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MartinPh

Mackerras on Telarc.

MartinPh

Matt Haimovitz playing the Britten Suites, and refusing to use a belt or something to put his cello pin in. So that at every climax when the playing got intense, his instrument slipped away and he had to perform a kind of sit-down ballet to keep on playing (which he actually managed!). During the in...

MartinPh

I listened to a complete piece by Boulez for the first time yesterday night. Marteau sans Maitre. Well: I don't get it. Why all the trouble of writing something so complicated that it ends up sounding random? All these disconnected phrases... If there is no melody, no harmony that means anything to ...

MartinPh

I'm so glad that you mention Dutoit. And today I heard the 1980 Dutoit recording of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe. I don't believe that any better version could exist. I never heard Dutoit in Daphnis et Chloé. But I heard Munch with Boston and Cluytens with NFO and I doubt that Dutoit - not a great cond...

MartinPh

You mean Italian-form opera is about singing. Wagnerian opera is decidedly not -- not by a long shot. No, I mean opera is about singing. If it weren't about singing, the composers would have written something else. You can quibble about what place the singing holds in different composers estimation...

MartinPh

Pelleas is just gorgeous, and very moving towards the end. I love the recordings by Abbado and by Dutoit. And do agree that there is little point in listening to something so fragile and exquisite if the sound is not top-notch. (I own a version by Haitink which was recorded live in Paris, where the ...

MartinPh

In my experience, Glass's music is more diverse and at times more complex than the anti-minimalists will have it. Works like Akhnaten, the Third Symphony or Hydrogen Jukebox are all in their own way moving and powerful music, expertly crafted and highly compelling. It is true, though, that he has pr...

MartinPh

I am very pleased with Piston's Orchestration, which is concise, practical and more up-to-date than the Berlioz/Strauss or the R-K (fascinating and useful as those are in their own right - and you only need to look through a handful of orchestral scores on a site like sibeliusmusic.com to find that ...

MartinPh

Josef Suk, the Asrael Symphony; as great as anything by Mahler

I second the vote for Rilke's Cornet: incredibly intense, heart rending music.

Enescu's 3rd orchestral suite, "Villageoise", which has possibly the most beautiful opening I know of any piece of music.

MartinPh

"Crispy Brahms", you say? For some great "crispy" Brahms, try these delicious supplements to the symphonies: Serenades: No. 1 in D Major, No. 2 in A Major. London Symphony Orchestra / István Kertész. I also have recordings by Stokowski in No. 1, and Toscanini in No. 2. Delightful works, and very cr...

MartinPh

Quite right, jserraglio! It remains a mystery why some pieces are played to death, and others at least as appealing are rarely or never heard. The Rubbra Fourth is a sure hit with anybody who happens to hear it, and the Arnold Fifth might well be one of the ten greatest symphonies written in the 20t...

MartinPh

The Handley set is fantastic. Though the Thomson is impressive too, Handley has a stronger grip on structure, he has more sense of rythm, and he gets more transparant sound. The Loydd-Jones versions, though not at all bad, lack sufficient weight, IMHO. Nrs. 3, 4 and 2 are my favourites, in that order.

MartinPh

On disc, my favourites are Karajan with the VPO (1989, DG) and Chailly with the RSO Berlin (Decca). Live, I once heard a performance at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw conducted by Herreweghe, which blew me away: the clarity and transparancy were unbelievable. For once you could hear throughout what a t...

MartinPh

Seeing that with CD-players you can even play Mahler 6 (or any other work) with the Finale first if you like, this seems a non-issue to me where recordings are concerned. And in concert? Well, Mahler changed his mind several times regarding the order of these movements, which in itself seems to show...

MartinPh

Wispelwey, first and foremost. The Fournier is impressive too, but a but sterile to my taste. Rostropovich I personally find unbearable in this repertoire.

MartinPh

As a set, the best I know is Berglund with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Crisp, unstuffy, exciting, and incredibly beautiful.

I also have a weak spot for the Bernstein 4 on DG.

MartinPh

I very recently got the Sennheiser HD 650, which is very good, though not quite as comfortable to wear as the Sony CD1700 I had before that. This is the text of my review of it on Amazon: As a lover of classical music I am a confirmed headphone listener. No set of speakers will offer the same amount...

