BaL 22.04.23 - Schubert: Symphony no. 5 in B flat D. 485

[silvestrione]

After this thread who needs the radio programme?

These threads are marvellous (as is the Telemann one, a composer I've never taken an interest in), but it's a nice way of winding up the exploration (or extending it), to hear extracts from performances you would not otherwise have heard, especially when you now know the piece well (in my case, playing in my head most of the day!).

[smittims]

Yes, I remember a BaL on Brahms' violin concrto where they played the oboe solo from the start of the second movement in several recordings strung togeether. It was fascinating, ad something one wouldn't normally hear.

[mikealdren]

There's also a great medley at the start of Bruno Mosaingeon's DVD The Art of the Violin where they cut between different players' versions of the Mendelssohn E minor concerto.

[Barbirollians]

Yes, I remember a BaL on Brahms' violin concrto where they played the oboe solo from the start of the second movement in several recordings strung togeether. It was fascinating, ad something one wouldn't normally hear.

As I recall didn't they fail though to play all the violinist's entry following the oboe ?

[CallMePaul]

It would appear that this weeks edition of BaL has been pulled and a re-run of Carnival of the Animals from a couple of years ago has been substituted in its place.

A piece that I cannot take seriously!

[Pulcinella]

A piece that I cannot take seriously!

Are you meant to?

[Barbirollians]

Is this on next week then ?

[Ein Heldenleben]

21 pages of comments and still no BAL . This must be a record. It’s all so long ago I can’t even remember what we were disagreeing and digressing about.

[Barbirollians]

Largely, JLW and Richard B going into bat for Michi Gaigg and others finding it scratchy and hectoring - or that might just have been me.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Largely, JLW and Richard B going into bat for Michi Gaigg and others finding it scratchy and hectoring - or that might just have been me.

Yes it all seemed so important at the time .I seem to remember liking Jacobs and COE Abbado in this.

[Master Jacques]

Largely, JLW and Richard B going into bat for Michi Gaigg and others finding it scratchy and hectoring - or that might just have been me.

It wasn't just you. I found Gaigg's studio recording pretty much a non-starter, for various reasons largely concerning phrasing and dynamics; but in summary because the scrawny (for me) string-playing represents an old-fashioned approach to "HIPP" music-making. I will not be racing to hear her live version, for sure.

[Mal]

Many good recordings of this sunny work - for me VPO Bohm and RPO Beecham still my favourites! Probably neither will feature in the face of modern over timped, spotlit recordings which seem to be in vogue nowadays!

RPO Beecham is a favourite of mine, so much so that I have neglected exploring other performances. Elegantly detailed, simple and spontaneous; gets across the carefree nature of a youthful composer without trivializing the music. From what third ear says, it might be a good "middle ground" BAL choice. I think I'll try the extremes next - VPO/Bohm for richer romance? Mackerras/OAE for period crispness?

[cloughie]

RPO Beecham is a favourite of mine, so much so that I have neglected exploring other performances. Elegantly detailed, simple and spontaneous; gets across the carefree nature of a youthful composer without trivializing the music. From what third ear says, it might be a good "middle ground" BAL choice. I think I'll try the extremes next - VPO/Bohm for richer romance? Mackerras/OAE for period crispness?

VPO Bohm - The 50s recording (Eclipse and now on Eloquence) a lovely performance and the late 70s on DG in the Bohm Later Recordings box but there’s also the BPO, early 70s recording.

[Mal]

To dismiss the bitrate as irrelevant to the perception of sound characteristics is truly astonishing.... it flies in the face of all we know.

I can hear the differences between youtube playback and CD/Hires very clearly here.

Isn't youtube only about the same as Spotify non-Premium? Spotify Premium is better than 256 kbps aac. In comparing to CD you need to do a proper blind test, feeding the raw digital signal into the same DAC, sound balancing, using good interconnects... etc. From what I hear, and what I've read, I think Spotify Premium is good enough for me. Also BBC HD stream isn't bad...

Another world of realism, warmth, presence, spatial depth etc etc....so truer to the fastidious efforts of musicians and producers: the sounds and instrumental timbres they seek to capture. And fairer to use in one's critical assessments.

Without proper blind testing this could all be placebo affect.

... of course 320 kbps aac (as in BBC Radio) is the best lossy codec in general use.

Is it? Spotify Premium is about the same level of compression with (some suggest...) a better compression algorithm. On my system, I think it sounds better than Radio 3, but that's maybe my system, or maybe my placebo effect...

What a shame that listeners who have devoted much of their own lives to listening to and loving such music should treat it so casually now, apparently for no better reason than the free or very cheap (often unlicensed) availability.

I pay £10 a month for Spotify Premium, this is a significant purchase, not casual. Recently, choosing this was based on a careful assesment against lossless sources (Tidal, Amazon Music, CD...), even-more-lossy sources (Spotify Vanilla, YouTube...), and reading a lot of critical assesments... I think Spotify Premium is good enough for me, but I wouldn't disparage others paying more for higher quality sources, if they are optimal in every other way for their system (and they have the money!)

P.S. This needs a new thread! We should be discussing Schubert 5 here...

[french frank]

As the member suggested, the post would be better on a separate thread. This thread is about today's BaL. For information on moderation, PM the moderator.