Tír Na HiFi

Diapason wrote: I dipped into a few other discs in the box as well, most notably Paul Lewis playing Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata. I was sufficiently inspired that I sat down at the piano and played a few bars of the final movement for the first time in 100 years. That's a pretty solid recommendation in and of itself!!

I have not heard any of Lewis' solo work, but I can say with authority that this Beethoven cycle is marvellous, highly recommended:


The Second Piano Concerto is on CD8:

CD8 The Classical concerto: Mozart: Piano Concerto no 21 K467 (Samerata Salzburg, Stefan Vladar); Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 2 (Paul Lewis, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiri Belohlavek)

Jose Echenique wrote:

Diapason wrote:So I finally had the opportunity to dip my toe into this massive box set last night:



I started with the Marriage of Figaro having discussed it on the other thread, and while I stuck mainly to "highlights", I have to say I really enjoyed it. I don't know much about opera at all, but I really admired the sense of life and urgency about the performance, I thought the singing had real character, and I really felt like I was listening to a stage drama with singing rather than a concert.

HOWEVER, I found myself deeply disappointed by the "Shawshank Redemption" aria. (Yes yes, I know I'm a philistine, but that's the only reason I know that particular movement.) For me, the stripped down, faster-tempo approach just robbed this particular aria of nearly all its beauty. Then I got to thinking: is this the way things always are for those regular HIP-bashers? Dear God, I hope I'm not starting to understand them... :)

A word about René Jacobs´Le Nozze di Figaro. What´s really fascinating about his recording, even more than other HIP recordings like Kuijken´s or Gardiner´s, is the sheer prominence that he gives the woodwinds over the strings. This balance is certainly correct, since the "stars" of the orchestra in Mozart´s time were the winds. If I´m not mistaken what was played in the Shawshank Redemption was the heavenly duet between the Countess and Susanna. In traditional recordings they over-romanticized it, beautiful? yes, but maybe Jacobs has the more stylish idea. The one member of the Jacobs´cast that I didn´t like was the mezzo who sings Cherubino, her voice doesn´t have the warmth and beauty of a Teresa Berganza or even the young Cecilia Bartoli who recorded the role with Baremboim, but otherwise it´s a lovely recording. The playing of the orchestra alone is worth the price of the 30 cd box.

One of the finest, most affecting portrayals of Cherubino I've heard has to be Christine Schafer's performance for Harnoncourt (DG).  I have the DVD of this somewhat underrated version and what really strikes me is just how good an actress (aside from her considerable vocal qualities) Schafer is.  I have great admiration for the director Claus Guth (who has given us thought-provoking versions of Don Giovanni and Cosi fan Tutte as well as his very moving staged version of Handel's Messiah).  I know that many people dislike his conceptual take on things, but, my God, he can really make you think anew about the musical work. He draws all sorts of interesting parallels between the two couples. Will Figaro one day turn into the Count? And is it Susanna's fate to end up like the Countess? Such things are merely implied but seem to hang heavily over the performance. The Cherubino that he presents to Schafer is not only the most sympathetic portrayal of this character that I've seen, but also the most sympathetic character in the whole opera (with the possible exception of Dorothea Roschmann's touching Countess). In this version, she is an innocent, carefree, awkward Cherubino that is treated abominably by the Count and Figaro in particular.  Watching Schafer in this production, I find myself moved to tears time and again.  It is an exceptional performance, in my opinion. It's a real shame she doesn't seem to record a great deal in the studio nowadays. Her take on the title character in Berg's Lulu (from Glyndebourne in 1996) is still a personal reference as is her very moving performance of Schubert's Winterreise.  I've also enjoyed her in a recent DVD of Handel's masterpiece Theodora (from Salzburg in 2009) with Bejun Mehta and Bernarda Fink.

Started off with Beethoven's Ninth....

'twas only in the car, but it sounds like a pleasing interpretation...

Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A
With a boxset the size of a house you begin with le clavecin francais

I cant say Im familiar with Couperin, but the tone of either the recording or the instrument is a good deal chestier and warm than I'd be used to from the various Goldberg's I have...

Makes for lovely listening thus far, albeit as background to work!

Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on 'Greensleeves' & The Lark Ascending(/Michael Davis/Bryden Thomson, London Symphony Orchestra, Chandos)

Bridge - String Quartet No.4 & Phantasy for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello (/Martin Roscoe/Maggini Quartet, Naxos)

R Strauss - Also sprach Zarathustra (Wolfgang Sawallisch, Philadelphia Orchestra, EMI)

Mozart - Symphony No.35 Haffner (Jiri Belohlavek, The Prague Philharmonia, Harmonia Mundi)

Schumann - Symphony No.4 & Overture, Scherzo and Finale (Roy Goodman, The Hanover Band, RCA)