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fergus wrote:

Jose Echenique wrote:

Was the performance as tasty as the bread looks Pepe?

I got that when it came out. I asked myself when I tore off the shrink-wrap whether I hadn't already too many Matthew Passions, but no: this was absolutely worth getting: a beautiful performance, beautiful solo voices, fantastic SACD recording.

fergus wrote:

Jose Echenique wrote:

Was the performance as tasty as the bread looks Pepe?

As I told you Fergus, I heard Veldhoeven´s first recording. Here is the picture of the second recording for the same label since I couldn´t find a good size picture of the first. I can readily confirm that the first recording is much more satisfactory than the second, and there are important differences between the 2 recordings. In the first the chorus is larger, it´s a more traditional reading. The second is more minimalist, and maybe more heavily edited too, since there is a strange feeling of "detachment".
The first recording has a young and gorgeous sounding Andreas Scholl in the alto arias. The second recording has a countertenor I much admire, Tim Mead who in this recording sounds alarmingly off form, a sad disappointment since I admire him a lot in Handel.
Veldhoeven´s Bach is in the fine Dutch tradition of Leonhardt, Brüggen and Kuijken. He is a very serious and fine artist, but something went wrong in the second recording. It´s lifeless!
And it´s a pity because it includes a gorgeous libretto with exquisite pictures.
But a great St. Matthew Passion is to be found in the 15 year old first recording.

On vinyl....





This is Beethoven's only Oratorio but it feels like and sounds more like a mini Opera. It is very enjoyable.

Beethoven - Overture Zur Namensfeier, Overture Konig Stephan & Symphony No.9 Choral (Katerina Beranova/Lilli Paasikivi/Robert Dean Smith/Hanno Muller-Brachmann/Riccardo Chailly, Gewandhauschor/GewandhausKinderchor/MDR Runfunkchor/Gewandhausorchester, Decca)

fergus wrote:On vinyl....



This is Beethoven's only Oratorio but it feels like and sounds more like a mini Opera. It is very enjoyable.

yes, Operetta would be a good description; it's an odd piece really because it doesn't quite fit into the Oratorio mold, does it?

I bought this version fairly cheaply recently, and am glad I own it but frankly it won't ever be a regular listen:

The performance of Death and the Maiden was a fine one and the Quartettsatz was even better.

Schubert - Symphony No.9 Great (Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsche Grammophon)

bombasticDarren wrote:Schubert - Symphony No.9 Great (Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsche Grammophon)

I would be interested in your opinion of that particular recording Darren.

Currently listening to this....