The Classical Music Guide Forums

Reading lately that, due to California's increase of a $20/minimum wage/hour for food workers, now others are hopping on the bandwagon for just about every type of worker. These folks that are getting paid less than that now want to be bumped up to the $20/minimum. Others saying that if food service...

Listening recently to Sergei Babayan 's 1995 Pro Piano recording [224506] produced by Ricard de la Rosa, owner of Pro Piano in New York City who provides the Hamburg Steinway piano to artists who record for the label. de la Rosa has a reputation for providing pianos that are maintained to the highes...

Gary Bertini is a conductor's name most of us probably know. He was born in Israel as Shloyme Golergant . He has worked with many orchestras in the US, Israel, and Europe in general over the years. I have about ten or so CD recordings where his name appears, mostly in collaborations with people suc...

Having listened to the Dichterliebe today, while, as beautiful as the playing by both artists was, I missed the voice . The cello takes the vocal line of the cycle and here the cellist displays the subtleties of the vocal line superbly well. The cello can be made to not only sing, but to cry as well...

It was hard to believe that Australia would have these conditions in their far-removed areas. For a few moments while reading your post, I put myself in their position. What would it be like, where I live (for anyone lives what e deem a normal or close-to-normal life), if no one could get in for a v...

Could not concur with you more regarding Emanuel Ax ... who produced three Sony recordings of Haydn's sonatas giving us Nos. 58, 38, 60, 33, 32, 47, 53, 59, 29, 31, 34, 35, and 39 recorded in the early 2000s. Agreed, he plays them more in the Romantic-period vein. Marc-André Hamelin 's three volumes...

Wish I could view this. I'm a big fan of Anthony Hopkins! Remarkable actor.

I certainly hope administrators will wake up and give Marin Alsop the chance she is seeking. The Met is a big step to even more. She has done wonders for Baltimore, and the recording industry. Get her while you can is the way I see it.

Coming off a huge concert season (which is still going on) and trying to get my head back in place, resting and imbibing much music that might not normally come to the fore, I've been listening to a recording called "Concerti di Venezia" - music by Caldara, Marcello, Porpora, Vandini, and Vivaldi. ...

For as along as I can remember, I am attracted to the oboe . It was Leon Goossens who piqued my interest initially, and Pierre Pierlot who hit the nail on the head for more. Han de Vries came along as did Robert Bloom and lately, Albrect Mayer, among others. But it was the Swiss-born Heinz Holliger ...

What an inspiration - after having a wife for 72 years! He must have loved her dearly. I will be interested to hear about this. 98 - still composing ... pretty phenomenal.

Born in 1970 in Israel, Matt Haimovitz , with his parents, moved from Romania to Palo Alto, California when he was five years old. Before he was 20, he had a contract with Deutsche Grammophon. At present, I have three of his DGG recordings and three that were released on his own label, Oxingdale, wh...

I wasn't able to hear it to the end, but this was a fascinating and well-studied analysis of the Passacaglia - as far as I heard it. A very nice find for me for one of my favorite symphonies! Thank you.

I just saw an interesting quote:

"Bach's St. Matthew Passion of 1729 probably brought
religion home to many more souls than the words of
a thousand curates. At times, doctors of music have
been nearer than doctors of divinity to God."
—Owen Chadwick, History of Christianity

Just think of what you would have missed! Well, one really does have to laugh when we hear her "singing." If I recall, Mrs. Miller's rendition of Downtown came out in 1966, when I was 12. Petulia Clark made a hit of the song the previous year. This was in that narrow window of time in my life when I...

Among many historical recordings, I frequently find the name of Hermann Abendroth listed as a conductor. I did a search on my major label listing looking for Abendroth and not a single CD came forward . I checked my non-major labels, and 43 entries came up appearing on about 66 discs. These labels ...

Mark, you never cease to amaze me. I didn't think you would even know her name. I didn't until someone introduced me to her "art." And Florence Foster Jenkins ... another hoot! I did a radio broadcast one time featuring (with apologies) this kind of "repertoire" with these "kinds" of singers or inst...

