New releases

[vinteuil]

Me too - in the sense that if he writes an unfavourable review of something I'm almost sure to like it, and vice versa, I find his recommendations highly reliable.

... yep, Hurwitz and B O'Hanlon both very reliable.



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[MickyD]

I think you will find that the content of that disc, plus all the other Mendelssohn concertos, is on this disc. I got is a decade ago, and it's very good. No surround sound, just lots of 2 channel stereo.

No, the older recording is on modern instruments, this new, second version from Brautigam is HIP.

[Bryn]

No, the older recording is on modern instruments, this new, second version from Brautigam is HIP.

Not the one linked to by jlw, to which I was responding. That was on modern instruments, as was recognised in jlw's response in #1875.

[Barbirollians]

Me too - in the sense that if he writes an unfavourable review of something I'm almost sure to like it, and vice versa, I find his recommendations highly reliable.

[MickyD]

Not the one linked to by jlw, to which I was responding. That was on modern instruments, as was recognised in jlw's response in #1875.

Well, in any case, the new HIP one is out on CD in France this week on 7th December. I've already pre-ordered it.

[richardfinegold]

Yeah, but as the inlay makes clear on the reverse, it is strictly SACD-only, not a hybrid & unplayable on mere redbook machines. So not much use to me.....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mendelssohn-Complete-Concertos-Extended-Playing/dp/B0012TS5WS/ref=sr_1_5?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1543686157&sr=1-5&keywords=mendelssohn+brautigam

The earlier one is on Qobuz but I can't see the new one yet....
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/me.../7318590007181

That is weird to be issuing SACD only versions. I love SACDs but that was one of the problems when the format first appeared. Some discs were SACD only and unknowing buyers who couldn’t play them became upset. It wasn’t the only reason that the format didn’t attain universal popularity but it was a contributing factor. Since most of the expense of issuing SACDs is due to paying the DSD liscensing fee and not due to actual manufacture of the disc, one wonders what BIS is thinking in consciously replicating a mistake from 15 years ago.
Mendelssohn’s PCs have never clicked with me, either in Concert or on disc. They sound like his Piano Trios rendered for Orchestra. Does Bautigan play a period Piano?

[Bryn]

The point of the Mendelssohn Concertos SACD is that it holds over 6 hours of at least CD quality music on a single disc. I don't think BIS released other similar SACDs.

[PJPJ]

The point of the Mendelssohn Concertos SACD is that it holds over 6 hours of at least CD quality music on a single disc. I don't think BIS released other similar SACDs.

Hans Fagius Bach on five single layer SACDs as a set. https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=3072

edit: Actually, they're all listed in this old article:

https://positive-feedback.com/Issue41/sacd.htm

[Bryn]

Hans Fagius Bach on five single layer SACDs as a set. https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=3072

edit: Actually, they're all listed in this old article:

https://positive-feedback.com/Issue41/sacd.htm

Thanks for that. Looks like I should have said 6 LP's worth, not over 6 hours. Wish I could find where I 'filed' the Mendelssohn.

[MickyD]

That is weird to be issuing SACD only versions. I love SACDs but that was one of the problems when the format first appeared. Some discs were SACD only and unknowing buyers who couldn’t play them became upset. It wasn’t the only reason that the format didn’t attain universal popularity but it was a contributing factor. Since most of the expense of issuing SACDs is due to paying the DSD liscensing fee and not due to actual manufacture of the disc, one wonders what BIS is thinking in consciously replicating a mistake from 15 years ago.
Mendelssohn’s PCs have never clicked with me, either in Concert or on disc. They sound like his Piano Trios rendered for Orchestra. Does Bautigan play a period Piano?

The new CD, which I posted yesterday, features a copy of an 1830 Pleyel instrument. I'm looking forward to hearing it. Up to now I've always been a fan of the old Christopher Kite/Hanover Band recording, but that only gives you the first concerto.

[jayne lee wilson]

Just started to sample this....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/schubert-string-quartets-nos-14-9-chiaroscuro-quartet/sb7tzzoswjvnb

yet more, radically wonderful Schubert!...and it did sound just as sensational as this month's G. review suggests (meticulous AFC "troubled by some details, however"); why waste your time with those attention-seeking Amazon Reviewers..?... more later from me (attention-seeking? Never! ), I hope...

{erratum: AFC's comments were about the Van Kuijk Qt.'s d810 - apologies; RW (G., 11/18) had no such reservations about the stunning Chiaroscuros...!)

[teamsaint]

Just started to sample this....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/schubert-string-quartets-nos-14-9-chiaroscuro-quartet/sb7tzzoswjvnb

yet more, radically wonderful Schubert!...and it did sound just as sensational as this month's G. review suggests (meticulous AFC "troubled by some details, however"); why waste your time with those attention-seeking Amazon Reviewers..?... more later from me (attention-seeking? Never! ), I hope...

Listened to just Death and the Maiden , ( keeping the rest for a day off work tomorrow), and I’m not too troubled by the details since those I picked up on were part of a pretty sensational recording.

Extreme seems right, but in a really confident and thought through way. And the brilliance and accuracy of the playing really is something.
Thanks for flagging this up, Jayne. A great service you provide on new releases.


( another poor CD cover though, sadly. Don’t their designers check out what is going on in, say, the book world ? The standards there are terrifying high ).

[HighlandDougie]

Listened to just Death and the Maiden , ( keeping the rest for a day off work tomorrow), and I’m not too troubled by the details since those I picked up on were part of a pretty sensational recording.

Extreme seems right, but in a really confident and thought through way. And the brilliance and accuracy of the playing really is something.
Thanks for flagging this up, Jayne. A great service you provide on new releases.


( another poor CD cover though, sadly. Don’t their designers check out what is going on in, say, the book world ? The standards there are terrifying high ).

No disrespect to Jayne but it features in more than one “CDs of the Year” list and, if I may be forgiven the immodesty, I extolled its virtues on, I see, 3 October when eclassical made it available as a download.

[Richard Barrett]

( another poor CD cover though, sadly. Don’t their designers check out what is going on in, say, the book world ? The standards there are terrifying high )

But not, perhaps, as concerns publishers operating on the same kinds of budgets as a small CD label in 2018 where the margins are terrifyingly low!

[teamsaint]

But not, perhaps, as concerns publishers operating on the same kinds of budgets as a small CD label in 2018 where the margins are terrifyingly low!

We work on very tight margins indeed, on costings that allow for very modest sales numbers. Those numbers I would suggest aren't far from what record companies budget for. It isn't unusual to publish a book that will turn a small but acceptable profit on 1000/1500 copies. And we manage to produce some terrific book covers, that often stand up well to those of much bigger outfits. Budgets are a big help of course, but imagination and research into the market go a long way to helping produce a good product.

Edit: Just to flesh this out,( and I'm not claiming that all of our covers are wonderful) decisions on covers , at least for us, involve a wide range of considerations. Other costs in the project, projected sales, likely market, time constraints, where the book sits in the market, current fashions ( or is that styles ?!) are just a few. and sometimes the cheapest option , or path of least resistance is taken.