Tír Na HiFi

Jose Echenique wrote: I did manage to get the Harnoncourt through JPC as soon as it was in the market, but Elias "The Jew" was not so lucky, by the time he ordered it, which was shortly after I did, it was already unavailable, so he had to order it at an outrageous price through Amazon Japan.

Jose Echenique wrote:

CPE Bach´s The Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus has had 3 recordings, the oldest with Hermann Max and Das Kleine Konzert in the Capriccio label, then another with Herreweghe conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Elightenment in Virgin, and this, the newest, with Sigiswald Kuijken and La Petite Bande. All 3 are excellent.

mcq wrote:
Herreweghe's version is one that has grown on me significantly over the last few years.  Perhaps the more outwardly expressive approach of Alessandrini, Jacobs and Savall is closer to what the composer intended but the great glory of classical music is the sheer diversity of interpretative approaches that is available to the listener, each of which opens a window into the composer's inspiration.  What Herreweghe achieves in his recording is a sense of liturgical devotion that is intensely private as opposed to a more public theatrical expressivity.  (And I believe that Paul McCreesh had something similar in mind with his undervalued version of the 1610 Vespers.)  Both approaches are perfectly valid, in my view, and aid immeasurably in the listener's appreciation of this great music.  Just as I firmly believe that truth is, ultimately, subjective, and that the ideal of objective truth is an illusory pursuit, there is no one "right" way to approach a work of art.  Each interpretive vision that a conductor brings to bear has intrinsic value and our subjective responses as listeners are subconsciously pre-conditioned by  versions that we have favoured in the past.  When I first heard Herreweghe's version of the Vespers, I was disappointed because, on one hand, I had been so very impressed by his Bach recordings, and, on the other, I was hearing Herreweghe's personal response to Monteverdi in the light of my earlier exposure to Gardiner, Jacobs and Savall in this repertoire.  Over time, I realised that the "failings" that I had perceived in Herreweghe's version were my own failings as a listener and my critical judgement was being impaired by my blind adherence to other conductors' interpretations.  What I learned from this experience was to approach each interpretation as a blank slate without recourse to any other version I may have in my collection and to hear the recorded performance on its own terms and to simply ask myself, "am I moved ?"