It's not unusual to find transcriptions of this kind, but not usually the whole cycle. Back in 2013, Sony-Germany issued a CD [89258] called "Dichterliebe." It features not only that song cycle but the Fantasiestücke , Op. 73. Cellist Jan Vogler is joined by pianist Helene Grimaud in both selections...

What brought up Ottmar Gerster 's name was his Piano Concerto [1931/1955] with a pianist by the name of Siegfried Stockigt , to be found on a Hastedt CD [5311]. Here's something about Gerster: "Ottmar Gerster (29 June 1897 in Braunfels, Germany – 31 August 1969 in Borsdorf) was a German viola player...

You might not think of the saxophone as a superb classical concert instrument, given its popularity in non-classical world, however it was/is. I first became more interested in the saxophone in a classical music vein after hearing a live performance of the music of Jean-Baptiste Singelée [1812-1875]...

AGREE! OMG! Cziffra - one of the very great ones! I wanted (and got) every note he recorded. The big EMI/Warner set is a treasure trove, but there is much out their recorded privately.

Yes, I was surprised, too, Brian. Out of site, out of mind, I guess. During that Millenium recital with the Canadian Opera Co., [CBC Records] who placed much on that disc; they left out Heppner, but someone surprised me when I got a copy of the entire concert and now understand why. Heppner had a ba...

A "singer" popular in the 1960s and '70s, made recordings for Capitol Records. Her "voice" was introduced to me by a classical music singer. I could not believe my ears! It IS fun to klisten to, nonetheless. Too bad some of her LPs have not been transferred to CD by the original company. Some of her...

Everybody's got their favs! Mine: 1, 3 ... and 2 if I had to select three. But the Kindertotenlieder and Songs of a Wayfarer are way, way up there, too! Have learned to absolutely love this composer's work.

This one looks really interesting. I have only Langgaard's Symphonies 2 and 3 and am not particularly interested in having all sixteen of them though I see they available in a boxed set. On another recording issued by Dacapo, it read that Langgaard was eccentric and difficult to be around other peop...

Canadian-born tenor Ben Heppner had quite a career until he decided to conclude it. As he puts it, thanks to Wikpedia, "... announced his retirement from singing in April 2014. Heppner felt unable to be a 'part-time singer,' feeling that "No matter how often you sing, if you're going to sing at a g...

I bring up this subject again because, it's the fifth time in a matter of days that I was "compelled" to be to hear it again - and again. Listening to these two artists, and especially young Martin Stadtfeld at the piano, and the marvelous tone of Vogler's cello, this recording is a total pleaser! T...

Absolutely! Couldn't agree more. "Interpretation" can embrace outstanding, good to bad to an "excuse."

Belle wrote: ↑
Sat May 04, 2024 5:22 pm
[Truncated] But adherence to the score has to count for something!!

Having been taken in with Miriam Hyde 's piano concertos, particularly No. 1, wherein she is the pianist in that recording, I wanted to hear more of her music, especially played by her. I was lucky to find an Australian disc on the Southern Cross label [1027] wherein we she plays 12 selections, inc...

A MERCEDES! I should have thought about that for you. Great, well-built luxury cars. I understand the ones that come to the US are equipped with McIntosh sound equipment - made right here in Binghamton, New York. Perhaps the Austarlian and other country models have it as well. Like you, I'm appalled...

Obvious to me that Hough has a great sense of humour!

Hmm ... frankly, this time I was somewhat disappointed. The technique is assuredly there as we would expect. A good start with the Albéniz piece, I enjoyed the Glass Etude No. 5, the Brahms Intermezzo was way over romanticized and stretched too far, the Beethoven, her centerpiece? It's missing somet...

I thought this was a super set, which I've had since 2016 [Decca 483 0142]. This is a real treasure-trove featuring many great artists: Kirby, Burrows, Auger, Partridge, von Otter, Padmore, Battle, Horne, Ramey, Aler, Gritton, J. Baker, and many others. Conductors include Gardiner, Hogwood, Pinnock,...

I wonder why this post got 1,450 views (so far)? Is interest in the pianist drawing that many views?

