What are you listening to?

[jaybee]

mine arrived( was collected from depot due to skinny letterbox...)

can't wait, perhaps we should have a race... see who can listen to whole thing first!

I estimate 3years till I get through it all...

[Seán]

mine arrived( was collected from depot due to skinny letterbox...)

can't wait, perhaps we should have a race... see who can listen to whole thing first!

I estimate 3years till I get through it all...

and still no sign of mine......

[jaybee]

well in the Olympian spirit, I shan't start until yours arrives Sean, Simon it would appear is representing the PRC in gymnastics!

[Diapason]

You'll still both beat me hands down!

[Jose Echenique]

So I finally had the opportunity to dip my toe into this massive box set last night:



I started with the Marriage of Figaro having discussed it on the other thread, and while I stuck mainly to "highlights", I have to say I really enjoyed it. I don't know much about opera at all, but I really admired the sense of life and urgency about the performance, I thought the singing had real character, and I really felt like I was listening to a stage drama with singing rather than a concert.

HOWEVER, I found myself deeply disappointed by the "Shawshank Redemption" aria. (Yes yes, I know I'm a philistine, but that's the only reason I know that particular movement.) For me, the stripped down, faster-tempo approach just robbed this particular aria of nearly all its beauty. Then I got to thinking: is this the way things always are for those regular HIP-bashers? Dear God, I hope I'm not starting to understand them... :)

A word about René Jacobs´Le Nozze di Figaro. What´s really fascinating about his recording, even more than other HIP recordings like Kuijken´s or Gardiner´s, is the sheer prominence that he gives the woodwinds over the strings. This balance is certainly correct, since the "stars" of the orchestra in Mozart´s time were the winds. If I´m not mistaken what was played in the Shawshank Redemption was the heavenly duet between the Countess and Susanna. In traditional recordings they over-romanticized it, beautiful? yes, but maybe Jacobs has the more stylish idea. The one member of the Jacobs´cast that I didn´t like was the mezzo who sings Cherubino, her voice doesn´t have the warmth and beauty of a Teresa Berganza or even the young Cecilia Bartoli who recorded the role with Baremboim, but otherwise it´s a lovely recording. The playing of the orchestra alone is worth the price of the 30 cd box.

[jaybee]

well, if anyone is going to convince/convert me to Opera, I suppose it's HM!

[Diapason]

A word about René Jacobs´Le Nozze di Figaro. What´s really fascinating about his recording, even more than other HIP recordings like Kuijken´s or Gardiner´s, is the sheer prominence that he gives the woodwinds over the strings. This balance is certainly correct, since the "stars" of the orchestra in Mozart´s time were the winds. If I´m not mistaken what was played in the Shawshank Redemption was the heavenly duet between the Countess and Susanna. In traditional recordings they over-romanticized it, beautiful? yes, but maybe Jacobs has the more stylish idea. The one member of the Jacobs´cast that I didn´t like was the mezzo who sings Cherubino, her voice doesn´t have the warmth and beauty of a Teresa Berganza or even the young Cecilia Bartoli who recorded the role with Baremboim, but otherwise it´s a lovely recording. The playing of the orchestra alone is worth the price of the 30 cd box.

I'd agree with all of that, and I thought the orchestra (and the balance) was just fantastic, and revelatory to me straight off the bat. I think "over-romanticised" is a fair reflection of what I've heard elsewhere, and while it's jarring to hear the aria with the syrup taken out, previous experience with this kind of thing would suggest that I'll enjoy it for its own merits over time. It's certainly very refreshing to step away from the over-prettified and straight-laced Mozart that I'm used to hearing.

I dipped into a few other discs in the box as well, most notably Paul Lewis playing Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata. I was sufficiently inspired that I sat down at the piano and played a few bars of the final movement for the first time in 100 years. That's a pretty solid recommendation in and of itself!!

[jaybee]

I have a number of Lewis Beethoven discs...

I find him excellent, particularly no3

[bombasticDarren]

Rubbra - Improvisation for Violin and Orchestra, Improvisations on Virginal Pieces by Giles Farnaby & Violin Concerto (Krysia Osostowicz/Takuo Yuasa, Ulster Orchestra, Naxos)

[bombasticDarren]

Vaughan Williams - Norfolk Rhapsody No.1, In the Fen Country, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis & Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus (Bryden Thomson, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Chandos)