What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[smittims]

Thanks, oliver, I didn't know of those two recordings.

When it comes to Louis Couperin I'm content with my old Oiseau-Lyre of Ruggero Gerlin, who used a Pleyel (a la Wandowska) for his 1950s recordings, even if it does sometimes remind me of Vachel Lindsay's The Fireman's Ball:

'Clanga-ranga clanga-ranga, Clang, clang Clang!'

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[cloughie]

Konwitschny also did a very good Beethoven Symphony cycle and also Schumann Syms - these were on Fontana and the Beethoven, when reissued on the bargain Fontana Stereo Special were butchered to fit more on the LPs. Also there were Wagner overtures and other orchestral excerpts from his operas.

[vinteuil]

Bruckner: Symphony no.4 in E flat. The Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Franz Konwitschny. An Ariola-Eurodisc recording dating , I guess, from the late 1950s and issued in Britain by the World Record Club as part of their 'Recorded Music Circle.' ... It's a remarkably good recording for its age. Konwitschny is not well-known outside German-speaking countries, his best-known recording perhaps being a HMV Tannhauser ...

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... there is also a Bruckner 2 with Franz Konwitschny and the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin from 14 January 1951, in the box of Bruckner symphonies on the Brilliant label (other symphonies there feature Václav Neumann, Kurt Sanderling, and Heinz Rögner).

[smittims]

Thanks, vinteuil. I must admit I've never really looked into his discography.

Meanwhile back to Klemperer for me, his 1956 recordings of two Mozart symphonies, K504 and 543. Interesingly, though he repeats the expostion in the 'Prague ' first movement, when he re-recorded it in 1962 he omitted this repeat. And yes, his tempi did get a little slower in those six years, , but proportionally so, that is the internal relationships between the tempi are preserved.

[Stanfordian]

Elsa Dreisig – Miroir(s)
Opera arias from Gounod, Massenet, Steibelt, Richard Strauss, Puccini, Rossini & Mozart
Elsa Dreisig (soprano)
Orchestre national de Montpellier Occitanie / Michael Schønwandt
Recorded 2018 Corum, Montpellier, France
Erato, CD

Schubert
String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D.887
Berg
String Quartet, Op. 3
Kuss Quartet
Recorded 2010 Siemens Villa, Berlin
Onyx, CD

[Stanfordian]

I was actually at the Last of the Proms in 1986 for the first time when Ray Leppard conducted the Puccini 'Missa di Gloria' in full (those were the days when they had the dare to do full performances in the first part on BBC two, before the second part of jollies over on BBC 1 after the news.

I only got in because I was part of the "BBC Symphony Club" long gone alas, but there were ballots drawn and I was lucky . It seems a lot time ago and it was...

Hiya frankbridge,

Well, the BBC and its association with classical music is a continuing puzzle.

This BR Klassik release in the centenary year of Puccini’s death of the 'Gloria Mass' is a fascinating early sacred work. As you will know this is not an authentic ‘Messa di Gloria’ but a full traditional six movement Latin Mass.

[Pulcinella]

This Naxos recording of the Puccini mass gets more than honourable mention in the Gramophone Classical Music Guide:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7950988--puccini-messa-di-gloria-etc

This recording is to be preferred to Antonio Pappano's very fine account on EMI – and it's not just a question of price. If the recorded sound isn't as opulent as EMI's, it's very clear and lets in the light. If the dynamic contrasts aren't so big, they're also rather more refined.
Generally Giorgio Morandi prefers slightly faster speeds, though not so fast as Pappano when he really gets up some steam in the last sections of the Gloria. But in context Morandi brings out the inherent excitement very effectively and naturally whereas Pappano underlines it. With Pappano the majestic Verdian unisons of the 'Qui tollis' broaden like a great smile across a large face: it's grand fun but tends towards vulgarity. Of the work as a whole, Morandi and his forces give a more youthful performance. There's an easy lightness of step (the Gloria sets off with a dance). The chorus is particularly fresh in tone and response, and the tenor soloist, Antonello Palombi, is more gracefully lyrical and Italianate in timbre than either Alagna (with Pappano) or his predecessor Carreras (with Scimone). The baritone is less apt and certainly no match for Hampson (Pappano) or Prey (Scimone); musical nevertheless, and blending well with his colleague in the AgnusDei. In the string piece, Crisantemi, Morandi's somewhat quicker tempo, still answering to the marking andante mesto, is welcome, keeping mawkishness at bay and limiting the over-exposure of rather thin material.

