The Classical Music Guide Forums

barney

Caetani had a stint at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the musicians esteemed him highly. (So did I.) But his cycle is with the Milan orchestra, from memory - I haven't heard it. Does the orchestral playing have the necessary depth and richness, Brian?

barney

That's disturbing, Lance, if you are a completist. I have the full Leslie Howard set mouldering away on top of one of the CD bookcases, and now you tell me I'm no longer complete! Still, I think I'll just have to live with that unsatisfactory state of affairs.

barney

Well said, Brian. Me too.

barney

Yes, I have that version. I will put it on the play list.

barney

sorry Lance, no.

barney

It's a general rule. I think it's because the Australian Government now requires online retailers to collect the GST (tax), and they don't want to go there. That's delving into the dim recesses of my memory.

barney

I really love the Trump cartoon in the Australian yesterday.
At present it's the second along, Trump playing golf. Captures him perfectly.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinio ... 596589f6db

barney

Goethe, though a very great poet, unlike Shakespeare had a tin ear, and never wrote Faust or anything else with the intention of having it set to music. Faust is a "play" strictly for reading. Goethe did recognize that a few things would be singled out as songs, but he disliked Schubert's great set...

barney

Fascinating, Sue. I'd really love to know what he said about Norman that made her reach for a writ but - unsurprisingly - a cursory Google search is not revelatory. I have some 50 accounts of the Appassionata, and I am delighted to see they include the Richter 1960 Carnegie Hall. Guess what will be ...

barney

I just ordered it for $131.99 from Amazon, but they won't deliver to Australia. URRKKK!

barney

I know we're verging (boom boom, geddit?) from the point, but you are right, John. At St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne we still have vergers; nowhere else in this diocese. I've heard very many utterly trite 10 minute homilies, whose only virtue was their brevity, as well as (in a Baptist Church I us...

barney

It is the highest of high Anglican churches I have ever been to, which includes a lot of cathedrals. I wouldn't choose there to worship God . . . . I've heard the Anglican Church praised for keeping Christianity at bay in England. Well said! :) There's a lovely quote from a 19th century verger at a...

barney

It's entirely possible that the reasons were a complex melange which Mravinsky himself might not have been able to disambiguate.

barney

It is the highest of high Anglican churches I have ever been to, which includes a lot of cathedrals. I wouldn't choose there to worship God (the Presbyterian in me) because it's just TOO overpowering, but I would happily worship music there. And that of course is purely personal; I understand that f...

barney

Glad it went well, Sue, and fingers crossed for "what's next". Don't forget the Schubert quintet for two cellos in your spiritual and physical recuperation.

barney

Yes, really interesting Len. Thanks for posting it.

barney

Decca Eloquence - the ultra budget arm in Australia - put out heaps of her piano recordings in the past couple of years. Plus of course the many I acquired over the years, such as the Mozart. I think I have at least 30 de Larrocha CDs, so I won't get this one.

barney

John F wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:08 am
That's a pretty eccentric list - WQXR mostly favors Brahms lite, as in lite beer. A few standard recordings there, but mostly not.

Brahms lite? What constitutes serious Brahms then? I might cavil at some of the recommended recordings, but the chosen works seem pretty fair to me.

barney

Barney, absolutely delight in the work of both violinists. While I have almost everything Grumiaux recorded (I never did get the big box years ago before mega-boxes came forth) but collected his recordings on LPs and CDs voraciously. Szeryng is also a grand artist, quite different, as has been note...

barney

Yes Szeryng's Mozart sonatas with Ingrid Haebler are very good too. I feel he has been badly underestimated since Perlman's quip about not recognising his playing. Mind I sometimes find the same with Gil Shaham, another superb player. I'm not familiar with this quotation. Can you provide it more fu...

barney

Today I'm listening to this and other music by Bach as I prepare for very serious surgery on Tuesday. I'm giving thanks: the miraculous triumvirate of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRnA8VaFzD8 I think that is a highly intelligent way to prepare: spiritual, calming, be...

barney

I was one of those who felt the Grumiaux set was better, but it's the one I grew up with so I my not have been neutral. I didn't complain about it though. You are right, Mike, that performance styles have changed and I greatly enjoy many modern renditions. But the seamless purity of Grumiaux, that r...

barney

No argument, she is certainly a fine capable artist. And I believe I conveyed that. But it's hard for her to outrun a great quote.

barney

This is how the 2015 article began, which I thought was pretty fair: One of the world’s most glamorous classical musicians will adorn stages in Melbourne and Sydney this month when Chinese pianist Yuja Wang performs with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. Admired for her scintillating tec...

barney

If I recall aright, he did some superb Prokofiev sonatas around that time, which I got on LP.

barney

I interviewed Yuja a few years ago for The Age. I mentioned the clothes and a couple of quotations, which she did not like. Her agent asked the Sydney Morning Herald not to run the article as well (most of my articles run in both papers if the artist is appearing in both cities). Thus the Andras Sch...

barney

I too agree about Brahms; the second is my favourite of his symphonies. Sue, Sir Andras Schiff, one of the greatest pianists currently playing, has one recital in Sydney tonight, with Brahms (not the sonatas), Bach, Beethoven. If at all possible, you should go.It's the first time he's visited Austra...

barney

I've heard Hough live three times, and each time have been extraordinarily impressed and moved. In 2012 he did Tchaikovsky 2, in 2007 Saint Saens 5, both with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and in 2011 a particularly fine recital: Beethoven: Piano Sonata 14 in C sharp minor, Moonlight, Op 27 Houg...

