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Heck148

Shostakovich #4 is a wonderful work, probably not DS' best, but it is fascinating, and quite a wild ride....It's pretty sprawled out formally, even episodic, but has so many great parts, that it comes off very well, extremely powerful work. A real challenge for the orchestra, big league "concerto fo...

Heck148

Bernstein's recording with the N. Y. Philharmonic made in the middle 1960's, although marred by a minor cut in the first movement exposition, was the first American recording of this massive symphony and has my recommendation as well. Toscanini/NBC recorded it in 7/42...available on AT Collection V...

Heck148

I love the unanimity and color of the brasses. Chords are tight and you can hear every note, well centered and ringing out. It's difficult to find words to describe this recording as it is as moving as it is thrilling. Yes, the brass and woodwinds are really outstanding....the low brasses are in th...

Heck148

maestrob wrote: ↑
Sun Feb 13, 2022 11:04 am

I have MTT/Cleveland Carmina Burana, Judith Blegen et al, on CD - but the recording date is 8 & 9/74....

Heck148

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5GHWAyCEs4 Leopold Stokowski and his American Symphony Orchestra Robert Mosley / Earnest Murphy / Diana Hoagland Westminster Choir / Boys of the Choir of St. Thomas Church 18/05/69 not a big fan of "Carmina"...played it many, many times....the repetitious "sing-song...

Heck148

This is a vital, electrifying reading of Nielsen's Fourth Symphony, stunningly recorded by RCA's engineers in 1966: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7n63zb8BXw https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/719pMcEYrfL._AC_UY327_FMwebp_QL65_.jpg Great Recording!! I wore out at least 2 LPs back when this first...

Heck148

..... Another of my favs is VW's Tuba Concerto with Previn conducting. Another favourite conductor of VW's works was Malcolm Sargent. The Tuba concerto is really good - I love the Arnold Jacobs recording with Chicago, conducted by Barenboim [1977]....Sargent conducted a fine Sym #2 "London" with Ch...

Heck148

RVW's use of saxophones is most effective in Sym #9....perhaps the best "symphonic" use in the repertoire - Prokofiev did very well, of course, Romeo & Juliet, Lt. Kije, etc - but VW Sym #9 is really quite special... It's interesting that VW, Prokofiev and Sibelius all made excellent use of the low ...

Heck148

If I may, I would not judge RVW IV by Haitink's recording. Better Bernstein or Boult, or even Anthony Pappano's recent CD which I reviewed in these pages, awarding it five stars. Previn's is good also. Yes, I highly recommend Boult's New Philharmonia RVW #4 - really powerful [nasty!! :twisted: ] Hi...

Heck148

I find Price to be pretty tame overall....esp when compared to her contemporaries...the orchestration is ultra-conservative...
I wouldn't put her in the same league as Ives, Hanson, Schuman, Mennin, etc....

Heck148

Rach3 wrote: ↑
Sun Feb 06, 2022 9:41 pm
I heard on YT for the first time his Nos. 6 and 9. Wonderful music , especially 9.

both wonderful symphonies!! powerful stuff....I love how VW uses the saxes, and fluegelhorn in Symphony #9...very effective...
#4 is my favorite - a real gut-ripper!!

Heck148

I have had dealings with Carragan and Letocart on Facebook. The latter was very gracious, but Carragan was extremely defensive, maintaining the attitude of "Who are you to have an opinion? Have you made a thorough study of the sources as I have?" I got insights from both of them which helped me on ...

Heck148

Wow!! Ruth is still kicking!! and playing!! amazing....a real survivor!!

Heck148

Clevenger was an unbelievable horn player - amazing strength, endurance, accuracy along with his stellar musical abilities.... I heard him play so many big horn pieces, Mahler 5, Ein Heldenleben, Bruckner 7, Shostakovich 8, etc - without a clam, a miss, going full tilt all the while....not just loud...

Heck148

Is this the version with the cosmic "train wreck" in the final bars of the symphony!!

That one is hilarious - things come completely off the rails in the final prestissimo....

Heck148

Yes, Heck, those of us who pay attention here know of your terrible loss. I can't imagine continuing without my beloved. We've been together 41 years, and I don't know how I would go on without her. That said, please know that you are an enlivening and welcome presence here. Your posts are invariab...

Heck148

I love how Forrester and Reiner perform the Abschied - Forrester gets this beautiful, otherwordly, ethereal quality ....quite magical...the orchestra work is superlative, oboe, horn [Still, Farkas] esp... I have to admit, tho, I don't listen this movement very often now...I lost my beloved wife a fe...

