Yes indeed. I have that in my orchestral playlist
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I’m a sci-fi and horror buff and I have have seen some terrible examples of both that are so bad they are laughable but that’s a part of their charm as well.
His recent release of Beethoven’s 7th is quite remarkable as well. He and his orchestra have quickly become favourites of mind.
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I have not heard it yet but will. Thanks for the suggestion. It is always fun to find modern, well recorded versions of the repertoire that are also interpreted to one’s taste. I find it harder that I would think! For example, I am really liking the Minnesota Orchestra Sibelius Symphony cycle with Vanska. They are so obviously well rehearsed as a band and the overall approach to the score is refined IMO. The recordings sound to me basically flawless. I also like just about any romantic period recording from Boulez, despite the fact I can barely listen to any of his own music! His conservative interpretations of hyper-romantic are often my favorite. It’s nice to get real fidelity in the sound, perfect intonation in the orchestra, and a conductor who remains subservient to the score.
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I’ll have to look into this, but so many Beethoven and Tchaikovsky sets in my collection already.
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Well, just ordered the Rameau and Tchaikovsky CD’s, to hear what the what is.
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Cool! I shared one track of the Rameau, but from the very opening it is incredible. I have NEVER heard a conductor approach the Baroque in this way. Inventive and fresh. Enjoy!
I’ve been buried in work, so it was a few episodes of Wynonna Earp while grinding through the endless email.
Today I’ve got the house to myself, so I’m starting with Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”.
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Had some time to listen to Chaiily’s Mahler 6th (“Tragic”, a sanctioned titling according to his wife Alma) on Decca with the Concertgebouw this afternoon. He really takes his time with the 1st movement here as in his 7th recording. Very deliberate in pacing, hyper-analytical, the orchestra misses not one note and nothing is rushed so you hear it all very clearly. But again, as in the 7th the flow feels like it should be faster. Same general sonic presentation and qualities as in his 7th. On an annoying note, there is second or less dropout of the sound around the 17:10 mark and a shorter blip at 17:10. And I tried 2 different recording with the same result, but I bet it will play just fine on my cheap-assed, stock CD drive in my car. I’ll need to try this on some of my other CD playing devises. There are also a few seconds of what sounds like a sour high horn resonance at around the 21:00 minute mark. The remaining 3 movements played flawlessly.
2nd movement has better pacing and the music itself responds to flexibility of pacing, it’s well done, just misses a hint of some dark humor.
3rd movement is a favorite of mine and Chailly does a very nice job of it. His build up to and delivery of the “big tune” at the end of the movement is among the best, just a hair too fast (!!!). But my top candidate for this movement has been H. von Karajan’s with the fabulous Berliner’s on DG. This music really transports me to the Alps and the BPO strings absolutely ravish the “big tune” with dripping Late Romanticism, LOL!
4th movement is another successful one, and he diminishes the 3 big drum strokes just as Mahler indicated representing the weakening of the hero with each successive blow. The difference between the first and second blows is generally not managed as well as here. The ending of the music is satisfyingly tragic and the last gasp is always startling and very well done here.
I think I’ll be queuing up HVK’s tomorrow or Sunday.
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Mahler 6th: Karajan vs Chailly (see above)
Note that while total timings are as identical as can be, Karajan picks up the pace in the 1st and lets that 3rd breath. Dynamic contrasts throughout the symphony are much better realized by Karajan, the musicians, and the recording engineers. The magic is often found in the pppp passages so when the ffff ones make their appearance the effect is maximized.
1st Movement : Karajan gives the marching rhythms a decidedly more aggressive pacing and attack that makes for a more menacing intro to the symphony. At almost 3:30 faster than Chailly’s this movement holds my interest in a way the Chailly doesn’t. Karajan’s pacing seems just right to me.
2nd Movement: Karajan gets better contrast between the darker, moody sections and the more light-hearted, playful ones. The variety of expressions / instrumental colors displayed here makes for a lot of interest.
3rd Movement: At 2: 23 slower than Chailly I think Karajan and the musicians make this my favorite version of this symphony. After the mostly doom and gloom that dominates the first two movements this is a most welcome respite, especially in light of what’s to come in the 4th movement. The buildup to and delivery of the “Big Tune” at the end of this movement is unmatched, the BPO’s strings bring it like sunlight bursting through a cloudy sky.
