The Classical Music Guide Forums

mikealdren

One other issue is that for a few recordings in the LSR set you couldn't tell if it was Igor or David Ositrakh. Only David is represented in the Brilliant box set. Judging by the dates and the reference Oistrach and his son, they are all David except some of that one disk of duets. The dates sugges...

mikealdren

No sure how you clip and include an image but could this be the same as the 100CD Brilliant Russian Legends box?

mikealdren

Having commented about the importance of listening, there are some remarkable technical solutions in use for remastering nowadays. One is a system that completely removes pitch variations from piano recordings, this really should be mandatory for any old recordings. Not sure how well it works for ot...

mikealdren

I think the problem is often that engineers transfer using their meters rather than their ears. That's why some of the specialists do so much better, even when transferring from 78s/LPs rather than original source material (allowing for John's comments on that having degraded). The oriental market i...

mikealdren

Very sad, she was a superb violinist and her Szymanowski No.1 recording is the best by far despite the dated sound quality. I heard her play the concerto in the early 70s and it was a very memorable concert, not least because Szymanowski was rarely played in those days.

mikealdren

I bought 2 of her Saga Debussy CDs recently after reading excellent reviews. How had I missed these marvellous performances for so many years?

mikealdren

and Tennstedt conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra not the LSO, not the same and until he came along, not really as good.

mikealdren

Hi is Cheniston Roland and he lives in Liverpool. I suspect he's quite elderly now and I know he has had health issues.

If you have a contact, it would be great to see how he's doing, he used to do a weekly podcast but that seems to have stopped some years ago.

mikealdren

I've seen CDs of the MCA Glory of Cremona recording on sale in the Decca label too but I must have missed them when new and they're far too expensive now. Unless they are re-released, I'll have to make do with my Lp.

mikealdren

Not sure how I missed this! I have long loved the original LP of the Sarasate, in fact it's probably the best Sarasate disk I have (and I have a lot) and it was on my (now) very short list of great recordings that have not made it to CD. The Persinger recordings are nowhere near as good. I bought th...

mikealdren

Not really my area of expertise but there are some really fantastic younger pianists around. There are a quite few other established (older?) artists who I rate very highly e.g. Uchida, Kovacevitch, Perahia, Pollini, Pires. It's always interesting when you start with those who start as exceptional t...

mikealdren

Interesting view John and I agree to a certain extent. Nowadays for instance, there are so many fantastic violinists it's hard to justify yet another recording of the Beethoven/Brahms/Sibelius/Tchaikovsky etc..... Campoli however did have a distinctive voice that made his best recordings special. Fo...

mikealdren

Hi Lance, Most of the concertante works have been available on CD for a while but some have probably been pirated from LPs and, in all cases where I have compared, the new CDs sound as good or better. More than that, the Bruch/Saint Saens was the first LP I ever bought and it has not been available ...

mikealdren

Having gone through a couple of dozen, it is a little annoying that they only nametwo people when there are three in the photo, eg Bakala and Chalabala and anonymous, and I have no idea who is who. When one is Bernstein or Barenboim or Stravinsky, different matter of course. But I second Lance's gr...

mikealdren

Yes it was, amazing how we accepted that odd solution to keep the costs down. I thought costs would come down but I certainly never expected CDs to become so cheap. Probably because I was brought up with LPs which cost so much in the 1960s. Even more astonishing is how cheap CD players are, being ab...

mikealdren

I have an early CD of Feuermann from the days when CDs were expensive to produce. To optimise the use of the plastic, the left channel contains one set of mono recordings, the right channel, another set.

I've since transferred the contents onto two CDs!

mikealdren

You cn see the score here:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Études_d%27exécut ... zt,_Franz)

mikealdren

Hi Lance,
try Martin Fröst, not sure of he's really made it across the Atlantic but he's a simply sensational performer and his CDs are marvellous too.

Mike

mikealdren

If one of the poodles plays the kazoo, does that make it a trio?

mikealdren

Lovely tuneful undemanding works, like Wieniawski they're among the best of their type. Do people still pay them? Well I'm sure students still learn them and since Heifetz concertos have been recorded by (among others): Sarah Chang Zino Francescatti Arthur Grumiaux Hilary Hahn Misha Keylin Leonid Ko...

mikealdren

Come on now. Naming a few celebrities among the hundred whose opinions BBC Music sought, cuts no ice. Who says they are experts on the history of violin playing? Anyway, the value of any poll depends on the validity of its results, and you don't dispute that the results of this poll are clearly not...

mikealdren

and it was set in Japan to reflect, and poke fun at, the prevailing Victorian obsession with all things Japanese.

mikealdren

The Alan Green list is indeed a bit of a joke but most lists are. The problem is that he seems to feel that he has to include a flute concerto and a horn concerto and a violin concerto. You could easily argue that 9 of Mozart's top 10 are all piano concertos plus the clarinet concerto. After all the...

mikealdren

Not only was he the preeminent horn player but Boyd Neel is often quoted as saying that Brain was the finest Mozartian on any instrument and listening to his recordings, you can see why he thought so.

mikealdren

I suspect there's a degree of Scottish nationalism at play here. He's a fine pianist but, from the few sections I have heard on the radio including the Appassionata, Paul Lewis's is a safer bet.

Mike

mikealdren

Kogan and Szeryng are top rank players but there's not enough of them to justify the rest of the box. Sadly, as with previous boxes, these are not available separately.