[smittims]

Tchaikovsky: Suite no.1 in D for orchestra. The Moscow Radio Orchestra, Arvid Yansons.

I'm familiar with the other three Tchaikovsky suites but this was the first time I'd heard the first suite which seems to be something of a rarity. I think it's a remarkably original work. All four suites are mature works, written between the fourth and fifth symphonies.

Arvid Yansons used to visit Manchester in the late 1960s etc. to conduct the Halle orchestra, possibly their most interesting and welcome visitor. Apart from the classics he used to include what were then unusual works such as Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy.

[Petrushka]

Tchaikovsky: Suite no.1 in D for orchestra. The Moscow Radio Orchestra, Arvid Yansons.

I'm familiar with the other three Tchaikovsky suites but this was the first time I'd heard the first suite which seems to be something of a rarity. I think it's a remarkably original work. All four suites are mature works, written between the fourth and fifth symphonies.

Arvid Yansons used to visit Manchester in the late 1960s etc. to conduct the Halle orchestra, possibly their most interesting and welcome visitor. Apart from the classics he used to include what were then unusual works such as Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy.

I went to a couple of Halle concerts conducted by Arvid Jansons in 1978: Bruckner 8 and Shostakovich 14 and 6.

[smittims]

Good to know he was still visiting then. He was quite a character.

[cloughie]

A Jansons was, I believe, was considered as Chief Conductor of the Halle when Loughran was appointed. I also saw him conduct the LenPO in Sheffield in the late 60s. Mravinsky was also conducting on the tour but was indisposed for some of the concerts.

[Petrushka]

A Jansons was, I believe, was considered as Chief Conductor of the Halle when Loughran was appointed. I also saw him conduct the LenPO in Sheffield in the late 60s. Mravinsky was also conducting on the tour but was indisposed for some of the concerts.

Apparently, he died from a heart attack while conducting the Halle Orchestra in 1984.

A recent ICA Classics issue names him as Arvids Jansons while one of my Halle programmes from 1978 has his first name as Arvid.

Can anyone explain this discrepancy?

[vinteuil]

A recent ICA Classics issue names him as Arvids Jansons while one of my Halle programmes from 1978 has his first name as Arvid.
Can anyone explain this discrepancy?

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... wiki prefers Arvīds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arv%C4%ABds_Jansons

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https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Arv%C4%ABds

when he was born Liepāja was in the Russian Empire - it is plausible that the name was registered in Russian - Арвид (certainly not in Latvian), and that may be why he was 'originally' Arvid : in 1978 Latvia was still part of the USSR, only gaining independence in 1991...


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[Petrushka]

.
... wiki prefers Arvīds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arv%C4%ABds_Jansons

.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Arv%C4%ABds

when he was born Liepāja was in the Russian Empire - it is plausible that the name was registered in Russian - Арвид (certainly not in Latvian), and that may be why he was 'originally' Arvid : in 1978 Latvia was still part of the USSR, only gaining independence in 1991...


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Thanks vints, that's very interesting. ?

[oliver sudden]

When I have played in Latvia (it doesn’t happen often but it does happen…) my name, which is normally Carl Rosman, has appeared in the programme as Karls Rosmans. This has led me to wonder whether for consistency’s sake we should be subtracting the esses from Latvian names. Should we, for example, be referring to Andri Nelson (whose superb CBSO Heldenleben I just happen to be listening to now) and Maris Janson?