4th Movement: DG’s 70’s analog and 80’s digital house sounds strike me as bass light and bright in general but not here. The bass sounds powerful. The performance is very refined, very clear and allows one to hear, simultaneously, instruments playing at different loudness levels in the same passages. While Chailly’s may sound a little more impactful (digital versus analog) Karajan’s grip on the structuring is faultless. The dryer acoustic of the DG recording suits the complexity of this music, and once again, the string sections (and the horns) deliver the goods opening up the highs at the big climaxes and there are several in this movement.
I don’t think any other recording of this symphony I’ve heard has ever replaced this one. I’ve got 19 other performances of the 6th to work my way thru over the next couple of weeks but I’d be surprised if any one of them supplants this one.
I have the original issue of this in the fat plastic box, this must be a reissue.
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Wow. Thanks @perogie. This is really a special synergy between conductor and a fine orchestra. It is again a fresh reading, but so well executed. A conductor may have ideas, but if not a good leader, he/she will never galvanize a group of musicians to present coherent musical ideas. A conductor may have charisma and wavy white hair, but completely idiotic musical ideas all too well enforced through a cult of personality and a sheepish audience wooed by podium antics rather than cohesive playing. Rare is it, IMO, a conductor can rehearse an orchestra so well as is evident here to give such a distinct reading of a great score (although I beg for a 6th also!). Perhaps this synergy is aided by the fact that, if I understand correctly, Currentzis basically created this orchestra. (?).
Thank you again for linking that.
I’m going to dive into his Mahler 6 now, which as I have aged is my favorite of Mahler’s, along with the “renderings” of 10.
Happy listening.
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I dont know. Interesting if so. He does seem to have an insane control of this orchestra. I faulted his Beethovens 5th for the opening movement being robotic, but it grew on me and now Im very fond of it. Guess I wasnt used to such precision. There’s a fearlessness to him, he’s not scared to use dynamic range, things get so quiet at times it sucks you in, its a rarity to not be frightened by silence, he’s commanding the audience to pay attention.
Well he’s done 5 and 7 so maybe he’s doing the cycle? At this point I will listen to whatever they release.
Ha, I listened to some of that a couple of days ago. Its a commitment due to its length but its what I would now expect from him. Im behind on my Mahler exploration. I will have to find the HVK version that @FLTWS is referencing.
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Yes, me too. After I wrote this evening I scrolled backwards and see @FLTWS great analysis of those two recordings. Thank you @FLTWS. I will listen also to remind myself of those recordings, Boulez holds favorite position for me so far with the 6th.
I’ll look forward to circling back on these. Gute Nacht.
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I notice on the Karajan re-issue they make mention of 20 bit processing. Not sure if that’s a plus or a minus.
A lot of the 20 bit processed DG’s I have are bright and the original didn’t need any enhanced highs.
If you can source the original release (or download it) that might be the safe way to go.
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I’m looking to get a little more into classical music, and I was wondering if you all had suggestions for any specific recordings available on Tidal.
My history with classical is playing in band in school and seeing quite a few live orchestra shows of various kinds growing up.
Things I really love in classical music: low brass (I play trombone), mixes with plenty of bass, and separation (as much as can reasonably be there). I’ve had some luck with Tchaikovsky, Holst and Wagner. I really enjoy epic and, idk, “cool” sounding songs, but also love me some heart wrenchingly emotional stuff.
Thanks in advance!
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Not knowing whats available on Tidal (I’m CD only) and as I’m slowly working my way thru an evaluation of all of my Mahler recordings (symphony by symphony did the 7th first and starting on the 6th now), try to listen to the opening of Mahler’s 3rd. Mahler was brought up in a town that had a military station and a marching band. It was an influence on him his entire creative life. More than many composers before him he used the brass instruments as the key instruments of a given movement (3rd movement of the 5th for example).
The opening of the third is all tympani, bass drums and brass. And depending on the performance the finale movement can be heart-wrenching.
Haitink’s 1966 recording with the Concertgebouw on Philips makes the opening trombones snarl about as good as I’ve heard. Another favorite of mine overall is Abbado’s with The Vienna P.O. on DG. And for a heart on sleeve finale Bernstein’s 1987 take with the New York Philharmonic on DG.
There is hardly any Mahler symphony that doesn’t make good use of the brass. Notably #2, #3, #5, #6, #7. Check Wikipedia for the individual symphonies and the instruments Mahler called for in each one. Two other composers worth investigating for use of brass, Prokofiev and Hindemith.
Then there is always this as well, in great sound.
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I like @FLTWS idea of Prokofiev. I would look at Stravinsky also - possibly starting with the Firebird Suite.
