New releases

[DublinJimbo]

Argerich and Abbado in K466 and K503 coming in February.

Especially poignant in the context of today's sad news.

[Dave2002]

There will be a new box set of recordings by Colin Davis in February - RCA recordings - The Complete RCA Legacy - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...&pf_rd_i=typ01 - available by 24th February. Current price is about £50.

I haven't yet been able to find a more detailed listing than the one here.

The price hike noted on recent Haitink sets suggests that it might be worth taking up the pre-order offer.

[Bryn]

There will be a new box set of recordings by Colin Davis in February - RCA recordings - The Complete RCA Legacy - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...&pf_rd_i=typ01 - available by 24th February. Current price is about £50.

I haven't yet been able to find a more detailed listing than the one here.

You really must try harder Dave

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Colin-Davis-The-Complete-RCA-Legacy/hnum/3793161

[O.k., not much, if any, more detail, but much more clearly presented.]

Duly ordered via your link.

[Dave2002]

You really must try harder Dave

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Colin-Davis-The-Complete-RCA-Legacy/hnum/3793161

[O.k., not much, if any, more detail, but much more clearly presented.]

Duly ordered via your link.

Not really necessary with so many willing helpers around

I am really out of touch - I thought there'd be some Boston SO recordings in the box. Surely Davis did record with them, but if so, which label distributed the results?

[Bryn]

Not really necessary with so many willing helpers around

I am really out of touch - I thought there'd be some Boston SO recordings in the box. Surely Davis did record with them, but if so, which label distributed the results?

Perhaps surprisingly, they were/are on Decca. At least, the Sibelius Symphonies and Tone Poems are.:

[Dave2002]

Bryn

I suppose that's possible, though a lot of the labels seem to have used each other's recording teams, and sold recordings under each other's own branding.

However I used to live next door to someone who worked for Decca, and he did quite a lot of recording in Montreal for Dutoit, which shows that sometimes the recording teams really were from the company declared "on the tin".

[mathias broucek]

Not really necessary with so many willing helpers around

I am really out of touch - I thought there'd be some Boston SO recordings in the box. Surely Davis did record with them, but if so, which label distributed the results?

They were on Philips originally but Philips has been abolished and rebranded as Decca Worth buying anyway.... (as is the LSO cycle in the new box).

[HighlandDougie]

For Nielsen fans who are not averse to downloads, e-classical's current "24 bit for the price of 16 bit" offer is the first of the new BIS Nielsen cycle: the 4th and 5th from Sakari Oramo and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. For around £6.50, it's not a bad deal. Better recording than some from the same team - BIS seem to have got to grips with the somewhat intractable acoustic of the Stockholm Concert Hall. Good performances too. See

http://www.eclassical.com/labels/bis/nielsen-symphonies-nos-4-and-5.html

[jayne lee wilson]

For Nielsen fans who are not averse to downloads, e-classical's current "24 bit for the price of 16 bit" offer is the first of the new BIS Nielsen cycle: the 4th and 5th from Sakari Oramo and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. For around £6.50, it's not a bad deal. Better recording than some from the same team - BIS seem to have got to grips with the somewhat intractable acoustic of the Stockholm Concert Hall. Good performances too. See

http://www.eclassical.com/labels/bis...s-4-and-5.html

Any views on the reading itself, HD? I must confess to some disillusion with Nielsen Symphony recordings recently, after a disappointing 2nd from Colin Davis (the live r3 relay was better!) and that Alan Gilbert NYPO 2&3 which I tried hard with, but... it seems hard for conductors to blend discipline with drama these days...

Anyway, advance notice of John Eliot Gardiner's Schumann Cycle (highly praised, but which I've only ever sampled...), re-released on 10/02/14 as part of a 5-disc DG Collectors' Edition with the major choral works, Paradies and Mignon. Resist those cheapo mp3s for once and get a nice glossy box...

[HighlandDougie]

Any views on the reading itself, HD? I must confess to some disillusion with Nielsen Symphony recordings recently, after a disappointing 2nd from Colin Davis (the live r3 relay was better!) and that Alan Gilbert NYPO 2&3 which I tried hard with, but... it seems hard for conductors to blend discipline with drama these days...

Having listened to both symphonies now four times (once I start with these two symphonies I can't stop listening to them), Oramo's tempi are well-observed - he doesn't rush the first movement of the 4th but neither does he linger too long over Part 2 of the 5th. A fine blend of the visceral and the pastoral, helped by some excellent woodwind playing. He doesn't confuse speed with bringing out the drama in the music (compared with, say, Kondrashin in Part 1 of the 5th) but does so by maintaining the tension and momentum of the music very well. The recording is really very, very good - finely detailed but with good depth and spread. Pace Gilbert/NYPO fans, I cannot think of a better recording qua recording of a Nielsen symphony which I'll be interested to hear in surround SACD when it is released in that format. IMUO a more than promising start to this new cycle (and a good harbinger for Oramo's BBC Symphony complete cycle currently programmed for 2014/15 in the Barbican). I know that JLW has expressed her current scunner with downloads but, if it's still available at the cheap price, it's well worth a try.

[amateur51]

Resist those cheapo mp3s for once and get a nice glossy box...

Ah jlw, good to see you back in good spirits and improved health I hope - and with this snippet, clearly the Lorelei of the Forum

[jayne lee wilson]

Ah jlw, good to see you back in good spirits and improved health I hope - and with this snippet, clearly the Lorelei of the Forum

What a lovely comment Ams., cheering me up after racing to finish my tax return tonight and seeing the bill... never a surprise but always a shock - well, a dull thud... ... so no diamondstudded DACs or Heels for me.... hmm, yeah, I definitely need to find a rich...[INSERT APPROPRIATE SUGGESTION HERE]

But I probably won't throw myself into the river just yet...

[EdgeleyRob]

What a lovely comment Ams., cheering me up after racing to finish my tax return tonight and seeing the bill.. so no diamondstudded DACs or Heels for me.... hmm, yeah, I definitely need to find a rich...[90 year old millionaire with a heart condition ?]

Jayne,hope you're feeling better,absolutely love reading your posts

[mathias broucek]

I'm a big Handel lover but do find the organ a rather hard instrument to love.

Anyone who feels the same way should note that there’s a new recording of the Op 4 concerti for piano and orchestra played by Matthias Kirschnereit (CPO). I’ve only listened to it on the tube so can’t comment on subtleties of interpretation or sound but, for me at least, it’s a big upgrade on the organ version. Here’s hoping they bring out Op 7 as well...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Concertos-Matthais-Kirschnereit-777837-2/dp/B00EB1ED7K/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1391452844&sr=1-1&keywords=handel+piano+concertos

[MickyD]

Handel's organ concertos on piano, how bizarre! But I would like to try and get to hear them, out of curiosity. I love the pieces as they are already - I have Egarr and the AAM but my affections always constant with the Erato/Koopman set recorded some years ago.