Spinning Today (Classical version)

[MartinT]

Shostakovich 7th symphony. Anton Nanut / Ljubljana SO. Stradivari CD. Aha, now we're cookin' with charcoal!! Superbly involving, the infamous 40 page 1st movement crescendo builds to a truly terrifying climax here, not just a build up to a loud noise that Jarvi plays. Fook me, the Nazi's really are battering at the city gates! Good recording, too, really fruity and dynamic. This remains my fave 7th.
(Try Nanut's Bruckner 8th, Mahler's 6th and Beethoven's 7th as well, once again my faves of many versions - a great conductor, sadly overlooked).

Thanks for that, Jerry. I've never heard of him, but I shall rectify that shortly.

[MartinT]

Shossie 7 and Beethoven 5/7 by Nanut on their way
I couldn't find the Bruckner anywhere.

[jandl100]

Yep - the Nanut Bruckner 8 is rare, it comes up on eBay now and then. Last one I saw went for over £10! ... maybe that's because I have been singing its praises on other fora.
The Beethoven 7 gets off to a slow start, Nanut takes the slow introduction slowly! ... but if you aren't dancing around the room after about 5 minutes I will be amazed!

I'm a bit nervous with folks spending ££ based on my reccies - I hope you like them, Martin!

Yesterday's classical choons ...

Chopin piano sonata #3. Perahia, CBS LP. Hey, I like Perahia in Chopin! Imaging is curious on this LP though - mostly from the left channel, and spreads a bit to the middle now & then. I need a mono button on my pre-amp!! So good, that I played it twice.

Chopin - 14 Waltzes. Krystian Zimmerman - DG LP. Perfect Chopin playing? - supreme delicacy of touch and a wonderfully flowing line. Just yummy.

Richard Strauss - 4 Last Songs

- Jessye Norman (following recent discussions) on Philips CD. Ooo-err, missus - she screeches on my 2 valve-output stage CDPs but sounds fairly smooth on my Audiolab 8200CD! ... not what I expected! I think the valve jobbies are simply more resolving.
Unlike MartinT, I run a bit hot & cold about this performance. It's VERY slow, which Ms Norman seems to think means deep feeling. Must confess I mainly hear her trying to be technically perfect (and, to be fair, succeeding!) ... but for me there's more to this wonderful music than Our Jess portrays. I find her voice a bit impersonal and cold and find the precision with which she changes the dynamic line to be clinical and calculating, a bit like a robot's rendition of the printed score. Ah well, it takes all sorts, eh! - we can't all like the same things. In music as in audio!
Hmm ... that comes across as overly negative. JN's is a very fine performance, and is technically immaculate and has astonishing vocal range and technique, but I prefer others for the reasons given. YMMV!

- next up was Soile Isokoski in the 4LS on an Ondine CD. Speed is more typical here (SI's Im Abendrot is 7m41s compared to JN at 9m54s - a huge difference!!). It seems to me that SI has a warmer tone and a more fluid line than JN and, for me, puts more feeling into the music. It's one of my fave versions - my top faves are Christine Brewer and Felicity Lott. With Lotty probably going to my desert island. ... her Im Abendrot is 7m30s.

Gabriela Lena Frank - chamber music. Naxos CD. Interesting stuff - she's a contemporary (b. 1972) American of Peruvian/Chinese/Lithuanian/Jewish ancestry ... and she melds those cultural influences in her music, making it a bit of a roller coaster ride. Worth exploring, I think.

[MartinT]

next up was Soile Isokoski in the 4LS on an Ondine CD. Speed is more typical here (SI's Im Abendrot is 7m41s compared to JN at 9m54s - a huge difference!!). It seems to me that SI has a warmer tone and a more fluid line than JN and, for me, puts more feeling into the music. It's one of my fave versions - my top faves are Christine Brewer and Felicity Lott. With Lotty probably going to my desert island. ... her Im Abendrot is 7m30s.

I have her version, too. It is persuasive and I prefer hers to Lucia Popp's, probably the closest in style. A little lightweight for me, but then I am used to Jessye's version now. I will take Jessye to the desert island with me

[jandl100]

Fair enough, Martin. If you have been smitten by Jessye's 4LS, then I can imagine that nothing can compare!

Yesterday's tunes ...

Some Beethoven piano sonatas played by John Lill. I have the complete set on Brilliant Classics. His playing doesn't always hit the spot, but when it does (quite often, to be fair) the sparks really fly. I can imagine Beethoven himself playing like that - leonine, powerful, incandescent ... inwardly brooding, violent, passionate ...
Lill's is the only complete set I now have, and I wouldn't part with it. I've loads of single discs by others, of course ... Gilels, Pollini, Kempff, Backhaus, Brendel, Magaloff, Peter Serkin etc ... but somehow I always return to Lill.

Robert Hermann symphonies 1 & 2 - again. I still rate these highly - but then I like discovering obscure stuff!

Beethoven Sextet for string quartet and 2 horns op. 81b, Duo for viola and cello WoO 32, Quintet for string quartet & extra cello Op. 47 "Kreutzer".Early stuff that is quite fun in an easy listening kind of way .... and .... Wow, really quite strange ... the famous Op. 47 Kreutzer violin sonata (violin and piano) arranged for extended string quartet a la Schubert string quintet
All played by Archibudelli - a re-release on Brilliant Classics from a Sony recording. A bit of Googling research indicates the arrangement is probably not by Beethoven. Must admit that it doesn't supplant the original, no surprise really, but is enjoyable nonetheless.

[jandl100]

Yesterday ...

Handel Agrapinna - an opera! Jerry listening/watching an opera - whodathunkit?
Yeah, not bad. Quite enjoyed it. I prefer Xerxes, though.

Delius - Walk to the Paradise Garden - Barbirolli / LSO 1965
Hmmm. I like the music. I know I do. But ... "Glorious John" Barbirolli I have problems with. Over the years I have built up the impression that I have never really heard a Barbirolli performance that ignited much interest in me ... so a month or so ago I bought a 10 CD EMI box set of his recordings, and have been slowly making my way through them. Barbirolli is pretty much worshipped as a Great Conductor, at least in England. I wonder if that last sentence explains all? We English don't have much in the way of Great Conductors, maybe calling Glorious John one was just wishful thinking?
Anyone here have opinions on Barbirolli?

[MartinT]

I like Barbirolli's Mahler 9th very much, I haven't got a lot else conducted by him.

[keiths]

Anyone here have opinions on Barbirolli?

I've just bought a 7-LP Reader's Digest box set "The Great Barbirolli" - 6 LPs of bits and pieces + a complete Dvorak 9th. Looks unplayed, so thought it worth a punt at £3.

Might take me a while to get round to listening to it though.

[synsei]

A bit different...

[jandl100]

Yesterday ...

Tchaikovsky symphony #4 - Ashkenazy / Philharmonia - Decca LP. I'd not even heard of this recording before I found it in my recent charity shop haul. Very Russian - you can tell it's in A's blood. A Wilkinson / Decca recording too .. not the last word in dynamic excitement, but wonderfully natural 3D recording, full tonality, you're placed toward the front of the rear stalls, I guess.

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #4 - Vasary, Ahronovitch / LSO - DG LP. Hmmm ... bit of a disappointment really. Didn't exactly set my world on fire, partly due to the somewhat warm and blurred sonics, but Vasary was not at his considerable best.

Chopin piano concerto #2. Zimerman, Giulini / LAPO. DG LP. Great playing - Zimerman is a superb pianist, but let down by DG's overly warm and rather unfocussed sound.

Beethoven piano sonata Op 110 - Pollini - DG LP. Wow.