SPOTLIGHT The classical music general discussion thread

[ubertrout]

Has anyone ripped this BD? Mine must be defective as it will not play or rip on any hardware that I have.

Same. Looks like an authoring error.

 

[humprof]

Among the many new classical Atmos additions on Apple Music this week is Rattle's Beethoven cycle with Vienna:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/beethoven-complete-symphonies/986453786

 

[dadregga]

Alright question - does anyone have any multichannel performances of Haydn they like and come back to?

I've got a Bruggen RBCD set which is great, but wondered if there were any good performances in MCH that people are fond of.

I'm aware of the Bruno Weil/Cappella Coloniensis releases, but don't care for the performances much.

 

[humprof]

Alright question - does anyone have any multichannel performances of Haydn they like and come back to?

I've got a Bruggen RBCD set which is great, but wondered if there were any good performances in MCH that people are fond of.

I'm aware of the Bruno Weil/Cappella Coloniensis releases, but don't care for the performances much.

Well, the obvious choices are Dutton's reissues of Bernstein conducting Haydn:
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7346https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7378
Beyond that, there's the Auryn Quartet's Haydn cycle on TACET:
https://www.tacet.de/main/seite1.php?language=&filename=welcome.php

 

[gene_stl]

https://www.aixrecords.com/product/joseph-haydn-keyboard-trios-no-39-40-26-the-pro-arte-trio/

 

[mkt]

Enjoying Beatrice Rana's Chopin currently.

I saw her in the before times (2019)
https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2022/03/09/Beatrice-Rana-Piano-0800PM

 

[ubertrout]

There's a bunch of folks kind of near St. Louis on this forum, so I figured I'd highlight what looks like a really cool concert featuring the rarely-performed Saint-Saens 5th Piano Concerto: https://shop.slso.org/7131

I sadly think I'll be out of town, but it looks like it should be fun.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

There's a bunch of folks kind of near St. Louis on this forum, so I figured I'd highlight what looks like a really cool concert featuring the rarely-performed Saint-Saens 5th Piano Concerto: https://shop.slso.org/7131

I sadly think I'll be out of town, but it looks like it should be fun.

Speaking of St Louis, I've mentioned this info to @gene_stl but just realized I should post public.

There's a great company called Fathom Events that I've enjoyed many an anime movie at the real theater. Anime has cooled down, classical, opera, & ballet have picked up. Some of these are streamed live, which is really cool. Check this out but also best to get on their e mail list. Because of streaming live some recent events I remember are already gone.

https://www.fathomevents.com/

 

[dadregga]

Well, the obvious choices are Dutton's reissues of Bernstein conducting Haydn:
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7346https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7378
Beyond that, there's the Auryn Quartet's Haydn cycle on TACET:
https://www.tacet.de/main/seite1.php?language=&filename=welcome.php

Yeah I've juuust picked up the Dutton Bernstein Haydn discs.

I really like the Chiaroscuro Quartet's Haydn cycle on BIS to the point where I think it might be definitive for me, but I'll give the Auryn a try, thx!

 

[humprof]

Yeah I've juuust picked up the Dutton Bernstein Haydn discs.

I really like the Chiaroscuro Quartet's Haydn cycle on BIS to the point where I think it might be definitive for me, but I'll give the Auryn a try, thx!

I expect--but don't know--that the Chiaroscuro's performances are better. I've read great reviews, and I keep meaning to check them out. But of course TACET's recording techniques are (famously) more discrete--which is not necessarily a selling point for everyone...

 

[bFletch]

Alright question - does anyone have any multichannel performances of Haydn they like and come back to?

I've got a Bruggen RBCD set which is great, but wondered if there were any good performances in MCH that people are fond of.

I'm aware of the Bruno Weil/Cappella Coloniensis releases, but don't care for the performances much.

I like, and play a lot, the 2L recordings by the Engegard String Quartet. Great players, great surround productions, great sound. They have four albums available on the 2L website:

https://shop.2l.no/search?q=Engegard+String+Quartet&options[prefix]=last
Three of these have Haydn 4 movement string quartets on them & other treasures. The album with the red cover (Haydn, Solbert & Grieg) is especially not to be missed. You can find SACD's of these at other websites also.

