The Classical Music Guide Forums

mikealdren

For me, this partly comes down to the question of whether I am looking for new repertory or new performances of what I already have - it's a bit of a balance.

I'm always forever for something new and I hope I always will be, let's hope my hearing lasts!

mikealdren

Coincidentally Kindertotenlieder was the work reviewed last week by the BBC's Record Review. Marjana Lipovsek with Abbado was selected as the 'library choice'.

mikealdren

Yes, I've just picked up a sampler called 'The Reiner Sound' simply because they're recordings I didn't have. It's all from the 1950s in remarkably good sound and, of course, marvellous performances.

mikealdren

Hi Lance,
Hadelich is a top class violinist and well worth looking our for.

mikealdren

Grumiaux recorded a few things with them under Manual Rosenthal and Jean Fournet and Victoria de Los Angeles recorded her Chants d'Auvergne with them. I also have quite a lot of operetta including Gressier and Markevitch's Offenbach. In addition to Oistrakh's Stravinsky, Henri Merkel recorded Jean H...

mikealdren

barney wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 02, 2024 10:42 pm
In the antipodes, so far as I know. we've always said Sm-eye-th. So it's almost certainly wrong!

No you're right, in England, it's always "Sm-eye-th", I've never heard it otherwise.

mikealdren

Looking at British near contemporaries, I always preferred Robert Tear and Stuart Burrows.

mikealdren

I simply don't like his voice and I find it rather whining and strained, though he's certainly not the only singer I don't like.

mikealdren

I completely agree about Suk, what a fine musician he was.

Lance, your list has so many older performances but there have been some very fine recent recordings too, quite a few of the current generation of players are performing it and rightly so.

mikealdren

Definitely a taste I have never acquired. As we say in the UK, a Marmite singer, you love it or hate it.....

mikealdren

Poor Dvořák ... he gave us only one each of the piano, cello and violin concertos. Everyone of them is a gem. I have over 30 readings of the violin concerto, recent and historical violinists. That number probably dwarfs those I have of both the Tchaikovsky and Brahms Violin Concertos, but I would n...

mikealdren

Hi both, Oistrakh recorded it too with Kondrashin in 1948 but it wasn't easily available for many years. The complete set by Mezzena offers a more 'modern' performance and there's Perlman's recording on his 'concertos from my childhood' CD and I also have an LP version by Lola Bobesco. Stern made a ...

mikealdren

This has long been my favourite performance of a work I love dearly. Boult captures the nature of the piece perfectly.

mikealdren

Norman doesn't work for me in the Letzte Lieder either but it's all personal taste, I've recently been re-listening to the songs and della Casa is still a real favourite along with Schwartkopf /Szell, a real Marmite choice.

mikealdren

I heard him play the Elgar concerto last night, magnificent playing and a fine interpretation. Definitely a player to follow.
This afternoon it's Vadim Gluzman in Shostakovich 2nd concerto. We live in great times for violinists.

mikealdren

I guess it's a consequence of getting older. We recently moved house and I have now set up my main Hifi system. On Saturday I spent an evening listening to favourite CDs and realised that there were no recent ones. However there are areas where old favourites no longer hold their allure, especially ...

mikealdren

Oh dear, it rather confirms what I thought when I heard her. I'll try to listen to some tracks before buying.

mikealdren

I've belatedly read a review in Gramophone that rates her new Operetta CD very highly so I'll have to get it, the unusual repertoire is quite a draw.

mikealdren

A couple of years since I heard her in recital and her voice was certainly not as fresh as when she was younger, a disappointing concert and I agree about her Christmas album.

mikealdren

I heard her live a couple of weeks ago in an opera gala and very sadly, she was barely a shadow of her former self.

mikealdren

I acquired lots of her recordings, mainly Chopin and Rachmaninov, and I haven't listened to much of it yet. Her Mazurkas are very good but not Rubinstein....

mikealdren

I haven't seen anything new written about this situation. I'm curious to know what is going on with Mr. Gardiner. The article quoted Mr. Gardiner as having apologized to Mr. Thomas personally as well as to those who witnessed the incident. He also mentioned that he was going to see his doctor. It's...

mikealdren

I first came across him in the '60s when I bought his recording of the Four Seasons, not often played in those days, it's really excellent.

mikealdren

Agreed, her recordings of the Chopin Etudes and Rachmaninov are excellent but I haven't heard her live yet.

mikealdren

Yes, thought of that ... am doing the live Act 4 of Rigoletto (never enought time for a complete opera!), but looking for orchestral pieces that might run 2-4 minutes needed for a fill-in for time, not finding those! That last act of Rigoletto was the LP that convinced me, as a teenager, that I lik...

mikealdren

My favourite artist, Oistrakh, appears on my labels like Richter and, as a result, I have 126 CDs that include him (plus LPs and his chamber recordings), but there are lots of duplicates in the total of 119 hours. It's much easier to asses, for instance, Heifetz (RCA) or Grumiaux (Universal) whose w...

mikealdren

I recently played her Bishop Rock overture, very much of its time and well worth listening to.

mikealdren

neilnw wrote: ↑
Fri Feb 03, 2023 10:31 am
I've always lived by the rule of thumb there were only 4 conductors with "perfect ears": Reiner, Szell, Monteux, and Boult.