MartinPh

Cello here... Working on Mendelssohn's first Sonata, and the prelude from the Third Bach suite. With Martinu's Pastorales thrown in for relaxation. With my orchestra we're rehearsing Mendelssohn's stunningly beautiful Psalm-setting 'Verleih uns Frieden', which has gorgeous parts for divided cellos t...

MartinPh

We had some good laughs in a record store in Beijing, which offered an impressive range of classical CDs with misspelt composer names, such as "The greatest works" of Ludwing van Beenthoven, and "Famous Waltzes" by John Starus. (Meanwhile I did take home a, no doubt highly illegal, copy of Rostropov...

MartinPh

#1: Bernstein, DG; Chailly, Decca #2: Kaplan (his first recording, not the VPO remake) #3: Chailly, Decca #4: Maazel, Sony #5: Chailly, Decca #6: Several good ones. Jansons, LSO Live; Bernstein, DG; Boulez, DG #7: Gielen, Hänssler #8: Rattle, EMI #9: Zander, Telarc #10 (Cooke version): Chailly, Decc...

MartinPh

Do I know how to (however unintentionally) excite a hysterical response, or what? Bravo, Herman. This kind of respons is sure proof that somebody is out of sound arguments. In the end, no country can truly defend itself against overwhelming natural disasters - but looking at the events in New Orlea...

MartinPh

I don't agree with Martin's notion that, paraphrasing him, performers are unimportant. . I wouldn't venture to say they are unimportant - they are pretty essential if we want to hear the music. But I prefer them to work in service of the composer, rather than having it the other way around, as so o...

MartinPh

Can anyone think of other recorded performances that got it all wrong but are still right up there with the best? A contradiction in terms as far as I'm concerned. Generally, I don't care about conductors, soloists or vocalists as an end in themselves. I've always wondered about people who buy a ti...

MartinPh

Try this site for some impressions: http://www.doctor-atomic.com/production.html There are some midifiles with "previews" of fragments. Sounds interesting, though since On the Transmigration etc., which was a complete dud IMHO, I have lost some of my confidence in this composer. I"ll just wait and s...

MartinPh

Mengelberg does the same in the pre-hi-fi era--where the "ummph" relies even more on interp than on sonic splendor. Dirk In my view, interpretation and "sonic splendor" are very much two sides of the same medal. The idea that you can experience much of the former without having the latter seems to ...

MartinPh

Your opinion and you’re welcome to it. Personally I don’t like it one bit. The Faure Requiem is not lacking for good performances on CD, start with Cluytens and Boulanger for openers. Peter Schenkman And you are welcome to your opinion. Personally I tend to avoid early fifities mono recordings like...

MartinPh

Personally I would avoid “Herreweghe's, on period instruments” like the proverbial plague. Peter Schenkman That's interesting. Why? It is involving, elegant, has wonderful transparancy (which this music so direly needs) and is beautifully played. And it comes coupled with one of the very few tolera...

MartinPh

Since I grew up listening to punk rock nostalgia cannot be the reason I prefer old style playing and interpretation - when classical music was still the living musical tradition. Modern orchestras and soloists rarely interest me (Andnes I enjoy), but occasionally an oldie recording today is magnifi...

MartinPh

I find it an intensely boring piece. The only performance I 've yet found that can make me sit through it, is Herreweghe's, on period instruments.

MartinPh

I've been reading Gramophone for about ten years now, and am still enjoying it. They seem to have the widest scope, good background articles, and fairly reliable reviews generally. I am bothered by a certain chauvinism (a persistent pro-Rattle brigade, for instance), but no matter where you look, mu...

MartinPh

I was browsing through the "too many recordings" thread, and there I noticed it again: collectors of classical music seem obsessed with recordings over 50 or 60 years old. Why??? Apparently the music making in these days was of such unmatched sublimity that it's worth throwing half a century of spec...

MartinPh

Georges Enescu. The opening bars of his third orchestral suite (Villageoise) alone show him to be a genius. And then there's three mindblowing symphonies, Edipe, probably one of the ten greatest opera's written in the 20th century, "Vox maris", and the octet (which he wrote when he was only 19!). An...

MartinPh

I would say Iraq and Afghanistan are remarkable examples of how much progress can be made in a short time under difficult conditions. I didn’t expect them to have achieved so much so soon. That it will take time to accomplish doesn’t mean it should not be done. You underestimate them; they are huma...

MartinPh

There are three things that are going to have to happen to solve this problem for good: 1. Repressive regimes must be replaced with democratic governments and more liberal economies so that citizens of Muslim countries have other things to occupy themselves with than nutty grievances. Irish terrori...

