CLASSICAL Music
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Well, I think I have a new favorite! As I mentioned earlier, one of my current obsessions is the Corelli Variations by Rachmaninoff (for solo piano). I now have four different recordings of this work, by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Earl Wild, Mikhail Pletnev, and Olga Kern. The Ashkenazy version is the one I know best still, since I've had it for years and am thoroughly familiar with it. Kern's version is the only one of the others that approaches - though I think even surpasses - the sense of excitement in Ashkenazy's playing. Ashkenazy is great, but his tone gets kind of brittle when he gets loud. Kern's version has a little bit of this - they are both Russian trained - but she puts more variation and sensitivity into the slower parts, I think, while still getting a really big sound when she wants to. (I remember my (male) college piano teacher paying a high compliment to a woman pianist, I think it was Alicia de Larrocha, saying "she plays like a man."
)Anyway, this CD is highly recommended. The rest of the music on this album is very good, too - transcriptions by Rachmaninoff of various other composers' works. The Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody is a damned impressive piece, too. The same piece played by Volodos is one of my demo/reference tracks; Olga's is pretty darned close to as good, though really quite different.
nelmr
Active Member
I got this a while back when on sale for 1.99 (using the MP3 promo I had with amazon). I have never listened to Dvorak's music before. I must say I love the following:
Romantic Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op 75.
Slavonic Dances, Op 46, 72.
Piano Quintet No. 2, Op 81.
Mazuerk for Violin and Piano, Op. 49, B. 89.
8 Humoresques, Op 101
Usually I'm a big symphony guy, but these surprised me. That said the symphonic pieces are very nice too. Not bad for $5 or less.
I have embarked on a couple of major classical music listening projects. One of these is the symphonies of Sibelius. My exposure to Sibelius has been mainly to Finlandia, a nice but over-played Finnish nationalistic anthem. I got his violin concerto recently (played by my favorite violinist, Hilary Hahn), and decided I liked it enough to want to explore Sibelius's music a bit more. He has seven symphonies, which unlike say Mozart (with 41), means there's some hope of getting to know them individually, as I do for Beethoven's (9).
After a bit of poking around on amazon and other sites, looking at least initially for sets of the complete Sibelius symphonies, I settled on these two cycles (images/links below). I wanted to have at least two different conductors/orchestras, and between reviews of these and available prices, here's what I settled on. The total expenditure was probably <$40 for both sets, as some were used.
So far I've only listened to the first 5 (of the Berglund set), and while this isn't nearly enough time absorbing this music for me to say a whole lot yet, I'm really glad I did this! There's some incredible stuff here, all of which is totally new to me. It's very exciting! And I've been reading up a bit on the life and works of Sibelius (e.g. on wikipedia).
I'll post more on this at some point, though this is a lot to absorb... For those of you not that familiar with Sibelius or classical symphonic works in general, this is very "approachable" music, post-romantic but not going out of its way to be "modern" (atonal). I'm quite pleased with the SQ of both of these sets of recordings.
After a bit of poking around on amazon and other sites, looking at least initially for sets of the complete Sibelius symphonies, I settled on these two cycles (images/links below). I wanted to have at least two different conductors/orchestras, and between reviews of these and available prices, here's what I settled on. The total expenditure was probably <$40 for both sets, as some were used.
So far I've only listened to the first 5 (of the Berglund set), and while this isn't nearly enough time absorbing this music for me to say a whole lot yet, I'm really glad I did this! There's some incredible stuff here, all of which is totally new to me. It's very exciting! And I've been reading up a bit on the life and works of Sibelius (e.g. on wikipedia).
I'll post more on this at some point, though this is a lot to absorb... For those of you not that familiar with Sibelius or classical symphonic works in general, this is very "approachable" music, post-romantic but not going out of its way to be "modern" (atonal). I'm quite pleased with the SQ of both of these sets of recordings.
I finally got an afternoon with wife+kids out of the house, giving me a chance to listen carefully to this album. It is a studio recording SACD, with surround. I listened to it a few days ago when it first came in the mail, but I wasn't able to listen quite as un-distractedly at the time (a common occurrence in my house!).
But holy shit, this is truly an amazing recording. And I'm not exaggerating much, here.