And Boulez?

mikealdren

He's fabulous, live or on CD. He has a fabulous technique, right up with Heifetz and Hilary Hahn (and one or two others) and he's a fine musician too. He's recorded plenty of CDs with a lot of virtuoso and chamber music and relatively few violin concertos. I'd love to hear him in recital with Yuja W...

mikealdren

Leonid Kogan, some of his CDs fetch ridiculous prices... The Warner 15CD set issued in the far east (but not in Europe as far as I know) would be a good start.

mikealdren

Fully agree, Stern was not one of my favourites but his Bloch recordings with Zakin are superlative.

mikealdren

I'm sure it's excellent but I won't be listening as he is much too close to Putin.

mikealdren

I agree about her Rachmaninoff, her Chopin etudes are excellent too.

mikealdren

Have I downloaded the same thing twice? They are remarkably similar!

mikealdren

Just picked up this thread; there is also a stunning DVD of the Oistrakh world premiere

mikealdren

CDs ordered, thanks both.

mikealdren

Modernistfan wrote: ↑
Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:30 pm
Other than "Fantasia," which was more than half a century ago, Disney and classical music absolutely do not mix.

82 years ago, getting close to a century, amazing when you think of it.

mikealdren

Ingrid Fliter at Wigmore Hall,live, March 14, 2022, a refreshingly lyrical, more relaxed and introspective Schumann; and a Haydn sonata new to me I actually enjoyed.She ends the Schumann with a couple of the more quiet posthumous etudes, not the march ! https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015548 Hay...

mikealdren

The CDs have arrived and I enjoyed the performance but the last act really doesn't have the extraordinary emotion generated by Toscanini.

mikealdren

So many of my favourites in here and I'm loving listening to them again. Thanks for posting

mikealdren

After listening to my new CDs I am still in awe of Ricci. In my youth, he had made the virtuoso repertoire his own and rehearing these recordings, I can see why. Nowadays when there seem to be a lot of virtuosi who can and do play these works more accurately than he did, Ricci's sheer flair puts him...

mikealdren

It was a battered LP of the Toscanini version of the last act that first converted me into an opera lover, Leonard Warren was the amazing Rigoletto on that. I must try to hear this Met version, thanks for the heads up.

mikealdren

I did thanks, very much.
I have a DVD with Adrian Boult which I first heard on Television when it was new but this is rather different and every bit as good.

mikealdren

Hi both, as I said on the Markevitch thread, I rate his Sarasate just as highly as you do. The Glory of Cremona set has never been widely issued on CD and currently sells at ridiculous prices so is very welcome and the Bravura set is new to CD. All in all, most of the 'British' Ricci box has been a...

mikealdren

Hi both, as I said on the Markevitch thread, I rate his Sarasate just as highly as you do. The Glory of Cremona set has never been widely issued on CD and currently sells at ridiculous prices so is very welcome and the Bravura set is new to CD. All in all, most of the 'British' Ricci box has been av...

mikealdren

I've got both sets, Lance - but neither has been opened yet. Also both the Ruggiero Ricci sets, ditto. I need 48-hour days. Many thanks Barney, I hadn't picked up on the Ricci issues, the American recordings in particular. I missed the CD of Glory of Cremona and it now sells for silly money, the Sa...

mikealdren

Thanks for this John,
I didn't know that he played the Elgar, such a shame that he didn't re-record it later. I'll have to listen today.

mikealdren

Yes thanks, CharmNewton, I have the Brilliant box but they are live Russian recordings rather than his Melodiya studio recordings. A couple of the Melodiya studio tracks that particularly resonate with me are two of his favourite showpieces: Kupkovic's Souvenir and Schnittke's Stille Nacht. He recor...

mikealdren

The box certainly showcases Kremer's eclectic repertoire. He's also a very imaginative interpreter and highly regarded by his peers, many of who he performs with at festivals etc. I have many of the more unusual recordings so I may give this a miss unless it's priced competitively. I would, however,...

mikealdren

Hi Rob,
Are there 2 Dmitry Sitkovetskys? The one I know of (and have many recordings of) is the son of the late Julian Sitkovetsky and Bella Davidovich. He's also the father of soprano Julia and lives in London.

Search found 414 matches