Still trying to catch up on my listening

Classical Court

From Perotin to Prokofiev (and beyond), performed by Caruso to Khatia, it's all here.

Posted by Chris from Lafayette (A) on June 27, 2020 at 17:42:47

Here are some brief reactions from single listenings of recent recordings I've heard:

The other Patrenko's other Rimsky-Korsakov album (i.e., Scheherazade, Capriccio espagnole and Russian Easter Overture with the Oslo PO on the LAWO label - heard via Qobuz) - I didn't listen to Scheherazade, but the Capriccio and the REO were excitingly performed (especially the REO), and I thought the Oslo acoustic suited these works better than it did the previous Scriabin album I'd heard from this team.

Mozart - Abduction from the Seraglio (blu-ray video), Soloists, Netherlands Opera - I got this to see Mojca Erdmann (with her cute rabbit teeth - BTW, that's NOT her on the cover!) in the role of Blonde. One of the Amazon posters says that this is a worthwhile purchase if only for Ms. Erdmann! If only! Alas, everything else about this production gives me the creeps, from the raw, ultra-HIP impositions on the playing of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra by conductor Constantinos Carydis, to the godawful Eurotrash sets and costumes. Spare me! One of the Amazon posts speaks of the "high-school production level" of this joke of a presentation. If only I'd seen that comment before I ordered this misbegotten excuse for a serious musical effort!

Now a few cheap-thrills SACD's from Pentatone:

I already had Janowski's Bruckner Ninth with the OSR from quite a while ago, and I posted here at the time that one would hardly recognize the OSR these days compared to the many recordings the orchestra made during the Ansermet days in the "Golden Age of Stereo". The playing is so secure and in tune! Nevertheless, even now, the OSR is not the first orchestra you think of when someone mentions "Bruckner". That's what's so amazing about these Janowski recordings: the orchestra gets a real Teutonic style sound which one might never have guessed they had the capacity to produce! (I suppose this is a bit similar to the situation with the Skrowaczewski/Saarbrucken recordings too - but if anything, I think that the OSR seems even more "Germanic" and solid here with Janowski!) As with the Ninth, I really liked all three of these symphonies, especially the Sixth, which, in its wonderful response to Janowski's clarifying direction, forms a useful corrective to the recent Dausgard/Bergen recording BIS - a lightweight rush-through which can't be bothered with such niceties as clear articulation and textural lucidity. Janowski's performances of the First and Third Symphonies are also excellent (as much as I've loved the Neumann/LGO recording of the First for decades!). Janowski chooses the 1877 Linz version of the First and the 1888/89 version of the Third (with the "abbreviated" recap in the finale!). All of these are Nowak editions. Just as before, I was surprised by how good these recordings were, and I should probably pick up the Fourth Symphony if it's still available at BRO.

Hindemith's "Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber" is so gosh darn clever, that I always look forward to hearing new performances of it. (BTW, sometimes you'll see it in the plural "Metamorphoses" instead of the singular - apparently this divergence was caused by the translation into German. A couple of publishers put out the title, "Sinfonische Metamorphosen nach Themen von Carl Maria von Weber" (i.e., plural). And then this German title got translated back into English, where the plural remained, and the "of" became "on", i.e., "Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber". LOL - What a mess - and it persists to this day!) Anyway, Janowski's performance is very fast and brilliant (too fast for some Amazon posters however - LOL!). As with all of these Pentatone offerings, the SQ is great!

I'll try to write up some more of these "shoot from the hip" mini reactions in another few days.

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Topic - Still trying to catch up on my listening - Chris from Lafayette 17:42:47 06/27/20 (13)

Thanks for thoughts on Petrenko's Rimsky but Bakel's BIS cycle seems, (I repeat) "seems" hard to beat. - jdaniel@jps.net 10:08:15 06/28/20 (3)

I agree about the Bakels/Malaysian PO recordings - Chris from Lafayette 11:13:37 06/28/20 (0)

RE: Petrenko's Rimsky... - Ivan303 10:40:15 06/28/20 (1)

For Petrenko, I'll repeat: his Danse Sacrale from Stravinsky's Rite simply smokes! nt - jdaniel@jps.net 12:19:07 06/28/20 (0)

Thanks for the thoughts on Rimsky :) - popsy 09:57:21 06/28/20 (1)

You're welcome, but I should have elaborated more - Chris from Lafayette 11:07:27 06/28/20 (0)

Janowski's Bruckner 4th with "new and improved OSR, (firmware updates monthly!).... - jdaniel@jps.net 08:57:36 06/28/20 (3)

That's a harder question than one might think! - Chris from Lafayette 11:02:38 06/28/20 (2)

Wow, thanks for screen shot. Such a great moment, isn't it? - jdaniel@jps.net 13:18:40 06/28/20 (1)

Well, every chorale needs a nice "halo" of strings! [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 15:43:34 06/28/20 (0)

Janowski - pbarach 03:50:02 06/28/20 (2)

RE: Janowski - Todd Krieger 18:47:50 06/30/20 (0)

RE: Janowski - Chris from Lafayette 11:51:12 06/28/20 (0)

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