What are you listening to?

[bombasticDarren]

Schubert - Symphony No.5 (Leonard Bernstein, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon)

Interesting one Darren....how did you get on with that one?

I have taken fondly to this recording Fergus. The tempi are fleet and the orchestra sounds responsive and light.

[bombasticDarren]

^^ what do you think of that set, Darren?

It was my first Schubert cycle Jared; and as the years have gone by I have neglected it. I will endeavour to play it through very soon. The 9th is quite possibly my favourite symphony of all symphonies - almost shamefully tuneful and full of incident.

This reading is well thought out in my view. The tempi are not at all fast (as others are) but they seem well judged. Some of the balances could have been improved, but that's just niggling.

[Jared]

^^ I agree with all that, Darren; I think the Davis set with the Staatskapelle is uniformly very fine, striking just the right balance for me.. they are also excellent in the 8/9 for Sinopoli, too, imho.

[Jared]

preparing for the arrival of the Doric Quartet version, no doubt by the end of the week:

Schumann:
String Quartet No.1
The Lindsays

[fergus]

Is it that you do not admire the music itself or the performer; I would be curious on that point Simon.

Oh not the music! No, I admire this music more and more as time goes on, and I imagine that will never change! No it's simply a question of Herrick's playing. When I first heard these discs I was in my teens and they seemed like a breath of fresh air. Herrick was lively and fast, and it was a far cry from the dry and stodgy organ playing that I heard a lot on disc back then. Now when I listen to these recordings, some of the tempi just seem perverse, the articulation is wildly OTT quite a lot of the time (towards the staccato end of the spectrum) which leads to a kind of sameness to everything, and all told I find it lacking in depth. I still admire Herrick's clarity and spirit (not to mention the organs used and choice of registrations), and I still feel as negatively as I ever did about dry and stodgy, but over the years I've probably been exposed to much "better" (to me) ways of playing Bach that I find much more convincing and satisfying.

That said, I don't have many/any such performances on disc, so it might be time for me to look again as I could really do with a Bach set that I both admire and enjoy. As it stands I rarely listen to this music at home (despite it being some of my favourite stuff EVER) and that's a shame. I suppose the better you know the work, the harder it is to find the right recording.

Thank you for that Simon. I agree with you in most respects regarding Herrick but where I disagree is that I personally find him the easiest set that I have to listen to; no accounting for taste eh?
If/when you ever decide that you have found the "perfect" set I certainly would like to hear about it!

[fergus]

This is really interesting. Gregor Werner (1695-1766) was the Esterhaza family Kapellmeister before Haydn. Surely Haydn must have been familiar with his music, and it´s fascinating to hear Werner´s little string quartets in 2 movements. These must be some of the earliest string quartets before Haydn developed the genre into it´s Classical form.
This disc also contains some Advent songs sung by a treble and a tenor, but surely the most interesting music in this recording are these little but very lovely string quartets.

That certainly appeals to the musicology side of me Pepe!

[fergus]

I can't say this music sets my pulse racing, and the performance is quite frankly a little pedestrian, but this disk is of interest, nonetheless:

Brahms:
Liebeslieder op.52
Neue Liebeslieder op.65
Jane Glover/ BBC Singers

A spate of Christmas tunes next week will sort you out after that one Jared LOL!!

[Diapason]

Fergus, I spent some time this evening looking around the web for recommendations, and I didn't find many new leads. I think the Hanssler set might be worth exploring further, as the one disc I have from that cycle is genuinely very good. Ciaran, do you have a few of those? The Zerer discs would interest me especially.

[Ciaran]

Fergus, I spent some time this evening looking around the web for recommendations, and I didn't find many new leads. I think the Hanssler set might be worth exploring further, as the one disc I have from that cycle is genuinely very good. Ciaran, do you have a few of those? The Zerer discs would interest me especially.

Yes, I have a few of the Hänssler series, played by Kay Johansen and Bine Bryndorf. Very good!

If you were up for the complete organ music then Marie-Claire Alain's digital cycle on Erato is now quite cheap and most rewarding!

[Diapason]

Thanks Ciaran, I might listen to a few samples online and see what I think before purchasing!