The Classical Music Guide Forums

THEHORN

Sounds like another dreary Eurotrash production , filled with ridiculously arbitrary gimmicks and wanton disregard for Wagner's intentions . I don't mind updating productions of operas to the present day , but I can't stand ones by directors and designers who arbitrarily invent production ideas that...

THEHORN

" Ariane & Barbe Bleue " is one of the unsung masterpieces of French opera . It's barely held on on to the fringes of the operatic repertoire for over a century but is revived occasionally . Before its lamentable demise several years ago, the New York city opera did a production of it , but the perf...

THEHORN

Actually, American conductors have been active all over the world for decades . Just look at athis lost the Americans who have been music director of leading orchestras and opera company sin Europe - Levine, Maazel, Dennis Russell Davies, Kent Nagano, Joann Falletta, Marin Alsop,Michael Tilson Thoma...

THEHORN

Sor loser !

THEHORN

I have the excellent Naxos recording of this undeservedly neglected piano concerto with Peter Donahoe and David Lloyd-Jones conducting . I'd definitely like to hear these old live recordings, but you can be sure the sound won't be anywhere as near as good as with the Naxos one !

THEHORN

MaestroB , I've heard the "Indian Fantasy" on youtube not too long ago and found it really interesting ,like Busoni's music in general . I know the sprawling piano concerto much better and think it's a genuine masterpiece , but it's incredibly difficult not only technically but in terms of the endur...

THEHORN

What should you do if you have tinnitus ? Get an unlisted ear !

THEHORN

Any story about classical music by Norman Lebrecht should be taken with more than a few grains of salt . He's about as reliable a news source as Fox news . Yes, we know Ozawa is frail and so is Mehta . But whether Ozawa's mind is too far gone to conduct is questionable .

THEHORN

I agree somewhat with certain critic's opinions on Ormandy's interpretations . He did tend to apply that plush "Philadelphia sound " to a wide variety of orchestral repertoire by composers of different centuries, styles and nationalities in a sort of "one size fits all " way . But in some repertoire...

THEHORN

I haven't heard any stories about her planning to do this .

THEHORN

Anything from Norman Lebrecht must be taken with a grain of salt . . . . . he's the Rush Limbaugh of classical music .

THEHORN

I just got an email from Arkiv music listing new releases . Among them is a six CD set of music by Alexander Zemlinsky , incuding his "Lyric Symphony ", the operas " A Florentine Tragedy ", "Der Traumgorge ", " Der Konig Kandaules " and assorted other works , and this looks really interesting . The ...

THEHORN

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ! But he didn't let this faze him at all !

THEHORN

The DG CD of Sergei Taneyev's chamber works , a piano trio and a piano quintet is superb and features an all star group of musicians including Mikhail Pletnev , Lynn Harrell and Vadim Repin et al .

THEHORN

I have Marin Alsop's excellent recordings of the two Barber symphonies plus a shorter orchestral work with Royal Scottish orchestra on Naxos, and recommend it if you haven't heard it .

THEHORN

Maestro B, from information I've recently read about Dudamel, he actually has more experience conducting opera than you realize and has been conducting opera for about as long as he has been doing orchestral repertoire . Possibly his relative lack of experience in opera will enable him to approach f...

THEHORN

The sound quality is variable, but never less than OK . and in some cases excellent . You don't have to subscribe to youtube to see any of these .

THEHORN

Experiencing classical music on youtube, orchestral music , operas , you name it rather like being the proverbial kid in a candy store . The opportunities to hear such an incredible variety of classical music , with both live and audio recordings are endless . And you never know what you might be ab...

THEHORN

I wish Gustavo the best of luck . It's easy enough for cynics to dismiss him as a shallow glamor boy, but he is remarkably gifted and able conductor - the real thing .

THEHORN

Happy birthday, Len !

THEHORN

Maestro B , regarding Stravinsky's aversion to conductors "interpreting "his music, his own recordings of Le Sacre, for example, show how even he, despite his meticulous instructions in his scores, did not conduct this masterpiece the same way in the different versions he made . Despite his anger wi...

THEHORN

MaestroB, with all due respect, I couldn't disagree with you more about Ozawa's Prokofiev cycle with the BPO on DG . I have it, and to me at least, the playing of the Berliners is simply superb . Possibly a little to polished for Prokofiev , but the orchestra sounds absolutely gorgeous . Ozawa also ...

THEHORN

Maestrob, there was evidently some conflict between Mehta and the NY Phil, but they always respected his musicianship and technical skill . This was never in question . Despite the negative reviews Mehta has often gotten over the years, top orchestras have always had a lot of admiration for Mehta , ...

THEHORN

Davis was always interesting to read and not often quite perceptive when discussing different composers and their works, but unfortunately he was often very unfair and gratuitously nasty in dismissing performers he didn't like , for example conductors such as Mehta and Solti and others . I often fou...

THEHORN

David Danzmayr is a new name to me , so I have no way of knowing how good a conductor is or what impact he will have on this orchestra . He must have made a very favorable impression on the orchestra members or he would never have been chosen . Possibly he is on the verge of becoming much better kno...

THEHORN

Western Classical Music had its origin in Europe centuries ago . So what ? Big deal . Who cares ? This in itself is no reason to dismiss it as an art form or berate anyone for composing, performing or listening to it . Classical music is no more "evil" and of baleful influence than any other genre o...

THEHORN

Happy birthday indeed ! And congratulations on having reached such a venerable age !

THEHORN

Thanks, Maestrob ! Hoary new year to you too !

THEHORN

This new biography sounds interesting . Has anyone here read the long out of print biography of Koussevitzky by Moses Smith ? I read it long ago and it's quite fascinating , and often rather critical of the legendary Russian conductor's conducting technique and interpretations ,. No wonder Koussevit...

