The Classical Music Guide Forums

maestrob

Schwarzkopf had a natural voice, as opposed to one that was built up technically. In the early 1980's, when I was learning about vocal technique by sitting in on others' voice lessons, Schwarzkopf also came into the studio to observe and let it be known that she would be teaching master classes in N...

maestrob

Sure, but Rachmaninoff wrote 3 excellent symphonies plus the Symphonic Dances, which is symphonic in length, plus his tone poem "The Isle of the Dead." As well, he wrote four piano concerti and 3 CDs of exquisite art songs (known as Romances in Russia). Don't forget his mini-opera Aleko and various...

maestrob

Duplicate post deleted.

maestrob

Len: Well, Tchaikovsky wrote operas that were successful and remain in the repertoire, but Rachmaninoff did write roughly 5 CDs worth of exquisite solo piano music, which I admire greatly. Brian but what about all the other stuff from Tchaikovsky-all those great concertos-the symphonies? Regards, L...

maestrob

Len: Well, Tchaikovsky wrote operas that were successful and remain in the repertoire, but Rachmaninoff did write roughly 5 CDs worth of exquisite solo piano music, which I admire greatly. Belle, since you admire Tchaikovsky's late symphonies, may I heartily recommend Gergiev/Vienna as well as Petre...

maestrob

Louis Langree is a fine conductor of Mozart and French music, lively and sparkling. I, too, did not know that he's now leading Cincinnati, and am delighted to hear it. He has recorded (besides Mozart) Chausson, Berlioz & Franck, all in very fine readings. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/imag...

maestrob

Thanks, Mark, for returning us to the subject at hand.

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71OvzkPUu%2BL._SX522_.jpg Rafal Blechacz is an artist new to these ears, and what a treat this album is! Devoted entirely to Bach, the disc includes many popular pieces, such as the Italian Concerto and the First Partita, played with sensitivity and ...

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https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71FBVnvgZNL._SX522_.jpg Ivan Fischer with his Budapest Festival Orchestra seem to be on a slow-motion mission to record Mahler's Symphonies, and that's fine by me! His recent Mahler IV was exquisitely crafted, and so is this new III, served up on two...

maestrob

Prokofiev's own recording of his now popular Concerto III is very different from what's in the score, especially when compared to Graffman/Szell, which is the first recording made in the modern style I heard when I was a teenager. Szell's interpretation has been emulated by many other conductor/pian...

maestrob

Thanks for that, Len. Very entertaining!

maestrob

The idea that NY is a "second-tier" orchestra is sheer nonsense: it's our current conductor who is second tier most of the time, although he has his moments of inspiration. Jaap Van Zweden may be too polite for some, but his recent recordings show that at least he knows how the music should go (I'm ...

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JohnF:

Well, I can only repeat myself in slightly a slightly different way: I admire Furtwangler's way with Schumann IV, even though I violently disagree with it. We've gone down this path before with Shostakovich V and Rostropovich among other conductors, so I don't see the need to belabor my point.

maestrob

Sad, sad news indeed. La Selva was my friend and mentor: I studied with him for six years at Juilliard. He taught me much of the standard repertoire, both operatic and symphonic, and encouraged me to begin my own vocal competition in Carnegie Hall. He was a demanding and generous teacher who knew al...

maestrob

FWIW the Ricordi edition of the score has five acts in Italian, the Schirmer has only four.

maestrob

Lance, if this were my situation I would go to "My Orders" on amazon, find the order, and request a refund because the item was not received or signed for by you. I'm just saying.......

maestrob

Szell's complete set of Schumann symphonies are favorites of mine, all four. Szell actually rescored the winds to fit the wider range of modern instruments, and IIRC may have touched up the brass as well. Anyway, I didn't know that when I got the set as a teenager, and have enjoyed them since then a...

maestrob

When I think of Schumann, I first think of his Symphonies, of which the Rhenish (III) was my first acquaintance. It wasn't until Solti recorded them in Vienna that I was completely satisfied with a complete set, and that set is still my benchmark to this day, although Abbado made an extraordinary re...

maestrob

Lance:

Wow! I had that happen to me twice with amazon, and I live in a doorman building in Manhattan! I must say that I waited 2 weeks from the supposed "delivery" date, and wrote amazon an email: they credited my account immediately for both items.

maestrob

I liked this one better: Alagna's voice is tailor-made for the role, as is Jose Van Dam. Exquisite singing all around, led by the extraordinarily musical Pappano.

maestrob

Speaking of crossover....... Nelson Riddle was IMHO the classiest arranger of popular songs in the business, as he proved in Sinatra's release of "Only the Lonely" in the early 1960's, and in his other work at the time with great pop stars of that age (see Rosemary Clooney, etc.). Riddle's last assi...

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Yes, JohnF, I agree with your evaluation of Backhaus. I have a live recital disc where his playing of the Beethoven Op. 111 is totally overwhelming, but that's about all I'm interested in.

maestrob

Sinatra - ABSOLUTELY! Indeed the '50's were an embarrassing cultural wasteland. Sinatra was an exception. Strange to find Frank Sinatra as a topic on this board, yet I find "Only the Lonely" his best album, equal in artistic depth and vision to much of what we discuss here. https://images-na.ssl-im...

maestrob

Yes, indeed! .....and then there's Annie Fischer, some of which I've heard, but do not own.....

maestrob

What does it for me is the B Minor Mass, and the Christmas Oratorio, both of which I sang in Carnegie Hall many moons ago in my twenties. I still am moved by this great music when it's done well.

