tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post2927040173196711194..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Planets revolve around GrafeneggDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-90822736554953085792009-09-14T20:51:54.255+01:002009-09-14T20:51:54.255+01:00I need something to cool me down now after that _M...I need something to cool me down now after that _MOST_-annoying, to me, Maestro Christie's doings with _Judas_ _Maccabaeus_, including organ continuo in slow airs and even at least one recitative, reducing the strings to solo in at least one air where I am virtually certain that Handel wanted his regular complement, etc., so am glad to have this relief! DGG, would you _PLEASE_ let Maestro McCreesh resume recording Handel oratorios?! <br /><br />As you may know, there is a recording including Sir Charles conducting the Bach/Walton _Wise_ _Virgins_, etc., but I have not heard it, but rather an older one with the Cleveland Orchestra (or was it Atlanta after Maestro Lane moved there?). <br /><br />I found the Mackerras _Rusalka_ for between $18 and $19, and doubt that I would get a better price. You will be pleased to know that I took it! I have possibly been buying too many CD's and downloads in recent weeks, but may wish to buy at least one Verdi opera soon, the newly-remastered, by Pristine Audio, Toscanini _Ballo_ (they have also done the even-more-famous _Otello_, which I already have from the RCA series, but might wish to consider this one as replacement), hopefully in time for my early-October Verdi cycle. I hope to play the recently-acquired, as you know, Muti _Traviata_ this year instead of the Mackerras, but further hope to return to it next year for his 85th birthday. I am also considering the Levine _Forza_. <br /><br />J. V.<br /><br />p.s. I wish this past Saturday's _CD_-_Review_ feature on the Verdi _Requiem_ had come up with a new clear winner, but it did not, and thus that remains yet another gap in my collection that must eventually be filled.JVaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07468133975019785693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-45356535806287145722009-09-14T14:40:06.759+01:002009-09-14T14:40:06.759+01:00That's great news that 'Charlie' wants...That's great news that 'Charlie' wants to play Jourdain as well as the opera: I saw him conduct the BG Suite alongside Walton/Bach with the English Chamber Orchestra in my first ever visit to the Barbican, now when on earth would that have been?<br /><br />If you must have Rusalka in English, Chandos have done it that way with the very good Cheryl Barker, but Hickox conducting couldn't be a proper swap for CM. Renee is at her best on the Decca recording; Heppner is fab, too. I like the old Czech/Neumann recording with the gorgeous Benackova, but I have to agree the more recent one has the edge.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-5323342955648759812009-09-14T12:45:02.901+01:002009-09-14T12:45:02.901+01:00I overlooked that famous example in the _Classical...I overlooked that famous example in the _Classical_ _Symphony_ when writing my previous comment, though, of course, it does just the sort of thing I was talking about. I have heard excerpts from _Le_ _Bourgeois_ _Gentilnhomme_ at least a few times, probably with the Marine Band or Chamber Orchestra, but did not get to know the music well enough to note the passage you cited. Yet, if my current understanding is correct, that Sir Charles plans to include that music with his forthcoming, if all goes well, English recording of _Ariadne_, I could find it there (one wonders if he plans to perform the opera in its original version, thus making this even more apt, though I would tend to doubt it since presumably most listeners, especially those getting to know the work initially by listening to it in English, would want the standard version). <br /><br />Are not those folksy touches you rightly note in those two famous Dvorak works somewhat different from most of what he wrote in Bohemia, whether before or after his American visit? Much of the Finale of the _Piano_ _Quintet_ would not be out of place at an old-fashioned American barn dance, and yet it does not have some of those touches he seemed to take on while over here, especially what he does with alternating relative majors and minors and the melodic touches accompanying them. Should this book you favourably noted cover this issue perceptively, it might well be worth acquiring. <br /><br />One of the reasons I have not yet taken on _Rusalka_, admittedly a flimsy one, is that I have so much Dvorak now for my annual cycle, another, also-flimsy one being that it is in the original Czech, a language which, unlike certain others, I do not know at all apart from some proper names and maybe just a word or two. Therefore my Janacek operas are thus far all in English, though I do have Sir Charles' decca _Makropoulos_, which I acquired before his _EXCELLENT_, in my opinion at least, ENO one came out. That _REALLY_ brought this opera to life for me! When I heard we both know what from Rusalka, it was usually sung by we both know who, and thus that connection, again of course, would be preserved were I to buy this recording. I think I will check (no pun intended) for a good price on it, trying to make sure, if it was perchance reissued without libretto, that I get an issue including that! I did meet La Fleming some years ago, after a masterclass in the Kennedy Centre in which she colaborated with Miss Graham and Mr. Cosarro, possibly etc., and was pleased that she wished her Chicago performance of Floyd's _Susannah_ would be issued on commercial CD's! <br /><br />J. V.JVaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07468133975019785693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-43485594512254618302009-09-11T08:44:17.826+01:002009-09-11T08:44:17.826+01:00Yes, Prokofiev and Strauss - harmonic 'sidesli...Yes, Prokofiev and Strauss - harmonic 'sideslippers' both (think of the Gavotte in the Classical Symphony and that even earlier piece of neoclassicism in the Bourgeois Gentilhomme Entr'acte).