MartinPh

I think we agree the distinction is not a simple one; there are a lot of grey areas. Andriessen used the cathedral floorplan construct in De Materie, and it works fine musically. Just as Bach's music is full of mathematics and works fine too (well, there's the understatement of the century...). Andr...

MartinPh

Islamic extremism isn't a world-wide movement. It represents the actions of a very small minority among muslims, though unfortunately one that is extremely vicious and ('war on terror' or not) apparently still very well organized. I agree that any form of organized religion is a sure recipe for mise...

MartinPh

Who says the Glass and Reich are the world's only two living composers? Or that what they are doing is necessarily "the state of the art"? Don't go by where the Dutch spend their music money :-) I don't know what that is supposed to mean. I would wager though that Glass, Reich and the like had at l...

MartinPh

In addition, it seems to me that the whole idea that if 'classical' or 'serious' music were different or were presented differently, a whole pop-audience would potentially be interested in it, is a fallacy. Ever since the advent of serious music as we know it (ie., more or less, since Beethoven) , m...

MartinPh

I don't know if Europeans got their idea of Texas from 'Dallas' reruns, as Corlyss's signature says - but I'm sure I don't know where Americans get their ideas of Europe. The things I read here are quite ridiculously dramatized. Yes, we have our problems, but so does the US. I think neither of us ar...

MartinPh

Bruckner Symphony No. 88, BPO, Von Karajan. Ralp, please don't tell me I missed out on 79 Bruckner symphonies???!! How could that happen? Meanwhile, listening intensively to Vaughan Williams's 6th symphony, the Andrew Davis and Bernard Haitink recordings, after a friend gave me the full score as a ...

MartinPh

Still quite happy with Bernstein/VPO, though, this being my least favourite Mahler, I have no very strong opinions on it. It was interesting to see how Gramophone made a 180 degree turn on its initial highly favourable opinion of this recording in their latest issue. Goes to show what a strange phen...

MartinPh

An impossible question, indeed. I can't even answer the question which is Beethoven's greatest symphony. Judged by impact on musical history, it would be the Third. Judged by stylistic and musical cohesion, probably the Seventh. Judged by innovation of form, the Ninth. Judged by popularity, the Fift...

MartinPh

I read an interesting interview in my newspaper today, with Loïc Wacquant, professor of sociology at Berkeley. If, he says, you choose to deregulate economy and do away with the welfare state, the state becomes in effect powerless to do anything for its citizens. So why would citizens want to go and...

MartinPh

The vote in France, and the email from Ralph's friend, suggest that they don't get it yet. I wonder if they are really prepared to be passed by so dramatically by the US, Japan, India and China. These dreams of becoming a "world power" to stand up against the US are looking for and more like a tota...

MartinPh

Exactly how many freedom-loving, democratic, prosperous, free-trading, transparently-governed, peaceful nations has "ayatollah Bush" invaded in the last 4 years? Just exactly what would a "powerful European president stand up" for , if he existed and if he arrayed himself and Europe against Bush an...

MartinPh

I'm only familiair with the Gielen/Haenssler 8th. I don't find it particularly impressive or special in any way; just a decent, middle of the road reading.

MartinPh

Listening to our prime minister these days, I'm expecting to enter the booth next Wednesday only to find that the machine has just got a single Yes button. It seems a bit silly to organize a referendum and then tell everybody that there really is only one voting option... Meanwhile I'm saddened to f...

MartinPh

Interesting, to see people mention pieces that I personally do not find sad at all. Mahler VI/3 and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht I find positively uplifting. And I yet have to discover the first glimpse of true emotion in any of Britten's works - his Violin Concerto may be the one exception. At time...

MartinPh

I agree with Karl. If you look at the texts of the Requiem, it is obvious that the purpose is anything but to offer comfort. It is a stark reminder of the futility and transience of life, and the judgment that awaits; its only comfort is in its prayers for peaceful rest. It was Fauré who in fact mut...

MartinPh

Herman, I'm not familiair with Bernstein's Berlin 9th. In general, I tend to be wary of live recordings. The end of the Amsterdam 9th is simply destroyed by lots of extraneous noise. My favourite Ninth remains Zander's. Pesek is extremely impressive, too. I also have the non-digital vonK, but I find...

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Re: Playing it all wrong but getting it right!

Classical music lovers and historic recordings