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BRAHMS: Complete Symphonies – Vienna Philharmonic/ NBC Symphony Orchestra/ BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Bruno Walter – Pristine Audio 

BRAHMS: Complete Symphonies – Vienna Philharmonic/ NBC Symphony Orchestra/ BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Bruno Walter – Pristine Audio 

by | Nov 6, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews

BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 in c minor, Op. 68; Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73; Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90; Symphony No. 4 in e minor, Op. 98 – Vienna Philharmonic/ NBC Symphony Orchestra/ BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Bruno Walter – Pristine Audio PASC 512 (2 CDs) 2 hrs 30:15 [www.pristineclasical.com] *****: The restoration of Bruno Walter’s “first symphony cycle” embraces some potent, even demonic interpretations by a master of the idiom. In his note for this integral set of the Brahms symphonies by Bruno Walter (1876-1962)—his first cycle, of which three symphonies derive from pre-war recordings—restoration engineer and producer Mark Obert-Thorn finds a bit of anomaly in that EMI held off (until 1934, with the e minor Symphony) capturing Walter in such a basic staple of his repertory; and that, unfortunately, the Anschluss disrupted any possibility of having extended the first cycle with the VPO. For the Second Symphony, Obert-Thorn provides Walter’s appearance before an American orchestra, Toscanini’s NBC Symphony (17 February 1940), in what quickly becomes a super-charged meeting of musical minds. In spite my life-long appreciation for Bruno Walter—and his Brahms—I have never been fond of any of his renditions of the c […]

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major; SCRIABIN: Piano Concerto in f-sharp; DVORAK: Sym. Variations – Paul Badura-Skoda, p./ Polish Radio Sym. Orch./ Charles Mackerras – Pristine Audio

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major; SCRIABIN: Piano Concerto in f-sharp; DVORAK: Sym. Variations – Paul Badura-Skoda, p./ Polish Radio Sym. Orch./ Charles Mackerras – Pristine Audio

by | Feb 23, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Charles Mackerras makes his Pristine debut with a concert appearance in Scotland with the Polish Radio Orchestra. SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, Op. 70; SCRIABIN: Piano Concerto in f-sharp minor, Op. 20; DVORAK: Symphonic Variations, Op. 78 – Paul Badura-Skoda, p./ Polish Radio Sym. Orch./ Charles Mackerras – Pristine Audio PASC 487, 74:47 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****:  I had the privilege of meeting Sir Charles Mackerras (1925-2010) and his wife in Atlanta after a symphony concert. Mackerras’ fine recording of Handel’s Messiah for EMI having piqued my interest in a conductor of such nice proportions and instrumental balances, I felt no less curiosity about his having studied with one of my idols, Vaclav Talich. “We tried to convince Talich to leave Czechoslovakia,” urged Mackerras, “but by 1960 his health issues had become manifest and was simply too late.” The present disc from Pristine comes from the Edinburgh Festival (27 August 1962, in stereo), from a BBC transcription of a second concert by the Polish Radio Orchestra unissued in the United Kingdom but pressed onto vinyl for US broadcast.  The piano solo for the rare Scriabin Concerto, Viennese Paul Badura-Skoda (b. 1927), performs a work derivative of Chopin but already rife […]

ELGAR: Enigma Variations; In the South, Carillon; etc. – BBC Scottish Sym. /Brabbins – Hyperion

