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Valse triste Opera 44 in particular is one of the most captivating movements I have heard since I began seriously listening to classical music over 20 years ago. This piece I own on Herbert Von Karagan's "Adagio" cd, Deutsche Grammaphone which has samplings of his various works over the years, purchased many years back and has made me wonder about the other offerings for "Valse triste" and the other works that accompany it, The Swan of Tuonela and the usual accompaniments.
I recently purchased another Herbert Von Karagan cd, EMI Import (remastered) to replace this aging disc, which should arrive later this week. I know the subject has been touched on over the years, but as I have begun to home in on my classical collection I rather like the idea of having multiple works of my favorites. Any suggestions, cd, sacd or downloads would be very helpful. Thanks.
Follow Ups:
If you're getting started in Sibelius, you might take a look at the Vanska set, which can be downloaded in MP3 format from Amazon for the princely sum of eight bucks. Yes, it's MP3, but as MP3 goes the sound is pretty good. I'm no expert in this repertory, but I enjoy these performances more than the Colin Davis BSO set that was once a standard recommendation.
And really, for $8, what have you got to lose?
Happy listening,
Jim
OK, I guess I'll go there - no one has mentioned the most popular piece by Sibelius, which is his short overture entitled Finlandia. The symphonies are well worth checking out if you want longer works. Look for the San Francisco Symphony recordings on Decca with Blomstedt conducting. Also, his violin concerto is one of my favorites. There are many recordings out there.
Colin Davis recorded the symphonies twice. I think that the more recent "LSO Live" set is the better of the two. But I still like the animated version of the Valse Triste from "Alegro Non Tropo" by Bruno Bozetto (below):
Bolero from the same movie is pretty good too:
The first was with the BSO on Philips. The second was from the 90s on RCA. His latest has been the LSO Live set.
I admit I'm sentimental enough to have shed tears when I first watched that in a theater! (My wife had the same reaction.) But the attitude of the director is SO Italian, when he shows the old ladies sobbing away at the end, and thereby pokes fun at THEIR sentimentality (and, by implication, the viewer's sentimentality - if the viewer had a reaction like I did)! That's so funny and so Italian! I don't dare watch it again! ;-)Other Valse triste recordings besides Karajan's I'd recommend are the Paavo Berglund / Philharmonia (EMI - the best of his several performances I think) and the Paavo Järvi / Estonian NSO (Virgin).
Edits: 07/14/12 07/14/12
although the performance is pretty good. But it isn't recommended for audiophiles.
One little-known recording I like a lot is the Pekka Helasvuo led Finlandia Sinfonietta CD which has a beautiful version of the Valse triste.
Cool! "Finlandia" is included on the disc I purchased. These are fantastic recommendations you guys are making!
Thanks again!!
Ahh! My "Sibelius" disc arrived today and I must say this remastered cd recording rivals some of my reference sacd classical stuff! "Only if was available on sacd" this would be the icing on the cake for multi-ch playback. To my surprise "En Saga" "Karelia Suite " and the others are simply to die for and I can see why Sibelius works tops the list of many. This cd is a must have if you are a fan Sibelius!
Seriously, dude - I admit the Berglund/Philharmonia Valse triste is not a 32/352.8 DXD recording, but it's generally well balanced and well engineered. I tried it through my main system and through my Stax headphones. It's interesting, because as I look at your system, it's fairly similar to mine, so I'd think we'd be hearing more or less the same thing. Oh well - as I say in the subject line, you'll have to let me know where the c**p is. ;-)
p.s.: maybe one cause for the difference is that I have a Japanese edition of this CD, not the domestic Seraphim that I pictured in my post. But, c'mon, I thought bits was bits.
And listened to the Berglund, in the US edition which you posted. I'll retract the "c**p" designation, which is too strong, but I do think it is flawed engineering, with some harshness in the upper registers and some digital haze. It certainly isn't the worst recorded CD I have but it is below average.
I had purchased the CD to listen to "The Oceanides", one of the Finn's most magical works, and found the Berglund more and more grating on each listening. I then bought a beautiful Colin Davis version which I think is better from both the interpretational and sound perspectives.
It's possible the US and Japanese versions are at different levels of quality. And yes we have similar systems which should reveal the same weaknesses in a given recording. Anyway, be well.
More later.
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