BaL 24.11.12 & 19.10.13 Mozart's Piano Sonata no. 8 in A minor (K.310)

[teamsaint]

Kristian Bezuidenhout, I'd guess. It should be worth waiting for judging from earlier issues (he's putting recitals together, not a chronological survey). Brautigam's Beethoven and his Mozart concertos are fine but I found the Mozart sonatas dull when I heard them. He seems much more interesting now. The Lubimov box is exciting and Badura-Skoda (for me) is always engrossing.

It's probably only me, but I admire Sviatoslav Richter's Mozart. I like his resistance to so-called 'Mozartian' style. (Did he record K310?) Maria-João Pires is otherwise the best modern instrument recording I've heard (though so what if I think that I suppose).

I stopped listening to BAL because I realised I didn't care what the reviewers thought. Or said. Just like I gave up reading CD reviews. Not because I think I'm right and they're wrong or anything like that. Just lost interest in CD reviews completely. So what am I doing on this thread? What indeed?

Hey, hey !
I have a great deal of sympathy with your views on reviews. (that could be a snappy title for something...or album title perhaps).If you have the confidence in your own judgement, and the opportunity to judge for yourself, then they become redundant.
Personally i find them useful, at times, but frequently find the time available better spent using my own ears and judgement...though good professional guidance can be invaluable.
But what you are doing on the thread IS unclear !! Like me really !

[John Shelton]

Hey, hey !
I have a great deal of sympathy with your views on reviews. (that could be a snappy title for something...or album title perhaps).If you have the confidence in your own judgement, and the opportunity to judge for yourself, then they become redundant.
Personally i find them useful, at times, but frequently find the time available better spent using my own ears and judgement...though good professional guidance can be invaluable.
But what you are doing on the thread IS unclear !! Like me really !

Secretly we dream of being record reviewers?

(One thing I'm doing now is staring in disbelief at the number of recordings of K310 I've accumulated over the years. Fine work though it is).

Many years ago I was in a CD shop (remember those?) and they had a Chopin recital playing on the shop stereo. The man in front of me said to the woman taking payment for his CDs: 'That sounds lovely! But I'd better wait until the reviews come out.'

I had this vision of him at concerts (if he ever went) nervously not applauding until he opened his newspaper the next day then gave vent to wild enthusiasm (or tepid so-so gentle coming together of the hands) .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's probably only me, but I admire Sviatoslav Richter's Mozart. I like his resistance to so-called 'Mozartian' style. (Did he record K310?):

There are two recordings listed in #1.

[John Shelton]

There are two recordings listed in #1.

My apologies.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Secretly we dream of being record reviewers?

No secret as far as I'm concerned: getting paid to listen to recordings and pass judgement? Yes, please!

Many years ago I was in a CD shop (remember those?) and they had a Chopin recital playing on the shop stereo. The man in front of me said to the woman taking payment for his CDs: 'That sounds lovely! But I'd better wait until the reviews come out.'

- that doesn't surprise me at all; for holiday money as a student, I used to work in a Music shop. In the (total of) 26 weeks I worked there there were three occasions where a customer had bought a record and subsequently expressed great pleasure in it, only to return it to the second-hand shelf because the Penguin Guide had only given it two stars!

As I grow old(er), I find I'm also getting increasingly less interested in reviews. Any work worth its salt is open to a variety of readings, and if a group of Musicians have devoted time to preparing a performance, then their ideas are more interesting than those of a critic sitting in a room with a pile of alternatives and a deadline for next Thursday. I just need to know if they play all the notes as the composer might have hoped/expected, at the speed(s) indicated, on the instruments for which the composer wrote the work, in decent recorded sound - and, preferably, at a bargain price. The rest is between the performers and myself!

[Thropplenoggin]

I used this rainy day free of commitments to listen (among other things) to the Uchida complete. I think that judgment is a little harsh, but it's true that she plays the minor-key drama with some 'edge' - not the forced, ugly tone I found in the Cleveland concerto performance. I find it a compelling performance, well-recorded (how many piano recordings are spoiled by the acoustic or engineering side of things...). I don't feel any need to acquire another performance, I don't think. Mozart piano sonatas are not pieces I listen to regularly. The piano concertos: they're the things!

In which case, I would impress upon you the need to acquaint yourself with the Howard Shelley/London Mozart Players renditions of the concertos on Chandos, often available for very reasonable prices on the Amazon marketplace.

[gurnemanz]

I'm reminded of the Fast Show character Indecisive Dave who constantly amends his opinion to agree with the last point made by his mates.

