Finally had time to give Mäkelä’s Rite of Spring a listen. Reading a few reviews afterwards, it seems to have fiercely divided opinion. Hurwicz hates it, but that’s almost a recommendation for me. The Presto reviewer is very enthusiastic.
I find myself somewhere in the middle. I do think the performance traded some tension for inner clarity, but that and the Decca recording did bring out inner parts of the music, hidden in the mix in other readings. I also wonder if the score is so familiar to modern orchestras these days that a degree of roughness Stravinsky may have expected is no longer there. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but I’d still want to hear other approaches.
And for a little more Aldo Cicolini, I dragged this one out of cobwebs. It’s a 3-LP set on French EMI (Pathe Marconi).
Other than this record I know little about this composer, and nothing of other works by him. He was a Languedoc/Occitanie contemporary of Debussy, Ravel, Satie, et al. I haven’t listened to this in decades, but I like the piano works of Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, et al. so I’m enjoying this now.
Who likes some Alexsandr Skriabin solo piano music?
I acquired this in the 80s when I was a record buyer for a Linn/Naim dealer in St. Louis, who was also the U.S. Rega/Goldring importer at the time. This is the only copy I remember coming into the store, and I snagged it for myself. I have never seen another since. The music and performance on it is excellent. After all these decades it still sounds excellent with just an occasional tick/click.
Limited edition DG import from Japan. I have #67/300
Decca really hit the nail on the head with this recording – it manages to capture small details without losing the power of the many fortissimos. The dynamic range is huge, and I guess this may create a problem when using speakers as I do, though I’m fortunate in having a house well-separated from neighbours. It’s an album that really benefits from turning the wick up.
On the advice of many and following a listen on Qobuz, I bought this on Discogs just a few days ago.
Thrilled at the quick delivery. Will clean and play through the remainder of this week😊
EDIT The box looks a little on the aged side, with a bit of discolouration and some light bubbling of the printed overlay. The contents on the other hand look pristine and immaculate. I can’t believe this only cost me £15 & change, including postage
The dynamic range is outstanding for sure. I’m running Mullard EL34 XF2s with a Siemens 5814a Long Plate Triple Mica as a pre/input tube. This combo really has great extension both top and bottom which suited this recording perfectly.
The Meze Elite really benefit from the new angled pads to control the bass keeping it very tight with excellent texture. These tweaks are easier with headphones as I remember the effort required to add room treatments to control the bass and stop it from being boomy and taking away detail from the mids.
It’s certainly a recording I’ll return to time and time again!
I love Scriabin’s piano music, from the early to the late - so much variety. Szidon is a very fine pianist - and the cover of that album is wonderful. I also really admire Marc Andre-Hamelin’s complete set, and there are great individual recordings by many pianists. Szidon also really gets inside Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies. Thanks for posting this - I’ll give his set of the Scriabin sonatas a listen as it’s been a while.
I have that set too. Extremely vivid sound - closely miked, deep and colourful. A bit OTT perhaps, but it suits the work and the playing of Szidon. Lovely.
For many years, we wanted a better remastering of this classic Aida, which despite the mono sound is one of the best recordings of the opera. Unfortunately, the remastering that Sony issued a few years’ back is a step back in many respects so this issue remains the best on CD, for now.
