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slofstra

You have made me very interested in Curzon. However, I could not find a complete box set on amazon.com (these web sites are just getting too cluttered - does not mean it isn't there). I did find this: Partial Mozart Curzon concerto set which is very good value, and something I might be more inclined...

slofstra

Uchida's performances are almsot universally liked, beautifully played and recorded. However, they also bore me to tears - I like my Mozart red-blooded and I feel that the smooth, almost precious approach supplies too much varnish for music that's already well-varnished from a performance standpoin...

slofstra

All Kempff's concerto recordings are collected in a DG box set very worthwhile, as for Uchida's Mozart Concertos I don't think Tate is that great a conductor, Pehria's set on CBS has been remastered superbly and is a great value box set, check it out...also check out the Curzon Boxes on Decca the l...

slofstra

This weekend (and additionally over the past week), it's been much Shostakovich and Prokofiev. I've always liked Shosty, but have only recently taken to Prokofiev, especially his piano and violin concertos. Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 David Oistrakh, violin New York Philharmonic Dimitri Mit...

slofstra

Mozart Piano Concertos Nos 23 & 24 Kempff, Leitner, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra DG 423 885-2 This is my first Mozart Piano Concerto CD. It is AMAZING, IMO, full of personal feeling, especially in the adagio of 23. Want to get a full set of Mozart Piano Concertos. Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks...

slofstra

You want to scare the poor sensitive artists out of their minds and into investment banking? I think we'll see large video monitors a week after we see cameras in the Supreme Court.

I think I just had an epiphany as to why my suggestion was ignored.

slofstra

Let us know how these recordings work out for you...

slofstra

The other two are incredibly boring and if the younger generation thinks that's "classical music," the genre has more to worry about in terms of survival than bastardizing on myspace. Corlyss_D, Stop holding back and let us know what you really think. From what I've heard minimalist music is decept...

slofstra

Wow. Way too many conductors! For emotion, I don't think there is a match for Bernstein. His Mahler, Beethoven's 6th. I also think his recordings are underrated in the Penguin - he's from the wrong side of the pond. On the European side, Haitink is preferred over Karajan. But not one to let it loose...

slofstra

Hindemith, 'Mathis der Mahler' was my initiation into modern classical music. I've listened to it many times since. Then there's the 'Kammermusik'. Also try Lutoslawski. Second the Ravel suggestion. Quite a fertile vein. I don't know if Ravel is dark and 'discordant', but you're into orchestral soun...

slofstra

One of the most powerful musical moments that I've experienced in a movie is in Master and Commander when a man is swept overboard and they lose him. The music at that point is the 'Theme from Thomas Tallis' by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Judging by what you're listening to now, it's a piece I think you...

slofstra

I already do listen to Stravinsky. I don't listen to Respighi all that much. Actually, if you look at the Respighi-Stravinksy session, I asked for and received some great advice on further adventures with Stravinksy. But I've listened to the Rite of Spring, and Petrouchka many many times, and seen b...

slofstra

I think you are on to something. Note that the conclusion only holds if you value Beethoven above Stravinsky. Conversely, if you like Stravinsky more than Beethoven, you're just not going to like Clementi all that much.

slofstra

If you want to hear Terfel sing "Send in the Clowns," this is apparently the recording to get. Oh lord, I can't imagine. What's the worst crossover you've ever heard? My runnerup prize goes to 'Homeward Bound' by the King's Singers, with Helmut Lotti doing the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' taking the grand p...

slofstra

the whole point of this thread is to show the Stravinsky- and Bartók bashers how ridiculous their comments look diegobueno, As much as I mostly agree with your sentiments, I would take issue with some aspects of it. First of all, I agree with you that it's usually better to 'reserve opinion' when y...

slofstra

But is Clementi as good as Respighi?

slofstra

premont, since I am also a fan of the Sonatas, and you have 39 complete sets... Could you categorize the various approaches in any kind of way? There are a number of discussions (see Canadian thread) on whose is best, but I wouldn't mind hearing something polar opposite to the ones I like - Arrau an...

slofstra

I think it might be useful to open up a conversation on the relative health and well-being of Canadian orchestras and the classical music scene versus American. In spite of my apparent boosterism of all things Canadian, all is not as well as it could be here, although I think we have a fairly good s...

slofstra

[quote=corlyss_d]If you know what you want, get it. [/quote] That's a pretty good axiom. When it comes to a boxed set, it's going to hold you captive for a while, so that's fine if you're a willing one. Regarding Vaughan Williams, I've spent quite a lot of time this past year with the Vernon Handley...

