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IMHO Pletnev is a conductor of the "thin-lipped" variety: like Parvo Jarvi, his interpretations--the ones I've heard-- tend to be more head than heart.Against my expectations, his Manfred turned out to be an enthralling, (and extremely well-recorded) ride. The second and third mov'ts are lovely; and the RNO's playing an absolute joy, woodwinds in the 2nd mov't especially.
Things go a bit off the rails at the beginning of the 4th mov't. Pletnev contrasts two themes so dramatically that it's impossible not to get distracted. If you can imagine a stiff, old Russian grandpa competing with a young kid in a dance off, you'll survive the moment. Otherwise, the mov't holds together unusually well.
The pipe organ in the end, (love it or hate it), is DEEP. When I was a teenager, I couldn't imagine another composer writing a finale as transcendent as Tchaikovsky's; the organ combined with shimmering, Wagnerian strings gave me the vapors back then. Funny.
The first mov't IMHO contains Tchaikovsky's most compelling writing, especially the frenzied climax: I was really worried Pletnev would find Tchaikovsky's hysterics too embarrassing and play them down, (or speed through) but no: the final pages really pack a wallop. Complaints? Well, the Gong takes a little time to ring, and there are just a few spots of pedantic articulation, but overall the performance gave me chills, as it should. The whole mov't is wonderfully gloomy and dark.
This Pentatone was my first large-scale orchestral download in DSD. Either the recording team had an unusually good day, or DSD really does take the listening experience to a new level.
I only have two PCM 96/24 BIS orchestral recordings to compare, (Schreker in Sweden and Vansky in Minnesota), and as warm and inviting as BIS' sound is, it seems to lack framing and perspective. With the Pentatone, I found myself thinking, "Ah. Rafters. Walls. Stage.... There they are." Obviously far, far too early to generalize though.
In any case, having a blast.
Edits: 09/17/16Follow Ups:
. . . do you like Stokowski's performances? Mostly, they're pretty one-of-a-kind with unique tempos (and tempo fluctuations!), not to mention his patented re-orchestrations and "improvements" to the originals! ;-)In any case, Pentatone reissued a couple of his Philips quad performances from the 70's which I really get a kick out of:
I used to have both of these on vinyl, and found them a bit diffusely recorded on that medium (perhaps because they tried to mix some of the rear channels with the fronts for two-channel playback?). These Pentatone remasterings seem to be real improvements IMHO, and one of the posters at Amazon made the same observation. (And, like you, he's a two-channel listener.)
I was just listening to the LPO album yesterday, and, as they say in the movie reviews, what a ride! If you haven't heard it, you'd never believe how fast Stokowski takes the March from the Nutcracker Suite! The LPO players are doing everything they can just to keep up with his insane tempo, especially in the middle section (the repeated notes are killing the wind players!) and in the decorative ascending scales heard in the reprise of the main theme. And in "Waltz of the Flowers", he adds this cheesey tympani part to the secondary section (as well as at the end) which will have you smiling long aftere the track is over!
Just remember what Celibidache said: "The three greatest conductors of the 20th century are Furtwangler, Stokowski, and me!"
Edits: 09/18/16
Maybe my faulty recollection; but weren't these Philips Stokowski's the result of re-recording by Loudspeaker playback (as with Colin Davis's Berlioz Te Deum) - or are they from an original tape-stage....
. . . I wouldn't see the need for this, since Pentatone does have access to the original quad tapes.There WAS a rumor I'd read about - spread at the height of the SACD vs. DVD-Audio wars that the EMI quad DVD-Audio releases (Strauss Alpine Symphony with Kempe, Holst Planets with Previn, etc.) were produced via re-recording of loudspeaker playback. There was never anything to this as far as I could determine - and I had almost all of these EMI titles. I chalk this rumor up to the zealotry of some SACD partisans - wanting to make sure that their platform won in the market. (In fact, it reminds me of the Playstation vs. Xbox episode of "South Park" - LOL!)
However, there's a label now which apparently does produce their releases via re-recording of loudspeaker playback, and that's 2XHD, which re-releases some of the Naxos titles in 24/192. I don't have any of these. Despite the way in which these 2XHD albums are produced, some listeners swear that they sound better than even Naxos' own 24/96 releases. Go figure.
So. . . what's the story with Colin Davis' Berlioz Te Deum? I'd never heard that one. Care to elaborate?
Edits: 09/19/16
I'm very much looking forward to Petrenko's Shosty 4th and 7th.
