer survey. I appreciate that it needs to go over old ground for new listeners and to take account of new recordings but it seems to me that the repertoire covered by the programme is becoming less challenging and/or interesting - hopefully not in response to the culture wars currently being waged against the BBC by elements of the government and media.

Surely you’re not really complaining that one of the key works in the chamber repertoire is being considered for the first time in 21 years! I think BaL’s job should be to concentrate on works with multiple recordings - single minor composer surveys may be valid and useful, but is BaL the best format for them?

[MickyD]

A McGregor doing his usual interrupting and prompting as ever this morning. It's so annoying, I just want to hear the reviewer.

[Goon525]

Hardly worth mentioning any more, is it? Anyway, no explanation of how we got from her short list to her final three, two of which are pretty ancient.

[Alison]

Not sure I really buy into the concerto/collaborative distinction and in any case still not sure which Lucy prefers

[Ein Heldenleben]

That awful barked bravo at the end of the Curzon / Amadeus really ruins it for me. I bet shouty man was planning that from halfway through the final movt. From what I heard today it's Schiff / Takacs for me but I am biased because after AS's magnificent Wigmore Beethoven recital this week as far as i am concerned everything he touches turns to musical gold.

[DracoM]

A McGregor doing his usual interrupting and prompting as ever this morning. It's so annoying, I just want to hear the reviewer.

Ah, but without GodMcG, there'd be no known R3 universe nor music to equip it.

[Alison]

Ah, but without GodMcG, there'd be no known R3 universe nor music to equip it.

Constantly referencing the BBC New Generation artists scheme is getting maddening this morning!

[cloughie]

That awful barked bravo at the end of the Curzon / Amadeus really ruins it for me. I bet shouty man was planning that from halfway through the final movt.From what I heard today it's Schiff / Takacs for me but I am biased because after AS's magnificent Wigmore Beethoven recital this week as far as i am concerned everything he touches turns to musical gold.

It is rumoured that this guy held masterclasses for prom audiences! Why on earth was this not digitised out - imagine owning the disc and having your finger over the stop button every time you play it - I’ll stick with my Frankl/Lindsays though like you I might throw a few quid at the Schiff!

[DracoM]

[LeMartinPecheur]

IMHO a distinctly odd BaL and an odd set of three final choices as already noted, but a bit of digging around in old Penguin and EMG guides suggests this is an odd work altogether in terms or recordings. A top recording one year seems to get forgotten and/ or deleted a year or two later, or even re-graded drastically, and the early LP catalogue seems never to have had a well-established benchmark choice. A case in point is the CBS Serkin/ Budapest 4tet recording which I bought c1972 as a cheap deletion: EMG's only recommendation, their top 2-star rating, in 1973 but on CD the PG gives it just one star out of three 20+ years later, principally because of 'scrawny' recording quality (more than a grain of truth there I'm afraid, though I have happy memories of the performance and must give it a spin sometime). A quick sampling of my run of Penguins seems to show recordings coming and going, never very many in each edition.

Does this suggest it's not much of a popular favourite, compared say with the Dvorak or the Trout Quintet?

FWIW I was rather shocked to find I don't have it on CD, not even a BBC MM as far as I can see. Have they never done it? After the Serkin I did add the DG Eschenbach/ Amadeus on LP: this is about as near as it gets to a steady presence in the catalogue though Penguin only gave it **, except for a brief rise to **(*) late in the run. I've yet to spot a mention of the Ashkenazy/ Cleveland disc - when was it issued?

Perhaps all this gives me an excuse to buy Lucy P's top choice?

[Darloboy]

Surely you’re not really complaining that one of the key works in the chamber repertoire is being considered for the first time in 21 years! I think BaL’s job should be to concentrate on works with multiple recordings - single minor composer surveys may be valid and useful, but is BaL the best format for them?

Yes, I did think afterwards that perhaps it wasn't the best place at which to make this comment! But there does seem to have been a narrowing down in the range of work covered over the last couple of years. And there's plenty of works with multiple recordings that haven't been covered at all in the time I've been listening to BaL.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Constantly referencing the BBC New Generation artists scheme is getting maddening this morning!

The BBC constantly plugging themselves and their indifferent presenters is like a virus.

[Goon525]

Ashkenazy/Cleveland was the first example played, and then allowed a second go later. No explanation of why it didn’t make the final reckoning.

[Goon525]

Probably the wrong thread, but did anyone else listen on to the reviews with Mark Simpson? I thought this was awful, he seemed to have a very limited critical vocabulary, used ‘fantastic’ at least six times, very reluctant to say anything negative, and ‘ummed and aaahed’ throughout. Obviously very nervous, probably hus first time broadcasting anything of this nature, but seemed way out of his ‘critical’ depth.