Tír Na HiFi

There are two JSB Cantatas assigned to the third Sunday in Advent namely BWV141 & BWV186a. BWV141 is spurious: the actual composer was G P Telemann apparently and BWV186a is lost.
Apparently there was a ban on singing on the second to the fourth Sunday in Advent in Leipzig so JSB was unable to use the original BWV 186a so he ultimately recycled it into BWV186....

Shostakovich – String Quartets Nos. 5-7 played by the Borodin Quartet....




Three more wonderful works beautifully played.

DaveF wrote:

How did you get on with that one Dave?

Bruckner – Symphony No. 4....




I thought that this was a wonderful, powerful performance!

This week I picked up Lorin Maazel's set of Mahler symphones with the VPO (available on Sony/RCA), which was recorded in the 1980s. I am aware that this set has received very mixed reviews over the years since it appeared, but, personally speaking, I have always been curious about Maazel's interpretations in this repertoire. Last night I listened to No. 4 (twice) and I loved it. Maazel's way with this music is understated and cerebral. He is more interested in the exposition than the climax (unlike, say, Bernstein and Solti), lingering over the details that form the connective tissue to this masterpiece and pressing ahead through the climax. There were contemporary reports of Maazel's struggles with the orchestra when he was recording this cycle but there is no evidence of any conflict here. They play beautifully for their conductor, fully responsive to his inward response to this music. I have to mention as well Kathleen Battle's fabulous singing in the finale which is, possibly, the best I have yet heard in this work.

The quality of the recording is worth mentioning as well. At a time when many recording companies were trying to exploit the new compact disc by over-miking orchestras, Sony took the brave step of under-miking the VPO and relying instead on the natural acoustics of the Musikverein. The results are natural and transparent, with no apparent loss of detail, an approach which works beautifully in tandem with Maazel's hyper-detailed approach.

mcq wrote:This week I picked up Lorin Maazel's set of Mahler symphones with the VPO (available on Sony/RCA), which was recorded in the 1980s. I am aware that this set has received very mixed reviews over the years since it appeared, but, personally speaking, I have always been curious about Maazel's interpretations in this repertoire. Last night I listened to No. 4 (twice) and I loved it. Maazel's way with this music is understated and cerebral. He is more interested in the exposition than the climax (unlike, say, Bernstein and Solti), lingering over the details that form the connective tissue to this masterpiece and pressing ahead through the climax. There were contemporary reports of Maazel's struggles with the orchestra when he was recording this cycle but there is no evidence of any conflict here. They play beautifully for their conductor, fully responsive to his inward response to this music. I have to mention as well Kathleen Battle's fabulous singing in the finale which is, possibly, the best I have yet heard in this work.

The quality of the recording is worth mentioning as well. At a time when many recording companies were trying to exploit the new compact disc by over-miking orchestras, Sony took the brave step of under-miking the VPO and relying instead on the natural acoustics of the Musikverein. The results are natural and transparent, with no apparent loss of detail, an approach which works beautifully in tandem with Maazel's hyper-detailed approach.

M4 is probably my favourite Mahler symphony so naturally your post has quite intrigued me as I too have shyed away from Maazel in the past. Please post some more notes on that set as you delve further into it as my interest has been aroused.

fergus wrote:

mcq wrote:This week I picked up Lorin Maazel's set of Mahler symphones with the VPO (available on Sony/RCA), which was recorded in the 1980s. I am aware that this set has received very mixed reviews over the years since it appeared, but, personally speaking, I have always been curious about Maazel's interpretations in this repertoire. Last night I listened to No. 4 (twice) and I loved it. Maazel's way with this music is understated and cerebral. He is more interested in the exposition than the climax (unlike, say, Bernstein and Solti), lingering over the details that form the connective tissue to this masterpiece and pressing ahead through the climax. There were contemporary reports of Maazel's struggles with the orchestra when he was recording this cycle but there is no evidence of any conflict here. They play beautifully for their conductor, fully responsive to his inward response to this music. I have to mention as well Kathleen Battle's fabulous singing in the finale which is, possibly, the best I have yet heard in this work.

The quality of the recording is worth mentioning as well. At a time when many recording companies were trying to exploit the new compact disc by over-miking orchestras, Sony took the brave step of under-miking the VPO and relying instead on the natural acoustics of the Musikverein. The results are natural and transparent, with no apparent loss of detail, an approach which works beautifully in tandem with Maazel's hyper-detailed approach.

M4 is probably my favourite Mahler symphony so naturally your post has quite intrigued me as I too have shyed away from Maazel in the past. Please post some more notes on that set as you delve further into it as my interest has been aroused.

and so have I. However, I did get his Sibelius cycle with the VPO and it is very good, so perhaps one cannot believe everything one reads about these conductors...except for the SSRattle of course.