What are you listening to?

[fergus]

[DaveF]

That is my favourite M1 Dave.

Hard to disagree with you there Fergus. It seems to be a very underrated Mahler 1 too and probably doesnt get the recognition it deserves. It tends to get overshadowed by the likes of Bernstein, Solti etc.

[Jose Echenique]

Seán mentioned this one recently so I have been listening to it over the weekend....

Unlike La Boheme and L´Elisir d´Amore which are fool-proof, Carmen is extremely difficult to bring off, it´s almost always ruined by singers or conductor.
The Solti version is, surprisingly, one of his best opera recordings (I sincerely think it´s better than any of his Wagner operas, the Ring included). This recording was originally meant for the greatest Carmen of our time, Teresa Berganza, who cancelled her participation after DECCA reduced the promised rehearsal time. Fortunately another very fine mezzo was at hand to substitute: Tatiana Troyanos, and I think she is splendid. Domingo and van Dam are great too, and especial praise should go to the early 70´s London Philharmonic who produce ravishing sounds. This is one of four recordings that I consider essential, the others are the early 1950´s Cluytens, the super elegant Beecham with an adorable Victoria de los Angeles in the title role, and my downright favourite, the Claudio Abbado version with Teresa Berganza in DG.
Still the Solti hasn´t age, it still sounds fantastic and is truly a great recording.

[Jose Echenique]

Even though this is music composed for some of the famous Venetian Ospedali, only one of the composers featured was Venetian: Porpora was Neapolitan, Hasse was born in Bergedorf, Germany, but in fact he died in Venice, and only Baldassare Galuppi was born in nearby Burano.
Here we get a motet from each, from Porpora a De Profundis, from Hasse a Laudate Pueri and from Galuppi a Dixit Dominus. If you enjoy Vivaldi´s Gloria you are going to love this disc, these motets are big, opulent and lusciously Baroque.
Peter Kopp had the good sense of hiring excellent Italian soloists: Maria Grazia Schiavo and Emmanuela Galli from La Cappella de´Turchini, and Jose Maria Lomonaco, a very fine contralto.
A most enjoyable disc with works never before recorded.

[Seán]

That is my favourite M1 Dave.

It's up there but I prefer the first Kubelik/BRSO.

[Seán]

Seán mentioned this one recently so I have been listening to it over the weekend....

Unlike La Boheme and L´Elisir d´Amore which are fool-proof, Carmen is extremely difficult to bring off, it´s almost always ruined by singers or conductor.
The Solti version is, surprisingly, one of his best opera recordings (I sincerely think it´s better than any of his Wagner operas, the Ring included). This recording was originally meant for the greatest Carmen of our time, Teresa Berganza, who cancelled her participation after DECCA reduced the promised rehearsal time. Fortunately another very fine mezzo was at hand to substitute: Tatiana Troyanos, and I think she is splendid. Domingo and van Dam are great too, and especial praise should go to the early 70´s London Philharmonic who produce ravishing sounds. This is one of four recordings that I consider essential, the others are the early 1950´s Cluytens, the super elegant Beecham with an adorable Victoria de los Angeles in the title role, and my downright favourite, the Claudio Abbado version with Teresa Berganza in DG.
Still the Solti hasn´t age, it still sounds fantastic and is truly a great recording.

Thanks for the information Pepe, I love that recording.

[Seán]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 9
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado - conducting.

Gustav Mahler's Ninth is an extraordinary work, I love it; what a beautiful, creative mind that man had. When the symphony had finished I listened to the first two movements a second time. Is there any other composer who could do parody like Mahler?

[Jose Echenique]

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 9
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado - conducting.

Gustav Mahler's Ninth is an extraordinary work, I love it; what a beautiful, creative mind that man had. When the symphony had finished I listened to the first two movements a second time. Is there any other composer who could do parody like Mahler?

It is Seán, Abbado´s Ninth is definitely one of the great readings of our time, and the BPO play like gods for him, as only they ever played for Karajan and Furtwängler.
Other composers who were great at parody were Rossini and Offenbach, but they did a different kind of parody than Mahler.
While thinking of Abbado´s Mahler Ninth, I realized he has yet to conduct that other gigantic symphony, Bruckner´s Eighth. I Googled to find out if he had ever conduct it and nothing came of the search, so maybe he hasn´t. I wonder if anyone knows why.

[fergus]

Seán mentioned this one recently so I have been listening to it over the weekend....

Unlike La Boheme and L´Elisir d´Amore which are fool-proof, Carmen is extremely difficult to bring off, it´s almost always ruined by singers or conductor.
The Solti version is, surprisingly, one of his best opera recordings (I sincerely think it´s better than any of his Wagner operas, the Ring included). This recording was originally meant for the greatest Carmen of our time, Teresa Berganza, who cancelled her participation after DECCA reduced the promised rehearsal time. Fortunately another very fine mezzo was at hand to substitute: Tatiana Troyanos, and I think she is splendid. Domingo and van Dam are great too, and especial praise should go to the early 70´s London Philharmonic who produce ravishing sounds. This is one of four recordings that I consider essential, the others are the early 1950´s Cluytens, the super elegant Beecham with an adorable Victoria de los Angeles in the title role, and my downright favourite, the Claudio Abbado version with Teresa Berganza in DG.
Still the Solti hasn´t age, it still sounds fantastic and is truly a great recording.

Thank you for the information Pepe as it is always nice to have some background knowledge.

What recordings of the Ring do you recommend Pepe or do you prefer individual performances of each work?

[fergus]

That sounds very interesting and tempting from your description Pepe!