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Brahms double concerto on a LP purchased a couple of days ago.
http://lab.sekaimon.com/img/fetch/i/381411380240
Rostropovich and err, Oistrakh.
Oistrakh getting stuck in and playing with passion!? - :eek: Whodathunkit?
1964 stereo, so predates the famous EMI recording with Szell by 5 years.
Scrawny sound sadly, but excellent performance.
http://www.ambergreen-classical.co.u...305-1616-p.jpg
Another LP.
Kind of Mozart-lite. But none the worse for that.
Not on Spotify that I can find - but try this https://open.spotify.com/album/5GQkJua1Q2CCqRbKLW6iDE and this https://open.spotify.com/album/6gUhnyHl7uEVN2ZAVnIHxK
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41SJRFHDN8L.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/7aL0QUWezrksBOVsLsG6Hg
These are OK, not sure I can get very excited about them.
#1 is pretty much pure post-Romantic. #2 has a bit more 20thC grit at times, a precursor to Bridge's pupil, Britten.
Which naturally led me on to ...
http://superstarshop.cz/img/cover/ea...8683b7c160.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5dproxQPNgLxmjAEtvRYvg
I've been fond of this recording for decades. :)
Varied works, but it's a good 'concert programme'.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...iL._SX355_.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/7nvR4Jm9QsnxbJT1f0Puqi
Not at all bad, but not great either. This was HvK's last recording. I think his earlier Bruckner 7s were better.
I may well re-investigate one ot two of them today.
Wonderful music.
http://www.musicweb-international.co...V2_8557345.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/62sMsNoGPWo50VV3yU5rLg
Weird but strangely compelling!
Thought I'd try another HvK bruckner 7
http://musicbay.co.kr/data/goodsImag...DS1_1445493374
https://open.spotify.com/album/0E2R2uEylmCv5ZEIDFo78q
Better, much better than his final DG recording.
The 4th from this set ...
http://c3.cduniverse.ws/resized/250x...38/1040838.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5BN7MzsVK9EpCFYfgJHkvh
Good, but I must try Saraste again sometime.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RBC06VCQL.jpg
Ah bliss, some gorgeous music in this.
And finally the 8th from this
http://www.musicweb-international.co...Apr01/vw89.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/56W0dTQtJAZWAW9wVXGh7e
It's increasingly baffling to me why this music isn't more highly rated. Magnificent!
-- perhaps it's a grower rather than a wower.
Great job, too, by Haitink and the EMI engineers.
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/reco...ev-mahler2.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/2imgZkpWxj8SXRtVXOuYy9
Cataclysmic 1st mvt, totally emotionally draining, awesome sq. A lot of the rest sees Gergiev relapsing to more typical form, so I usually just play the 1st mvt!
A difficult act to follow, that Mahler, so off to the other extreme, a Mozart string trio. :eyebrows:
The music is just as awesome but in a very different way.
I tried Ma/Kremer/Maisky and the Grumiaux Trio but couldn't really settle.
This one seemed to suit my mood ...
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG...er=allrovi.com
https://open.spotify.com/album/1WAbySTZlvWbbD1W0Xrbqh
Bruckner 1st symphony from this set, conducted by Vaclav Neumann in the early 1960s I think. (Remarkably good sound for an East German recording from that time).
Who knew that Neumann did Bruckner? Not me. It's very good.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/3p28EpIDx84nFdWXzmABYl
Rave reviews for the set on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-Com...ruckner+rogner
Looking forward to hearing some of Rogner's 4-9. :)
This was a weird discovery, not sure how I came across it on Spotify!
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG...er=allrovi.com
https://open.spotify.com/album/7lfE61Au771vfiHOKBPD8t
Interesting and quite entertaining, rather more challenging than I'd expected.
There is also a recording with a violin concerto that is now on my playlist.
And to end the evening with some musical perfection, K.515 from this set.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...-40_OU11__.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1GIXh9GmX4vmL7YG9satsd
I tried a few others but finally settled with the Amadeus Quartet on DG, they just hit the spot for me.
Wagner's Das Rheingold - Bayreuth Festival recording conducted by Pierre Boulez
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/cm...53e0d8c9eb.jpg
Ancient NTSC video is a little fuzzy but remarkably watchable - the production still striking and the sound essentially identical to the Philips CDs.
^ Oooo, more opera from Malcolm. I can't be 'avin' with opera!
Maybe my in next incarnation. :)
________________
I fancied some light-hearted and bubbly "Sunday music", and somehow this came along. Just right. :)
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG...er=allrovi.com
https://open.spotify.com/album/2aCErK3Svno7wYA3q791cW
I only meant to play one of the two wind quintets, as that seemed a sufficiency. But somehow the whole recording got played.
And I enjoyed it so much that I went straight on to this ...
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...mL._SY300_.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/0MbVBF9L3TjoIZTPgrypDZ
Ooo - some minor key music here. Less bubbly, darker and more intense. Yum. Summat to get my musical gnashers into.
Which led on to ...
http://www.radioswissclassic.ch/comm.../014/14306.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5sIBPgKMNiL5WJ1ed4cCif
Which also hit the spot.
Then some symphonies
http://www.cdvpodarok.ru/cdimg_250/00/37/02/39_big.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/3MFmjrWlmKpkPN8GB7fx49
Yeah!
Phew - a Sunday filled to the brim with Reicha. Very nice. :)
As well as revisiting some of yesterday's Reicha wind quintets and piano trios, I also came across this set of Shostakovich string quartets by the Borodin Qt.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...FL._SY300_.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1awGX8mpyY8gG1Qx12Jocb
It's a Soviet / Melodiya recording of the full set, so comes after the set of 1-13 available on Chandos. Apparently recorded 1978-1983 with 2 of the players different from the Chandos set (1967-71).
Regardless, this is astonishing music making.
Of modern recordings, I had been impressed by the Sorell and Danel Quartets among others. But swapping between these and this Borodin set I have to wonder why they bothered! There is a sheer searing intensity to the Borodin's playing that the others don't even begin to match.
It's a bit of a shame that the sound quality, while very clear and focused is a bit dry and bright at the top end.
Rave reviews on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Shostakovi.../dp/B000HXE5BK