Tír Na HiFi

That is an excellent post, mcq, well done.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9, 'Choral' in D minor
with Gundula Janowitz, Hilde Rössel-Majdan, Waldemar Kmentt, Walter Berry
Vienna Singverein
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan - conducting

I haven't listened to this 1962 recording for a long time now and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this performance, it is realy magnificent.

Jan Dismas Zelenka
Capriccios Nos. 1, 2 & 3
Heinz Holliger (Oboe)
Klaus Thunemann (Bassoon)
Barry Tuckwell (Horn)
Alexander van Wijnkoop (Violin)
Camerata Bern

This is gorgeous music. beautifully played. The horn playing by Tuckwell is quite extraordinary.

Seán wrote: Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9, 'Choral' in D minor
Herbert von Karajan - conducting

A great recording indeed Seán. I used to think that that was the best Ninth I've heard until I came across Gardiner's. Did you get a chance to compare the two yet? (You have the Gardiner set if I'm not mistaken)

A very informative post above mcq. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. As always, a pleasure to read them.

Many thanks for your kind words, Sean and Dave. I appreciate it.

DaveF wrote:

Seán wrote: Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9, 'Choral' in D minor
Herbert von Karajan - conducting

A great recording indeed Seán. I used to think that that was the best Ninth I've heard until I came across Gardiner's. Did you get a chance to compare the two yet? (You have the Gardiner set if I'm not mistaken)

Hi Dave, yes I have the Gardiner set and no I haven't listened to the Ninth yet. The Beethoven symphonies are very complex (and I am not yet familiar with them) so I am slowly but surely making my through them and enjoyng myself doing so.
Anyway, that's interestng that you should say that about Gardiner's Ninth, I must play it. I decided to listen to the HvK/BPO (1962 recording) after listening to Vänskä's Ninth on R3. Shame on me that I haven't even listened to the Vänskä/Minnesota Orchestra Ninth from their terrific box set that I bought a couple of month's ago. I will listen to a few Ninth's over the next week or so.

Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-3 performed by the London Classical Players, Melvyn Tan / Norrington....




No. 1 was a strong, powerful performance with a good display from Tan.
No. 2: The direction and the playing from both the orchestra and Tan result in a very good performance of what is essentially a weaker work by Beethoven.
No. 3 was a particularly impressive performance.

All in all these are very good performances from both the orchestra and the soloist and I like what Norrington has done with these works: there is nothing fussy or eccentric in the interpretations but he has produced very good accounts based on solid interpretation and very good playing. I have enjoyed what I have heard so far.

Listening tonight to two of this week's purchases: Bach's Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (as played by Frank Peter Zimmermann and Enrico Pace and available on Sony Classical) and a recording of Paul Hindemith's glorious song cycle, Das Marienleben (as sung by Soile Isokowski and accompanied by Marita Viitasalo on the piano and available on Ondine).

The Bach performances are a rarity nowadays in that they are played on modern instruments but that should not deter anybody who is interested in this music. To me, the most important thing is the performance and its ability to move me. Simply put, these are wonderfully infectious and musically joyous performances that I just had to hear twice in quick succession tonight. It should be noted that, although these are modern instrument performances, these are not "traditional", Romantically-inspired readings, but, rather, deeply modern in that Zimmerman eschews vibrato (for the most part) and favours a reserved, more objective interpretation. In short, these are simply wonderful chamber performances that beautifully communicate the expressive grandeur of these great works.

Although I'm a great admirer of Paul Hindemith, this new Ondine CD is my first exposure to Das Marienleben. This work is based on a cycle of poems by the great Rainer Maria Rilke which traces the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary. As a literary achievement, this is minor Rilke (and certainly inferior to his astonishing Duino Elegies which stands as one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century) which is utterly transmogrified by Hindemith's musical settings. The result is an extraordinarily moving work of art which deserves wider recognition. This is a deeply beautiful performance by Isokowski and Viitasalo which fully commuicates the joy of Mary at the birth of her son through to the pain and anguish of witnessing her son's agonising death.