barney

I know nothing of the feral rock concerts, but I certainly don't disagree. The opera house should be unsullied by any advertising or even light shows; I am very happy to agree with that too.

barney

$165 for 106 discs this weekend at https://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2272840#utm_source=ArkivMusic_NL&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=WS-10122018&utm_content=Szell-Columbia Amazon has it back in stock for $195 with free shipping. I got mine from the first pressing, but haven't h...

barney

Interesting, I was not aware of the use of the "sails" other than the non-commercial light shows. It will be interesting to see how, in the end, it all turns out. Who can actually make a final decision about this? I agree 100% with these comments from Brendan O'Neill about the 'advertising' on SOH:...

barney

That the Opera House sails have been used for tawdry advertising in the past doesn't make it right now, I suggest. I think all advertising on the sails should be banned. New Year's Eve light shows are different. The rise of gambling ads in Australia has been a real blight and I utterly loathe them. ...

barney

Six fictional priests chosen by Stephen Hough: http://www.stephenhough.com/files/index_90_2159693248.pdf This was really interesting, thanks for posting. I was quite unaware of most of the films. As a teen, I loved the Father Brown stories, and I quite enjoy the current TV series, though my watchin...

barney

Hough first came to my notice, and I think many others', with his recording of two Hummel piano concertos on Chandos. It's a winner, and so is the music. I've had that one since it was first issued, and I agree with you. You can hear premonitions of Chopin very clearly in the music, which I play at...

barney

Not sure I want to read "gritty" and "sticky" gay sex scenes - well, actually, I'm sure I don't - but apart from that it looks like a really interesting book.

barney

JohnF is right - rather unrestrained. I intend no disrespect but she was also the subject a great one-line by Clive James in the Observer in 1979: "Tosca in Tokyo featured Montserrat Caballe. The Japanese were impressed. It was clear that they hadn’t seen anything that size since the battleship Miss...

barney

I didn't get it, as I have nearly all the recordings anyway.
But that Amazon price - is that genuine? Is anyone actually paying that or is it some algorhytm or computer trick?

barney

You do know, Brian, that if we are destined to have and addiction or disease, I cannot find a better one that collecting recordings and actually listening to as much music as we possibly can in the time available. Quite so!! As it stands, I buy 2-4 single CDs/month: only the cream of the crop will ...

barney

Bernstrein recorded many of the symphonies - not, I think, a complete set - and he is always worth listening to. Very individual approach. My only complete set is Jarvi, but Haitink and Karajan also recorded many. I think the new Andris Nelsons set at Boston will be well worth collecting. He's start...

barney

I love the Babi Yar symphony just as you do, Barney, and your review was one of the strongest and most poetic I have read. KUDOS for that. But I do not share your slighting of the Prokofiev Sinfonietta. You should know that that work is more popular in Chicago than in many places because Dieter Kob...

barney

I attended both the Western premiere of XIII in Philadelphia w/Ormandy conducting while I was attending Villanova and studying the Russian language (we read Yevtushenko's poetry in class), as well as Masur's performence with Yevtushenko reading his poetry before a rapt audience, and have both recor...

barney

Barney we're down here in kennett square PA-the mushroom capital of America-you were in nyc and didn't tell us! Len :lol: I was with a group on a program, or I would certainly have tried to meet whatever members of CMG could make it. The loss is entirely mine. I remember with delight our 2016 lunch...

barney

I mentioned in the boheme thread that I have just been in the US on an interfaith program in Chicago and New York, and spoke of my disappointment at missing the Met debut of Australian soprano Nicole Car. However, I was able to escape (with permission) one night in Chicago, and went to the CSO and M...

barney

Ferras' Beethoven concerto was greatly admired for a long time, though it has been well overtaken now. I haven't played it for years because I have at least 40 accounts, and Ferras is not in the top 20 for me. Another violinist whom JohnF does not esteem is in my top 20 accounts, and that is Frances...

barney

I just got back today from the US - I had three days in Chicago and four in New York (including the day of this opera), but on a program schedule. I had been desperate to go to this Boheme, because Nicole Car is a soprano I love. She hasn't got a big voice, but it is finely tuned and very flexible, ...

barney

I have heard many say that Nilsson did not come up so well in recordings as live (though she was pretty damn marvellous in many or most recordings, which is testimony to how much presence she must have had on stage). Of the sopranos of the last century I regret most never having heard her or Schwarz...

barney

Thanks John
This is probably the best piece I've read so far on Bernstein's centenary.
Fair-minded and informative.

barney

I have checked with my friend about the streaming service he mentioned, which had been highly recommended. It is called Tidal. He says it has an emphasis on classical and huge repertoire. And the premium service offers streaming at full CD quality. So I hope someone tries it out. Streaming is not fo...

barney

Someone mentioned another streaming service with vastly better sound quality, and recordings much less compressed. I will try to find out what it is, and post it here. Spotify does compress files quite a lot, I believe. I too am in the CD camp, and not interested in streaming, though I do love histo...

barney

jbuck919 wrote: ↑
Mon Sep 10, 2018 3:46 am
I choose to resign from this thread, for it is clear that it is turning into a pissing contest, and on CMG I will avoid that at all costs.

Fair enough, of course, but I wasn't seeing it as that. I was enjoying some intelligent debate and interesting examples.

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