Tír Na HiFi

fergus wrote:Finishing up with a 2 CD set that I have been listening to again over the past couple of days; Schubert's last four string quartets played by Quartetto Italiano....

Death and the Maiden performed by the magnificent Quartetto Italiano is the musical experience of a lifetime. I have several recordings of Schubert's masterpiece and no other quartet has ever come close to delivering a performance like theirs.

fergus wrote:Speaking of Maestro Abbado I listened earlier to his version of Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims (on vinyl)....

To put it simply, that´s the greatest recording of the 1980´s.

Seán wrote:

fergus wrote:Finishing up with a 2 CD set that I have been listening to again over the past couple of days; Schubert's last four string quartets played by Quartetto Italiano....

Death and the Maiden performed by the magnificent Quartetto Italiano is the musical experience of a lifetime. I have several recordings of Schubert's masterpiece and no other quartet has ever come close to delivering a performance like theirs.

Yes, I am a fan of "Death and the Maiden" as well. Schubert is definitely one of the composers I admire and his piano pieces and chamber works have a tendency to keep growing on me. I recently discovered his quintet (C major), and could not fathom that I had not come across it earlier. Still, Schubert piano sonatas and impromti are sublime in their powers (currently I enjoy Richter's interpretations of D 960 quite a bit!!)

How do you like the Busch Quartet's rendition of "The Death and the Maiden"?

Jose Echenique wrote:

fergus wrote:Speaking of Maestro Abbado I listened earlier to his version of Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims (on vinyl)....

To put it simply, that´s the greatest recording of the 1980´s.

I feel so unfamiliar with Rossini's operas. Is this a good place to start from your perspective?

Peter wrote:

Jose Echenique wrote:

fergus wrote:Speaking of Maestro Abbado I listened earlier to his version of Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims (on vinyl)....

To put it simply, that´s the greatest recording of the 1980´s.

I feel so unfamiliar with Rossini's operas. Is this a good place to start from your perspective?

Peter, I am new to Rossini, I only started listening to L'italiana in Algeri and Il barbiere di Siviglia a few weeks ago and I was hooked straight away and I am not one for opera. There are four operas in this box set including Il viaggio a Reims. Highly recommended.

Seán wrote: Peter, I am new to Rossini, I only started listening to L'italiana in Algeri and Il barbiere di Siviglia a few weeks ago and I was hooked straight away and I am not one for opera. There are four operas in this box set including Il viaggio a Reims. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the recommendation. So these are well reputed Abbado renditions of the Rossini operas (presumably w/out libretti since they are budget)

Peter wrote:

Seán wrote: Peter, I am new to Rossini, I only started listening to L'italiana in Algeri and Il barbiere di Siviglia a few weeks ago and I was hooked straight away and I am not one for opera. There are four operas in this box set including Il viaggio a Reims. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the recommendation. So these are well reputed Abbado renditions of the Rossini operas (presumably w/out libretti since they are budget)

Seán is right, Cenerentola, Barbiere and Italiana are better operas to start with. Il Viaggio is a very peculiar opera with a mighty interesting story. Rossini composed it for the coronation of Charles X. The opera is about a number of people of different nationalities who are going to the coronation in the city of Reims. They have a road accident and can´t find fresh horses to continue their journey, so sadly they have to miss the coronation, but they decide to have their own party in a mountain Inn where they spend the night till new horses arrive next day. It´s very amusing because, as in every opera, there are love affairs, jealousy, national pride and a whole lot of hilarious characters. Rossini composed it for the Theatre des Italienes in Paris, that was the theatre where operas were sung in Italian, and he had at his disposal some of the greatest singers of his time, including the divine mezzosoprano Giuditta Pasta. As this was an "occasion" opera, composed expressly for the coronation, Rossini never published it, and reused most of the material in Le Comte Ory, another gem of an opera. Most people thought that Il Viaggio a Reims in it´s original form was lost for good till Rossini scholars began to find pieces here and there of the original Viaggio in the 1960´s (there are several books on the search for Il Viaggio, the most interesting is by Chicago University professor Philipp Gossett Jr. the #1 Rossini scholar in the World) . It took him more than 20 years to reconstruct the opera till it was premiered for the first time in the 20th Century in the Rossini Pesaro Festival in 1984 (where it was recorded by DG). That´s why I declare it the most important recording of it´s decade, besides the performance itself is absolutely glorious. Abbado had at his disposal la créme de la créme of Rossini singers then available. Just listen to Lella Cuberli´s (Comtesse de Folleville) aria, it´s one of the most stunning pieces of Rossini singing ever recorded. Abbado rerecorded some years later the opera for SONY with the Berlin Philharmonic, but great as that recording is, it doesn´t match the sheer brilliance and joy of the DG version.

Peter wrote:

Seán wrote:

fergus wrote:Finishing up with a 2 CD set that I have been listening to again over the past couple of days; Schubert's last four string quartets played by Quartetto Italiano....

Death and the Maiden performed by the magnificent Quartetto Italiano is the musical experience of a lifetime. I have several recordings of Schubert's masterpiece and no other quartet has ever come close to delivering a performance like theirs.

Yes, I am a fan of "Death and the Maiden" as well. Schubert is definitely one of the composers I admire and his piano pieces and chamber works have a tendency to keep growing on me. I recently discovered his quintet (C major), and could not fathom that I had not come across it earlier. Still, Schubert piano sonatas and impromti are sublime in their powers (currently I enjoy Richter's interpretations of D 960 quite a bit!!)

How do you like the Busch Quartet's rendition of "The Death and the Maiden"?

I absolutely love the Quartetto Italiano recording, but if forced to choose this is my choice:




PERIOD INSTRUMENTS!!!! they make all the difference.

Seán wrote:

fergus wrote:

Do you like it Fergus? I have not listened to it yet as I am still engrossed in the first two operas in Maestro Abbado's four opera set:

I did enjoy it Seán. It was apparently written for the best voices around at the time and one can certainly hear that. The singing was very good here.

Just an observation (and nothing else!); Rossini has a musical voice of his own otherwise he would obviously not be Rossini but to my untrained ear and not a lot of Rossini listening behind me as I sat through this it seems to me that there is just a little too much of Mozart's musical language permeating Rossini....then again perhaps that is why I like it LOL!!

Jose Echenique wrote:

fergus wrote:

To put it simply, that´s the greatest recording of the 1980´s.

That statement just about sums me up Pepe; abot 30 years behind you my friend LOL!!!