BUT, we're way off Len's topic now, so I'll stop here before I start comparing recordings.

maestrob

I must confess here that I do not own scores of the Beethoven Sonatas: in fact, my library almost exclusively consists of opera and symphonic scores. So, I defer to the pianists on this board when it comes to judging how faithful any individual performer is to the score in this repertoire, but still...

maestrob

The map is not the territory. What's written on the page is only the beginning. Though I am a Toscanini fan, I think that there are many ways to interpret any score by reading between the lines, and great musicians certainly know how to do so, just as great actors in a play do so. I think we agree o...

maestrob

IIRC, Westminster was "absorbed" by DGG back in the late 1990's, partly because there was such widespread demand for the Beverly Sills recordings of the Donizatti "3 Queens" operas. Though they sold well, I never thought that Sills's voice was suited to those roles, and indeed, she went into vocal d...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Bb6FvagFL._SS500.jpg Boris Giltburg has been reviewed favorably in these pages before, and this latest release (recorded in 2015) shows he has not lost that magic he displayed earlier. Though still young, Giltburg displays an unusual maturity coupl...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71R2rGOZw4L._SX522_.jpg Martyn Brabbins has recently begun a project of recording Vaughan-Williams, and this is his first disc of rare material, aptly entitled "Discoveries." Each of the vocal pieces is a gem, with Jennifer Johnston (mezzo) and Roder...

maestrob

Sorry to denigrate Boston/Munch, but even as a teenager I found Munch inferior to the other "big five," with the exception of the Symphonie Fantastique and the Berlioz Requiem.

We each have our own ways of appreciating music: that's as it should be.

maestrob

Sounds intriguing, Lance, but I've already spent my allowance for October! I'll put this one on my Christmas list.......

maestrob

Chopin was not the greatest orchestrater in the world, but his efforts in the two piano concerti have never been questioned TMK until now. How do you find these revisions, Lance? The issue intrigues me.

maestrob

Casella

maestrob

Pappano is one of my favorite conductors: he would make an outstanding replacement for Levine at the MET. I just like how he understands music: his recent Aida recording on CD won all sorts of awards. Go see him, if you can!

maestrob

Cantelli was one of the great ones, whose life was cut short by a plane crash, IIRC. He was inspired in his musical thinking by his relationship with Toscanini, and was thought by the great Maestro to be his heir apparent. Cantelli's complete EMI output is available in an ICON box, and I would recom...

maestrob

I have many of those single-disc releases as well, but at these prices I'm not worried about duplications. Thanks for your encouragement, Lance: these two sets are now on my Christmas list!

maestrob

Yes, Belle, NYC is actually very hospitable, safe and easy to navigate above 14th Street. Taxis are everywhere if your feet get tired (we all wear sneakers for walking on concrete). Also the food in restaurants is excellent generally due to massive competition: a dinner for two away from the Central...

maestrob

I understand why your preferences are based mainly (entirely?) on recordings, but as we both know, you have to see and hear the conductor and orchestra in action to make a proper assessment of their interaction and chemistry. Riccardo Muti's recordings of Verdi operas don't do much for me, but ther...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71JPFU%2Bj80L._SX522_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81yV7PJAqHL._SX522_.jpg These two outstanding sets marketed at $2/CD are a bargain, especially considering the artistry of the performers included in the releases. Just a few ...

maestrob

Brilliant! Thank-you!

maestrob

Rattle is alive but not available - his term as music director of the London Symphony began last month with an initial 5-year contract, and for what it's worth, he told the LSO that this is his last job. And would you believe it, his demand that London build a new concert hall looks like being met....

maestrob

Who would you choose that's alive and available? Rattle :mrgreen: Seriously, though, you pose an excellent question. Both the MET and NY Philharmonic need new blood, and although I've heard some very fine recordings and MET broadcasts from Nezet-Seguin, who has already been chosen by the MET, the N...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71-YE1IRA%2BL._SX522_.jpg Tatiana Nikolayeva became well-known for playing Shostakovich, yet her other concert repertoire deserves more attention, as this 1989 Athens recital attests. Her Bach is attentive to serious detail, her Schumann Symphonic Et...

maestrob

This is not surprising to me at all. There are multiple problems with the NY Philharmonic that go beyond the hall itself: both financial and musical. Maybe Jaap van Zweden can solve the musical problems, but something needs to be done about attendance, which is down. The hall is in poor shape, and s...

maestrob

This set of Badura-Skoda's complete DGG recordings is being released soon, and I wondered what the forum thinks of his artistry. My own experience is limited to rumor and gossip......

maestrob

Tania Leon, when she was just getting started, was the Assistant Conductor for Vincent La Selva for a Carnegie Hall performance of the Verdi Requiem in which I appeared in the early 1980's. She was very professional and quite brilliant.

maestrob

Hi, Belle. Electrical recording using tube amplifiers and microphones was invented and patented in 1925 or 6 for records, and quickly became the new standard due to its superior sound. Superior to mechanical recording, in which a singer or instrumentalist stood in front of a huge horn while the soun...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61%2B1do8ZySL._SS500.jpg In the early 1990's, EMI remastered Elgar's electrical recordings by pressing the original 78RPM metal masters on to vinyl records, then playing them with modern equipment and further touching up the result. The sound is spec...

maestrob

The sad fact is that the public makes stars happen, and the greatest star of them all, James Levine, is only vaguely associated with the MET nowadays, for very sad reasons. We are in a period with many great singers in the world, but many prefer not to appear at the MET, because they don't get to wo...

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