This ranks in at least the top 5 classical albums I've got for sound quality, quite possibly at position 1 or 2 (Alicia de Larrocha's Goyescas being my long-time favorite). And certainly the best SACD of classical music that I own, not that that's saying a lot because I only have a handful. In fact, one of the others I have is also of Volodos, but recorded live in concert (Volodos in Vienna - also a good buy). Let me try to explain why I'm so up in arms over this recording:
1) Very good surround sound. It's not a very big room - a studio recording hall in Germany. Not a tiny room, but not a concert hall either. Not live. The surround here is cool because you can really hear the size of the room. When there are short, sharp notes (staccato in music language), you can clearly hear the echo off the walls. No, it's not just my room
because the dimensionality compared to the 2ch mix is clear. When he's playing loud and full, the room begins to saturate a bit - that is, proportionally more sound coming from the surround. (I could go on here about the importance of tonal matching in surround speakers but I don't want to start a war!) It's very interesting to listen to even at just that level, especially compared to the Vienna SACD where there is surround, but the hall is audibly much much larger (and there's an audience). And yes, Volodos is certainly aware of the acoustics; a good and experienced pianist tailors his/her playing to the acoustics of the room.2) This is far and away THE MOST DYNAMIC piano recording I have ever heard. Part of it is technical in the recording engineering. But part is simply Volodos' skill. He can go from a massive loud energetic romp to a few quiet notes in the space of a heartbeat - believe me, it's physically harder to do that than you would think. But in this intimate, carefully controlled setting, he can also play quieter than he ever could in a live concert, because the quiet notes would barely pass the front row. I have to strain to hear it in my room. (Aside: and DAMMIT I HATE THIS BLOODY PS3 NOISE! This is where I want to toss the damn thing out the window. But right now I just can't spend $500 on a new player just for a handful of recordings where it matters... argh!)
3) Last but not least, this is very interesting music and spectacular playing. Volodos is amazing - this is not the first album of his that I have, some of his others are also among my favorites. At first I was a bit mystified by the selection of pieces, which are generally lesser known Liszt works. Some of them I don't think I'd ever heard before. And only a single piece was really quite familiar to me. And as a pianist I have a lot of Lizst recordings, BTW! I can only speculate here, but I think these pieces were specifically chosen in part because of their dynamic nature. It just fits so well in combination with the technical aspects, that I can't think that it's an accident. He wanted some pieces where he could get really deeply personal. Yes, there's a lot of the usual flashy Liszt stuff (he was THE rock star of his time), but there's a lot of very sensitive stuff going on in this, more than I have heard in any other Liszt recording. Partly the composer, partly the performer. But the effect is truly stunning.
This is a serious recording. Really. Maybe not the most accessible to those not into classical music. But if you want a recording that stretches your system, exercises your surrounds, and tests your noise floor, this is it. If even one of you yahoos buys and listens to this album, I will consider my work well done. :eusa-clap:
FYI, Amazon has two listings for this; the image above is also a link to the first one, but the one I actually ordered from is here - it doesn't say anything about SACD, but on further research AFAIK this album only exists on SACD... in any case, I originally thought I was ordering a CD, and was quite pleasantly surprised to get the SACD. I've listened to the CD layer, though, and the recording is still exceptional. My only problem is the the booklet/liner notes in my version are in German only, gotta see if I can find a translation.
Cool. Now I feel a little guilty for the yahoo quip... but only a little. :teasing-neener: Sometimes hard to know if I'm just talking to myself in this thread. Not that I ever talk to myself at home, in the car, while working, or talk to my cats, or... well...
malsackj
Well-Known Member
One of my favorites has been the works of Giovanni Gabrieli
http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/2554.html
I participated in a brass choir playing a Baritone.
We also worked on Holst suites in E and F for band.
http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/2554.html
I participated in a brass choir playing a Baritone.
We also worked on Holst suites in E and F for band.
Trying to keep up with T7's demands for posts in here every month or two here's what I've got on now, this is my all-time favorite chamber music.
These guys really shred... as far as classical musicans do anyway. :happy-smileygiantred: It's a very stirring performance, though admittedly, since I love this one so much, I haven't gone out of my way to listen to other performances of the same works.
here's what I've got on now, this is my all-time favorite chamber music.These guys really shred... as far as classical musicans do anyway. :happy-smileygiantred: It's a very stirring performance, though admittedly, since I love this one so much, I haven't gone out of my way to listen to other performances of the same works.