I've listened again to the whole set and cannot believe the incredible pianism displayed in these Rachmaninoff pieces. One of the best piano recordings (including sound-wise) that I've heard in a long time. Here's where two artist's musical hearts beat at the same time! Six stars for this one! (Sorr...

Many thanks for all the interesting comments and suggestions. It was and remains my aim to make our site one of the more interesting and friendly ones. We've been around now for about two decades or more, and while I felt it was "slow-going," for a while, over those years we made some great friends...

Always delighted to get a new Yuja CD ... and a great job in presentation DGG did with this one [486 4567, 78:20] . According to the blurb on the back panel: "The all-embracing programme of Yuja Wang's 2022 Vienna recital allowed this 'electrifying' (Los Angeles Times) pianist to brandish her fiery...

What? They have cars in Australia!?! [Kidding of course.] Congratulations!What make of vehicle did you get? My mind's eye sees you running around in a BMW or maybe even a Rolls-Royce! Let me know how you make out with Presto. I'll be curious to know how they bill or charge for post services for CDs ...

I understand the "tax" problem completely. It used to be that unless there was a brick and morter building in the state with a company who had headquarters elsewhere, you did not have to pay the tax. Well, the way Amazon does business now, we New Yorkers have to pay tax to Amazon on EVERYTHING, even...

:) Hey - "Mikie" just might like it! I will look forward to the piece you post. Did you know any of those artists from Hub New Music, especially Gleb Kanasevich, the clarinetist? They apparently have played in the Washington, D.C. area. You may have even been in the audience! Lance, I kind of think ...

I didn't mean to paint such a dark picture! There's an old saying: "Once a collector, always a collector." That's probably how it will be for most of us no matter what we say!

Mark - thank you for thinking of me! I will check it out. I DO like some contemporary music. On Wednesday evening, I sat in on a performance at Binghamton University's Festival of the Arts with Hub New Music featuring Michael Avitabile, flutes; Jesse Christeson, cello; Gleb Kanasevich, clarinets; an...

Wonderful way to spend an evening. I, too, have the JEG [DGG-Archiv], but the preponderance of my recorded performances are mostly not HIP. Bernstein, Jochum, Munchinger, Rilling, Mengelberg, Koussevitzky (yes, it exists!), Karl Richter, Furtwangler, Karajan, Fritz Lehmann. I'm happy hearing it eith...

A bleak, well-stated, outlook for the future of classical music. It's a sign of the times in many areas. Many of the newspapers now, local, national, and international, have done away with classical music reviews for the most part. Sorry to see this. Kim Noltemy, who is currently the CEO of the Dall...

Yes, I find most of our CMGers are probably over the age 50 mark giving some kind of indication of where young people are in the classical music world of listeners today. I put up a post (but took it down) about maybe asking good friends/contributors to other sites, such as GMG, to join us. Don't kn...

Agree, some of those earliest Vox recordings (some in mono) were not the best sound. But those Schubert Impromptus was among the best-sounding capturing the gorgeous sounds of his piano. Interpretively speaking, however, Brendel displayed his talents in a manner more convincing than his later record...

Indeed, I get requests every day, and there are many. I verify their ISP codes and 95% or higher of the time, and noticing odd or suggestive email addresses, they do not appear to be CMG "material." I have offered to have people send me personal emails to lanceghill@msn.com to let me know they have ...

This post comes after reading about a new recording by a pianist. Where does one draw the line, as it were, on acquiring recordings by new artists on the scene? I have been thinking to myself, at this age, the huge legacy I have already amassed, and will never hear or re-hear all of it in three lif...

Now there's a great name from the pianistic past! I have Volume 1 of his concertos and it would be good to complete the collection. I am delighted to have a number of recordings of his own playing (Marston came out with some), Dante, Andante, Pearl and Music & Arts have some offerings as well. Thank...

Alfred Brendel , a fabulous pianist. As one of his "followers" on recordings—and I have them all—I generally favored his "sound" more on his early recordings, particularly for the Vox label, and especially his Schubert. His complete Impromptus, Opp. 90/142, had gorgeous tonal properties very much l...

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