BaL 16.03.13 - Corelli's Concerti grossi Op.6

[Ferretfancy]

Some years ago in a sale at HMV, i found two splendid CDs of these concertos by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan. They were om a super budget label called Classical Express, originally recorded for Harmonia Mundi. These are delightful performances in superbly detailed and spacious sound - a true bargain for £2.50!

This would be tops for me, although it's unlikely to be available now.

This bargain label also had superb performances of the Mozart Horn Concertos with Lowell Greer playing the natural Horn.

[verismissimo]

Playing the only recording I have - of concerto 9 by the ECO under Leppard - reminds me why I've never really connected with these works.

Sounds all too saturated in the 1960s/70s recordings I've heard. Hope something leaner emerges on Saturday morning.

[Julien Sorel]

Perhaps memory playing tricks, but I had the Pinnock set and found it very dull. Squashed flat in the middle of the road (I like a lot of Pinnock's work, so it's not a typical reaction to EC / Pinnock).

I recently acquired the Avison Ensemble / Beznosiuk recording (Linn) which, like their Avison (for Naxos and Divine Art) and their Handel op. 6 (Linn), seems completely wonderful to me.

[waldo]

Ahem........hello everyone........

Apart from the Pinnock, which is certainly very worthy, I've also got a set by the Allessandro Stradella Consort (on Dymanic). I know: I hadn't heard of them before, either, but this is really first rate. Flamboyant, bags of Italianate flair, a good, churchy recording. Period instruments, of course. Doubt it will feature, but thought I would mention it.

As for the Avison Esnemble, I didn't know they had done these yet, but if it is anything like their Handel or Vivaldi, it will surely be among the best.

[verismissimo]

Ahem........hello everyone........

Ahem.... Hello to you too Waldo......

[MickyD]

I'm listening again to Roy Goodman and the Brandenburg Consort - a lovely recorded acoustic by Hyperion. I will be glued to my seat to hear this BAL and the verdicts.

[MickyD]

I'm not surprised by the final verdict - I would have chosen The Brandenburg Consort myself, it is beautiful in every respect.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Whatever the final verdict, I found this BaL unbearable, rather like the Goodman Beethoven Violin Concerto one. Too opinionated and intolerant.

[Tony Halstead]

what was the final verdict, then?

[MickyD]

Sorry, Waldhorn, my sentence above was ambiguous....the winner was The Brandenburg Consort with Roy Goodman, closely followed by Ensemble 415 with Chiara Banchini.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

David Vickers' attitude grated from the start: "Marriner's interpretations are impede from the start by vibrato-sozzled wobby strings, eben if if stately grandeur is never in short supply". Dismissed in a single sentence. He could have commented on the beautifully rich tone, but that wouldn't have suited his personal extremism.

[Thropplenoggin]

David Vickers' attitude grated from the start: "Marriner's interpretations are impede from the start by vibrato-sozzled wobby strings, eben if if stately grandeur is never in short supply". Dismissed in a single sentence. He could have commented on the beautifully rich tone, but that wouldn't have suited his personal extremism.

I can never fathom how people take offence at the subjective opinions on the subjective show that is BaL.

Why should he accommodate every possible taste? The whole point is to whittle down from a wide range of approaches to one (or ideally three - modern sound, HIP, historic) which the presenter feels, in his/her opinion, to be the best available recording for the library. His criteria - an increasingly common one - is not to put up with excessive vibrato. He may choose other criteria to enable this whittling down: poor sound; excessive rubato; poor balance of instruments - but whittle down he must!

Given the number of excellent HIP recordings (Pinnock, Goodman, Ensemble 415, Avison Ensemble) employing vibrato judiciously in this Baroque repertoire, this seems a sensible way to whittle down from the, well, vibrato-sozzled wobbly strings of a certain era.

It's his particular methodology for sifting among a wide array. We see this all the time - whole reams of recordings are culled to enable him/her to concentrate on a few contenders. With the increasing numbers of recordings available, surely this makes sense.

[amateur51]

I can never fathom how people take offence at the subjective opinions on the subjective show that is BaL.

Why should he accommodate every possible taste? The whole point is to whittle down from a wide range of approaches to one (or ideally three - modern sound, HIP, historic) that which the presenter feels, in his opinion, to be the best available recording for the library. His criteria - an increasingly common one - is not to put up with excessive vibrato. He may choose other criteria to enable this whittling down: poor sound; excessive rubato; poor balance of instruments - but whittle down he must!

Ssssssh Throppers - il a une abeille dans son chapeau, le pauvre homme

[Curalach]

I can never fathom how people take offence at the subjective opinions on the subjective show that is BaL.

I agree. The programme was headlined as "David Vickers with a personal recommendation". It would be surprising if his personal view matched that of every listener. To find it "unbearable" suggests a degree of intolerance in the listener.
I listened to the programme as I do not have a recording of these pieces and accordingly perhaps had no preconceptions. I found it interesting, well presented and, for me, a sensible recommendation.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I can never fathom how people take offence at the subjective opinions on the subjective show that is BaL.

There's a huge difference between expressing subjective opinions, and regarding these subjective opinions as hard facts. If he had said some of the other ensembles had resembled a musical saw, that would have been a subjective opinion too, but it might just have raised the hackles of those who preferred the sound being demonstrated.

Perhaps I should "come out" at this time and confess to having been a "born-again HIPPster" in the early 1970s, but became less and less convinced by the arguments as it seemed to be turning into a competition in which each performer would try to outdo all the others in the quest for extremism.