What are you currently listening to (Classical)?

[rando]

Despite the poor sound, it is majestic. There is a Pristine Audio version, apparently, with much better sound, of course.

Thank you for the reminder of Testament and Pristine Audio. HDTT is another I've been meaning to reacquaint myself with recent activity from.

 

[Drikus]

 

[Kal Rubinson]

AN amazing recording in every aspect.

View attachment 80359

Yup. Julian and Peter did some great stuff. (Earl Wild needs no comment from me.)

 

[Bachtoven]

The Piano Concerto. It's curiously underwhelming considering the artists performing it.

 

[Andrew S.]

@Bachtoven

Completely agree - got this on HDD. The moment you posted I thought - oh yeah - THAT one.

I just played it to jog the memory.

Its the oddest thing.

True story - Karajan and Richter had a tiff that morning and were doing their own thing - occasionally looking at each other with scorn - with the orchestra stuck in the middle. Clash of egos.

Richter wrote about it in his recording notes/memoirs. I’ve got/had a copy somewhere - great read, as I remember.
Edit ; here they are - https://www.amazon.com/Sviatoslav-Richter-Conversations-Bruno-Monsaingeon/dp/0691095493

Anyway back to playing the armchair critic - the tempos are awkward - first there are two separate ones - and secondly either one or other is in a rush or running late. Occasionally they sync - you get a moment of “oh thank God” - then they depart again off on their own.

There a point in the First Movement where they are a whole couple beats off.

The whole thing has all the passion of a cucumber sandwich. IMHO.

3rd movement is the best of them I suppose. But I mean who can tell? It’s all so strange.

DG’s recording wasn’t great either. Piano sound compressed and strangely mic’d - or Richter had his left foot down a lot.
And the crescendos seem to run hot - maybe just on the digital.

It is worth a listen to. Even just for the ??? of it.

The Rococo is very nice I thought - but then it’s a Rostropovich and trailing a distant second the orchestra. He’s the show. Even Karajan got that.

Much under utilized the Rococo, IMHO. Beautiful piece of music.

FWIW - I like very much the Matsuev/Gergiev/Mariinsky recording of the First Piano..I mean for such a lovely piece of music done to death….

I’ve got a thing about The Russians. I’ve always believed - rightly or wrongly — they are at their best in the hands of Russian conductors and orchestras.

 

[Andrew S.]

Inspired myself to have a listen to the Matsuev/Gergiev/Mariinsky.

After the Richter/Karajan catastrophe, welcome relief. I enjoyed it very much.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

Tchaikovsky piano concerto no1 is one of my all time favourites.

 

[christoph]

The whole thing has all the passion of a cucumber sandwich. IMHO.

Thanks for that analogy, my wife and I had a good laugh
She said she might even use that expression in class sometime

Also thanks for the warning on that recording.
I will listen to it anyways to learn from that as a bad example

 

[Bachtoven]

Inspired myself to have a listen to the Matsuev/Gergiev/Mariinsky.

After the Richter/Karajan catastrophe, welcome relief. I enjoyed it very much.


View attachment 80378

That's my favorite version, too. That team also has great recordings of Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky concertos. I met Matsuev and Gergiev after a fire-breathing Rach 3 several years ago--both were very friendly.

I have that Richter memoir--need to re-read it, and your analysis of the problems with him and Karajan is spot on! The first time I saw that recording (on CD) and eagerly bought it, I thought, "Oh man, this is going to be amazing!" Wrong. Well, I suppose it is amazing to a certain extent, but not for good reasons!

 

[Andrew S.]

Thanks for that analogy, my wife and I had a good laugh
She said she might even use that expression in class sometime

Also thanks for the warning on that recording.
I will listen to it anywas to learn from that as a bad example

Glad I could raise a chuckle! Ha - now that would raise a smile - some off the cuff throwaway line from Tasmania ending up in a class in The Principality!

Yup - that is one of those ones that has stuck in my mind and not in a good way. Occasionally they pop up.

Anyway just my 2 cents - I’m sure there will be many folks that wouldn’t at all agree with my thoughts. Richter / Karajan are fairly sacred ground to many.

Karajan has always been a difficult conductor for me. One of the greatest, but also prone to his own brilliance. Self doubt wasn’t something he suffered from, I suspect. I’m always abit anxious when I put on a Karajan I don’t know - anything can happen.

DG recording quality could be a little patchy back then, which doesn’t help the whole experience.

I’ll probably get few folks telling me I’ve got celery in my ears and wouldn’t know a good recording if I fell over one. And that’s probably more true than not.

Tell you what - since you may not be too familiar with the T - P1 - and there are literally thousands of performances of it (just about every concert pianist gives it a bash at some point - it’s in such heavy rotation) - it might be worth while to have a listen to
1. the Berman/Karajan/BPO First Piano,
2. then the Richter one and
3. then the Matsuev/Gergiev/Mariinsky.

