I have all the brand new Decca releases on LP. I haven’t played them yet, as I’m saving them as a Christmas treat.
In the publicity for this new set, Decca made much of going back to the original master tapes to be able to make the cleanest possible transfers. The few online reviews that I have seen have all been highly complimentary, so Decca appear to have succeeded.
I wonder if it is now possible to hear the miaows of the cat that was said to inhabit the Sofiensaal in Vienna, where the recordings were made?
PS I have just looked online. The hall suffered a major fire, but has been reinstated and redeveloped into apartments.
Schumann - Missa Sacra - Swedish Radio Choir/Putninš
I had never heard this before, but the Agnus Dei was played on BBC Radio 3 Record Review this morning. It was so beautiful I had to locate it again on BBC Sounds and then find it on Qobuz. It’s available there in high resolution. It’s worth hunting down.
It’s taken a few listens but I feel I appreciate this version more now than when I originally downloaded it. Then it sounded off but guess that was intended with a baroque style. Anyway, terrific recording non the less.
Vivaldi The Four Seasons - Karl Aage Rasmussen - Concerto Copenhagen
I have taken time out on vacation to listen (twice each) to the symphonies of Myaskovsky. I must say that I have rather enjoyed the experience. It is what I call Grade 2 music, but none the worse for that; it is relaxing and tunelful - just right for a holiday. As one example, try blind listening someone to the start of the Adagio of No 20 and see if your pig comes up with Mahler.
I would put Myaskovsky on a par with symphonists like Raff, Stanford and Parry and there is much more of his music for me to explore.
I cannot really comment on recordings and, anyway, for many of the symphonies it is a case of either Svetlanov or Svetlanov.
A quick thanks to everyone for posting their discoveries here so that a time-starved bum like me can pick up on them while contributing absolutely nothing. Many thanks! Have discovered some gems like this…
Another in the very fine CfP series from the late 70’s/early 80’s recorded with sponsor money from Tobacco Companies. At least they did something useful with their Ill-gotten profits.
SQ on this 1979 Walthamstow Assembly Hall recording is excellent and captures the wild dynamic and SPL swings in Strauss’s extravagant scoring with aplomb in a fine acoustic.
LPO doing a wonderful job with music more often assumed to be the preserve of the BPO or VPO. Lovely!
I think that Norman del Mar was under-appreciated in his day.
And you can’t go wrong with ‘Rosenkavalier’. It’s as if Mozart came back to compose one last masterpiece over a hundred years after his own early death.
It has been very lucky on disc, with great recordings from Erich Kleiber, Karajan (his earlier EMI set), Bœhm, Bernstein and Carlos Kleiber (two separate DVDs plus ‘pirate’ off-air CDs), and Haitink. I wouldn’t choose any more modern accounts, as we no longer seem to have singers who are up to the challenges posed by Strauss.