The Classical Music Guide Forums

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Their playing is the epitome of "slow, warm, rich and leisurely". If you are a fan of this style, it is definitely worth checking. Just don't expect a balanced interpretation; if you like your Beethoven string quartet with more energy and speed there are better options, at a much more reasonable pri...

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The plots of operas based on such plays as HERNANI, LUCREZIA BORGIA and RIGOLETTO are among the most truly unbelievable and absurd of all opera plots. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: When you have crap like Così fan tutte (can't recognize their own fiancés), Die Zauberflöte (fall in love with each ot...

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There's a limit to how many hours of music you can listen to, and how many hours of music you can program to a concert. And as the demand for classical music continues to drop and small orchestras go bankrupt you can be sure that the hours given to contemporary classics will suffer much more than th...

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Uh.... is it possible to hear vibrato in crappy mono recordings?

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Norrington also recorded several Mahler works, at least I know he has recorded 2,4,5 and 9. But I really want to know how any of these guys can justify playing Mahler without any vibrato, when Mahler clearly wanted his music to be played with lots of vibrato.

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Good points and balanced perspective. Because there seems to be consensus on his pre-mid-60s work, and less so on his 60s output, I'm still wondering if early multi-track recording technology is partly to blame for the blended, smooth sound of some of the BPO recordings. Of course, the Brahms CD is...

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That said, there is one choral work from HvK that i would urge everyone to hear. Verdi's Requiem with La Scala Milan and not the BPO. Yeah, that is without a doubt the best recording he has ever made, of course he was helped by assembling an absurdly mouth watering cast of Price, Pavarotti, Cossott...

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I would not go as far as to cal it acting, standing on stage like a giant tub of lard is a better description...(thanks to Jim Sveda for the lard analogy)... Pavarotti has recorded L'Elisir d'Amore twice for the MET.... in the 1991 L'Elisir d'Amore he indeed was standing on stage like a giant tub o...

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I am deciding between the Hyperion and Philips set; I know DG has one in their complete Brahms edition but I am not going to get crappy Karajan for the sake of those chamber music. Which one do you guys recommend?

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I am hesitant to get into DVDs in a very big way. I simply cannot collect those the way I collected LPs and CDs! :( Too bad these companies cannot provide SOUND TRACK recordings from these live operas for people who cannot stop their lives to watch videos all that often. You can always learn how to...

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http://www.amazon.com/Gaetano-Donizetti-regiment-Corbelli-Campanella/dp/B0013V33DG/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1292308763&sr=8-13 http://www.amazon.com/Rossini-Barbiere-Siviglia-Barber-Seville/dp/B000BAQ8A0/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&qid=1292308852&sr=8-28 You need to get his DVD of La Fille du regiment NOW......

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Unlike the pop music world, no one can ever make a major career in classical music purely through slick publicity without substantial talent . Andrea Bocelli and Lang Lang disagrees with you.... but in any case when the Philadelphia Orchestra were looking for someone to succeed Sawallisch wasn't Ra...

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Tchaikovsky absolutely hated Brahms's music, but that didn't stop him from being friends with Brahms and enjoying Brahms the man. So I fail to see why it would be hypocritical for you to meet Rattle and see what he's like as a person being interviewed, as long as you remain polite. In any case it wo...

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You guys need to stop treating traditional = definitely good, because the MET's Ring would be the best example of a traditional staging done poorly, with all the static acting and extremely dull sets. Staging is an art that unfortunately few classical music fans seem to care about; to them as long a...

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My only reservation about the work is using a soprano for Octavian. Why does this this make aesthetic sense? I think operas benefit from a variety of voices, so the scenes that are only sopranos get a little wearing. Please forgive my philistinism, but for my taste it would work best to have a mezz...

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http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Strauss-Rosenkavalier-Haugland-Schlesinger/dp/B00014NE4Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291447056&sr=8-2 http://www.amazon.com/Strauss-Rosenkavalier-Brigitte-Fassbaender-Jungwirth/dp/B0009I8PHI/ref=pd_cp_d_2_img http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Strauss-Rosenkavalier-Kleiber-Staat...

