What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[AuntDaisy]

Two Flanders & Swann CDs earlier (At the Drop of a Hat & Another) - my rumble filter stilll hasn't recovered, and don't ask about the flutter on my bottom...




Just started Rinaldo Alessandrini's reconstruction "Monteverdi: Vespri solenni per la festa di San Marco".

[silvestrione]

Haydn. Piano Sonatas.

Alfred Brendel, piano.

Another Philips Blue Face I took delivery of today.

(What's a Blue Face?)

[AuntDaisy]

(What's a Blue Face?)

I'm guessing they're first pressings... New to me & I don't have any.

http://www.thefirstpressingcdcollection.com/2011/11/philips-1.html

Here's an example from PastoralGuy's last post:

[pastoralguy]

https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...iano-concertos

Brahms: Piano Concertos
Simon Trpčeski (piano), Cristian Măcelaru, WDR Sinfonieorchester

I fear that my musical faculties are waning.

Rather as happened with the new John Wilson Daphnis and Chloe, I found these Brahms concertos different in a way I didn't quite like but couldn't put my finger on to describe.
But I had them on more as background than as a serious listen, so I shall listen again more determinedly to see what I really think.

Has anyone else listened to them yet?

The Times gave them a 5* review claiming it was the best Brahms you would hear all year!

[pastoralguy]

I'm guessing they're first pressings... New to me & I don't have any.

http://www.thefirstpressingcdcollection.com/2011/11/philips-1.html

Here's an example from PastoralGuy's last post:

Yes, that’s them!

[LMcD]

I've just been listening to 2 movements of Carl Frühling's Piano Quartet - or Quintet (my TV and Mr Skelly can't agree on that) on this afternoon's 'Concert'.
The 2 movements I heard were pleasant enough, but it would have been nice to have a chance to assess the whole work.

[silvestrione]

I'm guessing they're first pressings... New to me & I don't have any.

http://www.thefirstpressingcdcollection.com/2011/11/philips-1.html

Here's an example from PastoralGuy's last post:

Is there a point? Do they sound better? More valuable?

[pastoralguy]

Is there a point? Do they sound better? More valuable?

They are first editions, manufactured when CDs were first introduced to the public. The developers of the new CD medium did not expect the silver discs to catch the public imagination nearly as much as they did. As a result, these Blu Face discs were produced in quite low numbers and so are comparatively rare.

They can go for large amounts on eBay but there appears to be a small number of anoraks, I mean enthusiastic collectors, who are keen to make up the set of the sixty classical discs that were used to create a market for the new medium. So far, I have 45 out of the 60 titles.

A harmless obsession…

[Pianorak]

Wagner, Richard (1813-1883)	Siegfried Idyll
Wagner, Richard (1813-1883)	Wesendonck-Lieder

Anja Kampe	Soprano
SWR Symphony Orchestra
Marek Janowski	Conductor

Heute im Livestream um 20 Uhr

[Stanfordian]

Karl Böhm – ‘His Dresden Farewell Concert in 1979’
CD 1
Schubert
Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D485
Extracts of two Richard Strauss works with spoken commentary by Karl Böhm
CD 2
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D759 ‘Unfinished’
Symphony No. 9 in C major, D944 ‘Great’
Audience address at close of concert by Karl Böhm
Staatskapelle Dresden / Karl Böhm
Recorded: Studio, 1942 Steinsaal, German Hygiene Museum (Sym 5);
Live 1979 Kulturpalast (Syms 8 & 9), Dresden, Germany
Edition Staatskapelle Dresden – Vol. 45
Profil Edition Günter Hänssler, 2 CD set

[Pulcinella]

Inspired by the new Villa-Lobos thread:

Villa-Lobos

Uirapurú
The Sewing Women
Two Legends of Nheengatu
Chorôs 8
Chorôs 10
Symphony 9

BBCSO and Chorus, BBC Singers, Martin Roscoe, Kathryn Stott
Sakari Oramo and Celso Antunes (conductors)

A BBC MM release.

[smittims]

I'm in the process of discovering some Concerti Grossi by Marcello, Valentini, Torelli and Manfredini. It's refreshing to come across such delightul music which, for no good reason , I've never listened to before. I particularly enjoyed the Marcello opus 1 concerti played by the Kaunas Chamber orchestra.

Of course, one reason for their being new to me is that they weren't recorded much in the days when I was discovering music. The CD era has made huge strides in recovering music which might have remained unplayed on museum shelves

[Pulcinella]

I'm in the process of discovering some Concerti Grossi by Marcello, Valentini, Torelli and Manfredini. It's refreshing to come across such delightul music which, for no good reason , I've never listened to before. I particularly enjoyed the Marcello opus 1 concerti played by the Kaunas Chamber orchestra.

Of course, one reason for their being new to me is that they weren't recorded much in the days when I was discovering music. The CD era has made huge strides in recovering music which might have remained unplayed on museum shelves

You might enjoy this Naxos collection:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7926721--manfredini-f-concerti-grossi-op-3-nos-1-12

[richardfinegold]

They are first editions, manufactured when CDs were first introduced to the public. The developers of the new CD medium did not expect the silver discs to catch the public imagination nearly as much as they did. As a result, these Blu Face discs were produced in quite low numbers and so are comparatively rare.

They can go for large amounts on eBay but there appears to be a small number of anoraks, I mean enthusiastic collectors, who are keen to make up the set of the sixty classical discs that were used to create a market for the new medium. So far, I have 45 out of the 60 titles.

A harmless obsession…

I don’t wish to get into another argument about the merits of the early digital technology with PG, and
I haven’t heard the relevant CDs, but the earliest CDs produced are generally not well regarded in audiophile circles. The engineers were just learning the technology, and in terms of transferring old recordings to CD, the ADCs (analog to digital converters) were considered primitive compared to what came down the pike. This is one reason that we tend to see companies advertising “new remastering” when they reissue CDs currently (usually the big box sets).
However, as with all sweeping generalizations, there are plenty of exceptions. When I bought my first CDP I was allowed to pick 3 CDs as part of the package. One was a Colin Davis/Boston SO Debussy album that immediately sold me on the new technology and still impresses today.

[richardfinegold]

I listened to the latest Data Disc that Pristine Classical sends to streaming subscribers. This one had a complete Toscanini/Brahms/NBC concert from 1948. Serenade #1, PC2 with Horowitz, and First Symphony. The PC in particular was superb, but the whole concert was exhilarating.
Also on the disc was Furtwangler in French Music: Franck Symphony (VPO, January 29 1945) and Ravel Daphnis Suite#2 and Rapsodie Espagnole. Two more different conductorial approaches could not be found in one evening. I didn’t warm to Furtwangler’s Ravel but the second movement of the Franck surges forward like Tristan