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The "People's" theme, which opens the Peterloo Overture is quite beautiful, especially when reprized by full strings towards the end; I can't imagine a Peasant man anywhere not shedding a tear.
Headbangers will love percussion-heave midsection, Arnold tipping his hat to Strauss' "Hero Goes to War" in Heldenleben?
Right off the bat, you'll be thrilled by the recording quality--huge, roomy sound stage, deep bass, and a sense of hall space even in the quiet material.
That said, the one disappointment involves those massed strings which take up the lyrical "People's theme": the perspective seems to suddenly change and said strings are very harsh and dry. A pity.
Still, Peterloo is worth a few bucks for the download. Likely spectacular in surround. Me? I'll wait for Warner/EMI to remaster Arnold and Groves' old recordings of the 2nd and 5th symphonies, along with the above-mentioned Peterloo.
But in the end, I did indeed fulfill my promise to support living musicians!
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I have the Groves/Bournemouth Arnold Sym.2 w/8 English Dances and Arnold conducting Birmingham Orch. playing Sym.5 w/Peterloo and 4 Cornish Dances (both EMI LP's). Don't think it'll be easy finding new versions as good.
Edits: 11/11/16
They've picked some pretty good titles for high res downloads thus far.
Thanks for the recommendation - I have some recordings of other Malcolm Arnold works, and they're always a nice change of pace from more standard repertoire. I'm surprised about your comment about the change in aural perspective - that's sure not typical of Chandos.
the string section suddenly seems very up-close and harsh, with a loss of resonance.
I've noticed that--so far--BIS and Chandos don't always do their strings proud, (though I couldn't be more thrilled with Pentatone and Channel in that respect).
OT, but I've been experimenting with speaker placement to tame/uncongest massed, forte strings on some recordings at certain points, including putting speakers back downstairs where both they and listening chair have about 5 feet space behind them, but to no avail.
In the end, some recordings just sound bad (at points) in either room. Moving to digital and changing listening rooms at the same time made it hard to nail down the problem, if any.
I stumbled across a free download at Linn: VW's Tallis Fantasia, (hidden at the end of Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings). Stunning, velvety sound throughout. Stereo's staying put upstairs.
Just for reassurnce, I too hear the harshness at the forte entry of the strings with the lyrical theme after the "massacre" episode. I have a very different system and have little doubt that my room doesn't resemble yours either.
So a reasonable conclusion that it is the recording and not your gear or listening space.
I have found the sound of orchestral strings playing at anything over mf has often been hard for digital media to capture properly and have spent a fortune over the years chasing a solution to that.
k
Yup and the 14 different cables needed to hook it up!!
Well do check out the Linn Tallis Fantasia, the free track at end of Britten Serenade.
Was very pleased with string sound. Pulsating performance with more attention paid to short phrases than the long line, but I think I like it.
Will do.
Do you know the Constantin Silvestri and Bournemouth SO recording for EMI? Recorded in Wells Cathedral and full of mystery as if inhabited by some spirit from Tallis' time. Easily my favourite performance because of this atmosphere but not a recommendation necessarily for recording quality.
which of course was the "One."
I found many Marriner Argo lps with the Tallis but never came across Silvestri. Always looking for atmosphere so will check out.
Here is a link. Not ideal but it will, I hope give you an idea of what I am so enthusiastic about.I think it outclasses the Barbirolli although that is very fine. HMV ASD 521 eh? I have 3 LPs of it and 2 CDS but the Silvestri is the one that gets played.
Posters to the clip also remark upon the wonderful Elgar " In the South" that was on the other LP side. One of the few that gets the viola solo to properly evoke an Italian street song IMO.
Unfortunately the only digital incarnation I know about (and have as well as the HMV Greensleeves LP), is the Silvestri box set that EMI issued and Warner have re-released. Full of gems.
Edits: 11/13/16
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I look forward to more of his Overtures. I set up "concerts" for myself: an Overture, Concerto and Symphony; so I'll likely download the rest over the next few months.
" I'm surprised about your comment about the change in aural perspective - that's sure not typical of Chandos."
It's another BBC Radio 3 recording from 2005 ( release date) or (recording date) earlier. But perspective changes mid perfromance are unusual for them too. Especially in studio performances (Manchester studio 7 not the new Media City).
The Peterloo Overture is as Jdaniel says but I am surprised that he hasn't mentioned any of the other works on the disc (or set of files) especially "A Grand Grand Festival Overture" with parts for vacuum cleaner and floor polisher.
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