Me too. I’ve learned to avoid anything involving Barenboim, either as conductor or performer. I simply don’t get him I think.
I have Barenboim’s Ring cycle recorded at Bayreuth on DVD. I find that very enjoyable.
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The Ring he conducted at the Proms in London a few years ago was exceptional too, in my opinion.
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I remember with great pleasure being at the 2017 Prom when Barenboim conducted the Elgar 1st Symphony.
I’ve had fun recently comparing two versions of Brahms’ string sextets. Many years ago I bought the highly recommended version by the Raphael Ensemble:
It got played often as these are favourite works, but I did find the recording a bit edgy so was interested when a new version involving the Belcea quartet garnered some very positive reviews.
This new album wins hands down on recording quality, but comparing performances is more evenly balanced. The Raphael sound a good deal more forceful against the the more laid back Belcea and I think this is appropriate for an early work by a young composer, such as No 1. But several of the lyrical sections, particularly in the more elegiac No ,2 benefit from the more relaxed playing and richer sonorities of the Belcea. Both versions offer insights and I will continue to listen to both, but forced to choose I think I would go for the Raphael in No 1 and the Belcea in No 2.
Roger
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I always thought that the Belcea Quartet were on of the best of the ‘new’ generation of string quartets, but I never hear of them any more. Are they still performing?
I count myself very fortunate to have most of the Quartetto Italiano’s recordings on LP. I can’t imagine their Beethoven cycle ever being bettered, with wonderfully warm analogue sound from Philips. Although I have supplemented their Beethoven with very different playing (and immensely profound feeling) from the Vegh Quartet on some pretty averagely produced CDs.
Well, the album was released earlier this year, so I assume the Belcea are still active.
Roger
If you look at belceaquartet.com you will see that they have three public performances in the next week…
If you can forgive the 1930s sound, I’d recommend checking out the Busch Quartet, especially in nos. 13 and 15.
Oddly enough, I ordered a set of the Busch Quartet a few days ago, and I’m looking forward very much to hearing ‘old school’ playing of Beethoven.
There’s one of the late Quartets missing in the set. I’m sure that there will be a story to explain why in the notes.
Thanks, David, I will have a look. One of my reasons for wondering if the Belceas were still playing was that the second violin (Laura Samuel) went off to become leader of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. So she has obviously been replaced - unless they are now the Belcea Trio!
Apparently the second violin since 2010 has been Axel Schacher.
Yes, it’s wonderful. Terrific conducting.
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We’re in Advent and it’s time to bring out this lovely album. It contains music by Byrd, Victoria and Praetorius, but the bulk is from modern composers including a series of advent antiphons commissioned by Merton College for its advent service. This could easily be crashingly off-putting, but not so here. There’s so much beautiful and moving music, finishing with James Macmillan’s luminous O Radiant Dawn. It’s all beautifully sung by the rather recently formed mixed choir led by Benjamin Nicholas and Peter Philips (of the Tallis Scholars).
The chapel of Merton College is said to have some of the finest acoustics in Europe. And the excellent recording lets you hear them: clear and transparent but wrapped in a warm resonance. The listener is transported to the chapel – it’s a great lights-out listen.
Roger
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I spent three (largely) very happy years in Merton College as an undergraduate in the 1970s. The Chapel is one of many beautiful buildings which comprises Merton College. The Chapel is T-shaped, as the College sold the land which would form the ‘top bit’ of the T to Corpus Christi College. If that ‘missing bit’ at the top of the T were there, the Chapel would have been the largest in Oxford, and hence would have become Oxford Cathedral. But that honour goes to the Chapel of Christ Church.
The acoustics of the Chapel are famously good. The Tallis Scholars (who are professional musicians) make all their recordings in Merton College Chapel for that reason. But Peter Phillips and Benjamin Nicholas have made great recordings in the Chapel with the Merton College Choir (who are undergraduates of the College).
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Released today:
in the superb re-mastered version with some glorious sound. However, do be prepared for a very large download if you go for HiRes+: it’s about 8GB of zipped files!
Stephen
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I have the LPs on order. This will be the fourth time that I have bought the Decca ‘Ring’ in one format or another.
I bought the Decca LPs originally just after I left University and got the Wagner bug, then I went for the (much improved, and on fewer LPs, 16 rather than 19, if I’m remembering correctly) Telefunken-pressed DMM LPs, then I bought the Decca CD set, and now I’m buying these re-masterings on LP all over again.
Obsessive, moi?
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Morning @graham55
Can I get the benefit of your almost encyclopaedic knowledge of recorded classical music please?
I am looking for a particularly good recording of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tuttle, on Vinyl. I like the Marriner one from 1990, but it appears to be unavailable on Vinyl.
Do you have any recommendations please?
Thank you 
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The best recording of ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’, head and shoulders above the rest, is the 1963 (I think) recording made for EMI by Karl Böhm with the Philharmonia Orchestra with Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig et al. It was the only recording that Böhm ever made for EMI, and is utterly magical.
Only six soloists in the whole opera - one wag observed many years ago that all that you need to make a great recording of ‘Cosi’ is the best six singers in the world! And I think that the recording’s producer Walter Legge (Schwarzkopf’s husband) managed just that.
PS Be careful when ordering a copy. DGG issued a later recording of Böhm conducting ‘Cosi’, taken from ‘live’ performances with the Vienna Philharmonic at Salzburg. It’s a very decent recording, and I am very happy to have it on record, but it is not in the same league as the earlier EMI account.
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