Reaching back a little further Brahms has some nice brass in the Concerti and Symphonies, and is a in the Romantic period, but has a more classical style.
Both are well represented on TIDAL, but I don’t know the recordings. It’s very interesting to listen to a traditional orchestra do the Firebird, then listen to Isao Tomita’s synthesizer version. Songwhip didn’t find it but Discogs did. I’m sure it’s on TIDAL.
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Just finished listening to this for the first time on CD, the recording quality and musicianship is really first class. The acoustic sounds like a smallish ball room without a lot of late reflections that can occur with large concert halls that adds reverb and blends sounds more. Very clean and dynamic sounding thru my SR1a’s driven by JOT R from Yggdrasil and CD Transport. I saw mention somewhere of the soprano being too highlighted by the miking but I did not find that to be the case.
Not being a Baroque specialist of any sort I was out of my territory and constantly referring to the booklet notes. My opera likes are slim and pretty much limited to late Mozart, late Wagner, and late Puccini in German and Italian, with a few one offs in the 20th Century. French singing here was a different sound for me. As I was listening to the soprano’s tracks I wondered if these opera excerpts of Rameau’s might have been composed with use of castrato singers in mind. Tracks 7 and 10 were interesting and as the notes point out “Rameau pokes fun at his own erudition and parodies all the characteristics of the French operas of the period”. It’s a “satire”. In track 10 the soprano sounds like she’s cackling the words and I think that is exactly the effect Rameau was going for.
Track 9 “Le Poule”, I believe the main theme was used by Ottorino Respighi some 200 years later in his “Ancient Airs & Dances”, Suite 3, but Id have to give it a listen to be sure.
I’ll try that Tchaikovsky 6th by this group this evening. The recording location changes from the Diaghilev House in Russia to a different location in Berlin.
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Hi @FLTWS, happy to read that you enjoyed the CD. I am envious of your liner notes…Tidal does not share much info.
It is possible but unlikely that Rameau was writing for castrati. I’m decades removed from my music history courses, but I do believe they were much more common in Italy but even there falling out of popularity my mid 18th century. But it is possible as his operas were composed before the ban on castrati.
I also do not listen a lot to Baroque music outside of keyboard, Bach especially so I am not expert. That is why this recording was so interesting to me. One, it is excerpts, not an entire opera to labor through! Second, the sonorities are so rich and the intonation so good despite a fair amount of period instruments employed.
I do remember that Rameau’s early operas were not well reviewed and not surprised if he would mock his contemporaries to some extent in his own. This is the era of “ridicule” in France after all and opera was the reality TV of the day.
My formal studies focussed on Rameau as much as a theorist vs. his music so it was refreshing to listen to such an inventive recording, a survey of sorts, to serve as a re-introduction. Very happy you found value in it also.
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Got around to this, this afternoon. Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna.
Another spectacular recording, but the perspective is very much “from the podium” which always seems to restrict depth of the sound stage other than recognizing the brasses and percussion are behind the rest of the orchestra. The orchestra here is expanded from the 57 musicians used in the Rameau to 95.
Extremely wide dynamic range which is almost too much. Over decades of attending live concerts I always sense a greater dynamic range contrast in the concert hall than on recorded playback in a home environment, even with HP’s. Depending on the specifics of your home environment it can actually have more extraneous noise from outside or inside (HVAC’s, refrigerators cycling, washers/dryers, water heaters, neighbors, etc.). In the concert hall even with people coughing, shifting in their seats, opening candy wrappers, etc. are not as invasive. Now, a cell phone going off is my pet peeve, had it happen at a live concert once a few bars into a work. The conductor stopped the orchestra and waited until the offending audience member figured out how to silence it, and started over again.
In the concert hall nothing ever gets lost at the lowest levels of sound and the loudest levels never overload. The first movement here has the quietest passages so low I had to turn up the volume to hear them clearly which then made the loud passages extreme. This never happens in any concert hall I’ve been in. Nothing gets lost at the low end of the volume scale.
This is a good performance, and it sounds like the “European” orchestra layout is used per how I hear it.
One other issue, at only 45 minutes this CD has 35 minutes of time available into which any one of many other great works by Tchaikovsky could have been used to fill up the disc.
For you string orchestra fans I picked this up recently and its nice.
This is a new composer to me and she has quite a large catalog of published and recorded works I was not aware of. She has a particular rhythmic way in this music and a layering of material that makes for a thick, complex impression. She has a number of chamber releases for various combinations of instruments, some vocal music and organ music. I may try her first released CD of music for symphony orchestra next.
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