Mike

mikealdren

Although Weilerstein has stated that her idol was Jacqueline du Pre, she is a far more intense and emotional performer than du Pre (du Pre never recorded either of the Shostakovich cello concertos, or, for that matter, the Prokofiev "Symphonie Concertante") I'm surprised at this comment, JdP was no...

mikealdren

My point is that I don't believe that the current situation is sustainable and sooner or later the bubble will burst, there isn't enough money in the system to pay these exorbitant fees, publicists and managers have managed to maintain the levels for far to long, it can't last. It would be interesti...

mikealdren

Are conductors really worth $500k+? If the orchestras are dying who will pay them that in the future, especially if they don't attract the audiences. The highest paid stars that attract the big fees do so by filling halls (Lang Lang, YoYo Ma, Fleming, Netrebko, DiDonato, Kaufmann, Bartoli etc). As f...

mikealdren

VERY eccentric. Great character and a top player in the right repertoire, a bit like Kremer, great technique and uncompromising view of the music. Not the most polished player or the most beautiful sound but always an interesting and challenging artist. Also an interesting commentator on the violin,...

mikealdren

Thanks, Lance - a very thoughtful response. I didn't know he was the most recorded violinisit - is that in the notes in the box? Like you and Holden Fourth, I esteem Grumiaux very, very highly - perhaps at the top, closely followed by Oistrakh, Heifetz, Perlman and a couple of others. Grumiaux is s...

mikealdren

Prompted by this tread, I've just looked up BnF, it's the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and they have a very large collection of recordings so I suspect they are taken from LP. As a result they will probable be lower quality than the DG box and no better than my LPs but I'll try the Lalo as an ex...

mikealdren

Hi Lance, I've never seen it, sad really because it's much better than his earlier Sarasate with Persinger. Other CDs I await eagerly include: Kremer's Ysaye solo sonatas (although listening to the CD recently made me realise how good some recent versions are!) Campoli's Bruch no.1 with Kisch and Sa...

mikealdren

Lance,
I now have the Wieniawski on CD, send me a PM and I'll see if I can get a copy to you.

Mike

mikealdren

and it's not just his vocal works, the Frank Bridge variations and the Young Person's guide are among his finest works. The Simple Symphony and Strings quartets are well worth exploring and Soirées and Matinées musicales are fun. Following from John F's comments, what marks Britten out for me is his...

mikealdren

[quote="Lance"]I thought I had another big loss: I have manifested my CD collection to the computer, also books, DVDs/videos, etc., and those icons remained on the screen. When I clicked on them, nothing showed UNTIL I reinstalled the Microsoft program (and old one) which brought all this informatio...

mikealdren

Hi Lance, very sorry to hear of your problems but a good IT shop should be able to recover most things unless the disk is really scrambled. Maestrob, there are plenty of good options for playing CDs, what did you use before, won;t it work with windows 10. Chrome is miles better than IE so look upon ...

mikealdren

Excellent, a set I have been waiting for for a long time but it's still very expensive in the UK, hopefully they'll release it here soon.
Mike

mikealdren

I find it absolutely astounding that there's no box set of Henryk Szeryng. I realize he's recorded for several various labels, but still, Universal should be able to get together a fine collection. I agree completely, many of his recordings that have been issued were only available for a short whil...

mikealdren

Interesting that it doesn't include the marvellous Oistrakh performance of the violin concerto, however I suppose it has been much reissued.

mikealdren

I'm not sure about 'top flight quartets', but the Shostakovich quartets are in the repertoire of many British quartets and have been since the 70s. The Brodsky, Sorrel and Fitzwilliams all recorded complete cycles and I don't think they recorded the Bartok quartets. This is certainly not to denegrat...

mikealdren

barney wrote: I've just finished the marvellous book Indivisible by Four by the first violinist of the Guarnieri Quartet. He refers to the nine composers who formed 90 per cent of their repertoire. Bartok was there, Shostakovich was not. I'm sure that's true of just about every string quartet outsi...

mikealdren

'It's tantamount to rolling the dice!'. Yes it seems so! It's worth noting that there have always been people who lived for a long time. Average lifespan has increased enormously but much of that has also been due to reducing child mortality. When a large number die in childhood, average lifespan is...

mikealdren

If he really has a valid gripe with Lebrecht, I would have thought this would have been a great opportunity to articulate it!

Mike

mikealdren

Good to hear-I'm spoiled-the smoking problem hasn't existed for me for years! Regards, Len :) I was in Berlin in December, no smoking in enclosed public places now. In fact I can't think of anywhere in Europe that I've been in recent years and come across smoking in restaurants although there may s...

mikealdren

Shame the violinist is left handed! Amazing how often he photos are the wrong way round.
Mike

mikealdren

The Toscanini version of the dance of the hours is amazing, despite the aged sound, fabulous Rhythmic control.

Mike

mikealdren

I must say ... the new Warner Callas box is a masterpiece in presentation offering full original jacket covers and a stunning book with wonderful photographs throughout. My copy of the EMI first edition of all of the soprano's recordings will go to someone as a birthday gift. I was able to acquire ...

mikealdren

Shame it doesn't include his superb Offenbach, I'm still looking for Perichole on CD

Mike

mikealdren

Yes a name from the recent past, I had no idea that he had recorded so much. I've got an LP of the Tchaik items but I haven't listened to them for years.

My memory is a very good player overshadowed by others.

Mike

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