Tír Na HiFi

fergus wrote:

markof wrote:
I listened to Mackerras and the Ensemble Zefiro recordings and must admit that I enjoyed the Zefiro recording a lot more as I found it to be much more nimble and agile especially in the string performance emphasising the folk music roots; it positively swings.

That comment actually does not surprise me Mark even thought I have not heard the Zefiro version. The "raw" sound of the original version would not be to everyone's taste that is for sure. However I always find it interesting to go back to original versions whenever possible just for comparison purposes. Great that you listened to both.

There was in EMI a 1970´s recording of the Royal Fireworks with Mackerras and the LSO, though in fact he used about 26 oboes from every orchestra in London. I can´t remember if it was ever issued on cd, I heard it on LP and the sound was alarming, very noisy! I´m not sure if it´s the same recording on Testament, though Mackerras looks much too young in that picture. As an experiment it was fun, but it didn´t work for home listening.

Johann Adolf Hasse, an immensely popular and admired composer in the XVIII Century, has been inexplicably neglected in our time, even when many of his contemporaries have entered the mainstream in the concert halls and recording studios. Maybe we can blame a little J.S. Bach who went to see his opera Cleofide with one of his sons, probably C.P.E. Bach, perhaps the only fully staged opera performance he ever attended...and didn´t like it a bit.
Well, J. S. B. never cared for the gallant style that was becoming fashionable in the 1730´s, and which inevitably, most of his sons adopted. Hasse on the other hand, thrived on it, it was he who was seen as the progressive composer [Bach seemed to look back to the XVII Century], and his operas were popular from Naples to St. Petersburg, and he got the coveted Kapellmeister post in Dresden, which Bach also wanted.
William Christie recorded Cleofide for the Capriccio label in the mid 80´s, but the singers were tentative and small scaled at best, not a good case for an opera written for larger-than-life divos.
Now DECCA brings his Siroe, Re di Persia, with much better suited singers to do Hasse´s extremely demanding vocal music justice. Star countertenors Max Emanuel Cencic and Franco Fagioli have a field day in the castrati roles, but sopranos Julia Lezhneva and Mary-Ellen Nesi also have some hair-rising music to sing. The tenor, Juan Sancho has impossibly high tessitura to deal with.
The Greek ensemble Armonia Atenea plays with distinction under their conductor Georges Petrou.
CD 1 runs to over 84 minutes, I guess the longest CD I have. CD 2 up to 82 minutes. Surely some recitative was cut but I believe the music is complete. An important recording of course, and one that will surely help to reestablish the Caro Sassone to the main stream.

Recent listening; Beethoven's Violin Concerto played by Grumiaux with the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam / Davis....

I only have two recordings of Ivan Moravec in my collection. The first is his interpretations of the two Brahms Piano Concertos which would rank very highly in my estimation. The second one is this album of a live performance of solo piano works....




The most exciting work on this album for me is a Sonata for Piano by one Oldrich F. Korte, of whom I actually know absolutely nothing, but this is a remarkable work and is extremely well played.
Moravec is a pianist who would be well worth investigating even based on my limited knowledge of his performances.

I have now embarked upon the new Bruggen Beethoven Symphonic cycle with a listen to Symphony No. 1....





WOW! This was like hearing this work in a completely new light. One can seriously hear the thought that has gone into this rethink/rework; the tempi and the use of timpani are immediate stand out issues for me. I certainly look forward with relish if this is to continue!

fergus wrote:I have now embarked upon the new Bruggen Beethoven Symphonic cycle with a listen to Symphony No. 1....





WOW! This was like hearing this work in a completely new light. One can seriously hear the thought that has gone into this rethink/rework; the tempi and the use of timpani are immediate stand out issues for me. I certainly look forward with relish if this is to continue!

Do I really have to go and buy another Beethoven Symphony cycle?

Seán wrote:

fergus wrote:I have now embarked upon the new Bruggen Beethoven Symphonic cycle with a listen to Symphony No. 1....





WOW! This was like hearing this work in a completely new light. One can seriously hear the thought that has gone into this rethink/rework; the tempi and the use of timpani are immediate stand out issues for me. I certainly look forward with relish if this is to continue!

Do I really have to go and buy another Beethoven Symphony cycle?

Well, that depends dear Seán, how much do you like Beethoven? Ha. ha.
This is what you get in Brüggen II: a HIP conductor who realized that, after decades of going by the book, looking at the metronome markings, etc. decided that if performed that way, the music runs the risk of sounding like photo copies from one performance to the next. This is something that Beethoven never had to worry about when the music was new, just getting most of the notes correctly was enough, but not after 200 years of continuous performing history. Brüggen quite reasonably accepted that it´s ok for the conductor to leave his fingerprints in the score, to personalize the music without contradicting the composer. This might sound obvious, but it´s a big break from the HIP experience starting in the early 70´s when the Collegium Aureum recorded the Eroica, the first ever period recording of a Beethoven symphony. Brüggen like Kubelik (I always like to think of him as the Kubelik of HIP), is not really an interventionist, but rather let´s things happens, and in his very elegant and cultivated way still leaves his mark. When you hear a Brüggen performance you just know it has to be him. He is obviously helped by the most musical of all HIP orchestras, it´s a beautiful tribute to one of the finest conductors of our time.

Yesterday we had an exquisite performance of Handel´s Radamisto with countertenor Carlos Mena, sopranos Veronica Cangemi, Sarah Campion, Ellen MacAteer and bass José Antonio López. All sang splendidly, but what stood out was the exquisite playing from the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra from Los Angeles and members of the Winer Akademie from Austria with Martin Haselböck conducting.
It was performed complete, over 3 hours of music plus 30 minutes of intermission, a long evening that seemed like 5 minutes. Bathed with Handel´s incomparable music expertly performed. Heaven!

One of the better recordings of Dapnis et chloe.

Seán wrote:

fergus wrote:

Do I really have to go and buy another Beethoven Symphony cycle?

I will let you know Seán!!