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The last couple of years have been comparatively restricted as far as my ability to listen to new recordings is concerned, but there was one development which came to fruition in 2016 that I couldn't be happier about: BIS recordings are now available as downloads in their multi-channel hi-rez incarnations on the company's eClassical site. Finally, we can hear what the masters sound like without the conversions to DSD made necessary when these same titles are released on SACD's (the only way to get BIS recordings in multi-channel until this year)! So, unlike the past three years, when I had NO BIS recordings on my yearly lists (while waiting for the multi-channel downloads to become available), a good portion of the list this year is composed of BIS titles.
Also, just to get this out of the way first, the most contemporary music in my list was written by a composer who died over 25 years ago. Sorry, Rick! ;-)
At the same time, I do acknowledge that I just haven't had the time in the past two years to listen to nearly as many recordings as I've wanted to. Maybe 2017 will allow for some improvements in this area. Anyway, it's on with the 2016 show. . .
The very first recording of this austere, yet supernaturally beautiful choral work was released only in 2015 (by Alexander Lingas and the Capella Romana). Just one year later, we now have this equally magnificent recording on the Naxos label by Steven Fox and the Clarion Choir (based in New York). Both performances are wonderful and I recommend both - the differences lie in the couplings: the Capella Romana album has settings of some of the same texts by Rimsky-Korsakov, Steinberg's father in law, while the Clarion Choir album has some of the original chants which Steinberg based his own settings on - very instructive to hear how transformed the music is in Steinberg's settings. In addition, I was able to hear the Clarion Choir recording in 24/96 (two-channel) sound via ClassicsOnline HD, although I don't recall seeing its availability as a download in that hi-rez format on other sites.
This was the recording that opened the "hi-rez multichannel download" (24/96 in this case) floodgates at eClassical. I admit, I was fearful that Suzuki would bring his fussy HIP aesthetic to the proceedings, but I needn't have worried! The performances themselves are surprisingly nuanced within a straightforward framework, while the gratifying sound quality was definitely worth the wait!
I was unfamiliar with Gaffigan before I heard this release, and I was bowled over indeed! As I said in February: "lots of impact, clear delineation of textures, a propulsive, goal-oriented reading, and excellent playing and discipline by the orchestra. And the multi-channel engineering was magnificent too!" Not much to add, really.
So here's an alternate look at the Fourth Symphony (in its revised, rather than original, form), and Litton and the Bergen PO give us all the punch and dynamics to make a great case for it, as well as the lyricism. Speaking of that latter quality, it serves the unfairly disparaged Seventh Symphony even better. (Prokofiev caving in to Stalin? - I don't think so! It's really a stylistic cousin, perhaps, of the Cinderella ballet.) And the demo-quality sound is first-rate.
Big, bold readings with a huge dynamic range which allows for lots of subtlety in the performancs. The ensemble playing and the clear articulation are outstanding. A couple of listeners have had problems with some of the tempos, but I find nothing, tempo-wise, to take exception to. This is a really great final installment in the Vanska/Minnesota Sibelius cycle.
I'm stretching my timeline here just a bit: this album was released in November 2015, but I got it as a "BIS Bundle" at a special price earlier this year. This set contrasts with the Vanska/Minnesota set in its overall approach - Kamu often prefers a more intimate type of interpretation, and this intimacy is reinforced by the hall in Lahti where these recordings were made. It's a smaller, more cozy type of sound compared to what we hear on the Minnesota recordings. There's certainly room for both, especially in works such as the Third and Sixth symphonies. (On a side note, I confess that I still haven't yet heard the Lintu or Storgards sets.)
As the sole babe musician on my 2016 list, Nicola really etches a deep impression through her sympathetic rendition of the Glazunov Concerto, with what I once called its "tender, nostalgiac, caring themes" perfectly suited to her style. Is she better than J-Fi or Chloe in this work? Without a direct shoot-out, it's hard to say! I'll let others discuss the merits of her Shostakovich Concerto, but I will point out that some listeners (a couple of whom have posted on Amazon) have compared her performance favorably with Oistrakh's.
