BaL 1.01.22 - Mozart: Piano Concerto no 20 in D minor K466

[Paulie55]

Has Tom Service learnt nothing at all? He is now worse than ever, gabbling away as if he were running a marathon! For heaven's sake, give the guy some lessons in public speaking.

[Barbirollians]

Happy New Year to all.

But don't forget this BaL, at 9.30 as usual, but ending in time for the New Year's Day Concert.

Not a good start to the BAL year . Not impressed by Denk - more about him than Mozart and I do not like the balance one can barely hear the woodwind at times. The dismissal of the vast majority of recordings as middle of the road is nonsense .

For all that I have and greatly admire all his top three recordings especially the winner.

[oddoneout]

Has Tom Service learnt nothing at all? He is now worse than ever, gabbling away as if he were running a marathon! For heaven's sake, give the guy some lessons in public speaking.

Is that why I'm sure I heard "Welcome to the first Building a Library of 2019"? I know my hearing is problematic but whatever was said sounded nothing like 2022, such that I wondered if it was a repeat - to make it easier to cut don for the 10-15am VPO deadline.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not a good start to the BAL year . Not impressed by Denk - more about him than Mozart and I do not like the balance one can barely hear the woodwind at times. The dismissal of the vast majority of recordings as middle of the road is nonsense .

For all that I have and greatly admire all his top three recordings especially the winner.

Amazing recording the Argerich / Abbado. Is it perverse that the one thing that the two things that stick in my mind are the Fisher Cadenza and the wonderful ECO string playing under Britten?
I hated the sudden sforzandi in the Denk slow movt.

[visualnickmos]

Not a particularly good BaL; I'm beginning to wonder if, given today's ease of access to a staggering range of recorded music, and the reduced financial outlay compared to say, the 1950s and 1960s, when for most people, it simply was not feasible to consider more than one recording of a piece, there is a place for BaL in its current format?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is that why I'm sure I heard "Welcome to the first Building a Library of 2019"? I know my hearing is problematic but whatever was said sounded nothing like 2022, such that I wondered if it was a repeat - to make it easier to cut don for the 10-15am VPO deadline.

On iPlayer, AMcG definitely says 2022.

[ardcarp]

Has Tom Service learnt nothing at all? He is now worse than ever, gabbling away as if he were running a marathon! For heaven's sake, give the guy some lessons in public speaking.

I couldn't agree more. He has almost constant 'hesitation tics' and repeats words next to each other. It drives me bonkers. I grudgingly accept he knows a bit about music, but felt he shed very little light on K466. It was one of Mrs A's A-level set-works, and I won't repeat the language she used during the programme!

I must say I was astonished at the speed of the Fischer/LPO 1933 recording. To me it seemed to diminish this favourite concerto's gravitas. The recorded sound was also too 'cleaned up' to make it convincing....but it did demonstrate the popular misconception that 'older means slower'.

I still dislike the 'short list' format. My solution to the twofer nonsense would not be to have AMcG out-gabbled, as he was today! Not a good start to the New Year, alas.

[Guest]

Servicio - semper switchoffabile.

[Bryn]

Oh dear, I missed the broadcast (fast asleep) but am now about halfway through it via Sounds. Much enjoying its Servicing. I will import both the Argerich/Abbado and the Fischer.

[ardcarp]

Argerich/Abbado

Vary fine from what we heard, IMHO.

[Wolfram]

Wrong Fischer - should have been Annie not Edwin. No arguemnt with the winner though.

[Wolfram]

Obviously just seven recordings was a very short short list for such a frequently recorded work. Just a little surprised though at the absence of Richard Goode with the OCO, who, given TS's criteria for inclusion, sound as fresh, and play as if they were coimg to the piece for the first time, as any one else does - IMHO.

[Barbirollians]

He wanted wild performances whatever that was meant to mean . I agree Annie Fischer near the top . I felt he ended up with a good result but via a bizarre route.

[jayne lee wilson]

I'll hear Tom's survey later (I always enjoy his knowledge and insights, and never, ever, have a problem with his delivery...) but in my recent listening, it was precisely the lack of Storm and Stress I often found wanting, even in as fine, responsive and refined a recording as Andsnes with the MCO (where despite my admiration, the sonic and musical dominance of the piano ends up as expressively limiting....)...

This is one reason why I prefer the piano to be "with the orchestra" i.e a part of the stormy drama often threatened by and responsive to it, a smaller voice in among the orchestral parts. And that is often easier with early pianos e.g in the Bilson, Sofronitsky, Levin, Brautigam recordings, etc....

More later perhaps, strength, health and pain permitting....

[silvestrione]

I'll hear Tom's survey later (I always enjoy his knowledge and insights, and never, ever, have a problem with his delivery...) but in my recent listening, it was precisely the lack of Storm and Stress I often found wanting, even in as fine, responsive and refined a recording as Andsnes with the MCO (where despite my admiration, the sonic and musical dominance of the piano ends up as expressively limiting....)...

This is one reason why I prefer the piano to be "with the orchestra" i.e a part of the stormy drama often threatened by and responsive to it, a smaller voice in among the orchestral parts. And that is often easier with early pianos e.g in the Bilson, Sofronitsky, Levin, Brautigam recordings, etc....

More later perhaps, strength, health and pain permitting....

I think this is spot on, Jayne. I have just listened to the programme (like you I enjoy Tom Service), and could hardly believe he was so accepting of the balance in the Uchida, Denk, Curzon and Argerich recordings, where in some, at times, we were virtually swallowed up in the piano! But I hear this much more than I used to, now I enjoy fortepiano versions.

Intriguing comment from him, that Mozart played a pedal piano at the first performance! i.e. not a fortepiano, something different.