Classical Music

jimdgoulding · « **on:** 14 Feb 2015, 03:09 am »

No way I'm alone so please contribute. I have a large collection but you have albums I don't. If your passionate about them and they sound good, please share. Thank you.

Today- a) Orff's Der Mond as performed by The Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (Philips). Five stars for sound staging additionally; (b) Shostakovich Cello Sonata Op 40 and another by Olof Lindgren to include a mixed choir on the flip side (Opus 3).

Alan · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Feb 2015, 07:09 am »

Hi Jim

Der Mond is a great little opera, I have it on a recording (Munich Radio Symphony, Eichhorn) that includes Die Kluge. Sound quality not great but a pretty good performance. If you like Der Mond, you'd probably also enjoy Die Bernauren (also Eichhorn, better recording), a later work of Orff's. He was criticized for bowing to the Nazi regime with the 'fairytale operas' but I can't see the problem there.

One of my faves from that era was Hans Krasa - Brundibar, a Children's Opera. He was a Czech composer imprisoned at Theresienstadt. This was the Nazi 'model' concentration camp, the one where the artists and musicians went and the Nazis could point to to show what a rich life they give their prisoners. Delightful music, and it's completely obvious that Brundibar (the bad guy) represents Hitler. The last performance there was for a Red Cross inspection of the camp. After that the composer and performers (mostly children) were shipped off to their death at Auschwitz. Check on youtube, there's a ton of videos including clips of the original performance. I have a recording of this on a 3 cd set called 'Forbidden not Forgotten' a fine recording, but I notice there are a bunch of new recordings of this work that I'm not familiar with.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 Feb 2015, 08:13 pm »

Thanks, Alan. Good info. Had a chum over yesterday and played 8 albums for him raging from simple duos to symphonic works the last of which was Holst's The Planets with Andre Previn conducting the London Sym on EMI. He sorta turned up his nose at Previn conducting. Well, who knew? I didn't either. This album is a masterpiece- I've owned it for years- in all ways that music lovers and audiophiles can and will appreciate. A top shelf recording, indeed.

Also included in the set was The Clemencic Consort doing some Monteverdi (hnh records #4006) in a resonant and deep space that is captured perfectly. It was originally released by Harmonia Mundi. Speaking of "captured perfectly", all of the Scandinavian labels that I have (Proprius, BIS, Finnadar, Opus 3) can be highly recommended regardless of the genre for excellent sound.

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Feb 2015, 11:46 pm »

I've never heard anything by BIS that I didn't think sounded excellent. For a long time they recorded simple stereo with a Revox tape machine, long after everyone else had gone digital.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Feb 2015, 11:53 pm »

Me, neither, Russell and your "International Guitar Night II" still gets a spin around here. For those of you who don't know, Russell has been known to make a fine recording now and then. Look it up. Russell was the first cat I know to record D'Gary outside of his native Madagaskar (prolly didn't spell that right

). The sound is you-are-there there.

ClefChef · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Feb 2015, 01:03 am »

Here are couple of my favorites: Bach Three Keyboard Concertos - Andras Schiff, George Malcolm, English Chamber Orchestra, Denon, circa 1976 - sublime piano playing.
Mozart Requiem - Phillip Herreweghe, Harmonia Mundi France - the best Requiem in terms of interpretation, performance, and recording quality, and I've heard them all.

These are the ones that stand out for me and I frequently find myself returning to these recordings.

Another release of Phillip Herreweghe that I and my wife like a lot (both of us are professional musicians) is Faure's Messe de Requiem on Harmonia Mundi.

Anything by Herreweghe is simply excellent...