jeff@tesla.UUCP (Jeff Frey) (07/30/83)
I started to prepare a review of my CD collection (up to about 30 now) for the Net but things have moved a little beyond me, what with friends returning from Japan and Europe, and CDs available by `phone order both from Record & Tape Ltd in Georgetown, D.C. (a good place, knowledgeable people, $20 per plus shipping) and EuropaDisc in London (I haven`t ordered yet, seems OK, $l4/disc for Polygrams, $l8 for CBS/Sony, + $6 shipping for air mail, any number of CDs). The reviews in "Audio" seem rather superficial. "Gramophone" still looks like the best bet for reviews of both musical and sonic content. Of my CDs the ones I like best (sonically) are still the Montreal Ravel: Daphnis & Chloe; Amsterdam Concertgebouw Rimsky: Scheherazade; and a CD of two Dvorak serenades, opp 22 and 44. A new Denon of BAch organ works (Toccata & Fugue in D Minor included) gives a very good impression of the mid and high ranges of the organ but the low end seems thin. The CBS/Sony Mozart Symphonies (Kubelik, also available on LP) aren`t CD material at all; their Prokofiev 5th (Bernstein) is very good; Shostakovich 5th (Bernstein) not so good. RCA is coming out with a Magic Flute complete (Levine, a live recording from the Salzburg Festival) but I`d prefer to wait for Gotterdammerung (especially if the recording producer, as did John Culshaw for Decca, inserts a recording of an earthquake in the last scene--probably still the best pure demo track on LP). There`s a 2-CD set also of the music from Star Wars, but there`s only about three minutes worth of content so it hardly seems worth $40. Anybody have any suggestions on pop or jazz CDs? AN interesting phenomenon I`ve noticed is a new impatience with dust noise on LPs, so that even the sonically best in my collection are getting played much less these days. The sonically worst, kept around for historical/musical reasons, on the other hand, are getting played more, for performance comparisons with the CDs. If my experience is generalized LPs will die off even faster than people originally thought. With turntable/arm/cartridge combinations now available for UNDER $200 that are considerably better than the best of only a few years ago, although of course they`re not equal to the best analogue equipment available now, I fail to see why anyone WOULD buy anything more expensive now. Or, would pay $14 or more for an analogue LP. JF
sjc@mordor.UUCP (05/09/84)
Steve Dyer asked for CD reviews, so I hesitantly offer the following ones even though it seems grossly egotistical to do so (it must be grossly egotistical; it's so much fun):--Steve Telarc Ozawa/BSO, Beethoven Symphony 5 and Egmont Overture Telarc Serkin/Ozawa/BSO, Beethoven Concerto 3 for piano Sound is realistic but a bit distant and undetailed (which, for all I know, is accurate for the hall). Ozawa's performances are wrinkled, balding kid at the keyboard. Decca Haitink/LSO, Shostakovich Symphony 5 The performance is good, not great. The sound is impeccable but close-miked. The recording engineers didn't succumb in the least to the temptation to make this bright, harsh orchestration sound anything less than bright and harsh. Delos American brass quintet, Baroque and Elizabethan music Very pretty, but like most such collections, it doesn't wear particularly well, and eventually one finds oneself treating it as classy elevator music. Nice sound. Warner Ry Cooder, Bop til you drop A lot of fun to listen to. Philips 400 020 Dvorak: Serenades, Marriner Philips Brendel/Mozart concerti 15 and 21 for piano I find the string sound on both of these a bit gritty, but others may like it. Decca Chailly/NPO, seven overtures by Rossini The performers take a joyful romp with this music, especially the "Italian Girl in Algiers". The sound is bright, clean, and multi-miked: I gleefully note somebody's chair squeaking occasionally, which just adds to the fun. Delos Schwartz/Y Chamber Symphony, Haydn/Hummel Trumpet concerti A good performance, with plenty of virtuosity and a little less attention to phrasing than one might hope for. Good but not spectacular sound. Delos Rosenberger/Beethoven sonatas op 57 and 111 I finally gave up looking for the grand piano that had somehow been smuggled into my tiny California apartment. After one tires of playing this to impress people with the quality of one's audio system, one can enjoy the quality musicianship as well. Philips Gardiner/English Baroque Ensemble/Handel Messiah If you haven't heard "Messiah" performed in the authentic and buy this. It's glorious, and so is the sound (though purists will shudder at a photo showing the performers sitting in a forest of microphones). The liner notes are particularly intelligent, noting that the libretto is a literary achievement in itself, and it's clear from the interpretation that the performers regarded the words as more than just syllables to keep their mouths busy as their vocal chords worked. Decca Solti/Vienna, Wagner Ring excerpts Given the stunning virtuosity of the Vienna Philharmonic (they played in San Francisco recently, displaying a stunningly unanimous bowing and phrasing, along with an incredible hold-your-breath pianissimo), I don't understand why both DG and Decca insist on recording some high school orchestra and passing it off on a gullible public as the VPO. On this recording, as on Bernstein's Beethoven symphony recordings of a couple of years back, it sounds like there are a few strong players performing the music, with a bunch of others in the background, failing to blend together. Besides, the strings almost do sound "metallic". Solti's recording is a mixed bag, sometimes (presumably inadventently) emphasizing the crudities of the music: at the beginning of the Forest Murmers, for example, it sounds like the low strings are doing fingering exercises. And just before the final entrance of the redemption theme at the end of the recording, there's a glaring pause that was meant to be dramatic but instead sounds like everybody simultaneously stopped to turn the page. Finally, the liner notes consist of a big picture of Solti and not much else. The other CD version of this music, by Tennstedt and Berlin, is well recorded, but the interpretation substitutes embalming fluid for the waters of the Rhine. I prefer Szell's ancient vinyl recording of this music, despite pre-Dolby hiss; or Dorati's, despite occasional stumbling on the part of the National symphony. Telarc Slatkin/St. Louis, Bizet Carmen Suites Good sound, pleasant performance. Telarc Ormandy/Philadelphia, Saint-Saens Symphony 3 For once, first-rate musicianship and first-rate sound coincide. This is my favorite CD. (There are some growly organ pedal notes which convinced one listener that somebody had turned on a vacuum cleaner upstairs.) L'Oiseau-Lyre Hogwood/Academy, Mozart Symphonies 38 and 39 Denon C38 7051 Suitner/NHK, Mozart Symphonies 36 and 38 An interesting contrast: Hogwood offers the tasty sonorities of period instruments, Suitner the polish and mass of a modern orchestra. The sound on both recordings is good.
