What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III

[cloughie]

What's next, The Slow Drag from Joplin's Treemonisha?

No actually it was Leonora 3!

[cloughie]

It's incredible - the huge difference in that (1955) recording , and the - by comparison - rather plodding stereo re-do just a few years later...

Yes, well worth sacrificing a channel for!

[visualnickmos]

Yes, well worth sacrificing a channel for!

Totally agree. In fact, IMVHO I think there is nothing at all wrong with good mono; if it's well crafted technically, it sounds the equal of stereo, and in some cases, better than poor stereo.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Bach - Preludes & Fugues BWV 531/3/4/5/6 - Simon Preston

Probably enjoying these too much - volume wise - to go any further with them tonight.

I was kindly given the Preston Bach organ works box by a friend yesterday, so it’s going to be daily Bach until I’ve got through it.

Preceded by Bruckner 2 - Mozarteum/Bolton; the last Bruckner symphony I came to (relatively recently) but it feels like an old friend, maybe helped by my having sung the F minor mass that is quoted in this work.

[Bryn]

Totally agree. In fact, IMVHO I think there is nothing at all wrong with good mono; if it's well crafted technically, it sounds the equal of stereo, and in some cases, better than poor stereo.

Indeed, and combining the two channels of poor a poor stereo recording to mono will rarely improve matters. That said, a good many here can probably recall the horrors perpetrated under the label "artificial stereo", back in the early 1960s.

[visualnickmos]

Indeed, and combining the two channels of poor a poor stereo recording to mono will rarely improve matters. That said, a good many here can probably recall the horrors perpetrated under the label "artificial stereo", back in the early 1960s.

As I wrote, I was thinking of those Decca 'Eclipse' series LPs - bought a few as a teenager. One example that comes to mind is the Mozart clarinet concerto and bassoon concerto.
Years later I came across an immaculate LP; the original Decca release in MONO. Wow - what a difference - clear, great dynamic range etc - brilliant! A damn good recording all round.

[visualnickmos]

Indeed, and combining the two channels of poor a poor stereo recording to mono will rarely improve matters. That said, a good many here can probably recall the horrors perpetrated under the label "artificial stereo", back in the early 1960s.

As I wrote, I was thinking of those Decca 'Eclipse' series LPs - bought a few as a teenager. One example that comes to mind is the Mozart clarinet concerto and bassoon concerto.
Years later I came across an immaculate LP; the original Decca release in MONO. Wow - what a difference - clear, great dynamic range etc - brilliant! A damn good recording all round.

[BBMmk2]

Yesterday’s listening. I’m having a season of Sir Simon Rattle.

Simon Rattle -Stravinsky
L’oiseau de fau
Scherzo à la russe(original jazz version)
Four Studies for Orchestra (1952 version)
Scherzo à la russe (orchestral version)
Apollon Musagète (1947 version)
Le Sacre du Printemps
Pétrouchka (1947 version)
Symphony in Three Movements
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle

[cloughie]

As I wrote, I was thinking of those Decca 'Eclipse' series LPs - bought a few as a teenager. One example that comes to mind is the Mozart clarinet concerto and bassoon concerto.
Years later I came across an immaculate LP; the original Decca release in MONO. Wow - what a difference - clear, great dynamic range etc - brilliant! A damn good recording all round.

It is amazing what so many of those Decca recordings which were Eclipsed have been CDd so very well and now to be found on Eloquence and in the superb Big Decca orange box.
Also the old Heliodor 89 series included a number of electronic stereo recordings and the originals have been issued in big DG boxes eg in the Fricsay and Jochum and Bohm boxes!

[BBMmk2]

Today, my attention to Szymanowski and Rattle.

Szymanowski
Symphony No.4, Op.60, ‘Sinfonia Concertante’ *
Violin Concerto No.1, Op.35 **
Violin Concerto No.2, Op.61**
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano ) *
Thomas Zehetmair (violin) **
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle

[visualnickmos]

It is amazing what so many of those Decca recordings which were Eclipsed have been CDd so very well and now to be found on Eloquence and in the superb Big Decca orange box.
Also the old Heliodor 89 series included a number of electronic stereo recordings and the originals have been issued in big DG boxes eg in the Fricsay and Jochum and Bohm boxes!

Yes - there are some real gems on Eloquence; you're quite right, they've been CDd excellently - the ones I have, at least. Stereo or mono - both equally good, IMO.

[silvestrione]

Beethoven 3 PO Klemperer (1955) - still the best! I also played the 3rd movt of the 9th - 15 minutes plus - lovely!
Des O’Connor and Klemperer’s Beethoven within a couple of hours - the joys of listening!

Ah, yes, just the 3rd movement...glad to see someone else doing that. Somewhat guiltily, I've started recently listening to just single movements of symphonies, sometimes one movement a night...

(and in the wrong order

[DracoM]

Glazunov: Piano Sonata No. 1 in B minor (Stephen Coombs) on https://areena.yle.fi/audio/ohjelmat/yle-klassinen

[Bryn]

La Monte Young: The Well-Tuned Piano (25 October 1981 recording).

[Stanfordian]

Rolando Villazón – ‘Gounod & Massenet Arias’
Rolando Villazón (tenor)
Choeur et Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France / Evelino Pidò
with guest Natalie Dessay (soprano)
Recorded 2004, Studio 103, Maison de Radio France, Paris
Virgin Classics

Lalo – ‘Complete Piano Trios’
Piano Trio No.1 in C minor Op. 7
Piano Trio No.2 in B minor, Op. 2
Piano Trio No.3 in A minor, Op. 26
Trio Parnassus
Recorded 1992, Furstliche Reitbahn Bad Arolsen, Germany
MDG