(image is link)
This is a very solid set of all Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. The recording quality is excellent, clean with sort of a big hall feeling to it, and the playing is very good. Maybe doesn't have some of the "personality" of the "big name" recordings of individual sonatas, but in a way that's good because sometimes you may not necessarily like the eccentricities of a particular performer, who may be trying to make his/her interpretation stand out from the crowd as of course everyone in the universe does Beethoven. For $23 for 11 CD's, it's a bargain. If you want to get familiar with these sonatas, I highly recommend this set.
This is frequent work music for me; I can queue up several CDs in random order (not random order in tracks, because I don't want to break up individual multi-movement sonatas), and listen all day. Or for several days...
PaulyT said:
But holy shit, this is truly an amazing recording. And I'm not exaggerating much, here.
In case you missed it, this is the CD I gave to Joe Bonamassa last week - I explained why in my JB thread. You can sorta see it in this picture...
Went to a piano recital at our church this afternoon. It was given by a Johns Hopkins student, one of those intimidatingly talented types - she's studying neuroscience, going to Germany on a Fulbright scholarship, president of the basketball team, and oh yeah she can play a full hour's concert of challenging works by Beethoven, Bach/Busoni, and Liszt. :scared-eek: I asked her what the occasion of the recital was, whether it was for her classwork or what, she said, "Oh, no, no particular reason, just for the fun of it." Man, am I glad that there are still people like that in this world!
Just finished listening to this (via SACD). Very nice! Good performance, possibly better than my long-time favorite recording of this piece (by the Vienna Philharmonic). And excellent SQ, as good instrument soundstage positioning as any orchestral recording I've got, I think. According to the tech notes, the original 1960 2 or 3 track tapes were transferred directly to SACD without any digital equalization or other futzing around. Sounds very clean to me.
My only slight nitpick is that the violin section - including the important violin soloist - is so separated that it's pretty much all in the left channel only, so sometimes that side is a little heavy. But that's realistically true of orchestras with traditional instrument section placement; the physically big and lower instruments like cellos and bases are typically on the right side of the stage, so the number of people and perceived sound level from the right side is often less. (And the notes say that the Chicago hall where this was recorded is unusually wide and shallow.)
For $8, this is a great deal esp. for those who want to try out a little classical and to exercise your SACD gear. It's a good piece, great dynamics - lots of big orchestral "crashes" with drums and brass, etc., but also lots of quieter parts with just violin or one or two other instruments playing solo.
Here's another one on SACD, but this one's an even older mono recording from 1954, a much lauded "classic" recording of Beethoven's 9th. Honestly, I haven't spend enough time studying this symphony to totally "get it." This is one of those works that IMHO is least likely to be appreciated on casual listening; you really have to concentrate on this one. I recently got this and another historic performance of it with Karajan/BP from 1963. The only recording I've had of it for many years is by Solti from 1987. It will be interesting to listen more carefully from these multiple performances separated by decades, to see what the differences are and what each has to offer. Not a light task - not to mean unpleasant of course - as this is SERIOUS classical music, about as serious as it gets, despite two centuries of compositions that have come after it.
:bow-blue:
Wow, this is the most excited I've been about a classical music recording in a while - probably since the Liszt/Volodos album I mentioned earlier in this thread. Just listened to this Karajan version of Beethoven's 9th, from 1962. In fact I listened to it twice in a row, it was so good. This recording has more energy and excitement in it than any version of the 9th that I've heard (not that I've heard anywhere near all of them by any means). I have never enjoyed this piece of music as much as I did while listening to this today, I am in fact a bit stunned. Sorry to sound a bit over the top here, but I can't really describe it. This recording "speaks" to me personally in a way that few have.
SQ is very good, they've done a great job of transfer to SACD (2-channel). Yeah maybe those analog engineers 50 (!) years ago actually had some clue what they were doing, SH. :teasing-tease:
But it's not the SQ that's got me so eargasmic (to borrow Dane's term) here, it's the music and the performance of it that really stands out to me.
I think I'm going to go order the other 8 Bethoven symphonies that Karajan recorded at the same time! :music-listening: (also available on SACD)