I'd like to bring up a couple of reissue and non-standard category picks too:
Following on the heels of the outstanding Living Presence reissues of the Dorati/Philharmonia Tchaikovsky Orchestral Suites and the Dorati/Minneapolis Beethoven Eroica Symphony last year, this Dupre/Paray/Detroit 24/96 reissue benefits from the same Plangent Process which was applied to the earlier two albums. This album has never sounded better, and, quoting from my March post: "One now becomes so much more aware of the nuance that Paray was getting from the Detroit players, despite his reputation for going after the zing and the breathless excitement." I was so impressed by the Plangent Process as applied to these albums, that I subsequently downloaded a couple of the Dorati/Minneapolis MONO reissues to which the same process was applied - the Copland Third Symphony, and the album of Britten and Ginastera orchestral variations. Amazing!
Two originals and a reissue from HDTT (High Definition Tape Transfers), all of which I've posted about earlier this year. The Bruckner/Berlioz and Respighi albums are played by excellent youth orchestras in a fairly dry acoustic environment, with outstanding engineering from John Proffit (who has posted on this board on occasion!). The Schubert is of course a lovingly-done reissue of one of the legendary albums (recorded during the "golden age" of stereo) from the Command Classics catalog - our only means to get these high-energy and purposeful Steinberg recordings in decent sound at the present time.
This is another "cheating" selection, since it came out in 2015 - but it's an extraordinary album as well as my first purchase of a Berlin PO album on the orchestra's own label. It's very impressive: as well as the CD's, the album contains a blu-ray audio disc of the entire contents of the CD's, but in 24/48 multichannel! The large book bound into the album is also striking. Of course, its dimensions mean that this album will never fit on a mere CD shelf - No, this treasurable object d'art MUST reside on your coffee table! ;-) Anyway, I haven't heard the whole album yet, but what I've heard so far (Symphonies 1 and 9 [7], the Mass No. 6, and the opera, "Alfonso und Estrella") have all sounded great, and go far towards rehabilitating Harnoncourt in my estimation of conductors (if only he didn't have all those darned HIP recordings!). Moreover, the engineering shows that there's more reverberation around the Philharmonie than you might guess from the orchestra's recordings on other labels - and that's a good thing!
Follow Ups:
Not a new release but new to me.
Mahler 9 Leonard Bernstein, Israel Philharmonic
Part of all Mahler symphonies on Sony with Bernstein conducting Israel Philharmonic. This is now my favorite 9th
Alan
I'm starting off with video discs. Here is my personal "find" better known as a snap buying choice that worked out very well. This set seems like a labor of love for the late Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. It is a series of concerts, including the complete Beethoven symphonies along with the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Strauss Alpine Symphony, and the Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez with Pepe Romero. I've always considered de Burgos to be a vastly underrated conductor, and these performances prove my point. Lots of joyous music-making here.
You can't go wrong with a great performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto, and Sol Gabetta does that here, and for you Ligeti fans (you know who you are) Sir Simon warms up the audience and the orchestra with Atmospheres! Throw in a good Wagner Prelude and a powerful Rite of Spring, and you have a really fine concert disc.
This disc is so much fun I have to mention it again. I am pasting my brief comments from my 11/28 post here. Both works are hair-raising (tossing?), exciting, and finger-breaking, and that's just the Beethoven #1! Yes, Khatia manages to do Beethoven proud and still make it into an exciting show piece. It's fun to watch Mehta and the IPO working to keep up with her. The Liszt comes off as it should, a bravura showpiece. The video quality is good, the camera work is normal, but I did notice that not as much time as I expected was spent on Khatia. Both dresses she wore (each concerto was shot at a different concert) were quite stunning, and I was somewhat worried when she bowed that there might be a wardrobe malfunction!