<br /><br />As to Dvorak's Americanness, when does a Czech folksong become a native American one? Traits are the same in many countries. It does seem to me that the New World is imbued with both, ditto the 'American' Quartet. I read an excellent little book, you'd have thought it was for mere beginners but it is very up to date and intelligent: Neil Wenborn's mini-biog in Naxos books.<br /><br />And you really don't know Rusalka, Dvorak's absolute masterpiece? I'm amazed that as a Mackerras devotee you don't have Sir Charles's glorious recording. Remedy that at once!Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-27124426883601602872009-09-10T11:31:08.692+01:002009-09-10T11:31:08.692+01:00I now recall having heard the _Symphony_ _Concerto...I now recall having heard the _Symphony_ _Concerto_ with the NSO some years ago, as well as the beginning of a recording of the _First_ _Concerto_. If I am not mistaken, their openings are indeed virtually, if not entirely, identical, and interestingly so. I still do not know a great deal of Prokofiev's music, but one thing which I find interesting about him is what he frequently does with key relationships, e.g., going from one key to the one immediately above or below, wittily in a number of instances (that delightful _March_ _Op._ _99_ for band and the more-famous one in (Lieutenant_ _Kije_, also in the _Seventh_ _Symphony_), Strauss being another who does that sort of thing, though not necessarily for wit's sake. Of course the openings of these concerti are slow, but again the harmonic movement is interesting. This might be a recording worth eventually investigating. <br /><br />There is a French woman in our building, cousin of the musician who helps me with certain mundane tasks, in her 90's and still, as is said, sharp as a tack! She also loves _Pelleas_, and I would like to talk further about Maeterlinck with her. Yes, when one stops to think about it, Golaud probably goes beyond mere jealousy, certainly when he kills Pelleas, but also when he takes his brother to that deep and dark portion of the castle to which you aluded, though, when they emerge, he just then repeats that they were acting like a couple of children. Yet holding that little boy up to a window to spy on the lovers was cruel since he is frightened. <br /><br />If I may once again, as we seem to do frequently around here, stray off topic, this past Tuesday, as presumably you know, was Dvorak's birthday, so where, if you have an opinion and would care to say, do you stand on the perennial question of whether or not he was influenced by African-American music, etc., when writing the works from his time over here? I personally find some melodic and, in particular, harmonic touches in this music which does not seem to be prominently, if at all, present in his other work, one of these being passages alternating between relative majors and minors. To be sure, this is very basic, but something about what he does with it, and the melodic touches associated with it, seem to make this unique in his output. There are also some lovely melodic touches in the Finale of the _Cello_ _Concerto_. A work which I love is the so-called _American_ _Suite_, and I might well want it on one of those desert islands if I could only have one work by him, though I also like several others. I do not yet know _Rusalka_ apart from we both know what. <br /><br />J. V.JVaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07468133975019785693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-62531826899819578702009-09-08T22:33:16.725+01:002009-09-08T22:33:16.725+01:00Alban Gerhardt is the remarkable cellist I had the...Alban Gerhardt is the remarkable cellist I had the pleasure of sharing a Proms panel with last year, before his performance of the Symphony Concerto. Shortly afterwards, he recorded it alongside the First Cello Concerto upon which it expands and from which, in several radical respects, it departs. That recording has now been issued with my notes - I've yet to hear the finished product.<br /><br />Maeterlinck is long overdue a revival - I can imagine his supposedly symbolist plays being done in a Beckettian fashion. They're mostly unfathomably cruel, rather like much of the Golaud strand in Debussy's opera, and mostly about the destruction of fresh youth by convention and envy. The Death of Tintagiles is horrifying.