What are you listening to?

[Jared]

^^ yeah, it's tough to think that these days, Emil Gilels and Cliff Curzon wouldn't get record contracts....

... let alone Clara Haskil...

One of my favourite pianists of all time.

and she used to reside on the Decca album covers of the 1950's... can you imagine this today, God bless her??

[fergus]

[Seán]

Fergus, I have read critical reviews of the Weil/OAE performances of Schubert's sacred music, they did not cast them in a good light. Do you like that recording?

[bombasticDarren]

Ravel - Tzigane, Pavane pour une infante defunte & Bolero (Yan Pascal Tortelier, Ulster Orchestra, Chandos)

[Jose Echenique]

^^ yeah, it's tough to think that these days, Emil Gilels and Cliff Curzon wouldn't get record contracts....

... let alone Clara Haskil...

One of my favourite pianists of all time.

And boy, with her looks, she would NEVER get a record contract these days. And neither Furtwängler, Klemperer, Cherkassky...Montserrat Caballé? not unless she looses 50 kilos.

[Jose Echenique]

Fergus, I have read critical reviews of the Weil/OAE performances of Schubert's sacred music, they did not cast them in a good light. Do you like that recording?

I´d say that those are my favourite recordings of the Schubert masses. But you have to know WHAT you are listening to. Weil uses period instruments and a children choir, and that is about as close as we can get to what Schubert himself heard and expected. Of course children could never match the perfection of the Arnold Schoenber Choir (with Harnoncourt) let alone the superb Bayerischen Rundfunk Chor (with Sawallisch).
But there is something very right about these intimate, charming performances. While listening to them you feel transported to one of those beautiful baroque churches in rural Austria, the music is not blown out of proportion, and yes, they are lovely recordings which I recommend.

[fergus]

Fergus, I have read critical reviews of the Weil/OAE performances of Schubert's sacred music, they did not cast them in a good light. Do you like that recording?

Hi Seán, I bought that recording some years ago following on from some pretty good recordings I had then bought of Weil conducting some Haydn Masses. I think that it is a very fine recording. It strikes a nice balance between a “big work” performance and the devotional attention that is its due, both in the orchestration and the choral singing. I am never swayed by the opinion of a “critic”. The only critic whose standards have to please me is myself. I think that every music listener, irrespective of genre, ultimately should not let anyone other than himself define his taste but taste is a very subjective and unique thing. Paper, as they say, never refuses ink LOL!

[Jose Echenique]

The more I hear this recording, the more I love it.

[Seán]

Fergus, I have read critical reviews of the Weil/OAE performances of Schubert's sacred music, they did not cast them in a good light. Do you like that recording?

I´d say that those are my favourite recordings of the Schubert masses. But you have to know WHAT you are listening to. Weil uses period instruments and a children choir, and that is about as close as we can get to what Schubert himself heard and expected. Of course children could never match the perfection of the Arnold Schoenber Choir (with Harnoncourt) let alone the superb Bayerischen Rundfunk Chor (with Sawallisch).
But there is something very right about these intimate, charming performances. While listening to them you feel transported to one of those beautiful baroque churches in rural Austria, the music is not blown out of proportion, and yes, they are lovely recordings which I recommend.

Thanks Fergus & Pepe. I love the Tafelmusik led by Weil in Haydn's symphonies and masses so I was surprised to read negative comments on their Schubert performances, well that's that sorted then.

[bombasticDarren]

Beethoven - Symphony No.7 & No.8 (Roy Goodman, The Hanover Band, Nimbus)