[aeolium]

As I grow old(er), I find I'm also getting increasingly less interested in reviews. Any work worth its salt is open to a variety of readings, and if a group of Musicians have devoted time to preparing a performance, then their ideas are more interesting than those of a critic sitting in a room with a pile of alternatives and a deadline for next Thursday. I just need to know if they play all the notes as the composer might have hoped/expected, at the speed(s) indicated, on the instruments for which the composer wrote the work, in decent recorded sound - and, preferably, at a bargain price. The rest is between the performers and myself!

I agree with that general sentiment, ferney, though I'm more inclined to think that interpretations with quite different tempi can work equally well (we don't after all often know exactly what was meant by the tempo indication), and I don't mind performances with modern instruments or dodgy recorded sound (or even the odd wrong notes). I cannot imagine being influenced to like/dislike a performance by a review. I sometimes detect an assumption in reviews (and occasionally on these boards) that if the listener simply listens properly - as the reviewer listens - then the listener will share the same experience or insight of the reviewer. To me that is to misunderstand the nature of listening whereby no two responses or experiences will be alike.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

That's the most perceptive post I've read to date.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm more inclined to think that interpretations with quite different tempi can work equally well (we don't after all often know exactly what was meant by the tempo indication), and I don't mind performances with modern instruments or dodgy recorded sound (or even the odd wrong notes).

I wouldn't disagree very much with that, aeoli, but I would expect a review to mention such things in a review - it's more important to me to know that a recording omits all repeats than to know whether or not the reviewer found the performance "metaphysically transcendent". There are many recordings in my collection that I love, but which occasionally don't exactly follow with what's in the score: but I'd like to be told in advance about such things.

I cannot imagine being influenced to like/dislike a performance by a review. I sometimes detect an assumption in reviews (and occasionally on these boards) that if the listener simply listens properly - as the reviewer listens - then the listener will share the same experience or insight of the reviewer. To me that is to misunderstand the nature of listening whereby no two responses or experiences will be alike.

- I do like enthusiasm for a work/performance, especially if I've previously disliked that work/performance: many times I've read enthusiastic comments on these Boards that have made me seek these out and give them another go - and sometimes I change my opinion!

[aeolium]

I wouldn't disagree very much with that, aeoli, but I would expect a review to mention such things in a review - it's more important to me to know that a recording omits all repeats than to know whether or not the reviewer found the performance "metaphysically transcendent". There are many recordings in my collection that I love, but which occasionally don't exactly follow with what's in the score: but I'd like to be told in advance about such things.

I quite agree, but to me the main value of BaL is not the reviewer's comments but the extracts s/he plays. It's not unusual for me to have an entirely different reaction to an extract to the reviewer. And all reviews of opera DVDs/live opera productions should as a minimum contain a brief description of the sets and the production design - preferably with photos (three cheers for IGI's reviews )

I do like enthusiasm for a work/performance, especially if I've previously disliked that work/performance: many times I've read enthusiastic comments on these Boards that have made me seek these out and give them another go - and sometimes I change my opinion!

I agree - I much prefer to read enthusiastic reviews than negative ones, if only because the enthusiastic reviewer is more likely to have listened attentively (and probably more than once). How on earth critics can review works (music/books/paintings) they don't like is beyond me.

[Don Petter]

I quite agree, but to me the main value of BaL is not the reviewer's comments but the extracts s/he plays. It's not unusual for me to have an entirely different reaction to an extract to the reviewer.

Which brings us back to an observation in another recent thread. BaL podcasts, which have the excerpts cut to just their first few moments, are virtually useless for serious analysis or guidance.

[Nick Armstrong]

Which brings us back to an observation in another recent thread. BaL podcasts, which have the excerpts cut to just their first few moments, are virtually useless for serious analysis or guidance.

[visualnickmos]

I quite agree, but to me the main value of BaL is not the reviewer's comments but the extracts s/he plays. It's not unusual for me to have an entirely different reaction to an extract to the reviewer.

I quite agree; after hearing the extract played by Pires, I was bowled over. It made me want to rush to Amazon and add her set to my wishlist. There was, even in that brief extract, something very special which jumped out immedietely. After hearing her, none of the other extracts played moved me in the least. I don't know what that says...?

[Thropplenoggin]

The BaL threads are often the highlight of my week on For3. It's always a joy and interesting to read the thoughts of so many impassioned listeners, with their oft-erudite observations and glean something from the wisdom of many experienced ears...as enjoyable as the programme itself, and sometimes more so.

Whenever I'm considering an outlay on a new work, I'll check whether there's a BaL thread for that work.