So many great performances of RVW’s London Symphony #2.
Right now I’m struggling to remember a better conducted, performed or recorded version than this on vinyl. Absolutely gripping and plentifully spine tingling.
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If you enjoy that version of RVW’s ‘London’ Symphony, you may want to try the Richard Hickox version (on Chandos Records), which restores around 20 minutes’ worth of music to the score.
When first published, the ‘London’ lasted around an hour, and RVW was persuaded (rather reluctantly) to reduce its length to about 40 mins.
The late Richard Hickox discovered this story, and was given special permission by the Elgar Estate to give one public performance and make the recording (both with the LSO).
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I believe it was actually Ursula VW who gave permission initially for a recording and then for a performance. Either way it is a recording well worth listening to.
For the London Symphony, it’s got to be Previn.
Better performed and better recorded than Handley. IMHO.
I agree. Previn’s recording of the ‘London’ is very good, and well recorded too.
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Chopin ‘de l’enfance à la plénitude’, a very stylish way of saying this 2010 disc charts a course through Chopin’s music, from his earliest to last work.
Anne Queffélec’s Chopin is refined and elegant, but she isn’t a wet girl tiptoeing over the notes - where the music allows there are bottomless depths. A great recital from one of today’s best pianists.
Cheers
EJ
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Sorry but I don’t think that’s the case. Michael Kennedy, who wrote an authorised biography of the composer, said that the 1936 (final) version was what the composer wanted for posterity and the cuts and re-scorings were entirely his own choices and not forced on him by well-meaning friends. And that’s my paraphrase of part of Kennedy’s own sleeve notes to that Hickox recording of the 1914 version!
For myself, I love the Hickox recording and especially some of the excised material. But I also agree that the final version has greater symphonic logic and understand why VW wanted that left for posterity.
Roger
There is a rather lovely quote in Michael Kennedy’s “The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams” from The Times about the first performance of the finally revised version of the symphony:
“like London itself, in that the builders will not let it alone. Dr. vVughan Williams had knocked down one or two of his smaller buildings before this performnace - nothing very considerable but enough to make those who have known and loved the work for 20 years a little anxious…We do not want a shorter London Symphony… Part of the charm of the work is that, like the city which inspired it, it is not too logically planned”.
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I’ve only comparatively recently extended my classical listening from “ooh that’s nice I wonder what it is” to using Shazam then actively following my nose down the streaming rabbit hole in the same way that I do for my formerly preferred genres.
I always compare two or three different versions of any piece before saving one and an early pattern is emerging.
Symphonies and concertos. I always seem to end up with George Solti. Often paired with the Chicago SO. I find Barenboim too ponderous, Bernstein too rushed and Karajan too mechanical but George’s interpretations just seem to hit the spot, somehow. 
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I have been on an adventure to find the best Vivaldi - Quattro Stagioni this year.
I have found 2 that have made it to joint 1st place.
Gil Shaham and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Anne Sophie Mutter with Wiener Philharmoniker and Karajan conducting.
If I were to be put on the spot, I think the Anne Sophie Mutter version would just win it by a nose…
The Mutter recording with her mentor Karajan and the Vienna PO is very good, although some might find the sound of the massed Vienna strings rather lush.
I have always hoped that Decca/Argo would re-release the Alan Loveday/ASMF recording, made - so the story goes - after the musicians had refreshed themselves with a very liquid lunch!
Agree - time for some Vivaldi! There is a quiet authority in this performance that is pretty unique. It does sound a bit dated - Kremer and Abbado do not manage to keep the energy up consistently, Kremer’s tone is incisive but also unwieldy, and against today’s standards, tempos are slow, tapering off at the end of movements, and sometimes oddly chosen. Still, fun for an occasional playthrough.
Cheers
EJ
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I don’t have that recording, but I have several recordings of Rachel Podger playing Vivaldi and Bach, several with Brecon Baroque. They are a small ensemble (7 members in the photo I saw) who play one to a part (which I like). I probably wouldn’t recommend this recording as your only version of the works, but I am very happy with the recordings I own.
And by the way, they are among the best sounding recordings in my library.
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I have this version (amongst many). I find it a gripping performance and a superb recording. Much reduced forces employed here vs most recordings makes it sound almost like an entirely different work to most others. I wouldn’t want it to be the only version I owned as it’s very alternative, but I’m very glad I own it.
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The Eschers’ Dvorak is excellent, but for me draw of this disc is Tchaikovsky’s quartet - they hold back the intensity, which this work absolutely requires to not come across as a poor cousin to his sextet.
Cheers
EJ
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Thank you for your comments @KJC and @jegreenwood and yes I have other Four Seasons records like the one you mention also by Rachel Podger in the picture.
But I requested comments for the other one because it arrived recently to me, and it sounds beautifully and strangely different.
Enjoying Rachel Podger quite a bit lately.
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I’ve always liked the Haitink and LPO recording from 1987. Agree about the Hickox ‘original’ recording - excellent and has a more dreamy quality that Debussy and Ravel would have enjoyed
Lise Davidsen’s new Christmas album is very good: she has Sieglinde in her voice and oozes charisma. The voice itself is beautiful as well, reminding me more of Nina Stemme than Birgit Nilsson. The orchestral and occasional choral support is background, not once drawing attention to itself, which is a bit of a shame given Davidsen’s qualities.
Cheers
EJ
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One of the great recordings of Messiah.
Cheers
EJ
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