slofstra

Great orchestras and great performers (or conductors) are mutually validating. A stranglehold that is hard to break. Rattle made some great recordings with Birmingham, and his reputation was secured, but still he went to Berlin. He had to earn a reputation before he went to Berlin; the compact is th...

slofstra

I've had a couple of supplementary ideas on the topic of completism; to whit, that maybe we should relax or resist our packrat or collector's impulse at times. For example, complete boxed sets seem attractive, but my advice to a beginner would be to buy Beethoven's symphonies individually - a Kleibe...

slofstra

This forum program is interesting in that responses don't arrange into a 'tree' as most forum programs do. Thus after a while the topic starts to jump around, which is okay, just different. The 'tree' style can also be annoying since you can miss things, and you tend to accidentally re-read. On pian...

slofstra

To be precise, I never saw Gould perform live.

slofstra

I saw Ofra Harnoy in concert many years ago with the KW Symphony, but as you mention, you don't hear much about her now. Okay - Canadian pianists. Are you ready? Already mentioned - Lortie, Cole, Hewitt, Kuerti and Hamelin. There's also: Jamie Parker, Janina Fialkowski, GLENN GOULD, Andre Laplante, ...

slofstra

Had a look at the review link. By the way, it does weird things to my browser, forcing the whole thread to sideways scroll. My daughter is actually attending Queen's in Kingston at the moment and sings in the choir. Recently, we attended a performance of Carmina Burana with the Kingston Symphony. An...

slofstra

If we're going to have a 'Canadian' thread, I suppose I better chip in. And since we're talking about pianists, I'd like to make a statement that perhaps no-one will agree with, but show me where I'm wrong. And that is that Anton Kuerti (Austrian-Canadian) has recorded the finest of all the cycles o...

slofstra

I just noticed a mention of Steve Goodman, here. I am a fan. Recently a DVD emerged of his performances on Austin City Limits. At one point I owned all of his records, but they generally paled in comparison to his live performances. There's a good 2 CD retrospective set, one CD of polished studio re...

slofstra

I listen to everything from the Stanley Brothers to Ray Davies to Coltrane. But lately I've tapped into some of the music my kids and their friends listen to. In particular, there are currently a few pop artists who eschew the drum machines and music manufacturing scene (from Beyonce to whatever - I...

slofstra

Thanks for the kind words, and I'm also impressed, piston, that someone is paying a little attention to the scene in Canada. Your comeback surprised me; my own knowledge of Canadian compostion is, perhaps shamefully, also very sparse. We do kind of know who our stars are on the performance side and ...

slofstra

I better clarify that I'm kidding. Kind of kidding. No malice intended anyway. We Canadians often feel like the proverbial mouse sleeping next to an elephant. And speaking of American composers, how many Canadian composers do you know of?

slofstra

Yes. Did you notice how they insinuated their thread into your topic, and then asked you to leave? How typically American!

slofstra

Okay, now there are three threads, Completism, American music, and why there are two (now three) threads. On completism. If you think YOU aspire to completism, you are no match for this fellow, whose web site I stumbled on some years ago: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/8618/Rach3Needed.html...

slofstra

Vil, I have a few questions for you. What do you have in the way of listening equipment - computer speakers, boombox, or a fairly good stereo. Or perhaps you mainly listen on an 'ipod'. What do you like in 'pop'? It's a pretty exciting scene these days - my kids are all young adults, and I haven't s...

slofstra

Can anyone who thinks that Brahms is as widely appreciated as Beethoven, Mozart and Bach please state their evidence. Specifically, which measures of popularity are they basing these assertions upon? Well they all have the same number of compositions on the Billboard Hot 200, that is, zero. Serious...

slofstra

I am surprised that the Piano Concerto's (two of them) have not come up in the present discussion, surely equalling or surpassing the symphonies in scope and ambition. The Second Piano Concerto is both accessible and deep. It must rank with works such as Beethoven's Fifth or Rach's Third (or Second)...

slofstra

Stravinsky's music (I don't know about the man) is emotionally sterile as well as being tuneless. It seems to me that any time you attach to the music itself what is essentially a subjective response to the music, you are on uncertain ground. When someone expresses to me that they like Maxwell-Davi...

slofstra

BTW, I can see how you might consider the others vaguely similar, but am perplexed to see Ives in their company. I just made a quick list of composers contemporary to Respighi, but now that you mention it, Ives is perhaps more lyrical (although I only have 2 recordings just acquired), and the rest ...

slofstra

Perhaps I am late to the party, but I've enjoyed following this post while Lance sorted through my application troubles. In evaluating where I'm situated in my musical journey with both Stravinksy (the repertoire only) and Respighi (Karajan's Pines of Rome only), I realize that I've resisted listeni...

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Re: Respighi and Stravinsky--can you really love Stravinsky?

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