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Nice Classical Sale at Qobuz, Here are My Selections, Please Comment if You're Familiar with Any.

73.116.103.52
Posted on November 22, 2020 at 10:15:47
jdaniel@jps.net
 Rachmaninov Preludes: Huangci. (A wild card) but I like how she handles the two's against three's in the DM Prelude--very "celestial" and not "clunky.")

Prokofiev: Works for Violin and Piano, Gjezi and Lancien. (I like a little bit more pedal than less in the piano accompaniment of the 1st Sonata, third mov't, Lancien seems to as well.)

Dvorak, Janacek, Martinu Works for Strings: Veces, Orchestra de Auvergne

Haydn: Cello Concertos, Jancovic, St. George Strings. (Yeah, yeah, get over it.)

Marais: Piece de Viol, La Reveuse. (Accompaniments seem particularly beautiful.)

Strauss: Don Quixote, etc. Gaillard, Masmondet (Another wild card)

Corelli: Concerti Grossi, Goltz/Freidberger ("padded" orchestrations, including guitar, very nice addition in slow mov'ts.)

Bach: St Matthew's Passion, Jacobs, Alte Musik Berlin

Brahms: String Quartets and Quintet, Belcea

Bach: Christmas Oratorio, Otto/Naxos

Rachmaninov: Symphony 1, Slatkin/Detroit

Berlioz: Harold in Italy, Slatkin/Lyon

Howells: Chamber music, Dante Quartet/Naxos (wild card)

Poulenc: Les Bitches, etc, Tingaud/Naxos (Hurwitz raves)

Shostakovich: Symphony 13, Petrenko/Naxos

Grieg Violin Sonatas, Kraggerud, Tromso Chamber Orchestra (obviously orchestrated.)

 

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Why don't you just subscribe?, posted on November 22, 2020 at 11:01:37
Ivan303
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Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
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 A lot easier, and based on your total download spending, a lot cheaper.




First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

Dude..., posted on November 22, 2020 at 11:18:29
jdaniel@jps.net
 Doing the sensible thing is not human nature. : )

Switching-out equipment and/or adding new crap distracts me from focusing on the actual music for months if not a year or more.

I'm also worried I'll be tempted into obsessing over A-B (and even C-D-E) comparisons of individual mov'ts as opposed to settling-in and relaxing while enjoying a piece as a whole.

Plus, I still need the adrenaline rush of actually buying something and owning it, even if magnetic splotches on a hard drive.

Make sense? :)

 

I've heard only one of the recordings on your list, posted on November 22, 2020 at 11:54:11
Chris from Lafayette
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  Since: February 6, 2012
 That would be the Slatkin/Lyon Berlioz Harold in Italy, with babe violist, Lisa Berthaud. I was also interested in that recording because of its release as a 24/96 MCh blu-ray audio disc.



Overall, I was quite unhappy with what I heard from Slatkin and his Lyon orchestra when he was their music director (based on the recordings they did for Naxos). The energy in the performances seemed to ebb so low as to be soporific. Almost all of Slatkin's other recordings I've heard seem more vital than the ones he did in Lyon.

However, maybe Lisa got his juices going in this Harold in Italy recording, becuase it's definitely a cut above the quality of the other work he was doing at that time. And Lisa's own playing is entirely beyond reproach. All the same, my favorite Harold in Italy is a real "under the radar" dark horse, in "plain old CD" (gasp!) resolution:



Another little known great performance of the work is the in-concert rendition by another babe violist (at least at the time the performance was recorded), Cynthia ("Cindy") Phelps, with Maazel and the NYPO. This one used to be available on the iTunes music store as well as DG's own site. I don't know what its availability is now.

BTW, that Poulenc work is "Les biches", not "Les Bitches". ;-)

 

You could always be like some of us and do both! ;-), posted on November 22, 2020 at 11:59:25
Chris from Lafayette
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  Since: February 6, 2012
 And one of the things I never expected to be doing in 2020 is buying so many discs (SACD's mostly) - but that's exactly what I've done! - because, when the price is right, it's right! ;-)

 

Son of a biche!, posted on November 22, 2020 at 12:24:57
jdaniel@jps.net
 Thanks, Chris.

I was hoping you'd heard something "through the grapevine" about Huangci. You seem to know everyone! : )

For the price, I'm going to give her Preludes a try, just based upon a 30 second sample.

 

Yeah - I'm pretty sure I have NOT heard any of Claire Huangci's recordings , posted on November 22, 2020 at 13:24:50
Chris from Lafayette
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 (Although I was interested to see that she has a recording of the Paderewski Concerto, which is somewhat unusual repertoire.)

 

RE: Yeah - I'm pretty sure I have NOT heard any of Claire Huangci's recordings , posted on November 23, 2020 at 09:02:38
pbarach
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Posts: 3307
Location: Ohio
Joined: June 22, 2008
 Huangci's Chopin Nocturnes and Scarlatti are worth checking out; her Rachmaninov didn't keep my interest.

 

Agreed on Huangci's Rach. Fantastic finger work but after comparing with Lympany..., posted on November 23, 2020 at 17:41:25
jdaniel@jps.net
 IMHO the latter is more "ravishing," "regal," "swaggering," "wistful," and "colorful."

 

RE: Nice Classical Sale at Qobuz, Here are My Selections, Please Comment if You're Familiar with Any., posted on November 24, 2020 at 21:01:02
sser2
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Location: Pittsburgh USA
Joined: July 30, 2003
 I like Kraggerud. He has my #1 Sibelius VC with Bjarste Engeset, playing Guarneri violin. Out of 100+ performances that I know.

 

Hmm. . . I need to listen to that Kraggerud/Engeset Sibelius Concerto again, posted on November 25, 2020 at 01:22:44
Chris from Lafayette
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Posts: 26480
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: February 17, 2004
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  Since: February 6, 2012
 I've got it on DVD-Audio. I remember thinking it was interesting, but then Lisa Batiashvili came out and swept the field for me with her Sony recording with Oramo. (I'm of course not interested in her later recording with Barenboim.)

Then again, Kraggerud has the advantage of 5.1 sound - and that's pretty big for me, even aside from the interpretation.

 

As for the orchestrated Grieg violin sonatas go, I didn't care for them, posted on November 25, 2020 at 07:15:29
jdaniel@jps.net
 I'm going to try Kraggerudn's other version with piano.

Interesting: IMHO the orchestrations didn't enhance the works, giving foot-stomping 3rd mov't of the 3rd a softer-edge and the "poetic" openings of the slow mov'ts sound more poignant in their "undressed" state.

Interesting because I really believe that Ravel's orchestrations of his piano music really work and add power and depth.

 

Oh, and the Brahms String Quartets? Very, very rewarding, even beyond the slow movt's!, posted on November 25, 2020 at 07:35:04
jdaniel@jps.net
 First-timer with these works, and I'm glad Brahms didn't burn them. ; )

I like them better than the Sextets and Quintets, which seem to get much more press, but who knows?

Problem: Alpha's sound. Strings are "warm," fully fleshed-out but recorded sound is absolutely airless. My ears feel as if they're stopped up after a mountain drive.

 

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