I remember Robert Maxwell, of all people, acquiring Nimbus Records.
I expect BIS catalog titles will disappear from Qobuz before too long.
An interesting comparison with Brautigam’s latest recording. Brautigam plays the impromptus straight up, fast, and a bit boring; Schiff is generally as fast, but finds the darkness and drama in these works and uses the possibilities of his period piano to fantastic effect - the fourth impromptu, in particular, is a masterpiece in his hands. Sound is full and a bit veiled in typical ECM fashion.
Cheers
EJ
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Unfortunately you see that more of these smaller labels are swallowed by bigger companies, also recently happened to Hyperion records. Short term it creates very often some pricing benefits, but not sure if big companies focus on only profit is a good thing for these fine labels….
I suspect NOT focusing on profits is partly why labels are being sold
Streaming is such a bad match for classical.
From Techcrunch;
Founder Robert von Bahr, 80 years old, today said in a note would be coming over and working within the same division as Apple Music Classical and Platoon (a creation and distribution platform Apple acquired years before).
You can still (for-now) buy BIS downloads from e-classical. Apple really need to enable buying lossless downloads via the iTunes store.
And not forgetting Masaaki Suzuki’s superb complete Bach cantata cycle. The equal of the other complete cycles in performance and the best for recording quality. IMO, of course.
Roger
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Quite likely, I guess. OTOH Hyperion releases are now beginning to appear on Qobuz.
Roger
Hyperion is now owned by UMG, who distribute their catalogs to Tidal, Qobuz and other services, and that’s why titles finally showed up on Qobuz.
Apple is a different animal. I very much doubt they will distribute catalogs they own to anything but Apple Music. That’s why the purchase of BIS is such a bad omen.
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Agree. Suzuki’s Bach is superb. The Cantatas, the Passions, etc. His Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites on BIS are my favorite performances of those works.
Advice for CD collectors…
I recommend that people get their BIS CD’/SACD’s bought as quickly as possible.
I foresee that they will not be available soon.
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Geniusas’ extrovert Chopin is arguably a bit too much for the mazurka’s (Jablonski’s recent recording is amazing in these works) but the third sonata is an indestructible work that can take just about any approach. As expected, it’s the fourth movement that really shines, with the piano coming at you in waves, in very realistic sound. Overall, fun album and worth repeated listening.
Cheers
EJ
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It used to be possible to buy a few CDs of Ivan Moravec playing Chopin. They are special recordings indeed.
(I believe that IM played the piano on the soundtrack of ‘Amadeus’.)
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Can’t believe that Moravec’s Nocturnes set is no longer readily available. Amazon tells me I’ve bought it 3 times (twice as gifts).
Wait! - it just switched labels to Supraphon. In the U.S. it had been licensed to Nonesuch for many years.
Hamelin as impressive as ever in Faure’s nocturnes and barcarolles. Clear, finely graded pianism and sense of line, which is exactly what these works need to avoid them sounding too sugary.
Cheers
EJ
4 Likes
I have recently been lucky enough to find two new complete sets of the Beethoven String Quartets on LP, from the Italian Quartet (Philips) and the Amadeus (DGG).
I will have a bit of comparative listening later today.
I have a very old LP set of the Italians (which I will now retire), so I know how good the performances and recordings are…
The Amadeus will have to do well to come anywhere close to the Italians.
What did you think of the John Adams, Graham?
They’re on Qobuz FWIW…
Very interesting, but I do fancy the soloist something rotten! I shall have a proper listen soon, but congrats to Dmitriy & Alexander Lipay, who produced, recorded and mastered the record. And to The Dude, as well, of course!
I will interested in what you think between Quartetto Italiano and Amadeus Quartet. I have them both and have a preference, but I’ll wait to see what you think before I say.