 

[mkt]

This seems notable (if you like that sort of thing) as I don't see a previous Abrahamsen surround recording, and it's the first Dacapo that I've noticed in spatial audio. (Also on SACD).
https://music.apple.com/us/album/abrahamsen-schnee/1605834135

 

[ubertrout]

Following David Hurwitz's rundown of the Brahms violin concerto, I gave a spin to Hilary Hahn's recording. Hard to believe it's 21 years old, and was recorded on a prototype 8-track DSD recorder. Highly recommended, and although it's OOP, it looks like there's a copy on Amazon for a reasonable-ish price.

 

[mkt]

Composer, violinist, and conductor on quite a few BIS recordings.
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/4563--obituary-jaakko-kuusisto-1974-2022

 

[windhoek]

I picked up a copy of Mahler 2 by Solti-Chicago SO on Decca this afternoon and it's the best - or most enjoyable - M2 I've heard by a country mile. I've never heard Mahler on vinyl before but if it all sounds like this then I'm buying more for sure. The tones, the timbres, the dynamic ranges, the authenticity, the slams, the divine, the darkness... everything was just incredible. Sure, the soprano ain't no Bridgette Fassbaender (who is other than Bridgette herself?) but she was still quite enjoyable all the same, even though her vibrato was but too obvious.

In a nutshell, this is now my favourite M2, displacing Abbado-Lucerne FO, which now seems far too controlled by comparison.

 

[humprof]

I picked up a copy of Mahler 2 by Solti-Chicago SO on Decca this afternoon and it's the best - or most enjoyable - M2 I've heard by a country mile. I've never heard Mahler on vinyl before but if it all sounds like this then I'm buying more for sure. The tones, the timbres, the dynamic ranges, the authenticity, the slams, the divine, the darkness... everything was just incredible. Sure, the soprano ain't no Bridgette Fassbaender (who is other than Bridgette herself?) but she was still quite enjoyable all the same, even though her vibrato was but too obvious.

In a nutshell, this is now my favourite M2, displacing Abbado-Lucerne FO, which now seems far too controlled by comparison.

The Soltis on vinyl were my first Mahler cycle. Now you're making me want to pull them out and have a listen...!

 

[windhoek]

The Soltis on vinyl were my first Mahler cycle. Now you're making me want to pull them out and have a listen...!

The thing that makes this particular release all the more interesting is that it's a digital recording (I knew it was a digital recording before I bought it as it says so on the box). Regardless of whether digital recording technology has evolved much since then, I took a punt on the set because it was made back in the day when vinyl sounded good pretty much by default, unlike a lot of post resurgence vinyl that's very much hit or miss. And it turns out it was a very good punt as it's probably the best, richest sounding classical recording I own and have ever heard outside of a concert hall.

It looks like Solti recorded M2 with the LSO and that's available on LP, well if I see it in. charity shop I'm buying a copy for sure

 

[ubertrout]

The thing that makes this particular release all the more interesting is that it's a digital recording (I knew it was a digital recording before I bought it as it says so on the box). Regardless of whether digital recording technology has evolved much since then, I took a punt on the set because it was made back in the day when vinyl sounded good pretty much by default, unlike a lot of post resurgence vinyl that's very much hit or miss. And it turns out it was a very good punt as it's probably the best, richest sounding classical recording I own and have ever heard outside of a concert hall.

It looks like Solti recorded M2 with the LSO and that's available on LP, well if I see it in. charity shop I'm buying a copy for sure

Some of those early digital recordings sound really good! The problem wasn't the tech.

 

[windhoek]

Some of those early digital recordings sound really good! The problem wasn't the tech.

Yeah, that's how it seems to me as well. Digital recordings truly can sound superb but as you say, the problem isn't the technology, it's people not doing it right, or not doing it like they used to back in the day. Something definitely got lost during the years when vinyl became a niche format. Still, at least there are plenty of old records out there that still sound great regardless of the recording tech involved

 

[ubertrout]

Yeah, that's how it seems to me as well. Digital recordings truly can sound superb but as you say, the problem isn't the technology, it's people not doing it right, or not doing it like they used to back in the day. Something definitely got lost during the years when vinyl became a niche format. Still, at least there are plenty of old records out there that still sound great regardless of the recording tech involved

I'm actually kind of inclined to think the problem was almost the opposite - trying to do things like they used to. Early digital recordings were made to only a few channels, mixed live. The engineers were typically working closely with the folks who developed the ADCs and the recordings were characterized by a natural sound with incredible dynamic range. Not particularly like the analog recordings from the 70s, especially from labels like DG, which were characterized by too many mics and limited dynamic range. Early digital was at a disadvantage to tape when working that way, and once the more traditional engineers started using it the results were much less impressive.