What are you listening to?

[Seán]

The Bruggen set is a major achievement, one of the most profoundly affecting set of readings of these symphonic masterpieces I have ever heard.  I did not expect to buy another Beethoven cycle, but I am so very glad I did.  Bruggen loves this music deeply and passionately and,my God, it shows in the care and attention he devotes to each and every phrase.  Very, very special music making.

This is probably my preferred cycle now, taking first place over the truly excellent Harnoncourt.

The Harnoncourt/COE set is a great cycle, I love it.

[Seán]

The Bruggen set is a major achievement, one of the most profoundly affecting set of readings of these symphonic masterpieces I have ever heard.  I did not expect to buy another Beethoven cycle, but I am so very glad I did.  Bruggen loves this music deeply and passionately and,my God, it shows in the care and attention he devotes to each and every phrase.  Very, very special music making.

This is probably my preferred cycle now, taking first place over the truly excellent Harnoncourt.

I personally favour the Mackerras set on Hyperion. That said, I have yet to hear the second Bruggen cycle...

I'm not familiar with Mackerras Hyperion set but his cycle with the Scousers is MARVELLOUS.

[bombasticDarren]

Schumann - Symphony No.3 Rhenish (Roy Goodman, The Hanover Band, RCA)

[bombasticDarren]

The Bruggen set is a major achievement, one of the most profoundly affecting set of readings of these symphonic masterpieces I have ever heard.  I did not expect to buy another Beethoven cycle, but I am so very glad I did.  Bruggen loves this music deeply and passionately and,my God, it shows in the care and attention he devotes to each and every phrase.  Very, very special music making.

This is probably my preferred cycle now, taking first place over the truly excellent Harnoncourt.

The Harnoncourt/COE set is a great cycle, I love it.

When I first started collecting I felt sure that I'd only need one performance of any piece of music. My naive mind told me that the music is the same no matter who plays it. My first LvB cycle was Haitink and the LSO (a much underated cycle in my view), but on impulse while in the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street (remember that one?) I purchased the Harnoncourt cycle as I had heard such lavish praise about it. Suffice to say that the Harnoncourt cycle taught me a lot about the art of interpretation and how this can make a work sound tantalisingly different and fresh. So, I have 35 LvB symphony cycles; and I blame Nikolaus Harnoncourt! ;)

[bombasticDarren]

Brahms - Symphony No.3 & Variations on a Theme by Haydn (Marin Alsop, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Naxos)

[Seán]

The Harnoncourt/COE set is a great cycle, I love it.

When I first started collecting I felt sure that I'd only need one performance of any piece of music. My naive mind told me that the music is the same no matter who plays it. My first LvB cycle was Haitink and the LSO (a much underated cycle in my view), but on impulse while in the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street (remember that one?)

Yes I do.

I purchased the Harnoncourt cycle as I had heard such lavish praise about it. Suffice to say that the Harnoncourt cycle taught me a lot about the art of interpretation and how this can make a work sound tantalisingly different and fresh. So, I have 35 LvB symphony cycles; and I blame Nikolaus Harnoncourt! ;)

Thirty five! Wow, Darren, I hadn't realised, such is the behaivour of a real devotee. Good for you.

[fergus]

A member in the other Forum posted this yesterday:

<The most recent issue of Gramophone had a gushing review of a new Beethoven symphony cycle on Glossa with Frans Brüggen conducting the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. You have to read between the lines to figure out what is really wrong with this set. When Gramophone states:
Quote:
Brüggen strips it [the Ninth Symphony] of the overbearing bombast encrusted across generations and, in a recreation of beauty, both chaste and potent, phases curve according to melodic or harmonic progressions, paragraphs unfold in long-breathed lines, changes in metre are seamlessly accommodated.


This quotation should be translated as follows: "Here is another wimpy, underpowered, excessively tame Beethoven Ninth Symphony on period instruments."

What is the British passion for such underpowered, unemotional performances? I have heard Brüggen in late Haydn symphonies, and, believe me, the results are hideous. In any event, why is an orchestra entitled "Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century" playing works the earliest of which were written at the beginning of the nineteenth century? Moreover, as I have said previously, listeners who have listened to Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, et al. do not have period ears and cannot possibly have the same impression as the original listeners had even if, somehow, a perfect digital recording had been made of the premiere of, for example, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and we were able to listen to that recording. Finally, I really doubt if many listeners would want to listen to a recording of any Beethoven symphony played as badly as it was undoubtedly played at its premiere.>


I think everybody is entitled to his opinion, everyone has the right to like or dislike period instruments as much as he wants, but what is very strange is that our friend here has NOT heard the recording, and yet, damns the Gramophone for a very positive review.
Strange to say the least, don´t you think....

Attitudes similar to that are are among the reasons why I left that Forum and will most likely not return to it again.

[fergus]

When I first started collecting I felt sure that I'd only need one performance of any piece of music. My naive mind told me that the music is the same no matter who plays it. My first LvB cycle was Haitink and the LSO (a much underated cycle in my view), but on impulse while in the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street (remember that one?) I purchased the Harnoncourt cycle as I had heard such lavish praise about it. Suffice to say that the Harnoncourt cycle taught me a lot about the art of interpretation and how this can make a work sound tantalisingly different and fresh. So, I have 35 LvB symphony cycles; and I blame Nikolaus Harnoncourt! ;)

Nice post Darren! With 35 LvB symphony cycles you are in Pepe territory there!!!

[fergus]

Some very pleasant listening....

[Seán]

A member in the other Forum posted this yesterday:

<The most recent issue of Gramophone had a gushing review of a new Beethoven symphony cycle on Glossa with Frans Brüggen conducting the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. You have to read between the lines to figure out what is really wrong with this set. When Gramophone states:
Quote:
Brüggen strips it [the Ninth Symphony] of the overbearing bombast encrusted across generations and, in a recreation of beauty, both chaste and potent, phases curve according to melodic or harmonic progressions, paragraphs unfold in long-breathed lines, changes in metre are seamlessly accommodated.


This quotation should be translated as follows: "Here is another wimpy, underpowered, excessively tame Beethoven Ninth Symphony on period instruments."

What is the British passion for such underpowered, unemotional performances? I have heard Brüggen in late Haydn symphonies, and, believe me, the results are hideous. In any event, why is an orchestra entitled "Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century" playing works the earliest of which were written at the beginning of the nineteenth century? Moreover, as I have said previously, listeners who have listened to Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, et al. do not have period ears and cannot possibly have the same impression as the original listeners had even if, somehow, a perfect digital recording had been made of the premiere of, for example, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and we were able to listen to that recording. Finally, I really doubt if many listeners would want to listen to a recording of any Beethoven symphony played as badly as it was undoubtedly played at its premiere.>


I think everybody is entitled to his opinion, everyone has the right to like or dislike period instruments as much as he wants, but what is very strange is that our friend here has NOT heard the recording, and yet, damns the Gramophone for a very positive review.
Strange to say the least, don´t you think....

Attitudes similar to that are are among the reasons why I left that Forum and will most likely not return to it again.

I am trying to return, it is very difficult though.