ELGAR: Enigma Variations; In the South, Carillon; etc. – BBC Scottish Sym. /Brabbins – Hyperion

by | Feb 3, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

Need another Enigma Variations? Listen to this one. ELGAR: Enigma Variations, Op. 36; In the South “Alassio”, Op. 50; Carillon, Op. 75; Une voix dans le desert, Op. 77; Le drapeau belge, Op. 79; Pleading, Op. 48 – Florence Daguerre de Hureaux, narrator/ Kate Royal, sop./ Yann Ghiro, clar./ BBC Scottish Sym. Orch./ Martyn Brabbins – Hyperion CDA68101, 81:57 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: When an English orchestra takes up the Enigma Variations, the record company must have put a great deal of thought behind it. After all, this venerable piece has been carved out (and up) by virtually every British conductor and orchestra for the last 80 years. Toscanini had the first really great one years ago with the BBC, and there is a special pride that comes with being the only nation qualified to accurately interpret this work. Maybe. Leonard Bernstein came up with one for the ages, and they hated him for it. Slatkin they loved. Sargent, in my opinion, still has the best one on record. But one of two things has to be English—the orchestra, or the conductor. Here we have both, sort of. Since the Scottish attempt at independence failed, I guess we can […]

BARBER: Adagio for Strings – BRUCKNER: String Quintet in F Major – Konzerthaus Kammerorch., Berlin- Cugate Classics

BARBER: Adagio for Strings – BRUCKNER: String Quintet in F Major – Konzerthaus Kammerorch., Berlin- Cugate Classics

by | Jan 12, 2017 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

BARBER: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 – BRUCKNER: String Quintet in F Major – Konzerthaus Kammerorchester, Berlin- Cugate Classics CG013- two multichannel SACDs (5.0), 50:26 [Distr. by Naxos] (10/14/16) *****: A lovely paring of moving works for strings by Barber and Bruckner. Back in 2004 the BBC asked its radio listeners to vote for the saddest music ever written, Barber’s Adagio For Strings won hands down. It’s a lovely piece, and the outcome of the poll is not a great surprise. It’s been recorded many times, and it’s especially nice to have a well-played SACD of this work. The disk also offers Bruckner’s String Quartet in F Major. The work was composed at the suggestion of the famous Viennese violinist Joseph Hellmesberger. Written about the time of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, it is a surely a Romantic work, symphonic in scale but rather intimate in character. The Adagio, in contrast to Barber’s sadness, expresses transcendent bliss. Both pieces are very well played by Konzerthaus Kammerorchester of Berlin. Sayako Lusaka and Michael Erxleben are the Concertmasters. In terms of sonics, I find no fault. The realism of the strings, the dynamic range, and the lower registers are all served well by […]

ROY HARRIS & JOHN ADAMS: Violin Concertos with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) / BBC Sym. Orch./Andrew Litton – Signum Classics

ROY HARRIS & JOHN ADAMS: Violin Concertos with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) / BBC Sym. Orch./Andrew Litton – Signum Classics

by | Dec 22, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

ROY HARRIS & JOHN ADAMS: Violin Concertos with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) / BBC Sym. Orch./Andrew Litton – Signum Classics  SIGCD468, 62:22 (10/1/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Two lovely contemporary violin concertos. This is a highly desirable recording from Signum Classics. It offers two violin concertos by American composers Roy Harris and John Adams. The Adams is fairly well known but the Harris concerto is a real find. Both men grew up in rural circumstances, Harris being born in a log cabin in Oklahoma. His music always has an ‘American’ feel to it, sometimes sounding a bit ‘Copland-esque’, but Harris has a unique voice with rural roots, and splendid orchestration. The Harris Violin Concerto was written in 1949, but did not get a first performance until 1984. The BBC Symphony gives the piece an exuberant and dynamic reading. Ms. Cohen is a rising star among violinists, and one can find ample evidence of that in her performance here. ‘ The John Adams Violin Concerto was composed in 1993, and Adams described the work as having a ‘hypermelody’, in which the soloist plays longs phrases without stop for the duration of the 35 minute piece. It’s a taxing piece for both the […]

