SPOTLIGHT The classical music general discussion thread

[ubertrout]

I think they have some foundation support, though I'm not sure where I got that impression, and I could be wrong...

The owners founded Cisco Systems...

 

[mkt]

I still find it amazing in this day and age that a small independent label like Sono Luminus continues to release [as you state] challenging contemporary music on Pure BD~A and CD for such amazing prices. And in Dolby ATMOS [for those so equipped] to boot!

And their SUPERB remastering of the now nascent DORIAN catalogue on RBCD is likewise commendable! And check out those prices!

https://www.sonoluminus.com/dorian

And it seems to be a family business (sort of) with 3 Shores on the roster. Also great customer service.

 

[humprof]

And it seems to be a family business (sort of) with 3 Shores on the roster. Also great customer service.

Indeed--they're really friendly and responsive. Daniel Shores is friendly with Morten Lindberg of 2L Recordings, and they share many of the same assumptions & approaches with respect to immersive recording. Not coincidentally, these are two of my most recent acquisitions:

 

[ubertrout]

I've been working my way through the Tokyo Quartet SACD cycle of the Beethoven String Quartets, and I'm nearly done. I've heard these works on occasion in the past but I haven't done a concerted program of listening to them all, and it's been rewarding. I'm curious if people have favorites among the options? As far as I can tell the options for full cycles in surround sound are the Tokyo Quartet on Harmonia Mundi, the Prazak Quartet on Praga, the Quartetti de Cremona on Audite, and the Auryn Quartet on Tacet (4 DVD-As, never packaged as a set).

 

[humprof]

I own (and quite like) the Quartetto di Cremona set--which I bought because I happened to see it on sale from Audite just after I'd heard a couple of the individual discs at the radio station where I was volunteering. I'm not knowledgeable enough to be able to compare performances, and like you I don't know the quartets well. (And anyway the only other complete cycle I've heard is the Takács on Blu-Ray.) But you can read reviews and decide for yourself, and of course there are videos on their YouTube channel.

I think the Cremona discs sound great--clean, distinct, somewhat dry, and close-mic'd (you can hear breathing). The surround? Somewhere between Tacet-style and "big chamber ambience." The rears are very active, and although there's nothing strictly discrete, nevertheless certain channels favor certain instruments. My memory is that not every piece was recorded exactly the same way, but the quartet I was just listening to--one of the Opus 18's--has the 1st violin dominating the left front (and wrapping around to the left rear), the 2d violin & viola in the center, and the cello predominantly in the right front (wrapping around to the right rear). I want to say that on other quartets that pattern is reversed.

The set is currently 59 Euros before the VAT deduction (56 Euros for 5.0 FLACs, which--strangely--are 44.1/24). You can download free sample tracks (96/24 stereo) here: Free Downloads - audite

My only complaint is with the sequencing: the quartets are not presented in order.

I think you might see an actual recording session here, at 0:12. And I like the attitude they cop in this promotional video:

 

[mkt]

I wonder about the audio content of this. 4 Blu-ray discs.

https://www.importcds.com/beethoven...ven-the-complete-string-quartets/880242726636

 

[ubertrout]

I wonder about the audio content of this. 4 Blu-ray discs.

View attachment 64672
https://www.importcds.com/beethoven...ven-the-complete-string-quartets/880242726636

Interesting! Probably not quite as good audiowise as the others but probably more than fine.

 

[4-earredwonder]

I wonder about the audio content of this. 4 Blu-ray discs.

View attachment 64672
https://www.importcds.com/beethoven...ven-the-complete-string-quartets/880242726636

Sounds intriguing and the price is certainly right [for 4 BD~Vs] but sitting through/watching 522 minutes of live performances might be a bit numbing.

 

[mkt]

Sounds intriguing and the price is certainly right [for 4 BD~Vs] but sitting through/watching 522 minutes of live performances might be a bit numbing.

Definitely. I'd really just be interested in the ripped audio files. Might be time for a pandemic purchase.

 

[ubertrout]

Sounds intriguing and the price is certainly right [for 4 BD~Vs] but sitting through/watching 522 minutes of live performances might be a bit numbing.

I think this is kind of a problem of these giant box sets generally - they're really not meant to be listened to straight through. In fact, you really aren't even supposed to listen to two quartets back to back. You're supposed to appreciate each one, and a good concert will consider pieces that go well together. I've been listening to one quartet at a time every day or two and it's working really well.

 

[4-earredwonder]

I think this is kind of a problem of these giant box sets generally - they're really not meant to be listened to straight through. In fact, you really aren't even supposed to listen to two quartets back to back. You're supposed to appreciate each one, and a good concert will consider pieces that go well together. I've been listening to one quartet at a time every day or two and it's working really well.

Agreed. And the audio performances can still be enjoyed simply by turning the video OFF! Still wonder how it compares to the gorgeous Tokyo Quartet's multi~CH SACDs.

 

[humprof]

Just heard on the radio that James Levine is dead at 77:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/obituaries/james-levine-dead.html

 

[ubertrout]

Just heard on the radio that James Levine is dead at 77:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/obituaries/james-levine-dead.html

A great artist, but his long-known indiscretions were incompatible with the #metoo era. It wasn't surprising when the Met let him go. He wasn't overly represented in surround, although D-V did their wonderful issue of his Mahler 1st and 4th, with the Brahms 1st in the bargain. He also did almost certainly the best modern surround Daphnis.