jho@ihuxn.UUCP (Yosi Hoshen) (05/11/84)
The original article was posted in net.audio, but I think readers of net.music.classic would be interested. >Decca Solti/Vienna, Wagner Ring excerpts > Given the stunning virtuosity of the Vienna Philharmonic (they > played in San Francisco recently, displaying a stunningly > unanimous bowing and phrasing, along with an incredible > hold-your-breath pianissimo), I don't understand why both DG > and Decca insist on recording some high school orchestra and > passing it off on a gullible public as the VPO. I have the Solti performance on LP (I didn't bother getting it on CD). This is the worst recording of the Ring excerpts I have heard. It is dull and boring most of the time. One of the selection on the disc is Siegfried Death and Funeral March, yet, most of this disc sound like a long funeral march. I suggest stay away from it. > The other CD version of this music, by Tennstedt and Berlin, is > well recorded, but the interpretation substitutes embalming > fluid for the waters of the Rhine. I really like the Tennstedt version of the Ring excerpts. -- Yosi Hoshen Bell Laboratories Naperville, Illinois (312)-979-7321 Mail: ihnp4!ihuxn!jho
sjc@angband.UUCP (Steve Correll) (07/06/85)
---Bach: Magnificat; Cantata "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen";
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner conducting,
Emma Kirkby soprano; Philips 411 458-2
The Magnificat is one of my favorite pieces of music, and this is the
most exciting performance of it that I've ever heard. It combines the
bracing vigor of the authentic baroque performance style (e.g. detached
notes, quick tempos, and small ensembles) with exceptional
musicianship, and the performance and recording emphasize all kinds of
details that you don't usually notice, as for example the bass and organ
chugging away at the beginning of "Quia fecit mihi magna". The male
alto is also pretty remarkable, and somehow Gardiner and his band get
perfect intonation out of period instruments, in contrast with Hogwood
and the Academy of Ancient Music, who usually have some tuning problems.
The cantata is not quite in the same league in terms of composition, and
the playing is not as pristine, but very good nevertheless.
Philips provides a nice booklet with texts and illustrations, including
a list of the date and maker of each instrument used in the performance,
for the edification of the unbearably curious.
---Ravel: Ma Mere l'Oye, Pavane pour une infance defunte, Le Tombeau de
Couperin, Valses nobles et sentimentales;
Orchestre symphonique do Montreal, Charles Dutoit conducting
London 410 254-2
Nice performances, flawless orchestral playing, a remarkably real-sounding
recording, and well over 60 minutes of it, too.
---Mozart: Concerti Nos. 5 and 25 for Piano; Murry Perahia; Columbia
This one disappointed me, because I can't get over the tinny sound of the
orchestra. At the end of Concerto 25, I braced myself for the onslaught
of the strings in the first movement of number 5, and a good thing it was
that I did: the orchestral sound of the latter is distinctly different, and
even worse.
--
--Steve Correll
sjc@s1-b.ARPA, ...!decvax!decwrl!mordor!sjc, or ...!ucbvax!dual!mordor!sjcdep@allegra.UUCP (Dewayne Perry) (07/12/85)
<once you've seen one brook you've seen them all> This is really on the order of a nit-picking quibble - but here goes anyway. "Bach Magnificat" is ambiguous - there are (at least) two of them. One by JS and one by CPE - both are marvelous pieces. As the cd version mentioned is coupled witha cantata, it is probably the case that it is by JS. But, let us not slur CPE (or any of the other many brooklets). Wasn't that a lovely nit - Dewayne
sjc@angband.UUCP (Steve Correll) (07/15/85)
> "Bach Magnificat" is ambiguous - there are (at least) two of them. > One by JS and one by CPE - both are marvelous pieces. The Gardiner/Monteverdi Choir recording which I raved about is the one by J.S. Bach. I don't think the one by C.P.E. Bach has made it to CD yet, but in time it surely will. -- --Steve Correll sjc@s1-b.ARPA, ...!decvax!decwrl!mordor!sjc, or ...!ucbvax!dual!mordor!sjc