Which is why Lang Lang is known in the trade as “Sparky”.
Which will only make sense to people of around my age who remember the novelty song “Sparky’s Magic Piano”!
He also picked up the nickname “Bang Bang,” for his, ahem, enthusiastic playing style.
Even so, Lang Lang’s Goldbergs are really worth hearing, idiosyncratic but thought through and certainly not the work of a clueless hack.
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Lang Lang is not my pianist of choice but I do wonder about the level of opprobrium heaped upon him. If he spreads classical music to a wider audience that is a good thing in my view.
Anyway he plays better than I (actually any average 3 year old does that).
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I think I need to give this another go. I quite enjoyed it when I heard it but wasn’t all that inspired and I thought it was rather derivative. Also long winded but I imagine that is because it is for perfomance as a ballet and is probably much better seen rather than just heard.
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I don’t understand so much the widespread bashing of Lang Lang…., as you mention the specific recording is not everybodies thing…, but it’s not just a commercial trick - it’s a work of somebody who tried a unique opening to the music.
If we look in a more general sense, yes he has a number of “special” recordings…., but in the core he is a great player. And I have seen him multiple times live and some of these evening have been magical……, especially when he played the 2nd piano concerto of Chopin live……, the best classical concert ever as I heard it….
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Cheers
EJ
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Thanks for the heads up. I heard Iestyn Davies in a wonderful live recital with lutenist Thomas Dunford last year. Somehow I’ve missed this album up to now and must give it a try.
Roger
Finished ripping and tagging the Harnoncourt/Leonhardt Bach Cantata box set. Just enough time for BWV 1.
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Finally got around to Antonini’s Haydn - just started with vol 5:
Fantastic performances, colourful, full of energy and pathos - looking forward to following this series.
Cheers
EJ
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Hi EJ, so glad you’re liking them. So far so good, with releases now up to and including volume 14. Sadly I believe we must wait until 2032 for the complete set to be released. I’m particularly looking forward to the Paris and London sets.
Antonini has also recorded an exciting set of the Beethoven symphonies with the Kammerorchester Basel, also worth hearing.
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It’s indeed a bit of a concern that the intention is to close it in 2032, a lot could have happened until then, I am also liking the series….
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I’m enjoying my latest acquisition. I bought this from a Discogs seller in Germany a month ago and it finally arrived yesterday. The discs all seem perfect. I don’t even see spindle marks, and so far (playing 0, 1, 2) they sound excellent, without any noise at all. The box is in pretty decent shape. Not perfect, but good enough (I had to repair the internal hinge before it split from age). The bas relief of Bruckner on the cover is interesting.
Anyway, Bruckner Complete Symphonies (0 - 9) with Haitink/Concertgelouw on Philips. Red label set from the 70s.
So far I enjoy them, but still have to see how I like them compared to my copy of Jochum/Staatskapelle Dresden on German EMI (which omits the "nullte). I also have the set of 1-9 with Karajan/Berliner but I’m already not a big fan of it. The Romantic is great, but typical of Karajan the recording quality sucks. I might of liked his performances better if the recording/mastering engineers had locked Herbert out of the booth.
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DG engineers let Karajan into the recording/engineering rooms, so he was able to ‘tinker’ and many of his later recordings sound pretty dreadful as a result.
John Culshaw and others at Decca didn’t let him interfere, which resulted in some great opera recordings - exemplified by ‘La Bohème’ (Berlin PO) and ‘Madam Butterfly’ (Vienna PO).
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After a standout Mozart recording, Mi-Sa Yang now proves equally at home in early 20th century works. Her Prokofiev sounds more French than Russian, but the disc starts with superb accounts of the Poulenc and Debussy sonatas.
Cheers
EJ
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Bernard Haitink really loved Bruckner. Quite late in his life, her re-recorded a number of the symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic, also for Philips, which would make a nice supplement to the big box that you have. It’s always fascinating to see how great musicians’ views of their favourite works develop over time.
Incidentally, I think that the best ever recording of any Bruckner Symphony on LP is the 1974 (?) Karl Bœhm recording of the Fourth with the Vienna Philharmonic on (surprisingly for Bœhm) Decca. The Decca engineers and producers really went to town on this, with the release on a 2LP set, so -very unusually - one movement per side. The Vienna players were on fire for that, and - from a purely sonic performance - it is one of the very best recorded and engineered LP sets that I own.
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In the early 90s he did Mahler with the Berliner, Bruckner with the Vienna Philharmonic - both cycles prematurely ended by Philips when sales numbers declined. However, Haitink went on to record innumerable performances of Bruckner’s symphonies, in particular the 7th, with various orchestras, until very late in life. The highlights remain, for me, his second recordings with the Concertgebouw of the 7th, 8th and 9th from 1979-81. These never made it into any of the box sets.
Cheers
EJ
Listening to this Weber CD rip this evening for the first time in a few years. It’s a phenomenal recording and all 4 works here are superb performances. Most of all, it’s surprising to me that Weber, pretty much a contemporary of Beethoven, was so advanced and experimental with his music. I played the Clarinet Concerto #1 and the Horn Concertino. Both sound to me like they are from a much later era than they actually are. The Horn work especially, by comparison with Mozart’s not much earlier Concertos, is playful, exploratory and focuses on fully and very musically demonstrating the sonic potential of the Horn without it ever becoming just an exercise. Wonderful music!
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I worked on several of the Weber pieces with my clarinet instructor. (I was never very good.)
I have recordings of the concertos and concertino by Sabine Meyer, Orpheus (Charlie Neidich I assume), and Sebastian Nanz.
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