Works that might benefit from a new recording.

[amateur51]

Amateur 51,

I agree about the Britten diversions, and Benjamin Grosvenor would be an ideal choice. I don't know the Steven Osborne recording, but you may have overlooked a splendid performance by Leon Fleisher and the BSO under Ozawa. It's coupled with equally impressive performances of the Ravel left hand and Prokofiev's 4th. Fleisher made these recordings when he was still suffering from a problem with his right hand, but he has now fully recovered after years of absence

I've only been lucky enough to visit the Lincoln Centre once, and that was to hear Fleisher play the Ravel in a programme with the Suisse Romande Orchestra. It was wonderful, even if the hall leaves a bit to be desired. Light bulbs around the gallery made it look a bit like a high class knocking shop! ( Naturally, I have never visited a low class one )

Fleisher's Beethoven with the Cleveland and Szell still takes some beating.

Many thanks for the Leon Fleischer information, Ferret - I'll look out for it if/when I ever get to Gramex

[Nick Armstrong]

Edit: Just discovered that Steven Osborne has recorded the Britten - does anyone know it?

Yes - blooming marvellous! I also have Fleischer's recording with Ozawa, which if anything I prefer to the Donohoe version and Stephen Osborne's

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

On the operatic front, Rimsky-Korsakov's Le coq d'or could desperately do with a decent modern recording. Meyerbeer is seriously under-represented in terms of recordings - L'Africaine and Robert le diable both have a few live issues, complete with plentiful stage noise. I wonder if the Royal Opera plans to record the latter in its new Laurent Pelly production?

I'd also suggest Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra.

[Alison]

I'd like a new cycle of the Rubrra symphonies. Just a suspicion that Richard Hickox paints by numbers in his in many ways commendable set.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'd like a new cycle of the Rubbra symphonies. Just a suspicion that Richard Hickox paints by numbers in his in many ways commendable set.

[Petrushka]

No-one has really bettered Andre Previn's 1966 recording of Walton's Symphony No 1, though some run it close (Bryden Thomson, Ashkenazy).

We really need a modern recording that captures the explosive quality of the Previn in up to date sonics.

[Petrushka]

And after the many dozens of recordings out there is there really an account of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring that fully does it justice?

The search goes on...

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

No-one has really bettered Andre Previn's 1966 recording of Walton's Symphony No 1, though some run it close (Bryden Thomson, Ashkenazy).

We really need a modern recording that captures the explosive quality of the Previn in up to date sonics.

I've not heard it, but reviews suggest Martyn Brabbins' BBCSSO recording on Hyperion last year does just that.

And after the many dozens of recordings out there is there really an account of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring that fully does it justice?

The search goes on...

You need to hear Andrew Litton's account with the Bergen Philharmonic - very exciting and in incredible sound... a real foundation-shaker!

[EdgeleyRob]

I'd like a new cycle of the Rubrra symphonies. Just a suspicion that Richard Hickox paints by numbers in his in many ways commendable set.

I think that set would take some beating Alison.

I would like to hear a different take on Dyson's Canterbury Pilgrims,excellent though the Hickox set is.

How about Benjamin Grosvenor in Alkan Op 39 ?

[Roehre]

Some of my piae desiderata:

for a start (new) complete series of symphonies by i.a. Hoddinott, Daniel Jones, Wordsworth, Arthur Butterworth, Alan Bush, Ruth Gipps, PMD, David Matthews, K.A.Hartmann, Hindemith, Henze, Vermeulen, Badings, Harris, Schuman, Diamond, Rubbra, Melartin, Koppel, Norgard, Holmboe, Weinberg/Vainberg, Mjaskovsky, Schnittke, Aho.

Opera omnia (using the new editions/GesamtAusgaben) of Machaut, Dufay, DesPrez, Ockeghem, Obrecht, Palestrina, di Lasso and Sweelinck

further:
concertos by Moeran, Grace Williams' piano concerto

Beethoven's (?) Piano concerto in D (App.5) and his Symphony 8 with the 1st mvt's original ending.

Beethoven/Weingartner's symphony after the Hammerklavier (only recorded in 1926 or so)

The symphonies and concertos (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven) set for chamber forces for Solomon's concerts in London

B.A.Zimmermann's concertos and orchestral works, and his Die Soldaten.

[Barbirollians]

And after the many dozens of recordings out there is there really an account of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring that fully does it justice?

The search goes on...

A good point - I heard a sensational performance by the CBSO and Rattle on one of their rare visits to Sheffield in the mid 1980s when i was a student . No recording and certainly not Rattle's has ever come close to my ears since .

[Pabmusic]

Piston 2 was recorded very well by Michael Tilson Thomas and the Boston SO about 40 years ago and it still sounds good. The Seattle Symphony/Schwarz versions of Piston 2,4, and 6 were originally on the Delos label and I find them more than acceptable. It's clear that conductors and record companies are not queuing up to record Piston's music, excellent though it is.

Well, I'd not noticed that. Thanks.

[Pabmusic]

The Tilson Thomas recording of the Piston 2nd Symphony is preferable to the naxos/delos recording as is the Slatkin recording of No 6. There is a more recent recording of the 3rd coupled with a couple of approchable works by James Yannatos.

I agree about the Harris 7th and the other key work of Harris's that is even more in need of a good modern recording is the 1st Symphony. How a work of this stature (the 1st American symphony to be commercially recorded in 1934) has managed to be ignored by recording companies in recent years is scandalous. Harris's chamber music is also poorly represented, the majority of the current recodings available are variable in quality and some works fpr example, the Piano Trio, Concerto for Clarinet, Piano & String Quartet & Cello Sonata, have never appeared on CD.

Another key American work that has only been recorded once is Roger Sessions 2nd Symphony, the Mitropoulos recording dates from the 1950s.

Spot on! Thanks. I suppose Harris and Piston were just unfashionable in the 50s, 60s and 70s, although I have Dean Dixon conducting Piston 2, Howard Hanson Piston 3, and Ormandy Piston 4, all 1950s recordings.

[Pabmusic]

Another one I'd like to hear in a modern recording is the Canadian Colin McPhee's Tabu-Tabuhan, a piece from the 1930s in which he gets the whole orchestra imitating a gamelan. I have a recording by Howard Hanson and the Eastman-Rochester SO from the 50s, but I suspect it's the only one. It would be an excellent 17-minute Proms piece.

[Bryn]

Another one I'd like to hear in a modern recording is the Canadian Colin McPhee's Tabu-Tabuhan, a piece from the 1930s in which he gets the whole orchestra imitating a gamelan. I have a recording by Howard Hanson and the Eastman-Rochester SO from the 50s, but I suspect it's the only one. It would be an excellent 17-minute Proms piece.

This SACD of Tabuh-Tabuhan not modern enough for you?



There is/was also a CBC CD, but it's a bit harder to find:



I have the latter but not (yet) the former (as cited above, rather than chronologically by release date).