Good, relatively recent recording of a somewhat neglected Dvorak Symphony.
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Good recent recording of one of the byways in orchestral music.
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Was just relistening to post-Esterhazy Haydn Symphonies and thoroughly enjoyed Thomas Fey/Heidelberger Sinfoniker Haydn Paris symphonies. Their Haydn 88 may be my favorite. Greatly enjoy the Bernstein/NY Phil version of these Haydn “Paris” symphonies. Just got my hands on Nikolaus Harnoncourt/Concentus Musicus Wien (unavailable on Qobuz USA) recording (for some reason, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi doesn’t license this to Qobuz USA; no matter. RBCD does nicely) and am listening to these now. Wonderful modern instrument (Bernstein/NY Phil) and original instrument (Harnoncourt/Concentus Musicus Wien) performances of some of my favorite Haydn.
A boxed set by a single conductor that I’ve had for some time is Antal Dorati’s with the Philharmonia Hungarica. Not uniformly my favorite, in fact, possibly not in any of the symphonies, save the earliest, but good throughout. Pre-Qobuz, it fed a Haydn symphony appetite well.
@woodford and @Arindal and others, thank you for the insight (of experience) into opera performances you generously provide. I use them to guide my listening when the urge strikes. Greatly looking forward to the suggested Verdi.
@coralrad, had a listen to the Suppé Fantasia Symphonic as soon as I read about it at Presto and in Gramophone and, much to my suprise, found it compelling and enjoyable. I thought it might be a middling composition, by a deservedly obscure composer, but it was definitely not. Thank you.
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I tried to listen the Sofia 1958 Pictures the other day - what a performance but the SQ was so dreadful (think smuggled cassette recorder in a handbag) I gave up, then went back to the Great Gates of Kiev - oh for the dratted time machine.
You didn’t mention the Philips /Decca/DG set that in general lives up to what you’d expect from these labels recordings . This includes the whole Decca Richter the Master set as well.
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Just working my way through this on Tidal, sound quality here is excellent . Where would we be without Naxos !!
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It will, the other yearly /monthly treads like Photos etc still do
The only problem is they will sink to the bottom of the list , which is sorted of activity date
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Excellent performances in great sound.
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Just discovered, nice recording.
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It seemed like a piece of incomprehensible programming that BBC Radio 3 launched their Saturday night opera schedule for 2025 with a BPO/Petrenko recording of ‘Elektra’, from May last year. I mean everything is so calm here, at the moment.
Whilst Nine Stemme is no longer in her prime, I marvelled again at the orchestration. It must have been marvellous to hear the BPO in that eerie march that precedes the appearance of Klytemnestra, or feverish introduction to the ‘Recognition Scene’.
When it comes to recordings, my favourite remains Bohm, even though Inge Borkh is in fresher voice for Reiner.
But it is Bohm who ramps up the intensity, with only Mitropoulos in Salzburg (surprisingly good sound on Orfeo), offering a challenge.
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More Richter:
The Deustche Grammophon recordings 1956-62 showcase Richter in his prime. The collection includes several reference performances. Highlights include Rachmaninov Second (Wislocki) and Profokiev Fifth (Rowicki) concertos, Rachmaninov Preludes, Prokofiev’s Eighth sonata, Schumann’s Waldszenen and Toccata. Highlights from the 1962 tour of Italy include the Chopin Fourth Ballade, the Scriabin Fifth sonata, Debussy’s Estampes, and Schumann’s Abegg Variations.
Singleton DG Highlights:
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Wislocki)
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 5 (Rowicki)
More to follow…
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Interesting collection of orchestrations of Brahms Chorale preludes for organ, Intermezzo in A, and the first Piano Quartet. Froma 2024.
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Another interesting piano collection from last year.
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The Complete Crumb Edition on Bridge is boxed up, and many of the individual discs are streamable. This one features the Makrokosmos I & II for prepared piano performed by Robert Shannon in great sound.
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Behzod Abduraimov is indeed a superb pianist. My favorite on the recording is Dilorom Saǐdaminova’s The Walls of Ancient Bukhara. Mr. Abduraimov’s Gaspard de la nuit is also hellaciously good. Splendid articulation, dynamics and color. His Chopin/Mussorgsky recording (also ⍺) is also a wonderful listen.
Speaking of excellent and newer generation pianists, I recently enjoyed listening to James Jolly speaking with Evgeny Sudbin and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (not newer generation, but superb) on a Gramophone podcast from Tippet Rise. Extremely interesting discussion to those loving piano talk (Pianists Yevgeny Sudbin and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in conversation with James Jolly | Gramophone).
Anyroad, I went back to relisten to Mr. Sudbin’s wondrous 2007 BIS Scriabin recording. While I enjoy and imprinted upon the exquisite Marc-André Hamelin recordings of some of the same pieces, I find a bit more color and dynamism in Mr. Sudbin’s recordings of the sonatas he includes. The rest of the recording is similarly astonishing and delightful to these ears/auditory cortices.
The wonderful news is that this spring will bring us more Scriabin repertoire from Mr. Sudbin. The story of his becoming a signed BIS recordings artists is amusing. His agent contacted a gentleman at BIS, who politely informed the agent that they were not looking for any pianists/piano works at the moment, but that they could send in a tape anyway. He sent in some Scarlatti. Short story is that he was shortly thereafter signed and his first recording for BIS (2005) was Scarlatti Piano Sonatas. Have a listen and you’ll hear why Robert von Bahr was so impressed and eager to sign him. I’ve since listened to his entire Qobuz-accessible discography. All superb.
Lastly, and on a quite different note, I had been seeing press for James McVinnie’s Dreamcatcher for several months and (always skeptical of things getting press, particularly with woo-woo titles) listened to Martin Cullingford’s interview with Mr. McVinnie James McVinnie on his new album, Dreamcatcher | Gramophone). Somewhat less skeptical after this podcast (decidedly not woo-woo), I had an initial listen in my truck. Piqued my interest enough to have a listen on the home system. Good Lord! On a much better sound system (and sans road noise) incredible organ music/compositions and some very moving and derring-do piano. My favorites on the recording are Nico Muhly’s 4 part Patterns (a tribute to famed organist John Scott in some ways), Gabriella Smith’s Imaginary Pancake (piano; the liner notes on this are amusing) and Giles Swayne’s Riff-raff (organ), although all the pieces are captivating. He transitions between organ and piano remarkably well. His organ performances were on the proximately microphoned St. Albans Cathedral Organ (Ralph Downes and Peter Hurford designed). Rare for me, I immediately relistened to this recording twice more. Full disclosure: I love contemporary organ compositions and am always in the hunt for more. Would be delighted to hear from others if their listening journeys have led them to other contemporary organ composition recordings.
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A good recording of Prokofiev Concertos from Goodyear from last year in good sound.
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i agree , very iinteresting record
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I really like the symphonies of Alexander Glazunov and I often return to the cycle Neeme Järvi recorded with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Orfeo).
I’m currently moving through the cycle by Otaka and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BIS) and wondered if others had favorites regarding Glazunov cycles.
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Early Music group [Julie Andrijeski (Violín) • Emíly Davidson (Violín) • Patricia Halverson (Viola da Gamba) • Scott Pauley (Theorbo & Baroque Guitar) • with guests Becky Baxter (Harp) * Danny Mallon (Percussion)] in excellent sound by Dorian, recorded at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY in October 1999. Streamable on Qobuz. The liner notes are informative. Another 7 recordings by Chatham Baroque are available on Qobuz from 1998 through 2023.
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