Audio News for September 20, 2016

by | Sep 20, 2016 | Audio News

Amazon’s Echo is Taking Over the World – The $180 small cylindrical speaker is much more than that, and there is a new $50 version called the Dot which can also be used with existing audio systems, and software which keeps multiple units from answering your voice commands. Amazon is building its Alexa army, tied in somehow with Kindel (which the company itself spells Kindel but Amazon insists on spelling it Kindle). Alexa is a plug-and-play hardware now integrated with Lutron and Creston, and Nucleus has a home video intercom device with Alexa built in. Echo is controlled by your voice, and streams music from top services via its 360-degree mono omni-directional audio. It can hear you even on top of music playing and from across the room. It can answer questions, read audiobooks, give the news, info on local businesses etc. It can control lights, switches, and thermostats on smart home devices. Things are constantly being developed to expand what it does. One observer called the virtual assistant the closest thing to a Star Trek computer available today. (But an audio club member complained that the speaker part is mono and has no bass end.) BBC Radio 3 Observes […]

Audio News for April 12, 2016

by | Apr 12, 2016 | Audio News

Classical Artists Speak to the Audience –  A change has happened in the classical music world – more and more artists speak directly to the audience about the music they are about to play. Audiences love this; they get more of a sense of the artists as people. The idea of maintaining an aura of mystery onstage is going away, but not all musical artists are comfortable speaking directly to the audience. Our culture has become less formal and this is part of all that. Many conductors now do this at orchestral series concerts. Nokia Offers $60,000 VR Camera – Nokia sold its cellphone business to Microsoft in 2014 and are making a hardware comeback with an eight-lensed virtual reality camera that shoots videos that few people can watch today. To do a VR video with it, a filmmaker typically has to put seven of the cameras on a rig, with the lenses all pointing in different directions. This model is meant to be sold or rented to professional filmmakers, but Nokia hopes to introduce  cheaper versions later for hobbyists. Something like the Google Cardboard glasses would be required to view the VR products. Denon New S Series AVRs – […]

Nicolai Malko & The BBC Symphony Orchestra, 1957-1960 = Works of TCHAKOVSKY, SHOSTAKOVICH, MUSSORGSKY, RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, BRUCKNER, HAYDN & KODALY – Lyrita (4 CDs)

Nicolai Malko & The BBC Symphony Orchestra, 1957-1960 = Works of TCHAKOVSKY, SHOSTAKOVICH, MUSSORGSKY, RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, BRUCKNER, HAYDN & KODALY – Lyrita (4 CDs)

by | Jan 5, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

It’s about time we had Nicolai Malko for this music, so all credit to the BBC and Lyrita! Nicolai Malko & The BBC Symphony Orchestra, 1957-1960 = TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 17 “Little Russian”; SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 1 in f minor, Op. 10; HAYDN: Symphony No. 83 in g minor “La poule”; MUSSORGSKY: Prelude to Khovantschina; RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Overture to The Tsar’s Bride; Symphony No. 2 in f-sharp minor, Op. 9 “Antar”; BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7 in E Major; KODALY: “The Spinning Room” – BBC Sym. Orch./ London Sym. Orch. (The Tsar’s Bride)/ Nicolai Malko – Lyrita REAM 2120 (4 CDs), 66:15, 66:21, 65:14, 70:00 (11/6/15) [Distr. by Naxos] *****: The Lyrita label (1952) as a whole emerged from founder Richard Itter’s penchant for taping BBC transmissions and archiving them. In 2014, the Lyrita Recorded Edition Trust obtained permissions to release selective performances to the public, and this current set devoted to Russian conductor Nicolai Malko (1883-1961) comes as a direct result Itter’s conscientious preservation of these historic performances. Conductor Malko maintained a working relationship with the BBC from 1929 until his passing in 1963. So far as Malko’s commitment to Russian music is concerned, the 1957-1958 […]

Audio News for April 24, 2015

by | Apr 24, 2015 | Audio News

PBS Subwoofer Mounts Any Way; Four-Screen Display for TVs; DTS Withdraws DTS:X from 3.0 Broadcast TV Standard Consideration; SMS Audio Teams Up with Marvel & Reebok; Five Classical Music Controversies