gayde@iwu1c.UUCP (Peter Gayde) (10/18/83)
I'd like to continue the discussion of favorite classical recordings which allegra!cbf brought up in net.audio. I have no comment on most of his choices for favorite recent releases except to say that I have heard the last movement of the Haitink Shostakovich 5th and it is very good indeed. Other favorite recordings of this piece include Maazel/Cleveland on Telarc, Ormandy/Philadelphia on RCA (probably the ONLY decent recording these forces have ever made) and Bernstein/New York on CBS. My nomination for record(s) of the decade are the recently released cycle of Mozart symphonies by the Academy of Ancient Music on L'Oiseau Lyre. These performances are a revelation! Original instruments are used and the orchestra is tuned to A = 440 instead of the normal A = 444 (I think I have these numbers right). Virtually all repeats are observed but you never notice because the power of the interpretations is simply awesome. I own every volume except the last release (Vol. 6 out of 7), which contains the later symphonies (38, 39, 40, 41 plus a couple of others) and they are already getting quite a bit of use. As for Solti's Mahler, I can only say that I enjoy his recording of the 2nd even though it is a bit frenzied at times. I recently attended a Chicago Symphony concert which included Mahler's 1st. It was BY FAR the most satisfying performance I have ever heard (live or on record). It will be recorded and released in the next year, I can't wait. I have heard (and own) most of the great recordings of this piece (Tennstedt, Horenstein, Kubelik, Walter) but I think Solti surpassed them. (Perhaps I'm lavishing too much praise for an as yet unreleased product). Any comments? Peter Gayde Western Electric Naperville, IL
cbf@allegra.UUCP (10/18/83)
Speaking of Mozart done the way he heard himself performed, DG Archiv has been inspired by the success of the L'Oiseau-Lyre set and is undertaking a cycle of the complete piano concertos with Malcolm Frager conduction from the pianoforte, but the really interesting twist is not just the use of original instruments and pitch. Rumor has it that Frager will amplify the role of the piano to include extensive continuo playing in addition to the traditional solo line. So, no longer will we wait two or three minutes for the piano's entrance after the orchestra's opening argument. I can't imagine what the D minor concerto, No. 20 (my choice for the very last thing I'd like to hear on my deathbed) will sound like, but if the set of the symphonies (I've only heard the Great G minor and "Jupiter" from it) is any indication, we might be in for yet more wonderful revelations. The Pinnock original instrument version of the Brandenburg Concertos on Archiv is also worth hearing, although authentic performances of those pieces abound. Solti's Mahler's First better than Kubelik's? That is praise indeed. We'll have to see about that one. His Mahler's Second is very good indeed, but the Chicago/Abbado on DG is the one to have, for I think the singing in his recording is better. Solti's finale is perhaps more exciting, but it doesn't have the joy that Abbado's radiates. By the way, I can't see what the big fuss over Levine's RCA recording of the Seventh is all about. It's definitely acceptable, but hardly the achievement that everyone claims it is. Am I missing something, or is it just that I'm used to think of him as a second-rate conductor? Comments? --Charles (decvax!allegra!cbf)