Heck148

Sorry, Rach3, but the muscle-bound tenor struggling with his high notes in the first song put me off. Ernst Haefliger is my preferred with Bruno Walter in NY on Sony. Yes, Haefliger is excellent with Walter/NYPO; I love Maureen Forester also - Reiner/CSO Those are my two favorite DLvdEs - wouldn't ...

Heck148

In keeping with the elevated discourse on CMG (AHEM!), thought this 45 minute Victor Borge video might be appropriate... Preserved on videotape here, we saw this show live in person. Borge's once universal appeal will never again be duplicated. Unforgettable! :lol: :lol: He was one funny dude!! :lo...

Heck148

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWjr4yd82g4 Shirlet Verett in her electrifying debut as a mezzo with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, live from the Academy of Music! Fabulous! She hadn't yet sung at the MET, only New York City Opera. Lincoln Center wasn't even built yet......

Heck148

Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra: Melodiya Recording 1973. A powerful reading. The CDs are very rare. I'd like to hear this one....Bernstein/NYPO is my favorite, but Stokowski/NatPO is very good also....Rozh'sky does well with Sibelius [and most things!!] - his Sibelus 7th is a real hoot - it's quit...

Heck148

Still, I think everyone does the SSB too slowly and majestically. It should move along so that the phrases can be sung in one breath, yet because it's too slow, choruses always insert a breath in the middle, thus: "O say can you see (breath) by the dawn's early light..." No good!.... Oh, right you ...

Heck148

In a live performance, the chorus can be overwhelming when they, the soloists, and the full orchestra (with organ!) let loose at the opening "Behold the sea, itself!" That's a performance I'll never forget as long as I live. Yes, that opening is really something!! This reminds me - the same English...

Heck148

V-W's Sea Symphony is a fine work.... I got to play it years back, and it was very enjoyable....I was so much looking forward to it, because our conductor was an Englishman, who had trained and worked in Great Britain, knew Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Malcolm Sargent, Boult, and many other not...

Heck148

Quite agree! That Mahler III with Martinon is the absolute best performance of the work, and I own more than a dozen versions. The only one that equals it would be Abbado in Lucerne. Whoever put that set together has really incredible good taste! Yes, that Mahler 3 is great - the finale is the best...

Heck148

Hello, Heck148 :D So tempting. It is $90 then add $22.19 for shipping, convert to Canadian dollars @ $1.27, and let's say it might still be worth it, but the money could be better spent. It's worth it!! I listen to the selections all the time...some really great stuff, unavailable elsewhere...Hey, ...

Heck148

....Toscanini really moves the tempo in a way that sounds totally spontaneous, so that he can lead the chorale in tempo primo , then rally the Philharmonia forces in the following bars to the end. Now that's hardly the "bean counter" musicianship that he was so famously accused of by Furtwangler an...

Heck148

Agreed, Heck. Have not heard Honeck in anything, truth be told, but my personal preference lies also with Reiner/RPO for Brahms 4th. Never did warm to Solti/CSO, though I certainly tried. A quick search on the Googly machine tells me I opined in May of 2008: "For Brahms sym. 4, I personally like Re...

Heck148

As I see it, the issue is .... of allowing them to record something other than the standard rep in order to build a career. It's about fostering a musical culture in which performing artists can work with their composer contemporaries to renew the art of music, and thus assure its survival into the...

Heck148

For the record, my recommended Brahms IV would be Solti/Chicago or Bernstein/NY The Solti/CSO is very good...I never liked the Bernstein #4 too much...seemed like an off day for the orchestra....His NYPO 2 is really excellent, 1 and 3 are good, too... My favorite Brahms 4s are Toscanini/NBC ['51] a...

Heck148

This is a very excellent series - CSO's own house label....very well-recorded, live performance sources. The Muti/Shostakovich #13 is really excellent so is Haitink - Shostakovich #4, Mahler 3, Mahler 6, and Ravel Daphnis & Chloe. The Boulez Stravinsky disc is outstanding as well - Pulcinella [comp...

Heck148

This is a very excellent series - CSO's own house label....very well-recorded, live performance sources. The Muti/Shostakovich #13 is really excellent so is Haitink - Shostakovich #4, Mahler 3, Mahler 6, and Ravel Daphnis & Chloe. The Boulez Stravinsky disc is outstanding as well - Pulcinella [compl...

Heck148

I'm so glad MTT appears to have come thru his medical problem...I've never been a huge fan of his conducting [kind of fussy, prissy, even], tho I do enjoy the "Carmina Burana" he did with Cleveland so many years ago ['74]...the principal bassoonist in SFSO is a friend of mine, and thinks very highly...

Heck148

....... those among you may be able to tell me why I hold, in my own heart of hearts, his first and second symphonies? Does any one else share these thoughts. I hear you, I love Sibelius 1st Symphony, wonderful work, great tunes....I do think that Sym #5 is his best, but only a couple of recordings...

