The Classical Music Guide Forums

maestrob

This was Toscanini's NY Phil, then at its peak. I don't suppose Labate talked back to the maestro like that. :) LOL!! No way!! The NYPO did give Rodzinski a hard time tho - He was conducting Mahler's 1st Symphony - sometime in the 30s - rehearsal was not going well, and Rodzinski, he of the Vesuvia...

maestrob

I have the MET telecast with Renee Fleming on DVD, and it's a stunner. I'll have to acquire the Sutherland/Horne version: I've put it off for years, as I rarely listen to opera CDs any more.

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61GXruVKZBL._SS500.jpg This is a rave review of the Skampa (pronounced SHKAMpa) Quartet playing Dvorak's American String Quartet & Quintet, Opp. 96 & 97. It's not quite a debut disc, but it has the energy and verve in the committed playing of the gro...

maestrob

One of the most amazing recording Szell ever made is of the Tchaikovsky 4th with the LSO. As it's a Decca recording it's not in the box. Another is his Dvorak Cello Concerto with Pierre Fournier and the Berlin Phil. To this day Fournier/Szell is my favorite recording of the Dvorak Cello Concerto. h...

maestrob

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I won't say anything more here, but Levine is not the only guilty party, according to what I've heard. Let's just say that the culture of an organization starts at the top.

maestrob

Richter was at his best in that year when he made his Carnegie Hall debut. Remarkably, Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall didn't open until 2 years later, so Richter had to compete with visiting orchestras and the NY Philharmonic for time to make these extraordinary appearances. What a gift to now h...

maestrob

John F wrote: ↑
Sat May 19, 2018 4:31 am
Me neither.

Yes, the NYT forum shut down as a cost-saving measure about a decade ago, and was quite active until then. I must say that it was for subscribers to the Times only, and it was far less civil than CMG, which is, thanks to all who post here (especially Lance), especially comfortable.

maestrob

Brian, please try to get your friend to stop lurking and contributing. We would love to see him/her on our site. Indeed, CMG is still going strong after many years, started by Ward Botsford who became a good friend to me and whom I visited several times at his home. There was another classical musi...

maestrob

jserraglio.....

I reviewed that Bychkov release in another thread. My opinion is that this is rather tame and polite compared to, say, Ormandy or other versions I own. What's your impression? (It's beautifully played, btw, just no depth to the music.).

maestrob

lennygoran wrote: ↑
Thu May 17, 2018 2:51 pm
Brian the CompuServe forum now gone-it was great. Len

.....and so is the NY Times classical music forum, where I first met cliftwood and arepo, as well as diegobueno and another friend who's too intimidated to post here: still a lurker after all these years!

maestrob

Agree. Rattle is the last conductor I would expect to turn in a Romantic piece like the Schumann: I wonder how he does in it? Perhaps Brendel simply played and Rattle followed him? What do you think of the performance Lance? And yes, I do have the Brendel Box, but haven't yet opened it. Can't wait t...

maestrob

Are we talking about "modern" music, or "contemporary " music? As JohnF says, vague is the operative adjective here. I find it difficult to pursue contemporary music these days, due to a dearth of recordings, but from what I'm hearing, composers today are retreating from the ivory tower and are writ...

maestrob

It certainly looks impressive! Imagine being a school student or young music student and having access to this - one of the world's great orchestras: https://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/language/en-US/Homepage/Jugend/Aktuelles#gabetta Quite wonderful, Belle, and an example for orchestras everywhere...

maestrob

No comment necessary.

maestrob

Birgit Nilsson was known for her cutting sense of humor, and like every diva, she defended her territory assiduously. One late evening at what was then O'Niel's restaurant, Nilsson settled in with a table full of her MET colleagues after a performance of (IIRC) Turandot. The conversation began smoot...

maestrob

Would love to be there as well, but as you know my sleep disorder limits my availability. Please keep us posted as you decide on the time and place. For lunch I can be there at 2PM. My dinner time is later (9PM), and Teresa has special needs for food, so she may not be able to attend. We'll try our ...

maestrob

True, but the better the orchestra the more they should respond to the musical ability of a fine conductor. Or is that naive? How did the NYPO make Mitropoulos' life a misery? Any conductor needs a strong personality - the better the orchestra, the more the need for both musical ability and strengt...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61MdzfxT5aL._SS500.jpg The attraction for me to this CD is not the Sinfonia Antartica by Ralph Vaughan-Williams, but the rarely performed Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra, here played by the fine pair of Louis Lortie (famed for his excellent Chopi...

maestrob

Great conducting these days is a dying art. It takes energy and enthusiasm to bring out the best in an orchestra, and often these are mistaken for negative energy. Bernstein was often excoriated privately by his NY players, yet look at the results he produced consistently. Nowadays we have too many ...

maestrob

Delighted!

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71Pyks0x7sL._SX522_.jpg Boris Giltburg has become a prolific and well-respected recording artist on the Naxos label in recent years. This recording of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, unfortunately, lacks a conductor of similar stature, and it s...

maestrob

The DVD pictured below was issued in 2010 and is still available. It's a 1965 performance of Otello in German, featuring Jurunac and Wolfgang Windgassen in very good mono sound for the period. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71zjtFkKpIL._SY550_.jpg So much music, so little time! Per...

maestrob

Done! Thanks Lance! I've long been a champion of Czerny, now I'll be happy to explore these works as well.

maestrob

Thanks Len, for posting this. Borda is a visionary with some excellent ideas ($5 tickets!). .......And now I know how to pronounce Jaap Van Zweden!

maestrob

Found this on American amazon for only $6.98.......

