What Classical Music Are You Listening To?

[Chuck Nessa]

copied from the vinyl topic:

Now listening to my favorite Mahler 5. It is a shame this hasn't made the transition to digital.

I got to know the sessions intimately while preparing the lp masters for the HNH issue. The tapes 'felt' compressed to me and we complained to the Stockholm Philharmonic ( the source of the tapes ) and they said they did that because the hall was built over some rail tracks and 'rumble' intruded at some points. We requested unadulterated tapes and proceeded to make a more honest representation of the music.

•  

[Referentzhunter]

Any recommendations for John Cage's music ? 

 

 

[Referentzhunter]

going for thisone...

[Д.Д.]

Great stuff. 

3 hours ago, Referentzhunter said:

Any recommendations for John Cage's music ? 

I am not too knowledgeable about Cage (and a lot of what I heard I did not like), but I really like this piano music cycle by Boris Berman on Naxos. 

I had the complete piano music set by Schleiermacher (on MDG), and did not like it nearly as much as Bermans.   

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Д.Д.

[Referentzhunter]

14 minutes ago, Д.Д. said:

Great stuff. 

I am not too knowledgeable about Cage (and a lot of what I heard I did not like), but I really like this piano music cycle by Boris Berman on Naxos. 

I had the complete piano music set by Schleiermacher (on MDG), and did not like it nearly as much as Bermans.   

 

Thank you for your recommendation, i will have a listen.

[Д.Д.]

Or just go for this cheap ( https://www.amazon.de/50-Jahre-Wergo-Musik-unserer/dp/B007LHGD10/ ) set on WERGO, a lot of goodies here:

 

[Peter Friedman]

Mozart - String Quintet K.515

Rode - Violin Concerto No.7, Op.9

[Daniel A]

12 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

copied from the vinyl topic:

Now listening to my favorite Mahler 5. It is a shame this hasn't made the transition to digital.

I got to know the sessions intimately while preparing the lp masters for the HNH issue. The tapes 'felt' compressed to me and we complained to the Stockholm Philharmonic ( the source of the tapes ) and they said they did that because the hall was built over some rail tracks and 'rumble' intruded at some points. We requested unadulterated tapes and proceeded to make a more honest representation of the music.

•  

Interesting! I didn't know of this recording and will try to seek it out. Apparently there was a Swedish pressing on a different imprint that might be easier to find over here, but I don't know how the pressing quality holds up. 

So, is any train noise audible on the non-compressed version? 

As it is, a subway station was opened right below the Konserthuset in 1952.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Daniel A

[Chuck Nessa]

50 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Interesting! I didn't know of this recording and will try to seek it out. Apparently there was a Swedish pressing on a different imprint that might be easier to find over here, but I don't know how the pressing quality holds up. 

So, is any train noise audible on the non-compressed version? 

As it is, a subway station was opened right below the Konserthuset in 1952.

Yes,  the symphony issued it first - I think it had a blue cover. Our version was less compressed than theirs. We filtered out some low frequencies when the noise appeared.

[JSngry]

9 hours ago, Referentzhunter said:

Any recommendations for John Cage's music ? 

 

 

These are absolutely essential, imo.

 

[soulpope]

6 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

Great stuff. 

Fully agreed ... I championed this one since the initial release on Symphonia in 2001 .... :

Btw superb recording sound ....

[Referentzhunter]

8 minutes ago, JSngry said:

These are absolutely essential, imo.

 

Maro Amejian's Sonatas and Interludes are on this set i ordered today. Going to have a look for your suggestion.

[soulpope]

Earlier .... :

Suske Quartett with Mozart (nearly) unbeatable ....

[Referentzhunter]

[Chuck Nessa]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

These are absolutely essential, imo.

 

You know George Avakian was married to Maro's sister Anahid, a violinist?

 

[JSngry]

I did.

What I haven't been able to find is a lot of information about Jeanne Kirstein (past the liner notes) and/or whatever happened to her.

 

[Larry Kart]

1 hour ago, Chuck Nessa said:

You know George Avakian was married to Maro's sister Anahid, a violinist?

 

About ten years ago I was at an Arbors recording session at Nola Studios on which my friend Randy Sandke was playing. Afterwards we all retired to Birdland to listen to some music and schmooze. I was seated next to Avakian, whom I'd never met before. Making small talk, I told him how much I had enjoyed the old (mid-1950s) Columbia LP on which his wife had played several AlanHovhaness pieces (my introduction to Hovhaness, these were coupled with Stefan Wolpe's "Ten Songs from the Hebrew"). Avakian was pleased to hear this and seemingly surprised that anyone remembered or had even heard the album. I still have it.

[Chuck Nessa]

51 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

About ten years ago I was at an Arbors recording session at Nola Studios on which my friend Randy Sandke was playing. Afterwards we all retired to Birdland to listen to some music and schmooze. I was seated next to Avakian, whom I'd never met before. Making small talk, I told him how much I had enjoyed the old (mid-1950s) Columbia LP on which his wife had played several AlanHovhaness pieces (my introduction to Hovhaness, these were coupled with Stefan Wolpe's "Ten Songs from the Hebrew"). Avakian was pleased to hear this and seemingly surprised that anyone remembered or had even heard the album. I still have it.

I have a Dial lp (dial 6) containing 4 Hovhaness compositions.

