The Classical Music Guide Forums

maestrob

Opera companies and orchestras make only about 1/3 of their income from ticket sales on average. As long as rich donors are willing to subsidize Grand Opera, the MET will stay. Sadly, they are the last standing opera company in NY, and Gelb is cannibalizing his audience with all these live movie the...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/710irD%2BFaxL._SX522_.jpg Enfers (Hells) is a superb vehicle for the French baritone Stephane Degout, backed by Pygmalion and discovered by the fine Baroque conductor Raphael Pichon. The album is an unqualified success, featuring the participants in ...

maestrob

It's smaller-scale than "Grimes" and "Budd," and a bit less melodically appealing; kind of like "The Rape of Lucretia," which I believe you've seen. But it's one of Britten's more popular operas. John thanks! I'm going for it! Regards, Len Great, Len! I also encourage you to do so! Here's my favori...

maestrob

The Sunday matinee is a great idea IMHO. Attending a Gotterdammerung or Don Carlos (in the French version) during the week is quite impossible for many New Yorkers, who now must work harder than ever in order to keep up with the ever-escalating cost of living.

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51kDFYZSMLL.jpg Here's the album mentioned in the article. Amazon has it for $48.00! Other sellers have it for $28 or so. Some production! Glass wrote a song cycle for a friend of mine back in the 1980's, and they were quite extraordinary and beautif...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61F5lQm4QnL._SS500.jpg Jonas Kaufmann is a consummate artist, whose career has blossomed over the past decade or so into superstardom. His is a voice that can sing nearly every role or art song imaginable: he has the finesse to successfully deliver a...

maestrob

Thanks JohnB & Rach3 for that! I must say that I am very much a Heifetz fan in Bach as well as other composers (his Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven VCs have remained highly favored since they were issued), and I've not paid much attention to Szeryng all these years. Your posting has opened my ears...

maestrob

Celibidache was the most erratic minor conductor I've ever heard. Have to draw the line somewhere. I'm decidedly not interested in this.

maestrob

Next thing you know, they'll release a DVD of the hologram.....

maestrob

Thanks, Len! I think it's astonishing that Netrebko is performing Aida at the 3,800-seat MET. I truly hope that her voice survives it, especially when she not too long ago sang Don Pasquale and Lucia. Garanca's move into Dalila was not unexpected by yours truly (she should do well), but Alagna's thr...

maestrob

arepo wrote: ↑
Thu Sep 20, 2018 10:15 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vALtCC_K4Hc
cliftwood

Thanks for that, cliftwood! Nice to see you here.

maestrob

There are plenty of false and dropped notes in recordings made at 78rpm before 1949, when editing was impossible. If the performance is inspired, incidental imperfections don't bother me. What you said. :) Been listening to Cortot's 1930's recordings, and while there are occasional "flubs," I might...

maestrob

jbuck919 wrote: ↑
Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:34 pm
Fortunately my French is somewhat better, but I can't make it work. How am I supposed to get past the obvious franglais of connectez-vous?

Good question, JohnB. I'm having trouble with that one as well.....and I'm fluent in French as well as Franglais!

maestrob

Rach3....

You're decidedly NOT annoying! I enjoy your posts, but just don't have the time to listen to everything.

So much great music, so little time......

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71poXEUnVTL._SX522_.jpg Philippe Jordan is the well-known son of conductor Armin Jordan, and he has established himself as a fine conductor in his own right. Curious about his new Beethoven cycle on modern instruments, I was recently gifted the above...

maestrob

That was marvelous, John, thank you. Thanks again are due to Nimbus for issuing these older recordings so that we can appreciate them today.

maestrob

Merci!

I'll have a go at these soon.

maestrob

an opera based on Marnie? As jserraglio says, it's been done before - by Muhly himself; cf. last season's "The Exterminating Angel," based on Buñuel's film. And anyway, I read somewhere that Muhly's opera is based on Winston Graham's novel, not the Hitchcock movie. His first opera, by the way, is b...

maestrob

Good grief! Another reason why B&N is failing!

At least when I visit a web page for a classical CD on amazon, I get follow-up (automated, I'm sure!) emails trying to sell me the item if I don't buy it at first.

maestrob

To clarify, JohnF, I will say that Nezet-Seguin impresses me more than van Zweden so far. Whether he lives up to Toscanini's standards, well, I've heard great things on recordings that live up to the excitement of Bernstein, but I will evaluate what I hear as I hear it. It's difficult to judge, beca...

maestrob

Maybe you're right - I hope so. But for me, both conductors are at best of the second rank, as Alan Gilbert was before them. And if neither has an agenda for his tenure, or at least some major projects, they're lacking in what one of our presidents called "the vision thing," which Gilbert certainly...

maestrob

Holy cow! Thanks, John, for that article. If our dysfunctional Congress ever passes something like this, it could mean the end of youtube as a resource. With my library of CDs, I'm not lacking in music to listen to, but for those who rely on "free" music online, this would be a disaster. Copyright v...

maestrob

Nezet-Seguin is the real deal: of all I've heard by him, only his Schumann didn't work for me (too fast and erratic tempi, with the result that the orchestra sounded cramped). As for Van Zweden, his early recordings were erratic, but he's got discipline now and is obviously willing to take on the ne...

maestrob

Yes, John, thank-you. Bernstein was a complicated Renaissance man, with all his contradictions, he left us quite a legacy. There could not be such a musical figure today, as society has changed, and I feel grateful to have lived during his ascendancy. His passion for music and politics simply cannot...

