BaL 20.02.21 - Bruckner: Symphony no. 6

[Barbirollians]

It would be good if a classic recording is savaged in BAL to have a counterblast the following week from a different reviewer.

[Alison]

It would be good if a classic recording is savaged in BAL to have a counterblast the following week from a different reviewer.

That’s where there could potentially be an advantage to the twofer format in my view. Andrew McG could really press the reviewer on such things but instead meekly and convivially agrees with everything.

[Petrushka]

It would be good if a classic recording is savaged in BAL to have a counterblast the following week from a different reviewer.

Re-considered might be a better word than savaged. Gramophone already do this but without the confrontational aspect that 'savaged' implies.

I take little notice of BaL these days and much prefer to hear a wide range of interpretations of a given work, mostly, in my case, from the great conductors of the past with the occasional nod to those active today. It's why my CD shelves are groaning and the house taken over by boxed sets. It's certainly more expensive than a single library choice but no such thing really exists.

This Bruckner 6 discussion and broadcast has provided a perfect example of why I feel that my way is ultimately the ideal. I know that not everyone can afford 20 versions of everything but streaming offers a viable option.

[Lordgeous]

That’s where there could potentially be an advantage to the twofer format in my view. Andrew McG could really press the reviewer on such things but instead meekly and convivially agrees with everything.

Indeed. That's always annoyed me about Building a Library. Is it because its semi or fully scripted in advance? The presenter also often pre-empts what the 'expert' is about to say.

[edashtav]

Very interesting, thanks. It's always good to have new and fresh insights coming in.

[…]The balance between trumpets and the rest of the brass section, for example, often makes the difference between something that sounds like bombastic blaring and something more balanced between high and low, bright and dark, while retaining the identity of each component in the mix […]

Your sentence that I’ve emboldened hit a chord with me and crystallised a naughty thought re the sound/balance of the brass in Tom’s anointed (Jochum) choice that bubbled up during yesterday’s BaL, “listening to Venzago is somewhat akin to hearing AB mediated by Schubert, but this Jochum climax is ‘Pines of Linz’ .”

For a moment, I heard victorious Roman soldiers ... well, I suppose AB was a Roman Catholic!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Indeed. That's always annoyed me about Building a Library. Is it because its semi or fully scripted in advance? The presenter also often pre-empts what the 'expert' is about to say.

I wonder if it would make better radio if you had two interlocutors who wildly differed on their opinions of the recordings and had to justify them . Strikes me you could find quite a good cast from this forum!

[edashtav]

I wonder if it would make better radio if you had two interlocutors who wildly differed on their opinions of the recordings and had to justify them . Strikes me you could find quite a good cast from this forum!

You can observe the result on YouTube in Kagel’s classic ‘Match’

https://youtu.be/uXZb2OKGCtM

[ostuni]

... something that also takes in the spatial relationships between orchestral sections (which is why I'm not really interested in hearing the music in mono)...

Strongly agreed here - including what is for me crucial in Bruckner (and in much else besides): divided violins. Just listen to the 3rd & 4th bars of the 1st mvt's 2nd subject (the first Bedeutend langsamer bit, around 1’30”, or 2’04” if you’re listening to Klemperer...), or many, many places in the slow movement. I'm so glad that this is now becoming, once again, the default orchestral layout for this repertoire; amongst recent recordings, Dausgaard & N-Seguin comply.

[Nick Armstrong]

That’s where there could potentially be an advantage to the twofer format in my view. Andrew McG could really press the reviewer on such things but instead meekly and convivially agrees with everything.

Spot on, Alison

Btw thanks for your Dausgaard mention upthread. Not a version I was aware of - thanks to Qobuz and what you say about the performance, I shall give a listen.

Isn’t it a pity Klaus Tennstedt never recorded the 6th? It could have been right up his street....

This Bruckner 6 discussion and broadcast has provided a perfect example of why I feel that my way is ultimately the ideal. I know that not everyone can afford 20 versions of everything but streaming offers a viable option.

I share your approach

[jayne lee wilson]

Spot on, Alison

Btw thanks for your Dausgaard mention upthread. Not a version I was aware of - thanks to Qobuz and what you say about the performance, I shall give a listen.

Isn’t it a pity Klaus Tennstedt never recorded the 6th? It could have been right up his street....




I share your approach

Review of Dausgaard, whose praises I've sung repeatedly since its release last year (including page 1 et seq, and et seq again, of this very thread...), on this page at #109....

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?22747-BaL-20-02-21-Bruckner-Symphony-no-6&p=834176#post834176

[Nick Armstrong]

Review of Dausgaard, whose praises I've sung repeatedly since its release last year (including page 1 et seq, and et seq again, of this very thread...), on this page at #109....
http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...176#post834176

My Forum perusals are sometimes not exhaustive...

[HighlandDougie]

Review of Dausgaard, whose praises I've sung repeatedly since its release last year (including page 1 et seq, and et seq again, of this very thread...), on this page at #109....
http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...176#post834176

Um, I see that I commended the Dausgaard in WAYLTN in February 2020 as, "a fairly brisk performance (52'48) so not for those who like a more meandering approach to this music", to which JLW responded at the time. So not wholly neglected by forumistas.

[jayne lee wilson]

My Forum perusals are sometimes not exhaustive...

Get into a Brucker thread, especially a BaL Bruckner thread, and you better hunker down, lay in rations or at least a stiff drink....

[Ein Heldenleben]

Get into a Brucker thread, especially a BaL Bruckner thread, and you better hunker down, lay in rations or at least a stiff drink....

If I listen to any more Bruckner I think members of my household may leave ....it’s the Qubuz subscription that’s started it...

[silvestrione]

My first post in such distinguished company, and I'm feeling cheated; for circa 56 years!
I've spent a week once more delving into No.6 & yesterday spotted the Keilberth BPO Telefunken (TelDec) issue recorded in 1963.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xycI0Wz_YXA&t=3016s

I didn't know it existed. Why?! Released shortly before the awful Klumperer & it's magnificent imvho.
An HvK-free BPO are captured with superb (Decca tree?) engineering.
Even the last movement makes sense, & is a joy.
I'm just finished my fourth listen. I'm not even minding the perfunctory sounding string phrasing at 20 & 28:50 now.
Thank you Joseph Keilberth. IMHO your insight into a masterpiece was criminally neglected when you were on this crazy planet.

Apologies. This is a way OTT first post. Maybe it's my age :(

Other forumistas enthusiasms are always particularly welcome, Loathecliffe. (I'm trying to work that one out: could there be a Heathcliff reference there? You loathe Heathcliff? Or is it in fact a favourite bay in Scotland....Don't answer, by the way!)