Andrew Litton recordings

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  • BBMmk2
    Late Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 20908

    #61
    Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
    Oh - absolutely; I'm looking forward to hearing it - I love "brisk & efficient"!

    I would just add that the "hammy" comment arose from the fact that, after I'd stood up for maestro's choice of Litton's recording when others had suggested they didn't agree, maestro then decided to take the opportunity to rubbish one of my own favourites, telling me I couldn't hear what I've heard perfectly well for decades!

    I like Litton's Rachmaninoff #1, too.
    Strangely enough, Ferney, it was Litton's Rach 1 that made me rethink that work and I love it now like the other two. Mariss Janson's recordings of Rach and shosta are rather good too.
    Don’t cry for me
    I go where music was born

    J S Bach 1685-1750

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    • maestro267
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 355

      #62
      Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
      Oh - absolutely; I'm looking forward to hearing it - I love "brisk & efficient"!

      I would just add that the "hammy" comment arose from the fact that, after I'd stood up for maestro's choice of Litton's recording when others had suggested they didn't agree, maestro then decided to take the opportunity to rubbish one of my own favourites, telling me I couldn't hear what I've heard perfectly well for decades!

      I like Litton's Rachmaninoff #1, too.
      Hang on a minute! The "you" in my post wasn't aimed at you personally. It's a rhetorical 'you'. Of course the tam-tam is there a little bit, but nowhere NEAR as emphatic as on Litton's recording.

      Comment

      • EnemyoftheStoat
        Full Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 1132

        #63
        Hammy? The Litton recording? You're kidding; understated if anything, and not in a bad way. You should hear the Nelsons, where the timp parts are way overdone (extra unmarked accents everywhere), just as an example.

        Anyway, I'd like to track down the Rostropovich/LPO, which was how I first met the work and has some of the most satisfyingly rrcorded timp (Alan Cumberland?) and low percussion work I can recall.

        Comment

        • Pulcinella
          Host
          • Feb 2014
          • 10927

          #64
          The new (January 2017) issue of BBC MM has as its cover CD a performance of Carmina Burana conducted by Litton in Cardiff on 1 March 2011.

          Comment

          • BBMmk2
            Late Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 20908

            #65
            Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post
            The new (January 2017) issue of BBC MM has as its cover CD a performance of Carmina Burana conducted by Litton in Cardiff on 1 March 2011.
            Now that should be great to hear!!
            Don’t cry for me
            I go where music was born

            J S Bach 1685-1750

            Comment

            • Alison
              Full Member
              • Nov 2010
              • 6455

              #66
              Originally posted by EnemyoftheStoat View Post

              Anyway, I'd like to track down the Rostropovich/LPO, which was how I first met the work and has some of the most satisfyingly rrcorded timp (Alan Cumberland?) and low percussion work I can recall.
              Yes that's a glorious version of Manfred, not well enough known really. Only available as part of a whole cycle. Tremendous grip in the first movement with percussion really nailing the coda. I'm sure that was Alan Cumberland on timps

              Comment

              • cloughie
                Full Member
                • Dec 2011
                • 22120

                #67
                Originally posted by Alison View Post
                Yes that's a glorious version of Manfred, not well enough known really. Only available as part of a whole cycle. Tremendous grip in the first movement with percussion really nailing the coda. I'm sure that was Alan Cumberland on timps
                Yes but you can get the whole set for under a fiver plus p&p!

                Comment

                • Ferretfancy
                  Full Member
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 3487

                  #68
                  Originally posted by Brassbandmaestro View Post
                  Now that should be great to hear!!
                  I'm not sure that any Carl Orff is great to hear, but I do enjoy Carmina Burana. I've just sampled the Litton BBC recording which dates from 2011, and for me it comes as a disappointment. Maybe it's my system, but everything seems to take place in an aural fog, especially when the chorus is prominent. Christopher Maltman is good, and you can hear his words struggling through the hollow acoustic, but the tenor Allan Clayton makes heavy weather of those high passages, and my favourite passage, 'In trutina' lacks magic as sung by Sarah Tynan. I could also ask 'Where is the sparkle in the percussion?'

                  It isn't really possible to guess what it would have been like listening in St David's Hall Cardiff, or appreciate Andrew Litton's conducting. One for Oxfam I'm afraid.

                  No doubt other boarders will find more to enjoy than I did.

                  Comment

                  • Petrushka
                    Full Member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 12249

                    #69
                    Originally posted by Ferretfancy View Post
                    I'm not sure that any Carl Orff is great to hear, but I do enjoy Carmina Burana. I've just sampled the Litton BBC recording which dates from 2011, and for me it comes as a disappointment. Maybe it's my system, but everything seems to take place in an aural fog, especially when the chorus is prominent. Christopher Maltman is good, and you can hear his words struggling through the hollow acoustic, but the tenor Allan Clayton makes heavy weather of those high passages, and my favourite passage, 'In trutina' lacks magic as sung by Sarah Tynan. I could also ask 'Where is the sparkle in the percussion?'

                    It isn't really possible to guess what it would have been like listening in St David's Hall Cardiff, or appreciate Andrew Litton's conducting. One for Oxfam I'm afraid.

                    No doubt other boarders will find more to enjoy than I did.
                    I played this last night and formed a somewhat different impression. I would certainly agree about the lack of sparkle in the percussion, bass drum apart, but I found that the chorus came across very well and the children's choir are terrific. Christopher Maltman is excellent but surely it makes dramatic sense for the tenor soloist to sound effortful?

                    There are better sounding Carmina Burana's out there but I enjoyed this, nonetheless, in the context of a live performance.
                    "The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard Haitink

                    Comment

                    • BBMmk2
                      Late Member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 20908

                      #70
                      I think my favourites are Rafael Frubeck de Burgos and Andre Previn's of Carmina Burana.
                      Don’t cry for me
                      I go where music was born

                      J S Bach 1685-1750

                      Comment

                      • peterkin
                        Full Member
                        • Jun 2015
                        • 33

                        #71
                        Originally posted by Brassbandmaestro View Post
                        I think my favourites are Rafael Frubeck de Burgos and Andre Previn's of Carmina Burana.
                        Blomstedt for me

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                        • Bryn
                          Banned
                          • Mar 2007
                          • 24688

                          #72
                          My favourite has never been recorded, or indeed performed.

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                          • visualnickmos
                            Full Member
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 3610

                            #73
                            Originally posted by Brassbandmaestro View Post
                            I think my favourites are Rafael Frubeck de Burgos and Andre Previn's of Carmina Burana.
                            Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos,
                            and Eduardo Mata (with the fabulous Barbara Hendricks, and an LSO on great form.... what more could one desire?)

                            Comment

                            • cloughie
                              Full Member
                              • Dec 2011
                              • 22120

                              #74
                              Originally posted by visualnickmos View Post
                              Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos,
                              and Eduardo Mata (with the fabulous Barbara Hendricks, and an LSO on great form.... what more could one desire?)
                              ...or Dorati, Jochum, Ozawa...

                              Comment

                              • Alison
                                Full Member
                                • Nov 2010
                                • 6455

                                #75
                                Originally posted by EnemyoftheStoat View Post
                                Hammy? The Litton recording? You're kidding; understated if anything, and not in a bad way. You should hear the Nelsons, where the timp parts are way overdone (extra unmarked accents everywhere), just as an example.

                                Anyway, I'd like to track down the Rostropovich/LPO, which was how I first met the work and has some of the most satisfyingly rrcorded timp (Alan Cumberland?) and low percussion work I can recall.
                                I'm sad to note Alan Cumberland passed away earlier this month.

                                Comment

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