Tír Na HiFi

Jose Echenique wrote:And just because I have Catholic tastes after Fux what better late night entertainment than some very fine Rodgers and Hammerstein.

If you like musicals (and I mean REAL musicals, not Cats or the Phantom of the Opera) this is a very desirable acquisition.

I'm afraid I don't (says the contrarian), I'm more of a protestant in that regard, but don't mind me Pepe, nobody else here does anyway. LOL

It´s ok Sean, you can listen to whatever you like, but keep an open mind, there´s some more good music besides Mahler out there, like my dear Gioachino Rossini who was born 210 years ago, but has only had 52 birthdays (he is funny even in his birthday!).
And what better way to honor him than with one of the finest recordings ever made of his operas (hey Sean, conducted by a master Mahlerian!) and with one of the most glorious voices of the 20th Century: TERESA BERGANZA!!!! After 40 years this recording remains unmatched.

Schumann - Piano Concerto (Alicia de Larrocha/Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra, RCA)

Shostakovich - Piano Quintet (Vladimir Ashkenazy/Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Decca)

Unfortunately for the future imposition on my wallet I very much like what I have heard in this set!

Jose Echenique wrote:It´s ok Sean, you can listen to whatever you like, but keep an open mind, there´s some more good music besides Mahler out there.....

Mahler occupies a very small part of my collection and a small amount of my listening time.

fergus wrote:


Unfortunately for the future imposition on my wallet I very much like what I have heard in this set!

Whenever I think about the music of Saint-Saens I conjure up images of the Eiffel Tower reflected in a puddle ;-)

I am glad you like that set Fergus :-)

R. Strauss - Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (Rudolf Kempe, Staatskapelle Dresden, Brilliant Classics)

Carl Nielsen
Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt - conducting.

This is one of my favourite Handel works, and one that is difficult to describe, because even though it´s not an oratorio but rather a pastoral cantata, or musical poem, it does have a "religious" feel to it.
This is also one of Robert King´s finest recordings, and the singing is superb.