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In-ear 'phones can offer great detail, and because they cut out more external noise you don't need high volume in a noisy place. The Denon AH-C751 is a strong contender, not just for commuting but for home listening too. I've bough my wife a pair for Christmas. Bad choice: the C751 is a basshead IE...

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Undoubtedly, Gheorghiu's natural beauty has contributed greatly to her celebrity. She also happens to have one of the better soprano voices I've heard in a long time. Personality-wise, she is going the way of Kathleen Battle and, as time goes on (as has already been demonstrated), people will not p...

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http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/michaelwhite/100049306/fury-in-the-covent-garden-stalls-as-angela-gheorghiu-cancels-again/ Following yet another cancellation from her, I do wonder why opera houses and audiences continue to tolerate her behavior. She became famous for her La Traviata, and even s...

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Grados are awful for classical music; they have barely any soundstage and have an aggressive, colored sound signature that are much more suitable for rock. Sennheisers are not so good either; they are too smooth and are made more for Jazz than classical. I highly recommend you to get an Audio Techni...

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The Symphonies are typical Solti; bombastic and driven. I liked his 3rd and 5th, but I really hated his 9th. Overall Solti's sound signature certainly isn't made for Beethoven but if you are a big Solti fan you may like it. The Ashkenazy concertos on the other hand has a very mediocre performance fr...

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In the age of the internet, with reviews from sites and recommendations from forums, is something like the Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music still relevant? Even worse, what's the point of getting yearly editions when the recording industry is more or less dead and good new recordings are be...

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lennygoran wrote:>I was surprised that Terfel's voice seemed a little small for Wotan

Why are you surprised? This certainly isn't the first time he's singing a Wagner role, and he has always struck me as someone who has no business singing Wagner roles.

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Munch Schubert sym 8 & 9 (Boston) RCA Silver Seal This disc is one will look to purchase soon :) There is an EMI disc of Karajan conducting the 9th...is this any good? Karajan is suprisingly underrated as a Schubert conductor.... he conducts Schubert with more power and directness than most other c...

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What I find especially absurd is when people try to find anti-Semitic messages hidden in Wagner's works... apparently Parsifal, which has such a strong pacifist theme that the nazis had to place a de facto ban on, is about a Aryan hero who overcomes a Jewish stereotype.... how the heck anyone could ...

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Late era Karajan is quite strange in that the overpolishing he is notorious for is quite obvious in most of the romantic and classical era works he conducted, yet when he conducts the late romantic and 20th Century classical music works of Strauss, Bruckner, Mahler etc he tends to tone down on the o...

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.....This hasn't been helped by the fact that I've never met anyone who has adopted a 'take it or leave it' attitude to his music; the (admittedly very limited no of) people I've talked to, tend to fall into fairly extreme camps. Is this also the case on CMG? I don't know, he doesn't seem to get me...

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Wait.... since when is PETA = Elitists? Isn't it more appropriate to describe PETA as the attention seeking clowns and trolls of animal activism; kind of like the West Boro church?

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I am looking for a DVD version, too, but, I have question for my fellow CMG Ring lovers about a CD Ring. Does Karajan's classic DG CD cycle as reissued in 1998 by DG in its the 'Originals' format come in a box with cardboard or paper coverings for the 14 CDs or does it come in bulky plastic 14 sing...

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The whole point of Bertini's Mahler is that he cuts the exaggration and "expressiveness" to give a straightforward, free flowing and consistent account. Without giving his own insights to Mahler's music. Fans of his set are usually sick and tired of the numerous over the top Mahler performances that...

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On the principle that operas stand or fall with their music If you believe this to be the case, I would argue that you haven't learnt how to truly appreciate opera. Operas stand or fall solely on their drama, and as a drama Fidelio is no match to the Mozart or Gluck masterpieces. Let alone those of...

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Precisely the great composer you forgot: Schumann. Go listen or read the reviews! Perhaps "far superior" was a bit too strong, but I feel Muti puts more drama into symphonic scores. I also prefer Sawallisch to Abbado---and several others as well in Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner. I...