......and this collectors' item for $35 (8.99 in mp3 downloads)

maestrob

Listening today to Schubert Piano Sonata A minor D784, from Wilhelm Kempff. I absolutely ADORE this work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1bfi-KO2KM The recitativo passages at the opening of the Andante; perfect heaven. Kempff is my go-to pianist for Schubert, along with the young Alfred Brendel i...

maestrob

I'm posting this link here because you MUST see the pictures that accompany the article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/arts ... n=Trending

So encouraging!

maestrob

The first complete set of Mozart's Piano Concerti was with Lili Kraus in the 1960's, playing with a pick-up band that was exceedingly awful. I had them on reel-to-reel tape, and they disappointed me to say the least. Then, in the 1970's, Geza Anda's set with himself leading from the keyboard was iss...

maestrob

Not necessarily. What disappoints me in the EMI recording is Shostakovich's playing, which you say nothing about. As I remember, it's accurate enough but more tense and nervous than the earlier Russian version, not to the music's benefit. Tense and nervous? Sorry JohnF, I don't hear it that way at ...

maestrob

Netrebko was sensational at the MET as Lady MacBeth: no reason she would fail to please London audiences as well. Congratulations on a rare find, Len!

maestrob

One of my favourites is 13, probably because it's the first Shostakovich symphony I got to know. But I find it deeply profound. Agree with you here, Barney. When I was in college (Villanova), I studied the texts in Russian (I'm a licensed teacher with a French major and a Russian minor). The 13th S...

maestrob

Shostakovich was an excellent pianist, and his recordings of his own music are worth having. That said, the EMI recording with Cluytens is rather disappointing, and his earlier Russian recordings are worth seeking out if you can. "Rather disappointing," my foot! That EMI recording is in excellent s...

maestrob

Frankly, I have never been able to connect very well with the Shostakovich Fourth, either. However, I accept this as my own deficiency, not Shostakovich's. It was his own favorite of his symphonies, and Vasily Petrenko says it is one of his two greatest symphonies, along with the Fourteenth. My per...

maestrob

The youthful Barenboim was quite a prodigy, IMHO, and his early recordings for EMI can be quite good, especially his Mozart. The Beethoven Trios he recorded are outstanding, yet his Beethoven Sonatas, while listenable, lack the depth of a mature artist, which is probably why he recorded them again f...

maestrob

Yes, Lance, I just acquired this superb CD with Boris Giltburg, which includes not only the two piano concerti but Giltburg's world premiere recording of his arrangement for piano of the Shostakovich Quartet VIII. It's a superb disc (pictured below) which I am proud to own. Giltburg is IMHO a young ...

maestrob

If you haven't connected to Shostakovich IV yet, do try the world premiere recording pictured above.....

maestrob

What a fun topic! I have posted the stories below before, but for newcomers I'll do this again. :D During my career in retail menswear, as I was studying to become a working musician, my wife and I often attended the MET during the 1980's, sometimes with free seats and sometimes with our subscriptio...

maestrob

Brahms wrote so much consistently great music that for me it's impossible to nominate one work to celebrate with. Where do you start? The German Requiem, his Third Symphony (the most difficult to conduct!), the Piano Concerti? I just don't know where to begin. Perhaps his Piano Sonata III, or the Op...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61phEOnzG0L._SS500.jpg Manfred Honeck, in taking the helm in Pittsburgh, has shaped that orchestra into a very fine ensemble, and has produced some very fine recordings with them, notably his Richard Strauss Elektra/Rosenkavalier disc reviewed earlie...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71cK2Myx6hL._SX522_.jpg The Maltise tenor Joseph Calleja began his career singing lighter roles and, as his voice has grown, is now singing more dramatic Verdi roles on stage. He is very well thought of for the depth of characterization in his roles,...

maestrob

Just talking to someone about Sirius XM radio in that they will not play any music led by pianist/conductor James Levine; and that the Metropolitan broadcasts will not feature ANY opera with Levine as conductor. Is there truth in this? Sirius can do as it pleases. As for the Met broadcasts, since L...

maestrob

I agree with JohnF here: I have the CD set pictured below with Teresa Berganza and Jose Van Dam, truly luxury casting, led by Michel Plasson. The weakness of Massenet's music is quite evident. Perhaps on stage it works better.

maestrob

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm definitely getting this set!

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71cAj9XPkkL._SX522_.jpg While browsing on amazon, I discovered this set of Marcelle Meyer's complete recordings for EMI, 1925-1957. Has anyone heard of this pianist, and should I buy the box? I've heard that her Scarlatti is superb, and there are two...

maestrob

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51lunsD7nSL._SS500.jpg This excellent recording of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony, with the Czech Philharmonic ably led by Semyon Bychkov, has at its heart one of the world's great orchestras. Bychkov's reputation for first-rate music-making is not c...

maestrob

L: No. I make here a very clear distinction — and I have written about it — that recordings should never be used by the professional performer as a study aid or as a means to learn the music. As such, recordings are absolute poison for the professional who misuses them. For the public, I think they...

maestrob

Thanks Rach3 for posting that link. The following PC by Mosonyi is quite good also.

maestrob

Our major bus terminal here in NYC has been successfully using this strategy for decades. Identifying classical music as a disinfectant, though, has its drawbacks, I would think. More like throwing the baby out with the bath water for 7-Eleven. Better to hire a guard and have a NO LOITERING policy. ...

maestrob

Thank-you, Lance! This CD gives us all hope, and it's now on my Want List.

maestrob

Thank-you Belle! I must say, I find the author's characterization of Bernstein's late style to be very generous, and his description of Bernstein's years in NY as a failure rocks my world. I thought then and still do that his NY years were his best music-making, most consistently excellent: he remad...

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