Lousadzak-concerto for piano and orchestra w/Maro Ajemian, conducted by the composer

Tzikerk for flute (Phillip Kaplan), Violin (Anahid Ajemian), tympani (Saul Goodman) and strings conducted by the composer

Achtamar for solo piano (Maro Ajemian)

Shatakh for piano and violin (the usual suspects)

[JSngry]

Dial Classical Mosaic.

They're running out of Woody Herman and will never run out of Louis Armstrong. And John Cage sells (some) records.

[T.D.]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Dial Classical Mosaic.

They're running out of Woody Herman and will never run out of Louis Armstrong. And John Cage sells (some) records.

Not to totally discount the idea, but I don't see a crying need for more Cage releases. There's already a "Complete Cage Edition" in progress on Mode. I thought there was one on Wergo, but can't immediately verify.

[Chuck Nessa]

10 minutes ago, T.D. said:

Not to totally discount the idea, but I don't see a crying need for more Cage releases. There's already a "Complete Cage Edition" in progress on Mode. I thought there was one on Wergo, but can't immediately verify.

Cage would 0nly be a fraction.

[Larry Kart]

2 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

About ten years ago I was at an Arbors recording session at Nola Studios on which my friend Randy Sandke was playing. Afterwards we all retired to Birdland to listen to some music and schmooze. I was seated next to Avakian, whom I'd never met before. Making small talk, I told him how much I had enjoyed the old (mid-1950s) Columbia LP on which his wife had played several AlanHovhaness pieces (my introduction to Hovhaness, these were coupled with Stefan Wolpe's "Ten Songs from the Hebrew"). Avakian was pleased to hear this and seemingly surprised that anyone remembered or had even heard the album. I still have it.

Stefan Wolpe / Alan Hovhaness ‎– Ten Songs From The Hebrew / Upon Enchanted Ground / Suite For Violin, Piano, And Percussion

Label:

Columbia Masterworks ‎– ML 5179

Series:

Modern American Music Series –

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Mono

Country:

US

Released:

1957

Genre:

Classical

Style:

Modern, Contemporary

 

TracklistHide Credits

A	–Stefan Wolpe	Ten Songs From The Hebrew Alto Vocals – Arline CarmenBass Vocals – Leon LishnerComposed By – Stefan WolpePiano – David Tudor
B1	–Alan Hovhaness	Upon Enchanted Ground Cello – Claus AdamComposed By – Alan HovhanessConductor – Alan HovhanessFlute – Samuel BaronHarp – Lucile LawrenceTam-tam – Elden Bailey*
B2	–Alan Hovhaness	Suite For Violin, Piano, And Percussion Composed By – Alan HovhanessPercussion – Elden Bailey*Piano – Maro AjemianViolin – Anahid Ajemian

[JSngry]

1 minute ago, Larry Kart said:

Stefan Wolpe / Alan Hovhaness ‎– Ten Songs From The Hebrew / Upon Enchanted Ground / Suite For Violin, Piano, And Percussion

Label:

Columbia Masterworks ‎– ML 5179

Series:

Modern American Music Series –

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Mono

Country:

US

Released:

1957

Genre:

Classical

Style:

Modern, Contemporary

 

TracklistHide Credits

A	–Stefan Wolpe	Ten Songs From The Hebrew Alto Vocals – Arline CarmenBass Vocals – Leon LishnerComposed By – Stefan WolpePiano – David Tudor
B1	–Alan Hovhaness	Upon Enchanted Ground Cello – Claus AdamComposed By – Alan HovhanessConductor – Alan HovhanessFlute – Samuel BaronHarp – Lucile LawrenceTam-tam – Elden Bailey*
B2	–Alan Hovhaness	Suite For Violin, Piano, And Percussion Composed By – Alan HovhanessPercussion – Elden Bailey*Piano – Maro AjemianViolin – Anahid Ajemian

Columbia Modern American Music Series box from Sony. I would be so in on that one.

[Larry Kart]

Anahid is also in the string section on this Flip Phillips album from 1992. Very tasty Dick Hyman arrangements that he and Flip worked out together, not soppy at all. Flip also plays some bass clarinet here; as one might imagine, he has a lovely sound.

[T.D.]

17 hours ago, Referentzhunter said:

Any recommendations for John Cage's music ? 

 

 

That's a tough one. Most "accessible" recommendations would be the S & I for PP by Ajemian and various "early" percussion works.

I think that to get deeply into Cage you have to share his aesthetic philosophy of randomness to some degree. And that's far from a common preference.

I had recordings of some "classic" instrumental performances like Grete Sultan's Music of Changes (Wergo) and Irvine Arditti's Freeman Etudes (Newport Classics) but didn't care for them.

I can get into Roaratorio if in the right mood. I generally enjoy the late "Number Pieces", but frankly haven't found it necessary to acquire many recordings thereof. Don't know if you'd care for them; maybe you could try some samples/clips.

These are some "number piece" recordings I like:

 

The latter is really great (oop but maybe you can buy it direct from Goldstein), and if you don't like the Cage you at least have an excellent Feldman recording.

This is an intriguing new number piece recording I intend to buy but haven't yet heard (waiting for USA release):

Two^2 is different from most other number pieces (which involve time intervals and stopwatches), and allows more performer discretion re. tempi.

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by T.D.