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Abbado or Muti...?! (Muti oder Abbado...!?) For my taste, Muti is far superior in the Austro/German symphonic repertoire, while Abbado may take a higher place in operatic/chorale works. Tschüß, Jack I don't see how Multi, or pretty much any other conductor is "far superior" to Abbado in the Austro/...

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http://mostlyopera.blogspot.com/2000/01/dvd-reviews.html This website has some nice detailed reviews of opera DVDs. The comparison of Ring DVDs is particularly nice, I have to agree that the Barenboim/Kupfer Ring is probably the best Ring DVD you can get, the staging is far from perfect but musicall...

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The Solti Mahler is pretty much the only Mahler box set you need. I have to disagree with your assessment of Solti's 5th, it's easily one of the best 5th I have heard and one of the highlights of the box set. The only real weak link in the box set is the 3rd (which very few conductors does well in a...

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If she wanted to do a crossover CD can't she do more songs sang by female artists? I don't mind hearing her sing the songs of The Gathering or Nico. But with so many male artist songs I can see nothing but a disaster for her.

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Quite frankly, only a crap worthless ensemble/artist doesn't sound better live than in recordings. With recordings, all you are getting is an attempt at replicating the real thing, and how much of the real thing you can replicate is limit by far too many factors, what is used to make the recordings ...

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He isn't just asked to conduct rehearsals and performances at a professional level of competence. He's asked to do that in the biggest opera house in the world, for not just any Verdi work but his signature and most important one. You don't need to hear Slatkin's performance to find the idea of som...

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Are you actually a big fan of Gardiner in the first place? If you are not you might want to hear some of his recordings before committing yourself to the set. Don't buy just for the sake of collecting, never forget that money spent on a recording means less money for potentially superior recordings....

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As you say, "There are all kinds of different levels of knowing a score -- dozens of levels." The issue here is whether Slatkin knows the score well enough to conduct rehearsals and performances at a professional level of competence. Neither you nor I nor Tommasini is in a position to say he doesn'...

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There are lots of terrific La Boheme DVDs... by comparison to the competition the Netrebko/Villazon is not bad but nothing special. I recommend that you check out the Sydney Opera DVD or the 2008 MET DVD instead, both are probably the best you can get.

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I'd like to thank everyone for all of the comments. I've decided to get Mackerras' set, and barring any disasters with the vendor on Amazon Marketplace, I should get it by the middle of February. I'll be curious to hear your assessment, Chung. I think you'll be very happy with it. It's still a set ...

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I am surprised, no love for Pollini/Abbado? That is my favorite by some considerable distance. Although I haven't heard A LOT of Beethoven piano concertos, I do know that I certainly like it a bit more than the Fleisher/Szell.

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I can't comment on Jochum, but I can't believe so many people praise the DG Bernstein. IMHO, and I know I am not the only person who feels that way, DG Bernstein is awful and Bernstein at his "milk it for all it's worth" worst. The only symphony the DG Bernstein has over the Sony Bernstein is the 5t...

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I guess, I innocently stirred up a hornet's nest........ :wink: My fellow CMGers, here is what the enchanting Renee does best, no ands, ifs or buts.... Right?...:wink: : wJqwuFOU-Wk&feature=related The Four Last songs is far from Fleming's best, if you want to show Fleming at her best you should ha...

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Do women surf net and visit internet forums in the first place

?

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Eschenbach#Philadelphia_Orchestra From his wikipedia article it's mentioned "-that 80 percent of the musicians did not agree with his artistic interpretations;-that 80 percent of the musicians left concerts feeling great anger". That indicates some major discon...

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Interesting? He's just being a keyboard masher. It's "very different" because no respectable pianist would be caught making a mess of the Pathetique like Gould.

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Is there actually anything from Lang Lang there's worth giving a damn about? All I have heard from him was his Chopin concerto and my impression of him is that he's the Andrea Bocelli of the piano world.

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Anti-semitism is the least of Wagner's problems, and his anti-semitism was something played up to absurd levels by some people (Shakespeare was far more anti-Semitic with The Merchant of Venice). How Mime, Klingsor and Beckmesser are supposed to be Jewish stereotypes is something I would like someon...

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