Tír Na HiFi

Mozart - Piano Concerto No.9 Jeunehomme (Richard Goode, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Nonesuch)

Biber - Missa Bruxellensis (Jordi Savall, La Capella Reial de Catalunya/Le Concert des Nations, Alia Vox)

^^ ah, I'm pleased you already own some Biber Darren, and that is an excellent disk. The Requiem disk relies a little more on subtle harmonic textures, with smaller forces than that one... but I know you'll agree to it having been an equally good purchase.

bombasticDarren wrote:Biber - Missa Bruxellensis (Jordi Savall, La Capella Reial de Catalunya/Le Concert des Nations, Alia Vox)

I eventually got that one myself some time ago under duress from Jared....I was glad that I did!!!

Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.4 & Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Howard Shelley/Bryden Thomson, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Chandos)

Brahms - Symphony No.3 (James Loughran, Halle Orchestra, CfP)

Saint-Saens - Piano Concerto No.5 (Aldo Ciccolini/Serge Baudo, Orchestre de Paris, EMI)

Rachmaninoff - Symphony No.2 (Simon Rattle, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, EMI)

my final traversal through this surprisingly enjoyable set of Symphonies... my slight criticism with this set is that the orchestration is a little on the muddy/ subdued side, and as is quite common with Masur, I find the interpretations a little on the pedestrian side. On the whole, I prefer the Conlon accounts which have a little more dynamism in the tempos, however what I would really have wanted to hear is for a couple of top rate conductors in Early Romantic orchestral repertoire (such as Abbado, Solti, Szell, Kubelik, Jochum, Bohm) to have taken these works under their wing in their prime of life, and seen what could have been made of them. I guess, we'll never know.

Jared wrote:my slight criticism with this set is that the orchestration is a little on the muddy/ subdued side, and as is quite common with Masur, I find the interpretations a little on the pedestrian side

...a criticism I concur with...