Tír Na HiFi

What an extraordinary album!
Russian Orthodox chant from a modern composer.

Good review at: http://ecmreviews.com/2010/05/21/silves ... red-works/

Sir John is rerecording Beethoven symphonies. I don´t know if he plans to do a complete new cycle or just some of them. It´s funny that he started with the Fifth and Seventh because those were the finest performances of his Archiv cycle. These new versions were recorded live in Carnegie Hall on November of 2011 by NY´s Classical radio station WQXR and are distributed by SDG, Gardiner´s label.
The performances as expected are very good. How do they differ from the earlier ones? Well, there´s a bunch of detail now, but the overall picture is more or less the same.
If you have the earlier recordings I don´t think you´ll need to add the new ones to your collection. What a pity that Gardiner didn´t bring us first a new Pastoral, because that was one of the disappointments of his Archiv cycle.
This year he will perform in Carnegie Hall the Ninth and the Missa Solemnis on consecutive evenings. I hope they get recorded because he can certainly improve on his existing recordings.
The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique play magnificently of course, and the Carnegie Hall sound is clean and clear.

Jose Echenique wrote:

Sir John is rerecording Beethoven symphonies. I don´t know if he plans to do a complete new cycle or just some of them. It´s funny that he started with the Fifth and Seventh because those were the finest performances of his Archiv cycle. These new versions were recorded live in Carnegie Hall on November of 2011 by NY´s Classical radio station WQXR and are distributed by SDG, Gardiner´s label.
The performances as expected are very good. How do they differ from the earlier ones? Well, there´s a bunch of detail now, but the overall picture is more or less the same.
If you have the earlier recordings I don´t think you´ll need to add the new ones to your collection. What a pity that Gardiner didn´t bring us first a new Pastoral, because that was one of the disappointments of his Archiv cycle.
This year he will perform in Carnegie Hall the Ninth and the Missa Solemnis on consecutive evenings. I hope they get recorded because he can certainly improve on his existing recordings.
The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique play magnificently of course, and the Carnegie Hall sound is clean and clear.

My favourite Fifth is Gardiner's earlier recording, it is magnificent, that said, his First, Second and Third leave me cold.

Seán wrote:

Jose Echenique wrote:

Sir John is rerecording Beethoven symphonies. I don´t know if he plans to do a complete new cycle or just some of them. It´s funny that he started with the Fifth and Seventh because those were the finest performances of his Archiv cycle. These new versions were recorded live in Carnegie Hall on November of 2011 by NY´s Classical radio station WQXR and are distributed by SDG, Gardiner´s label.
The performances as expected are very good. How do they differ from the earlier ones? Well, there´s a bunch of detail now, but the overall picture is more or less the same.
If you have the earlier recordings I don´t think you´ll need to add the new ones to your collection. What a pity that Gardiner didn´t bring us first a new Pastoral, because that was one of the disappointments of his Archiv cycle.
This year he will perform in Carnegie Hall the Ninth and the Missa Solemnis on consecutive evenings. I hope they get recorded because he can certainly improve on his existing recordings.
The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique play magnificently of course, and the Carnegie Hall sound is clean and clear.

My favourite Fifth is Gardiner's earlier recording, it is magnificent, that said, his First, Second and Third leave me cold.

The second Fifth is also very, very good. I would have to listen more carefully for a final verdict, but overall it´s on the same level as the first recording.
I wouldn´t be that hard on the first 3 symphonies Seán, in fact I really liked them, though maybe not as much as Brüggen´s. The ones I think Gardiner should rerecord are the 6th and the 9th. I´m sure he can do much better.

jaybee wrote:
although now that I hear it... I may actually prefer Op.3

I would agree with you there JB; I think that it has simpler and more attractive melodies in it. I do not have the Egarr version and I certainly would like to hear it....

bombasticDarren wrote:

fergus wrote:

You have the whole cycle Fergus?
I need to play mine again soon as it didn't register highly with me on first listen

Indeed I do Darren....





It was I think the first cycle of the Brahms’ symphonies that I purchased. I found it to be rather dull back then and I have not played it in a long number of years. Now that I have something of a better understanding of this music I decided that it was time to listen to the set again. To be fair my opinion has changed slightly in that I found it this time to be adequate but unexciting. I find it to be “heavy” Brahms in the Big Band style with dense textures and slow tempi. That is not how I see Brahms’ symphonies any more.

bombasticDarren wrote:

fergus wrote:

That's a hard set to beat in that repertoire. I think it has a few fans on this forum - I am also obliged at this point to signpost the radiant Kubelik BRSO cycle as a wonderful set to play alongside this Sawallisch.

....and I heartily second that and agree that Kubelik does a great job with these works!

Dane wrote:

Jared wrote:

It's taken a time to come round to Brahms - Bruckner called upon me first ....

That mirrors my own experience and it was not just Bruckner that came before Brahms but most other names. It is only relatively recently that I have come to appreciate the symphonic music of Brahms and oddly enough I had previously liked his chamber music. Brahms and Schumann both held equal difficulty for me in terms of comprehension and Schumann still withholds some of his secrets from me.

Jose Echenique wrote:

A wonderful performance of a great work and, as you say Pepe, available at a budget price for those who wish to investigate this work.

markof wrote:

What an extraordinary album!
Russian Orthodox chant from a modern composer.

Good review at: http://ecmreviews.com/2010/05/21/silves ... red-works/

That certainly looks interesting....