Tell me what you think. All feedback welcomed.

Incidentally - I really like Berman as a pianist. The First Piano he recorded with Karajan is abit special.

I would certainly listen to the Rostropovich/Rococo - please don’t avoid that. Maybe even play that first. It’s is really beautiful IMHO. The differences between the two are fairly stark - kind of hard to believe they are the same conductor & band


Cheerio for now.

 

[bonzo75]

The one by Claudio Arrau with philharmonia on Columbia is possibly the best but not sure how it translates to digital

 

[Andrew S.]

I met Matsuev and Gergiev after a fire-breathing Rach 3 several years ago--both were very friendly.

Wow. What an honour. Closet I have come to anyone famous is with a pair of binoculars in the nosebleeds.

I’ll be sure to visit the Matsuev / Gergiev recommendations you have very kindly made. Thank you!

Do you remember when Gergiev was let loose on the LSO with Prokofiev? Poor LSO. Bit of a change of pace for them.

 

[christoph]

Glad I could raise a chuckle! Ha - now that would raise a smile - some off the cuff throwaway line from Tasmania ending up in a class in The Principality!

Yup - that is one of those ones that has stuck in my mind and not in a good way. Occasionally they pop up.

Anyway just my 2 cents - I’m sure there will be many folks that wouldn’t at all agree with my thoughts. Richter / Karajan are fairly sacred ground to many.

Karajan has always been a difficult conductor for me. One of the greatest, but also prone to his own brilliance. Self doubt wasn’t something he suffered from, I suspect. I’m always abit anxious when I put on a Karajan I don’t know - anything can happen.

DG recording quality could be a little patchy back then, which doesn’t help the whole experience.

I’ll probably get few folks telling me I’ve got celery in my ears and wouldn’t know a good recording if I fell over one. And that’s probably more true than not.

Tell you what - since you may not be too familiar with the T - P1 - and there are literally thousands of performances of it (just about every concert pianist gives it a bash at some point - it’s in such heavy rotation) - it might be worth while to have a listen to
1. the Berman/Karajan/BPO First Piano,
2. then the Richter one and
3. then the Matsuev/Gergiev/Mariinsky.

Tell me what you think. All feedback welcomed.

Incidentally - I really like Berman as a pianist. The First Piano he recorded with Karajan is abit special.

I would certainly listen to the Rostropovich/Rococo - please don’t avoid that. Maybe even play that first. It’s is really beautiful IMHO. The differences between the two are fairly stark - kind of hard to believe they are the same conductor & band


Cheerio for now.

Thanks you so much.
Will do all of that when back home!

 

[rando]

 

[Drikus]

 

[Bachtoven]

Wow. What an honour. Closet I have come to anyone famous is with a pair of binoculars in the nosebleeds.

I’ll be sure to visit the Matsuev / Gergiev recommendations you have very kindly made. Thank you!

Do you remember when Gergiev was let loose on the LSO with Prokofiev? Poor LSO. Bit of a change of pace for them.

Haha, yeah, the LSO probably didn't know what hit them!

I've met dozens of world famous musicians--the most recent was pianist Daniil Trifonov about 2 years ago--he's incredibly friendly and down to earth. From 1978-1990 I worked as the recording engineer for my local NPR station and recorded concerts for broadcast. I don't remember them all, but a few highlights include Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, The Juilliard SQ, Melos SQ, Bella Davidovich, Jean Pierre Rampal, Aelexi Sultanov, Abby Simon, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Ruth Laredo, and many more.

 

[Andrew S.]

Haha, yeah, the LSO probably didn't know what hit them!

I've met dozens of world famous musicians--the most recent was pianist Daniil Trifonov about 2 years ago--he's incredibly friendly and down to earth. From 1978-1990 I worked as the recording engineer for my local NPR station and recorded concerts for broadcast. I don't remember them all, but a few highlights include Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, The Juilliard SQ, Melos SQ, Bella Davidovich, Jean Pierre Rampal, Aelexi Sultanov, Abby Simon, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Ruth Laredo, and many more.

Ahhhhh. That explains it. I was wondering…. Kudos.

Gosh there is a wealth of knowledge in this thread. .

You do realise I’ll have to look up half the folk you have meet that I’ve never heard of! There goes another rabbit hole….

Cheerio

 

[Bachtoven]

Ahhhhh. That explains it. I was wondering…. Kudos.

Gosh there is a wealth of knowledge in this thread. .

You do realise I’ll have to look up half the folk you have meet that I’ve never heard of! There goes another rabbit hole….

Cheerio

Haha, glad to broaden your horizons! For the record, I met Trifonov after a concert I attended, not recorded. Those days ended about 30 years ago (I became a high school English teacher--retired in 2016). If he's one you had to look up, then I can easily recommend any of his recordings, but his Liszt Etudes recording is a standout.

 

[Bachtoven]

 

[Drikus]