Heck148

Yes, Ormandy did very well with 20th century repertoire...his 60s Prokofieff Sym #6 is superb, along with Mravinsky, my favorite rendition...his Mahler/Cooke #10 is terrific also...Philadelphia was truly a great orchestra for all of those Ormandy years....I believe he hired every single musician in ...

Heck148

I'm generally not too enthusiastic over Ormandy/Phila recordings...I think the engineers went overboard to produce this "Philadelphia Sound" idea....lush, rich, strings, with the woodwinds and brass recessed a bit...also - Ormandy's method of recording, imo, robs the music of the flow, the drama tha...

Heck148

He had earlier came to conduct the Chicago Symphony in music of Shostakovich, but that proved to be an impossible ticket to get (the two recordings he made in Chicago of the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies are included in this set). Those Shostakovich recordings are marvelous - the Sym #4 is top of the...

Heck148

An interesting overview. I personally favour the CSO above all of the others - not that I've analyzed rigorously. I have far more European orchestra's in my CD collection. Same here - they've maintained top position for so many years/decades...I've always loved NYPO....Where I studied [Eastman] was...

Heck148

Fascinating, Brian. The last paragraph is prescient. Are the big five still the same? I've always thought the "Big Five" concept was basically fictitious - musically, at least....economically, perhaps there is more validity [ie - size of budget, pay rates, length of season, etc] I suppose there was...

Heck148

I certainly have not heard a piano version of these works as of yet. I do remember a version that used soprano sax rather than picc trumpet in #2. Was that a Casals recording? Yes, I believe so, Casals used a soprano sax instead of trumpet....supposedly, a trumpet player expired while trying to pla...

Heck148

Szell's Cleveland recordings have always seemed much to stiff and rigidly controlled to me with a few exceptions . They see like the work of a control freak Yes, Szell was a control freak, extremely so, the stories are legend - but, he could let it loose, and when he did the results are quite elect...

Heck148

I acquired this wonderful recording years ago, on a cassette tape - the concert also included Wm Schuman's New England Triptych - best recording of it I've ever heard....the 2nd mvt - "When Jesus Wept" is most moving - the solo work of Wm Polisi [bssn] and Harold Gomberg [ob] is superb. all the way....

Heck148

Hello, Heck148! Always glad to hear from you! Reiner is, IMHO, one of the few consistently great conductors of the past century. The only recording of his that I don't care for is his Alexander Nevsky, which I find uneven. I preferred Thomas Schippers's account recorded in NY in the 1960's, and sti...

Heck148

Some of those Reiner/PittsSO recordings are real gems - and in surprisingly good sound, as well - Ravel - La Valse from 4/47 - best "La Valse" I've ever heard, I have a blue label Columbia Masterworks ML4021 " Unbreakable" lp with Reiner/Pitts playing "La Valse " and Debussy's " Iberia " . Shall ha...

Heck148

Some of those Reiner/PittsSO recordings are real gems - and in surprisingly good sound, as well - Ravel - La Valse from 4/47 - best "La Valse" I've ever heard, in knockout sound [Pristine Audio] - wonderful detail, plus the big sweep of sound. Shostakovich - Sym #6 - 3/45 - another great one - good-...

Heck148

A professor once told me that the N.Y. Philharmonic had the best personnel because it was New York but I'm beginning to feel that the orchestra of the 1940s and 1950s was one in decline until the arrival of Bernstein and later Boulez. Actually, the NYPO in the 40s and 50s was a great orchestra, one...

Heck148

Yes, lovely stories. Is the implication of the late arrival and wrong shoes that conductor and soloist were making the beast with two backs before the performance? Sorry, you need to spell it out for uncouth Australians... :D Yes, that was indeed the "implication"!! :mrgreen: Walter Hendl was known...

Heck148

When I was at music school, Rosalind Elias came to appear as guest artist with the Philharmonia, the school's top orchestra...She sang a number of selections from "Carmen", and a couple other numbers - but the Bizet arias were most memorable...Walter Hendl conducted...obviously they had worked toget...

Heck148

Some of the "Asian" orchestras are quite good...there is a huge proliferation of Asian string players, mainly violinists, and many young Americans wind players have sought and gained positions in these orchestras...they are well-funded, and vacancies in US orchestras are few, and competition is brut...

Heck148

Heck148-- Thanks for such a deeply informative post! Glad to know you're still lurking. Please post more often, when you can. :) I would say that, as halls have gotten larger, especially in America, the decibel level to fill them has also grown. Yes, indeed!! larger concert halls have certainly mad...

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