Tír Na HiFi

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:25 pm**

jaybee wrote:
markof wrote:

how did you like that recording...

I've been listening to the Rostropovich version quite a lot lately... I do love it, and it makes for a deeply impressive tester for how a system deals with the upper reaches of the bass register... ( I'm sure DaveF can suggest a 32' stop recording for the lower reaches!!!)

I prefer a baroque cello for these mighty works. And Pieter Wispelwey is quite simply a marvelous musician. I have heard him play twice the cycle live and it was almost a religious experience.
In the modern cello my favourite recording is Pierre Fournier´s in Archiv, whom I also heard live in the 70´s, his is a more baroque and stylish interpretation than the heavy handed Rostropovich.

I confess I haven´t heard the Jian Wang recording, but like many other Chinese musicians like Yundi Li, Lang Lang and the like, I guess their recordings are mostly meant for the growing Oriental markets.

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:51 pm**

Copland - Appalachian Spring (Louis Lane, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Telarc)

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:48 pm**

Jose Echenique wrote:
Seán wrote:I listened to Bach for a couple of hours today and then returned to a CD I have listened to on a few occasions over the past few days:

I find it very difficult to describe what I make of this recording other than to say that I find it a pure joy to listen to: every singer, particularly the trio of Schwarzkopf, Ludwig & Hoffgen are stunning, the Philharmonia sound wonderful too and the performance is beautifully captured by the sound engineers. The accompanying booklet contains the libretti which really adds to the enjoyment, all in all this is a very satisfying recording.
The BIG problem with Klemperer´s Magic Flute was his refusal to record the dialogue. Without the dialogue it kind of sounds like a "highlights" recording. Walter Legge went to great pains to convince him that the dialogue was every bit as much a part of the Magic Flute as the music, but alas, to no avail.

That probably suits me: the fact that it is not much longer than two hours, I am not familiar with this music so two hours is a long time to spend listening to unfamiliar music. I do take your point though that I am not listening to the entire opera but merely musical highlights.

His conducting is indeed extraordinary, and I have always thought Klemperer a superb Mozartian because in spite of the Brucknerian tempos, he acknowledges the importance of the woodwinds in the orchestral texture, favoring a balance that Brüggen or Gardiner might recognize (Karajan for example always favored the strings, that´s why his Mozart performances sound more dated).

I am a fan of Klemperer's music-making, his Beethoven (Bruckner) and Mahler are very fine indeed.

The singing in Klemperer´s Magic Flute is also extraordinary.

I am delighted you've said that.

Both Gundula Janowitz and Lucia Popp were making their recording debuts, and both are among the finest exponents of their roles. Gottlob Frick is a god-like Sarastro, quite simply magnificent, and Nicolai Gedda is a youthful, ever stylish Tamino. I don´t like quite as much Walter Berry´s Papageno, but that´s the only disappointment.

The Klemperer recording always came in direct competition with the contemporaneous Böhm recording for DG. That is also one of the finest recordings ever, with unmatched performances by Fritz Wunderlich and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Tamino and Papageno. But where it really scores over the Klemperer is in that it includes the dialogue.

Böhm again.

I enjoyed reading your response, thanks Pepe.

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:39 pm**

Haydn - Cello Concerto No.1 (Christophe Coin/Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music, L'Oiseau-Lyre)

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:44 pm**

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:48 pm**

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet in F major Op 59 no. 1
Alban Berg Quartett

Very enjoyable performance.

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:51 pm**

Jose Echenique wrote:

That is indeed an excellent and highly recommended set Pepe and I also agree with you on the Fournier which is also excellent and also comes highly recommended.

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:52 pm**

I have just finished working my way through this 5 CD set and the music is very pleasant, engaging and not too taxing for me. The piano playing is absolutely wonderful; really very fine indeed. I was most impressed with the two piano version of the Hungarian Dances which he plays with Alfred Brendel.

Posted: **Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:32 pm**

Yao Yao Yao Yao Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!

Incredible recording. Makes the hairs on the back of your neck bristle.

Posted: **Tue Jul 31, 2012 3:27 pm**

Bits and pieces from several operas by Campra. Selected with taste and performed with supreme elegance.

Tír Na HiFi

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