This is my reissue of the year. I'm sure that in time you will be able to buy just the Blu-Ray audio disc by itself. Anyway, this is one of those fancy collector's editions with the CD sleeves displaying the LP cover art. I actually prefer the sound of the remastered CDs over the Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray sounds too nice. The CDs are the closest thing I've found to the sound that I remember Decca LPs having. The performances are brightly lit, aggressive, dynamic, detailed, and very exciting.
Now to my two "way out there but a lot of outrageous fun" picks. First up are the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas by Fazil Say. There are two things most might agree on with this set: it ain't Brendel, and it ain't HIP. Say marches to a very different drummer, but most of what he does here is respectful of Mozart. Also, if you still have your Glenn Gould hum filter installed on your system you might want to reactivate it while listening to these discs.
My final item falls under the category "You know you've made it big in the industry when they let you record and release something like this." This is one wild Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. The CD pakaging and liner "notes" are really out there, too. Since I'm not really a fan of Stravinsky's Les Noces, I'm sure a lot of the content is really over my head. Suffice it to say that Ms. Kopatchinskaja can really play the violin. Maybe in a few years she will heed the admonition, "With great skill comes great responsibility."
I don't play CDs and the Kertesz Dvorak Symphonies on Ebay as LPs are beyond my means, darn it. 7,8, and 9 I have in abundance as they were so much fun to play; I regret somehow not obtaining the first 4, especially as I still recall arriving at a rehearsal one day many Moons ago and smiling as I was told the Fifth was now the Ninth.
Somehow the Cheapo DVD player to TV to stereo sounds excellent but CDs straight from the DVD player are dogmeat. The visual dimension is worth about $10,000 in component years though and I'm very much looking forward to hearing and seeing Ms. Buniatashvili and her two friends.
. . . not to mention those babe musician videos which I wasn't able to hear/see yet!
I'm very happy with Walter's 9th but I really liked Kertesz' Dvorak Serenades, and Decca's stunning recording of them.
I also enjoyed the tone poems.
I'm pretty familiar with the 7th and 8th symphonies, (as conveniently numbered today), but not the 1st through 6th, which I'd have to download as well.
Have you found yourself revisiting these early symphonies over the years, at least enough times to justify owning them all?
I hadn't listened to the early symphonies in a while, but I went through them when I got this set and was amazed how good they are. Of course, it might be because of Kertesz' interpretations....
I think I'm a bit more ambivalent about the Kertesz set than most other listeners (who've heard it) are. I prefer Neumann (i.e., his final, digital set more than his earlier analog set), Pesek, Rowicki, and Macal (the later CzPO set, not the Milwaukee set), but of course the Kertesz is very worthwhile too - mainly IMHO for the orchestral playing and the engineering. I admit, I'm tempted by that Kertesz blu-ray audio.
I've gotten a terrific amount of pleasure from the hi-res files I've downloaded from PlayClassics. Not all of them are 2016 releases, but at least one of them is, and they were all new to me in 2016. If I had to pick one favorite, it would be the Albeniz set.
Happy listening,
Jim
"The passage of my life is measured out in shirts."
- Brian Eno
The Albeniz album is my favorite too.
Even solo music, I would be grateful if anybody would name a few.
I tend to prefer the quieter stuff.
An enjoyable viola/piano album (mostly small pieces) of Ravel, Faure, Debussy, and Richard Dubignon (b. 1968 - and some of his pieces on the album were written less than 10 years ago - hear that, Rick?). Rysanov plays with impressive ease and virtuosity on his ungainly instrument.
Another album featuring Ravel, Faure and Debussy - this time with violin and featuring a combination of smaller pieces and a couple of sonatas (the Faure Sonata No. 1 and the Ravel G major). Although I had never heard of the violinist before, his (and Pontinen's) performances are beautifully crafted and really evoke the varying moods IMHO.