Edits: 09/19/16
Found this (AMAZON)
"Colin Davis's recording of the Berlioz Te Deum followed a performance in Westminster Cathedral as part of the great 1969 Berlioz anniversary celebrations. Sadly, the recording had to move from the Cathedral because the organ was 'playing up', and took place instead in the Watford Town Hall (now Colosseum), whose organ was in finer fettle. The tapes were then taken back to the Netherlands where Phillips added reverberation to create the appropriate 'cathedral' acoustic 'halo'...".
So (apparently...) not Loudspeaker replayed...though not exactly my recollection of 'Gramophone' (maybe subscriber-searchable) and have never played my original Te Deum LP/Box set/Sequenza -or the one 6500 Stokowski....yet.
I'll leave you to trace any info on the Stokowski's (that came from the 'net -once) as don't collect (sic!) CD/SACD, etc, releases.
So, as I understand that Amazon comment, Philips merely added some reverb to the organ track in the Davis Berlioz Te Deum?
Regarding the Stokowski recordings, if you're going to make the assertions, then, sorry, it's not my job to prove them for you.
I suspect all you are bothered about is that you may be listening to Loudspeakers via your Loudspeakers...but "can't tell the difference" !!
The Amazon comment is 2015 - the Gramophone article was some 20+ years back....adding reverb is hardly worth specifically mentioning in an article.
You were wrong about the Colin Davis Berlioz Te Deum, and, yes, I suspect you're wrong about the Stokowski Philips recordings. Sure, I might not be able to "tell the difference". OTOH, you may be hearing things that aren't there. Until I see some corroborating evidence for your allegations, I'll remain skeptical.
By the way-
"As a form of segue, I was offered some inside information about these recordings. Ed Johnson, arguably the finest Stokowski expert in the world today, and I have been corresponding about the Stokowski Sound. He informed me that Stokowski was unhappy with the original master tape. He had the engineers take the master, play it inside a church and re-record it with this added reverberation!!"
. . . it seems we were probably "listening past" each other if you were basing your comments on having listened to the LP's and I was basing my comments on having listened to the SACD's. Thus, in your statement"I suspect all you are bothered about is that you may be listening to Loudspeakers via your Loudspeakers...but "can't tell the difference" !!". . . you must have assumed that I was listening to the vinyl incarnations too. And although I indeed used to have the vinyl incarnations, I got rid of them and haven't listened to them in over 35 years. Things do progress! ;-)
. . . why the CD and SACD reissues sound so much better than the LP did! As you no doubt recall from my earlier post on this thread, I mentioned "I used to have both of these [Tchaikovsky Stokowski recordings] on vinyl, and found them a bit diffusely recorded on that medium". So it's pretty clear what must have happened: when the CD's (at least in a couple of incarnations) and the SACD's were released, they went back to the original recording, rather than the re-recording inside the church. And I'm certainly far from the only listener to have made this observation:"The present performances were not served well by the long-playing record, as they were taped quadraphonically but issued only in cloudy two-channel sound. Pentatone's remastering of the Philips tapes has resulted in conventional stereo reproduction of great sweetness as well as clarity, and those with SACD players can finally hear the vivid four-channel versions for the first time. Stokowski often was ahead of everyone else in sound reproduction-and here again is exciting proof, discovered 30 years later."
-Alan G. Artner, Chicago Tribune
The Davis info is maybe around (but possibly read that much later in a Gramophone article ?); and am pretty certain re: the Stokowski.
Sometimes the Quad was much better (Q4ASD Firebird/Ozawa - the ASD sounds threadbare, having been stripped of the rear channels).
Loudspeaker re-recording allegedly also affects Ashkenazy's solo Decca material (replayed in Kingsway Hall).
But the basic question is whether the re-recorded versions were the only 'master's' left?
Are you talking about the original (Philips) issue of the Davis Te Deum? And as for the Philips Stokowski recordings, are you talking about the Pentatone re-masterings? It sure would be nice if you had a source for these allegations.
had it on a Philips Lp. My fav is Munch's RCA Reader's Digest issue, which may be kicking around on Chesky these days. Kempe's Pines of Rome was pretty good on that set too!
It appears you like it!
Yes, I like it very much and networking went fine. I like the Android "remote" program/graphics and downloading files--although slow, esp. from computer to HAP using wifi--isn't a hassle at all.
Sometimes computer loses HAP in network so I just turn HAP off and on to "find" it again, but router is downstairs and HAP upstairs.
The DSD is indeed incredible.
I'm biting my tongue.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
at least flights to Thailand.
Well, I don't expect to be picking up much Pletnev. Maybe his Rimsky Korsakov music from the Operas on Pentatone, (even Hurwitz liked that one), but that's about it.
His artistic personality doesn't seem suited for composers like Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Maybe Stravinsky's neo-classical period....
Sounds great and I agree with most of your comments but don't know Pletnev well nor am I familiar with his past performances.
This is a good Manfred though.
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