Records recently heard

Was that the Rosbaud Bruckner 7, Robert? A fine performance, but I reckon the work needs better sound.

Rubinstein is the only Chopin artist for me; but his RCA recordings are one of the few instances I can think of in which remastering for CD has made a marked improvement on the LP sound.

Glad you like Pfitzner's songs - but "Palestrina" is head and shoulders above them, in my view (and each Act can be enjoyed in its own right, so there's no need to play the lot at one go).

If A Child of Our Time appeals, I think you will enjoy The Midsummer Marriage, too. The "Man of Our Time" sampler disc, which has highlights including the Ritual Dances, would be a quick way of finding out (and, incidentally, the bass drum at the beginning of the Phillips/Davis/ROH LP of the Ritual Dances has long been my reference for the way a recorded orchestral bass drum should sound... odd that the CD reissue is on Lyrita, of all labels.)

 

Afternoon Nick, I'm still at the playing everything stage at the moment so if that's what's there...it sounded good enough not to get in the way of the music if you see what I mean.

There is a point here, which is that a poor peformance or recording can put you off a work; similarly a particularly good performance can reveal a piece in a whole knew way; but as long as the recording is 'competent' it should give enough of the work to know whether you want to hear it again, albeit in a different interpretation.

Something this place, or rather the people who post here, can be very helpful with is suggesting recordings which will, at worst, give a fair account of a piece.

 

One of my very favourites. I have the classic RSFSR Academy Choir/Sveshnikov Melodiya recording on both vinyl and CD. The intensity with which these (at that time) card-carrying Party members sing makes you realise that the soul of old Russia never really died. The Nunc Dimittis (Nyne oputschaei) is especially impressive, especially when the basses hit that low B flat at the end and cause standing waves in the floor.

 

If you are looking for good performance & good sound in Bruckner 7, try Haitink & Concertgebouw on Philips.

 

Not necessarily to be honest IMO - beyond the superficial dimensional similarities (big orchestras, long playing time) they're all actually quite different on the whole. I'm very partial to Bruckner and Mahler but on the whole am lukewarm towards Wagner - he obviously could have been a great composer but ruined it by writing opera the whole time!

 

I meant in the sense that people (can) take against them rather than just not being fussed. But then again you do succeed in being 'lukewarm', except concerning the operas - which doesn't leave a great deal!

 

I like Beecham's comment on Bruckner's seventh symphony:

"In the first movement alone, I took note of six pregnancies and at least four miscarriages."

 

None taken, and point also taken. Will try and confine records recently heard to the relevant threads. You guys just dodged the bullet as I was planning a brief comparison of performances of Froberger's keyboard works by various harpsichordists.

Cheers.

 

This arrived tonight from Linn:

Absolutely gorgeous, a sort of Tudor choral greatest hits - Tallis, Byrd, Sheppard, Taverner, Mundy, Browne. Wonderful listening in a darkening room - you can imagine yourself in a great cathedral.

 

What cathedral is it recorded in?.... I seem to remember The Sixeen did a UK tour a few years ago to most Cathedrals in UK, I just missed the one they did in Edinburgh, think it was at St Giles Kirk.

 

It was recorded in a mixture of places, Alan (originally on Hyperion for the most part), and now issued by Linn. I'll check when I get home tonight.

 

Unconditional consent. Well planned programming, sonorous execution and opulent surroundings.

 

Considering Kirkpatricks vivid and brilliant interpretation the instrument is surely no cause of concern.

 

To day I listened to John Butt's triosonatas, and agree that they are very fine. Especially the intime chamber music athmosphere, stressed by the very dry acoustics combined with his well articulated playing. There is but one but(t).
The organ is very modern sounding, even if the booklet writes, that it was built after east-frisian models from ca.1700 like the Arp Schnitger organ in Neuenfelde fx, but Butts organ does not at all sound like this. And the pitch A=440 and welltempered tuning (sounds like equal tuning in my ears) stress this modern impression.

I shall aquire Holm Vogels triosonatas, I see that they are available for midprice.

 

Greetings pe-zulu, my knowledge and experience of the harpsichord is very limited. Prior to this record the only disc I have listened to regularly is the Gilbert WTC that I believe you recommended (thanks again). Even allowing for the fact that the Gilbert is stereo CD and the Kirkpatrick is mono vinyl the first thing that struck me (and I've only played it once so far) was the completely different sound of the instrument; to my ears a softer pluck, I struggled for a comparison but got no further than more guitar like which isn't really adequate; or accurate.
For now I am simply enjoying the sound; I trust that 'vivid and brilliant' will follow.
The (rhetorical) question was probably a symptom of reading here: wondering if it is supposed to sound like this.

 

Dear Coda II

Ralph Kirkpatrick (1911 - 1984) plays on a typical "preauthentic" factory-made two-manual harpsichord from the 1950ies with 16' (lower octave register) in the lower manual (I think, it is the Neupert Bach-model, the best instrument of the time of the recording).

Kenneth Gilbert (born 1931) is playing on a restored French original baroque two-manual instrument without 16'register. As far as I remember (haven't checked), his recording is from the 1980ies, a time with rapidly increasing interest for period instruments.

Both instruments are typical of their time, and they both have their pluses and minuses. We don't know much about it, but probably none of them represents the sound Bach preferred.
Gilberts instrument is just splendid, and Kirkpatricks Neupert produces a reasonably acceptable sound IMO.

Yesterday I listened to the English suites of Fernando Valenti (1928 - 1990) (Westminster 1950ies, rereleased by MCA for CD). Apart from the exceptionally unstylish playing the instrument sounds, as if he borrowed it from Wanda Landowska (Pleyel with ironframe?), making Kirkpatricks Neupert sound like a virginal in comparation. In the case of Valenti the instrument almost excludes serious listening.

Regards,

 

Thankyou, that would explain it!
It was the lower end I particularly liked. Is this feature totally non-period?

 

16'

Recent investigations have shown that harpsichords with 16' existed in the baroque age, but I think, it will take some time for the HIP-people to accept it. RdS knows more about this topic than I do.

Regards,

 

Well yesterday was one day out on Midsummer and one month out on my wedding anniversary, so thought this deserved a try!
Just the highlights, but yes there is some rather good music in there, will try more of the full set at the w/e.
Having read the sleeve notes it would appear that it is Tippet's 'lyric' period that appeals.

 

In which case you should definitely try his Piano Concerto, it was written at same time as The Midsummer Marriage and uses some of its themes.