Come to think of it, these two albums should have been on my original list. ;-)
I still missed acquiring Trifonov's Liszt Etudes album, and I can't remember any other outstanding solo albums. (Vanessa and Khatia both had slight misfires this year - I sure hope Vanessa is done with her Stockhausen!)
Another favorite.
Plus this shot of old Bohuslav Martinů and his cat is a favorite of mine as well.
Thanks a lot.
Did you have a chance to listen to the new Naxos Haydn string quartet
pleyed by the Goldmund quartet, very very nice.
It's one of my favorite Haydn Quartets, and they do it very well indeed. And the engineering (I heard the 24/96 stream) seemed superb too, with the microphones not too close and not too far. Thanks for the heads up!
Listened to 77/1 last night on ClassicsOnline. Very nice. I'll try to get to the rest this weekend. Thanks.
. . . for the heads up!
As always, very nice list- Chris.
I'm biased, because the clarinetist is an old friend. But he really does a splendid job.
Edits: 12/29/16
The Svarfvar disc really IS from 2016.
Aside from being one of the brilliant young conductors out there these days he is a really nice guy to boot.
My favorites this year:
Bach French Suites (Perahia)
MTT's Debussy disc
Nothing new classically speaking, but I don't really follow the market.Four tracks I loved in 2016:
- Anna Ternheim: Quiet Night
- Maria Carey: Underneath the Stars
- Sara Bareilles: Basket Case
- Rihanna: Get it Over WithThe Rihanna song is a gorgeous arrangement - sumptuous strings. Ternhaim was used for the Wallander series, hugely atmospheric. Maria Carey - I just marvel at her vocal technique. Sara Bareilles has a special place for me (like the Obamas who love her...), beautiful lyrics and images.
Edits: 12/29/16
James Gaffigan is a fine conductor whom I've heard several times with the Cleveland Orchestra. After he completed his time on the conducting staff, he returned to Cleveland for several years to conduct a professional group called Citymusic Cleveland, which gives sets of free concerts in area churches several times a year. All of his concerts were occasions to be remembered. There was some kind of acrimony that led to his abrupt departure.
He is conducting the Cleveland Orchestra next week in Rhapsody in Blue, Schoenberg Piano Concerto (Gerstein), Herrmann Suite from Psycho, and Bartok Concerto for Orchestra.
He bears no resemblance to comedian Jim "Hot Pockets" Gaffigan :)
They'll be glad to discover the 2nd movt of Prokofiev's 4th. I'm very fond of the 1st movt aa well. I always liked Ormandy's old Columbia recording. How are the Bergen strings keep their sheen? Litton's likely better suited to Prokofiev's lighter fare, like the 1st, 4th and 7th.
Finally checked out the Paray and agree regarding processing. If only Stern threw away the score so to speak, like Paray does.
Stravinsky album is very enticing.
The Motherlode is a Mother Load.
M
Carl in Jimmy Neutron, in the Style of James Bond Theme.
Shirley, you're familiar...
Unfortunately I'll also be crawling over you--in need a restroom break0-- by the Lachrymosa.
you about Jimmy Neutron and Preview Message...
No offense meant.
I get the impression you were able to listen to a lot more this year than I was?
Only 3 new releases: Ginastera's "100," which is fantastic. His Harp Concerto, Panera #3, Guitar Sonata and Three Argentine Dances.
Nice recording, performances don't leave me wanting. I think I'd like to learn the second of the Dances; don't think I'm up to the 3rd, but what a crowd-pleaser.
Dausgaard's Seattle Mahler 10th was initially a huge disappointment, but because of all the great reviews and an admittedly stunning, stunning recording, I'm attempting to learn to love it, by adjusting my internal clock. The Finale still seems a bit hard-pressed, but overall not as cold and heartless as I originally thought.
Lastly was Petrenko's Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet. Loved the lighter character pieces, didn't love the Balcony Scene or final two scenes.
Not a Mahler 10 fan :(
M
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