maestrob

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 hist...

maestrob

Thanks for that, JohnF. How time flies! Nilsson was a Great Voice of the previous century, and her recordings hardly do her justice: she had an enormous sound live and the voice bloomed in the house. Glad to hear about all the celebratory boxes: her Isolde was one of the recordings that I studied wh...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/610fNYlJ%2BuL._SS500.jpg Having grown up with Ormandy's Church Windows as a demonstration LP for my stereo, I can support the enthusiasm of those reviewers on amazon who praise this new recording for its sound quality. Unfortunately, Maestro John Nes...

maestrob

Just as a friendly reminder......

maestrob

Yes, Donald, that was very special! Thanks for sharing it with us.

maestrob

Britten's War Requiem is not my favorite choral music, but it is indeed a masterpiece. It grew on me slowly, though, so I understand the reluctance of some here to hear it again. But Britten is, IMHO, a first-rank composer, from his Violin and Piano Concerti (the latter recorded by the composer cond...

maestrob

I have a few Reicha discs in my collection, but haven't listened to them in more than a decade. This thread prompts me to play them, so thanks Len.

maestrob

In defense of Charles Rosen as a pianist, I must say that his only failure in the studio was the Beethoven Op. 111. In other repertoire, he did very well, IMHO, with excellent performances of Haydn, at a time when both Richter and Horowitz were just beginning to explore that composer. I still own h...

maestrob

In defense of Charles Rosen as a pianist, I must say that his only failure in the studio was the Beethoven Op. 111. In other repertoire, he did very well, IMHO, with excellent performances of Haydn, at a time when both Richter and Horowitz were just beginning to explore that composer.

maestrob

But if Yannick Nezet-Seguin is so ignorant about women composers that he could omit all of them from a whole season, maybe he just doesn't know or care who today's leading women composers are. Wow! That's a little harsh, don't you think, John? I'm sure his intentions are to encourage new composers,...

maestrob

What do you think of the Dvorak Piano Concerto which Kleiber recorded with Richter? Kleiber absolutely loved Richter and vice versa. Thanks for this link. I have not heard yet, but will.To compare,I'll first listen to my Richter-Kondrashin Dvorak recorded in 1961. Here is what Richter apparently sa...

maestrob

Great article, Len, thank-you! I think the finale to Stravinsky's Firebird is an excellent choice. What about "Mars," from Holst's The Planets ? For piano music, I would recommend Chopin's Andante Spiniato & Grande Polonaise . The sad truth is that most young people today are not offered European cl...

maestrob

Yes, Lance, I agree! I ordered from amazon & paid a higher price just to guarantee that I would get the set, considering what it will be worth in the future, a few dollars extra didn't matter to me. Beautifully done, it's not quite a 12" box, but it fits nicely on my shelves.

maestrob

Wonderful comments! Thank-you. Actually, the "Philadelphia Sound" went out the window when Ormandy was replaced by Muti, a conductor with a completely different ear. His recording of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Petruska pulled a sound out of the formerly lush orchestra that was exciting, lean an...

maestrob

Said policy will surely cut advertising revenue massively: I can't imagine what will happen to the stock if this is implemented!

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511Vh2JaZrL._SS500.jpg Thanks for posting that! Beatrice Rana (which, while a common name, means "frog" in Italian & Spanish!) is a star, and should have taken gold. I have the above recording and plan to get her take on the Goldberg Variations as we...

maestrob

Thanks, gentlemen. That's quite a story!

maestrob

Yes, I remember that one, but had forgotten it was Reger.

maestrob

Thanks, I needed that!

maestrob

I wonder if he's related to the conductor Vassily Nebolsin, chief conductor at the Bolshoi and of many Russian operas on Melodiya from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s. It's not that common a name, I believe, but the Wikipedia article doesn't say so. Neither do his bio notes to the album indicate any...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51qJMMG4KyL._SS500.jpg Eldar Nebolsin is a pianist who has flown under my radar for more than a decade; as this 2007 release clearly shows, I've been missing some extraordinary pianism. This disc of Rachmaninov's complete Preludes is filled to the br...

maestrob

If you love lieder, you must explore Richard Strauss's songs, especially on these two albums: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51vJ4zWDzXL._AC_US327_FMwebp_QL65_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51aZclAAw%2BL._SS500.jpg There is also a disc by Margaret Price out t...

maestrob

I just ordered it now from the Book Depository, $16.60 incl. postage. Wow! A bargain for sure! I just finished listening to the Brilliant set this past Spring, and, as Lance says, the Schubert is sublime, and the other solo works are just OK for a young artist, but the works with orchestra suffer f...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/715JF8kKTiL._SX522_.jpg Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado has made quite a career for himself under my radar, along with pianist Javier Perianes, who has quite a discography ranging from Schubert to more modern composers. Both artists are excellent in the...

maestrob

Lance, thanks for your observations and for posting that link. I have the Columbia CDs of Feltsman's Carnegie Hall debut (plus many others) and consider him a very fine artist as you do. He's one of my favorite Bach players. What a great story you have there about your dinner with him. What a privil...

maestrob

I'll be hearing Zweden's Bruckner 8 with the New York Philharmonic next month, the first time I'll hear him in anything. The Dutch have a long and strong tradition of Bruckner performance - I learned the major symphonies from van Beihum and several others from Haitink - so this seems worth taking a...

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