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-29737119614291479072009-09-08T21:09:54.951+01:002009-09-08T21:09:54.951+01:00I fell short of the mark in my last comment, and s...I fell short of the mark in my last comment, and should have said that the characters in _Pelleas_ are _QUITE_ interesting, not just rather!JVaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07468133975019785693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-32189494498630101302009-09-08T21:07:57.968+01:002009-09-08T21:07:57.968+01:00I still wish Elgar himself and others took that Mo...I still wish Elgar himself and others took that Moglio theme just a shade faster, but presumably that majority of conductors cannot be wrong, and, as one who wishes to respect composers' intentions, I probably must accept that, like it or not. I recall Mr. Kennedy's biography of Sir John stating that the author convinced the conductor to take on that Overture, though currently do not know of any recording. <br /><br />Given its length, I would be inclined to agree about placing it second in a concert, though seem to recall him having led with it with the NSO. <br /><br />Another of Sir Adrian's faster tempi, also taken on by Maestro Leppard, is for the first of the _Dream_ _Children_, he taking it at what we often hear in Baroque pastorale movements these days, and I think it works wonderfully! Yet Elgar asks for dotted-crotchet=48 if I recall aright, and I now have actually gotten used to Sir Charles taking it at about that pace, and personally find the atmosphere he gets just right as well! I wish Elgar had not ultimately rejected those two gems, thus depriving us of a recording from him, as well as of the _Introduction_ _And_ _Allegro_. <br /><br />I do not yet know the Rachmaninov _First_, but expect Maestro Litton would get as much out of it as I feel he does from the familiar _Second_. Once again begging your pardon for possible ignorance, is Mr. Gerhardt a producer for that great Hyperion Label, or something else? And of what does this Prokofiev double- bill consist? Given Maestro Litton's love, along with that of Maestros Previn, Slatkin, and indeed Bernstein, for Russian music, I expect he would also do well by that composer. <br /><br />Hoping I am not repeating myself from all of those Proms-related exchanges we had in July, I liked Sir Charles's _Planets_, notably those accents in "Mars" which are not in his EMI recording from Liverpool, though just maybe some string warmth was wanting in Venus. <br /><br />In addition to the music, the characters are rather interesting in _Pelleas_, and the words which Maiterlinck gives to describe Melisande near the end are the most moving part of that opera for me. <br /><br />J. V.JVaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07468133975019785693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-2992529517737603662009-09-08T07:29:09.368+01:002009-09-08T07:29:09.368+01:00Good to hear from you again, JV. Actually that Bou...Good to hear from you again, JV. Actually that Boult recording has one of his famous pile-ups (Barbirolli has them too) - near the beginning, I seem to remember, though there are better things later on.<br /><br />As I implied, the model for Boult and others would be Elgar's own relatively speedy account. I was surprised by the time Litton took, but the atmosphere was always sensitive and the positioning - second in the programme - justified the depths.<br /><br />I still love Litton's early Rach cycle, and well remember the RPO concerts out of which they sprang. His is still my favourite performance of the First. I'm looking forward to hearing his contribution to Alban Gerhardt's much-praised Prokofiev double-bill on Hyperion.<br /><br />The Planets, sadly, was a bit too flaccid in places for me.<br /><br />Yes, I love Pelleas, and especially that Desormiere recording with Joachim and Jansen. Karajan's is ravishing in quite a different way.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-57308112697553221282009-09-08T02:10:11.351+01:002009-09-08T02:10:11.351+01:00Greetings!:
I largely learned _In_ _The_ _South_ ...Greetings!:<br /><br />I largely learned _In_ _The_ _South_ from Sir Adrian Boult's EMI stereo recording, and must have picked up some bad habits from it since there are certain things which he does that no one else seems to, the composer included. Most notably, he takes that Moglio theme more quickly than virtually anyone else I know, again including the composer and Maestro Litton on his recording, and, because of that, I find those other accounts to drag there. The following great lyrical tune may also plod a bit more, though I might do well to make a closer comparison there. Also his opening of the entire overture is more lively, though I have read criticisms of him for doing that, with the _POSSIBLE_ result of some raggedness of ensemble, though I have yet to really notice it. Yet he is just a mite slower at the end of the coda, where the brass triplets come in. One thing I always listen for is the viola soloist's intonation in the "Canto Populare" since failure in that area can _REALLY_ ruin that lovely tune. Sir Adrian's soloist seems to hit the mark there, as thankfully have various others I have heard. This is a wonderful work as far as I am concerned, and I am glad that Mr. Kennedy rethought his initial reservations about it. By the bye, I also heard Maestro Litton conduct it live, when he was an Associate Conductor with our National Symphony. I also participated in a conducting class from him as a premium for making a donation to the Orchestra. That was a nice experience. I have his recordings of Rachmaninov's _Second_ _Symphony_ and most of Mendelssohn's _Midsummer_ _Night's_ _Dream_ _Music_. <br /><br />Hoping, as usual, that this finds you well, and with renewed thanks and best wishes,<br /><br />J. V.<br /><br />p.s. I have also come to share your implied liking of Debussy's _Pelleas_. I have the famous Desormiere account.JVaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07468133975019785693noreply@blogger.com