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Posted (edited)

AARON COPLAND (1900-1990) • BILLY THE KID BALLET SUITE & STATEMENTS FOR ORCHESTRA

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA conducted by the composer ℗ 1959

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Edited by attunement
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Posted
On 22/02/2025 at 10:36 AM, Steff said:

There's been lots of Schubert piano comparison in the #classical music chat group lately - Brendel seems to be liked by everyone.

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I have a soft spot for Nagano. That's enough to take a closer look at this.

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Posted

Great performance of this masterpiece, as you could expect from this combination. Pace is spot on, sound is fantastic.

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Posted

And the verdict? (I'm almost too afraid to ask).

 

Cadenza?

 

Not sure if it's the same recording as in my old family collection (different cover, no Double Concerto in ours), but Furtwangler sounds familiar.

Posted

Elizabeth plays an $8,000 baroque violin. Seems cheap.* Sounds wonderful.

* 😆

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Posted
1 hour ago, BioBrian said:

And the verdict? (I'm almost too afraid to ask).

 

Cadenza?

 

Not sure if it's the same recording as in my old family collection (different cover, no Double Concerto in ours), but Furtwangler sounds familiar.

 

Call me a traditionalist but I prefer the Joachim cadenza 🙂

 

I never really got into Menuhin's playing - I liked the Elgar recording he did when he was 15 or 16 but apart from that I much prefer other players, I guess I like it clean and his sound is a bit wild for me.

 

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Posted

Following animated debates, treason, stratagems and spoils in the whatsapp group of late, I default to a compilation of the baroque. Should be safe territory. Just joking...like peas in a pod.

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Posted
15 minutes ago, padde23 said:

I never really got into Menuhin's playing - I liked the Elgar recording he did when he was 15 or 16 but apart from that I much prefer other players, I guess I like it clean and his sound is a bit wild for me.

 

Happy to say I haven't heard his Brahms since before my career started!

 

I have to thank lack of a TT for not having to listen to those guys any more - Oistrakh, Menuhin, Szeryng, and so many others, who all played sharp, some of them quite 'rough' too, by modern standards. All powerful formative influences on my generation of wannabe fiddlers. Coming down to 440 A during my career (especially with Hennessy leading the TSO) and more refined/accurate playing generally was an interesting process; it might be hard to even comprehend the problem nowadays. Now we have perfect intonation and control from the wonderful Isabelle Faust and some others - the other side of the coin?

 

I think I've mentioned before the relief of having speed control on my (DC) turntable, as I could, for example, slow down Szeryng's Bach suites to 440 A. Couldn't do that when I got a CD copy! Same with Menuhin's thrilling Paganini B Minor (2nd) Concerto - have him at the right pitch at least, and ignore the relatively flat orchestra! The development of 'perfect pitch' is not so easy when there are such widespread deviations from 'correct'.

 

Having said all that, it wouldn't be right to slow down Menuhin's age 16-17 recording of Paganini's Moto Perpetuo - sometimes I wish I knew what he had for breakfast that day.

 

But these days give me Janine, and I'll usually feel like life is OK. That's a bit of a euphemism actually.

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Posted
11 minutes ago, BioBrian said:

 

Happy to say I haven't heard his Brahms since before my career started!

 

I have to thank lack of a TT for not having to listen to those guys any more - Oistrakh, Menuhin, Szeryng, and so many others, who all played sharp, some of them quite 'rough' too, by modern standards. All powerful formative influences on my generation of wannabe fiddlers. Coming down to 440 A during my career (especially with Hennessy leading the TSO) and more refined/accurate playing generally was an interesting process; it might be hard to even comprehend the problem nowadays. Now we have perfect intonation and control from the wonderful Isabelle Faust and some others - the other side of the coin?

 

I think I've mentioned before the relief of having speed control on my (DC) turntable, as I could, for example, slow down Szeryng's Bach suites to 440 A. Couldn't do that when I got a CD copy! Same with Menuhin's thrilling Paganini B Minor (2nd) Concerto - have him at the right pitch at least, and ignore the relatively flat orchestra! The development of 'perfect pitch' is not so easy when there are such widespread deviations from 'correct'.

 

Having said all that, it wouldn't be right to slow down Menuhin's age 16-17 recording of Paganini's Moto Perpetuo - sometimes I wish I knew what he had for breakfast that day.

 

But these days give me Janine, and I'll usually feel like life is OK. That's a bit of a euphemism actually.

 

I rarely listen to old recordings these days - I used to listen to Milstein a lot, he was my favourite of those old guys. His Goldmark recording is stunning. 

 

 

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Posted

Pachelbel is one of the composers whom I try to like more than I do, from time to time. But I often find the compositions a little "rote" or lifeless. The ears are the puddles to the soul, or words to that effect. Partie II In C Minor is quite nice.

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Posted (edited)

Baroque trumpet compositions...very joyful...I am reminded of a line from Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited:

...when the chestnut was in flower and the bells rang out high and clear over her gables and cupolas, exhaled the soft airs of centuries of youth.

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Edited by Steff
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