THEHORN

I wish Sir Simon well in Munich, where he has been a regular guest conductor with theBavarianRSO . Apparently, the really like him there, or he would not have been appointed successor to the late,lamented Mariss Jansons . Rattle has been conducting concert performances of Wagner's Ring in Munich, an...

THEHORN

Yes, I've sen the DVD of Gloriana, also on Netflix, and enjoyed it very much . It's a really good opera that deserves to be better known. But unfortunately, the premiere in London was a critical flop , and was rather unfavorably received , which caused Britten a lot of Tsuris , and the opera was neg...

THEHORN

I've heard several of her recordings and have aired them . Is there any explanation why she is retiring from public performance ? She certainly isn't very old and you would think she had a fair number of years to go before retiring .

THEHORN

Well, Gergiev has known Putin for many years . I don't know if he approves of Putin's ruthless suppression of dissent in Russia , but Putin is a classical music fan and a staunch supporter of the arts in Russia, and his generous support has allowed classical music to flourish in Russia .Putin's supp...

THEHORN

I'm glad you like my letter ! Thanks .

THEHORN

Interestingly, Gergiev is not actually a Russian, but an ethnic Ossetian . The Ossetians are an ancient people who are the descendants of the ancient Scythian and Sarmatian peoples and speak a language related to Farsi, Kurdish and Pashto . The Ossetians settle din the rugged Caucasus mountains long...

THEHORN

Admittedly, Gergiev can be erratic at times, and uneven , but this has been true of many eminent conductors . Like Furtwangler, forget about note perfect laying . But at his best, like Furtwnagler, Gergiev can give prformances of incredible power and eloquence . A few years ago, there was an article...

THEHORN

OK, here is the letter to the editor The title put up by the NY Poat editors is "Canceling Classics ". "As a lifelong classical musician and an unabashed liberal , I found Jonathan Tobin's article on the alleged threat of 'wokesters' to the immortal Ludwig van Beethoven and classical music in genera...

THEHORN

I've heard the huge EMI set ( about 30 CDs ! ) of Elgar's music which I've borrowed a few times from my local library . This includes some of the compose'r sown recordings of his music .This is a good chance to hear sone of Elgar's lesser known works, some of which are very much worth hearing but ra...

THEHORN

No, the music of Beethoven and other composers who happened to be "dead white European males " isn't being "canceled": by anyone , except perhaps by Covid-19 , at least for the time being when it cones to live performances . Much ado about nothing . Not too long ago, a conservative columnist who con...

THEHORN

Maestrob , despite your dismissal of the Kirov CD and DVD , I have the DVD and have heard the Philips CD , I still admire it very much . Yes, the playing of the Met orchestra may be more "refined ", but the Kirov orchestra plays superbly , and has the authentic Russian sound for the music, which doe...

THEHORN

I've always preferred the recordings made by Szell with orchestras other than the Cleveland to the ones he made with that acclaimed orchestra , as blasphemous as this may sound . I also prefer the Cleveland recordings he made with EMI to this eon what is now Sony Classical . EMI, DG, Decca and Phili...

THEHORN

Lately, I've been taking advantage of an opportunity to get to know the very interesting but for the most part neglected operas of Hindemith on youtube . I've known his genuinely great opera "Mathis Der Maler " , the complete opera, not the more familiar symphony for many years tfrom the superb EMI ...

THEHORN

Interesting, but I wouldn't call Lorin Maazel's recordings with the Cleveland orchestra"forgettable ". Certainly not his classic recording of Prokofiev's complete "Romeo & Juliette for Decca, their first recorded collaboration . Under Maazel, the orchestra sounded vastly different than under Szell ....

THEHORN

The music of Balakirev never "want out of fashion ". Outside of Russia,it has never been performed with any regularity at all . The only exception might be his incredibly difficult piano piece "Islamey, based on Circassian folk music , which is truly amazing even though hardly anyone in the west is ...

THEHORN

I don't think orchestras are "rushing" to do this, but they are making a serious attempt to give more black composers a chance to be heard at concerts, which I think is a good idea . They've a;sp been making an effort to perform more music by women composers , past and present, which is also admirab...

THEHORN

American orchestras do not intentionally try to discriminate against black musicians . The only reason for their scarcity in our orchestras is because so far, very few young blacks have aimed at careers in symphony orchestras . Few get exposure to classical music as children and not too many have be...

THEHORN

Interesting article, but I think Tommasini overstates his claim about the Met's repertoire being "overwhelmingly traditional . In fact, within the pas ten year or so, the Met's repertoire has become more and more diversified and interesting . And in fact if you compare the Met's overall repertoire i...

THEHORN

"Smaller scale opera " certainly has its place, and I have no objection to it . But there is absolutely nothing wrong with lavish productions of larger than life operas such as Aida, Wagner's Ring, La Gioconda, the Meyerbeer operas , Messiaen's Saint Francis , Les Troyens by Berlioz, and others . Tr...

THEHORN

I've been confirmed Bruckner fan ever since I discovered his music 50 years ago as a teenager , when I got the classic recording of his 9th with Carl Schuricht and the Vienna Philharmonic . His music instantly "clicked " with me and I became familiar with all of his other 8 completed symphonies , an...

THEHORN

An interesting article, but it doesn't mention one of the best recordings of the opera, namely Solti, with Tebaldi , Bumbry, Bergonzi, Fischer-Dieskau , Ghiaurov and Talvela, a cast which would e hard o beat anywhere , any time . And yes, Fischer-Dieskau was a much better Verdi baritone than most cr...

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