BaL 17.04.21 - Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat

[jayne lee wilson]

I adore this piece long since, many recordings here from Hollywood to the Gay Science, but if the reviewer leaves out the Gaia Scienza or the Michelangelo, they rule themselves out....

Time for this dated separation to bite the dust....

[edashtav]

What a strange BaL from Katy Hamilton. It was full strange juxtapositions, perhaps derived from the form of the Quintet itself. There was little sense of winnowing, of progression towards a winner. Perhaps, the Hagens and Paul Gulda triumphed in the final fugato furlough but their playing in earlier movements was so little exemplified that I feared, and others have since confirmed, that earlier misjudgements made their version less than a worthy winner.

Had Katy been granted 12 hours of air-time, she might have produced a convincing,rounded argument. As it was, I felt that her shafts of real illumination were somewhat random.

[vinteuil]

What a strange BaL from Katy Hamilton.

... not least the, shall we say, eccentric shortlist she chose to consider?

Nine recordings, of which one was Earl Wild's orchestrated version, the Pnina Salzman/Tel Aviv qtt recording wch even the reviewer thought was not really up to scratch, the 1928 ER Schmitz / Philharmonic string qtt of New York from a 78rpm recording, the 1950s Hess/Stern/Schneider/Thomas/Tortelier of which she immediately noted that the performers were 'not really together', and the Gyula Stuller / quatuor Schumann of which she was similarly dismissive. She was not that keen on the Bernstein/ Juilliard either.

So the only 'serious' contenders were Paul Gulda/Hagens, Andsnes/Artemis, Hamelin/Takacs.

And no consideration at all of the range of HIPP performances available.

Altogether bizarre


.

[Pulcinella]

No. That is not how it works –and it's not a question of 'ignoring' anything. I thought all this had been explained before, but here's what contributors are actually asked to do:
1. Listen to as many versions as possible. With pieces recorded many times over this can be a mammoth undertaking. Also, if it's quite a long piece (e.g. an opera). I had something like 25 versions of Hansel and Gretel to listen to when I did that for BAL. If I'd ignored any of them, I would have missed a couple of very good versions that made the eventual final list.
2. Create a shortlist of 15 serious contenders (where that many exist)
3. produce a final list of 10 which are the ones used for the broadcast, including a 'winner'.

Thanks from me too: I'm taking the liberty of copying this to the 'The I wish.....' thread, for possible wider readership.

[mikealdren]

I think the issue with yesterday's programme was that several quirky recordings were played to show unusual approaches to the piece and this greatly reduced the number of recordings available for consideration. Why play the Hess version simply to say how obviously bad it was? Added to this, there was no mention of other versions that had been discarded or why HIPP versions were not included.

[Wolfram]

When I heard the first extract by Gulda and the Hagens that Katy Hamilton played I thought this is ridiculouly fast. I felt they had to keep pulling the tempo around to make the lyrical bits and the more dramactic sections work, and then that wonderful cello theme came in with some just glorious playing from Clemens Hagen, and I promptly forgot all about that, and went straight out and bought it.

[Goon525]

When I heard the first extract by Gulda and the Hagens that Katy Hamilton played I thought this is ridiculouly fast. I felt they had to keep pulling the tempo around to make the lyrical bits and the more dramactic sections work, and then that wonderful cello theme came in with some just glorious playing from Clemens Hagen, and I promptly forgot all about that, and went straight out and bought it.

Which kind of aligns with what she said - that she felt that she didn’t want a ‘safe’ choice in this particular work - if she had, it sounded like Andsnes/Artemis was the clear choice - but one that played to its eccentricities and extremities.

[silvestrione]

I adore this piece long since, many recordings here from Hollywood to the Gay Science, but if the reviewer leaves out the Gaia Scienza or the Michelangelo, they rule themselves out....

Time for this dated separation to bite the dust....

But who is making the separation here? You seem to be assuming there HAS to be an HIPP version....They just didn't make the short list?

[vinteuil]

But who is making the separation here? You seem to be assuming there HAS to be an HIPP version....They just didn't make the short list?

... there are various HIPP recordings, loved and admired by many. To make no reference at all to them betrays -



.

[gurnemanz]

If only Clara had recorded it.

[cloughie]

If only Clara had recorded it.

Now that would have been a super HIPP recording.

[LMcD]

But who is making the separation here? You seem to be assuming there HAS to be an HIPP version....They just didn't make the short list?

While I shall stick with my Schubert Ensemble recording, I'm pleased to see that anybody who - for whatever reason - wanted a CD version can purchase the Bernstein/Juilliard version with confidence.

[edashtav]

Now that would have been a super HIPP recording.

Would it? Maybe just a ‘joined at the hip’ version.

On one occasion, however, Robert Schumann asked a male pianist to replace Clara in a performance of the quintet, remarking that "a man understands that better." [N.Reich’s biography of Clara.]

[cloughie]

Would it? Maybe just a ‘joined at the hip’ version.

On one occasion, however, Robert Schumann asked a male pianist to replace Clara in a performance of the quintet, remarking that "a man understands that better." [N.Reich’s biography of Clara.]

Wouldn’t get away with that now!

[edashtav]

Wouldn’t get away with that now!