The issue with any performance of Schubert’s 8th is how the entire symphony relates to those first ominous notes. The balance is tricky, especially for HIP orchestras with their generally thinner string sound and exposed wind section. But they also have advantages, in avoiding Schubert’s less intense sections to sound syrupy. Rene Jacobs delivered a great cycle recently for Pentatone, and Heras-Casado is even better, I think, in both the 8th and the 5th. Colourful, vital and in the 8th, not underplaying the dark motifs in both movements.
On Bruckner: this month DG released their complete cycle with Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhaus, and Sony theirs with Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic. I especially enjoy Thielemann (after a rocky start; I had to warm to his more episodic approach), he approaches Sinopoli. Nelsons, on the whole, I found rather superficial and less well recorded. Best 7-9 remain, for me, Haitink in his second recording with the RCO, from 1979-1981.
Apologies for the perhaps sudden pivot away from Bruckner’s symphonies (as much as I love them): I was wondering what members think is the best complete recordings set of Mozart’s pianoconcertos. I have the Baremboim set which I think dates back to the late sixties/early seventies. Any newer sets I should consider?
Have you heard Carlos Kleiber’s recording of the ‘Unfinished’ with the Vienna Philharmonic (DG, 1979)?
(It comes paired with Schubert’s Third, which is quirky even by CK’s standards, and which I no longer bother listening to. But the disc is worth getting just for the superb ‘Unfinished’.)
I have, and thoroughly recommend, Andras Schiff’s complete Mozart piano concertos with the great Sandor Vegh conducting Salzburg’s Camerata Academica, recorded for Decca.
Or you could go for the rather more classical accounts from Murray Perahia (Sony/CBS).
Many thanks for these suggestions, Graham! The Schiff set is no longer available as far as I can tell (only second hand). However, I did see a forthcoming complete Decca recordings, to be issued early next year. So that might actually be an interesting buy.
On a more general note, can I just say what a great thread this is! So many knowledgeable members with great suggestions for both old and new recordings. Thank you all!
I’ll raise a shout for Murray Perahia with the English Chamber Orchestra. You have to make allowances for recording quality in some of the discs, but the performances are never less than excellent and often rise to outstanding. His K488 is a Desert Island choice for me. The slow movement never fails to send shivers down my spine.
Mozart Piano Concerto set: I add another vote for Andras Schiff. Wonderful alive performances and the orchestral contribution under Sandor Vegh provides more than just an accompaniment, in the best possible way.
Perahia is great. I haven’t heard all of the Schiff, only K466 and K467 but I would think it is great too. I also enjoy Uchida/Tate from 1980s on Philips. For a modern recording Bavouzet, though not sure he has completed a full set as yet. I have regularly seen and bought Perahia and Uchida in charity shops.
Left field suggestion. I bought a set of 11 cd’s of the complete set of Mozart’s piano concertos with Carmen Piazzini and the Leningrad Soloists led by Michael Gantvarg. Really enjoyable and for £7.99 including postage!
Anne Queffélec on top of her considerable game in a fantastic recording of Mozart’s concertos nos 20 and 27. Her playing is assertive, powerful and rhythmically precise, but balanced and grounded in the music’s own natural pulse, completely in sync with the orchestra - alert but never rushed. The recording is close up but reference quality.
I agree - great performances throughout the cycle but see if you can get hold of the original records or CD editions. Sound quality varies and is never more than acceptable, but Sony gave this set a disastrous remastering when it moved to midprice, all sparkle and edge at the cost of soundstage.
Hi Graham - I haven’t in a long time! I love his work in opera (Tristan and Freischutz in particular) but never really warmed to his Beethoven, Brahms or Schubert I’m afraid. I should give him another shot.
Verdi’s I Masnadieri is about a nobleman who fell in with the wrong crowd and enthusiastically heads up a band of brigands, but whose brother is truly evil. In the end, our hero kills the love of his life while his brother escapes, against the backdrop of the highwaymen singing about their happily murderous life. The mature Verdi and a better librettist could have done justice to Schiller’s original, but at this event neither was up to it, and this must rank as one of Verdi’s weakest efforts - but even weak Verdi is very listenable and zips along full of wonderful cantilenas. Bergonzi, Caballé, Cappuccilli and Raimondi are beyond luxury casting, better than the cast of Decca’s recording with Sutherland.
The recording of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ is a thing of wonder.
The coupling, the early Third, is, shall we say, rather ‘quirky’, with some eccentrically fast speeds - you get the feeling that even the highly talented players of the Vienna Philharmonic were hanging on by their fingertips!
That said, the Schubert Third was part of the concert that CK gave with the London Symphony Orchestra on 9 June 1981, the most extraordinary concert that I ever attended (and the only orchestral concert that CK ever conducted in London).
