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In Reply to: RE: Enigma Variations posted by Tadlo on May 06, 2016 at 09:34:09
Yes, I enjoyed the Michael Stern recording, even though his father's feet smelled to high heaven! (Sorry for the obscure reference - it's to one of our Isaac Stern free-for-alls we had on this board a couple of years ago!)
I also like the traditional favorites too (Boult, Barbirolli). The Mehta/LAPO is also excellent IMHO. In fact, I don't think I've heard a recording of the Enigma Variations that I've disliked. (I've only read about the notorious Bernstein DG recording, with its imposition of complete stasis on the Nimrod variation - LOL!)
Follow Ups:
Thanks. I remember the Stern exchange. I didn't know that Isaac had a son who conducts. I like some of Bernstein's stuff from his slow period. I can imagine him extracting every drop of feeling out of the Nimrod score.
I somewhat like the Bernstein. Once a year or so the slow Nimrod really works! Or you can just imagine it is Celibidache... :)
Okay I listened to it on Youtube. Too slow for me and mostly devoid of shape, although the string tone was nice. The performance I heard last night was conducted by Runnicles, who I had never hear of before. The climaxes where magnificently phrased, with some very nice well places slight pauses.
but thought his Nimrod was too fast and wished Dorabella was lively as Monteux's. :/
This is a beautiful rendition of Nimrod by Boult/LPO but might be too downer for you.
But other of my faves are:
Runnicle subbed for Van Zweden 2 years ago and I enjoyed his Mahler's 5th!
Loved his Death and Transfiguration, too.
I was sort of surprised that many left after the first half of the program and the house wasn't filled.
I hope I will be able hear the WFMT broadcast of the concert when it comes around and check how it seems then. Nimrod didn't seem too fast to me Thursday. I thought it was beautifully shaped. But I was a little bummed out by someone who dropped his junk just as the final chord was winding down. Did you hear that? And what did you think of the Strauss?
For the Chicago debut of the Arcanto Quartet recital last year, someone on the first row dropped his phone on a hard concrete floor. This was at a Mandel hall without any carpeting. That sharp sound resonated through the hall and totally ruined the poignant ending of Smetana's 'From My Life' for me.
What bothers me most tho is audience hacking coughing as well as for those who are eager to applaud prematurely. Some tunes just need a silence to reflect.
I did hear some noise at the ending but I have heard worse!
I loved his Strauss ( much better than his Telarc CD with Atlanta) and enjoyed it more because it was so much more dynamic and expansive than Haitink/CSO's Alpine Symphony performance just a week earlier.
I still prefer Sinopoli/Staatskapelle Dresden set, tho. ( it's a bit more pictorial )
The noise sounded like some dropped a handbag, and it was close to where I was so it sounded pretty loud. But it was not as bad as the cell phone that went off as the last chord of Otello was ending at the Lyric several years ago.
The most annoying.
Poor Cedric Tiberghien's debut concert was marred by not just one, THREE cell phone going off at the beginning of the program and he had to start over THREE times.
He was pretty laid back about the whole thing unlike some prima donna for sure they would have walked out.
Possibly one of the best conductors nobody ever heard of. He was conductor of the San Francisco Opera orchestra when I lived out there. Is he still making appearances there?He was conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke's for some years, including some of my years living in NYC. And he was the primary conductor of the Atlanta Symphony when I lived in Georgia.
So I've seen him quite a lot.
He's been the conductor of the BBC Scottish for some years, and one of the Berlin Opera orchestras as well.
He's not eccentric enough, volatile enough, or controversial enough to ever be considered among the "great" conductors. But he is reliably steady on the podium and has enough insights into the music he conducts to make most of his concerts worth attending.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
Edits: 05/06/16
Thanks for that information. The CSO concert I heard Thursday evening also included the Britten, Sinfonia da Requiem and Strauss' Death and Transfiguration. It was all beautifully played. The closing pages of the Strauss was overwhelming.
"Runnicles' reading is easily the most eloquent and sweeping. There was never a moment when things seemed to be on automatic pilot. Each aria, duet or ensemble came through as a show-stopper. Runnicles approach was leisurely, yet infused with drama and energy, and the daring slow pace exposed the orchestra's fine balances and intonation."
Couldn't agree more!
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