Full time geek. Classical Music lover. founding Head of 1729 Maths School. CUP book author. Opinions are my own. 🏳️🌈
St Albans, UK
Joined May 2018
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I’m currently working through the 234 box sets and 3 composer retrospectives in this thread. The craziness started in early 2020 with the Stravinsky box and I’ve been lost to it ever since. The link takes you to the END, so you’ll need to scroll up. I will continue to…..
#NowSpinning Android Nelsons with Mahler Symphony No.1. The quiet opening was fine, but when the cellos play the first statement of the main tune there is a really horrible affectation right at the end of the first line. I hope things improve.
…it’s not especially distinctive. Sadly the finale felt like a play through for me, with the most interesting things coming from the sheer splendour of this orchestra in full flood rather than anything interpretive. So…
Karajan Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, 355 Discs. Part Four! 1980s DG orchestral recordings, avoiding massive threads!
#KarajanDG1980s CD 39 Brahms Symphony No.2 and the Haydn Variations. The orchestra plays with exquisite poise, though the density of sound can significantly undermine subtlety of timbre. That said, there’s plenty of nice rubato and a genuinely exultant ending.
#KarajanDG1980s CD 40 Karajan’s last recording of Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra. The immense power and weight of the orchestra could have been too much, but the recording is lucid and balanced really well. This is a thrilling ASZ, even if I still slightly prefer Karajan’s greater sense of discovery in earlier versions. I particularly loved the final clamour of the very last climax, before the music dies away to its uncertain close. The strings and winds work together with incredible strength, whilst the horns ring out above all. Amazing.
#NowSpinning Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra in Karajan’s digital recording. I have always tended to prefer his earlier versions, but I am very happy to be hearing this again. Karajan was a fine Straussian and this recordings holds up the high standards, regardless of comparisons with earlier efforts.
A thread for each Vaughan Williams work, to celebrate the music and recordings as I listen to them. This one is for A Sea Symphony, a huge canvass for soloists, choir and orchestra, with each movement setting words by Walt Whitman. The work was premiered in 1910 at the….
…moments. Will Liverman brings a stirringly heroic quality to the performance, leaving a lasting impression of richness and emotional depth. My favourite moment in the whole performance was the sweeping power of ‘O Thou Transcendent’ in the final moment. By this point I…
#NowSpinning Mahler Symphony No.2 with Rattle in Bavaria. Against a backdrop of divided opinion I always really enjoyed his 1987 CBSO version, even if it feels a touch slow. I never really warmed to the Berlin remake, though. So where will I end up with this one?
#NowSpinning Pappano’s Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony. It took a short while to get used to the slightly anaemic choral sound, as recorded, but the orchestra and soloists are caught with impressive clarity and definition. It’s important to keep this work moving and Pappano does just that.
The Eugene Ormandy Legacy on Sony. This set comprises the complete mono recordings Ormandy made with the Philadelphia Orchestra, for Columbia and RCA. I'll add comments as I listen to each disc.
#OrmandyColumbiaLegacy CD 46 Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with György Sándor. This is a very muscular performance, with both conductor and soloist converging into one approach nicely. Structures are all very clear and sharp and the impact is lucidity over emotional impact.
#OrmandyColumbiaLegacy CD 47 Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite in a genuinely electrifying performance. The outer movements are incredibly swift and played with knife-edge precision. The middle two movements are altogether more chillingly atmospheric, with flickering half lights amazingly well caught. Superb!
#NowSpinning truly stupendous Sibelius from Ormandy. This is thrilling Sibelius, played at white heat.