 

[4-earredwonder]

For the past few days I have been luxuriating in the magnificent FILM MUSIC SCORES of Russian/German composer Alfred Schnittke who composed over 60 film scores for Russian/German films, some of them admittedly Propaganda films. His greatest influence was Dmitri Shostakovich. Capriccio Records had released Volumes 1~4 of his extraordinary film scores as multichannel SACDs and has now re~released them as 4 RBCDs. If you can find the SACDs, by all means, acquire them as they're extraordinary

Alfred Schnittke The Film Music Edition


THE STORY OF AN UNKNOWN ACTOR · THE COMMISSAR · THE FAIRYTALE OFT HE WANDERINGS · CLOWNS AND CHILDREN ...
RUNDFUNK-SINFONIEORCHESTER BERLIN · FRANK STROBEL




4CD-Box · C7196 PC: PC04 (Special Price) UPC: 845221071961


CD 1
Die Geschichte von einem unbekannten Schauspieler
The story of an unknown actor (Alexander Sarchi / Mosfilm 1976)
Die Kommissarin / The Commissar (Alexander Askoldow / Mosfilm 1967/87)
CD 2
Clowns und Kinder / Clowns and Children (Alexander Mitta, Mosfilm 1976)
Der Walzer / The Waltz (Viktor Titow / Mosfilm 1969)
Die Glasharmonika / The Glass Harmonica (Andrei Khrzhanovsky, 1968)
Der Aufstieg / The Ascent (Larissa Schepitko / Mosfilm 1976)
CD 3
Das Märchen der Wanderungen / The Fairytale oft he Wanderings
(Alexander Mitta, Mosfilm 1982/83)
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (Alexander Sguridi / ZentrNaútschFilm, 1976)
CD 4
Sport, Sport, Sport (Elem Klimow, Mosfilm 1970) / Die Abenteuer eines Zahnarztes / The adventures of a dentist (Elem Klimow, Mosfilm 1965) RUNDFUNK-SINFONIEORCHESTERBERLIN · FRANK STROBEL
Alfred Schnittke as a composer of film music – that is a fact well known to anyone who has ever been concerned with Alfred Schnittke. However, only very few people are familiar with his actual work in the film music genre. This is all the more surprising since on the one hand, Alfred Schnittke wrote more than 60 film scores during the years between 1961 and 1984, and on the other hand, his poly-stylistic techniques found a nearly perfect equivalent in film. Since Alfred Schnittke suffered from the artistic regimentations like many contemporary composers in the USSR, and his works could often only be performed under difficult circumstances, his work for the film to a large extent contributed to his livelihood.

https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=3857#related
https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=3857#reviews

 

[gene_stl]

I was amused at some earlier posts about "not buying another copy/rendition " of whatever piece of music was being talked about.

I have a few such titles and one of them was Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I had said to myself "OK you have enough, no more!"

Then I ran into this;

https://www.amazon.com/Vivaldi-Four-Seasons-2141-STEREO/dp/B089F7MWJZ
I couldn't resist it. I also experienced great expectation bias but it really does sound great.

"Hit it, Zubin!!!"

 

[ubertrout]

I was amused at some earlier posts about "not buying another copy/rendition " of whatever piece of music was being talked about.

I have a few such titles and one of them was Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I had said to myself "OK you have enough, no more!"

Then I ran into this;

View attachment 64741
https://www.amazon.com/Vivaldi-Four-Seasons-2141-STEREO/dp/B089F7MWJZ
I couldn't resist it. I also experienced great expectation bias but it really does sound great.

"Hit it, Zubin!!!"

This sort of Vivaldi is so out of fashion today, and it's a darn shame. I'm sure it's great.

 

[4-earredwonder]

This sort of Vivaldi is so out of fashion today, and it's a darn shame. I'm sure it's great.

Most especially with all this talk of global warming we may get down to THREE Seasons!

 

[mkt]

"Ah, what joy. For the first time as a Daily Deal, Christian Poltéra's rendition of the Dvorák Cello Concerto, along with Martinu's No 1, all with the Deutsches SO Berlin, conducted by BIS star Thomas Dausgaard. I don't need to shout from the rooftops about this one!"
One day only
https://www.eclassical.com/pages/daily-deal.html

 

[ubertrout]

"Ah, what joy. For the first time as a Daily Deal, Christian Poltéra's rendition of the Dvorák Cello Concerto, along with Martinu's No 1, all with the Deutsches SO Berlin, conducted by BIS star Thomas Dausgaard. I don't need to shout from the rooftops about this one!"
One day only
https://www.eclassical.com/pages/daily-deal.html

I already have this on SACD, but great deal - eClassical prices downloads in a way meant to actually sell them. The Dvorak Cello Concerto is the most popular one for a reason, and it's a great performance and superb sound quality - the mix is mostly ambient but still effective. And for under $8, it's hard to go wrong.

 

[humprof]

A great artist, but his long-known indiscretions were incompatible with the #metoo era. It wasn't surprising when the Met let him go. He wasn't overly represented in surround, although D-V did their wonderful issue of his Mahler 1st and 4th, with the Brahms 1st in the bargain. He also did almost certainly the best modern surround Daphnis.

A long obit--and a second, searching, appraisal--from NYT classical music critic Anthony Tommasini:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/obituaries/james-levine-dead.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/arts/music/james-levine-met-opera-dead.html