The classical music thread

Really enjoying a morning of listening to Joseph Haydn.


On CD.


On SACD.

On CD

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That Bernstein is my go-to. It is not “dull” like the Schumann, EJ!! :grinning:

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I enjoy this set.

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Me too - It’s a very good complete set with better sound than some of those recorded decades ago

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Needed to develop my Mstislav Rostropovich and Joseph Haydn collection:

All on CD :cd:

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Such a wonderful cello player and these are all great recordings and masters.

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A slight repeat of my post in the new vinyl thread, but just as a heads up to the classical vinyl die-hards that Hyperion are entering the fray with 5 new Vinyl issues at £18 each for Sept 20th release. I’ve just preordered these 2 to test the waters.
The Presto Music site has details if you care.


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Hey, I generally love Bernstein’s work, his Beethoven / Vienna, Wagner’s Tristan and other recordings are near top of my list. It’s just that I don’t get along with his Schumann! :slight_smile:


A reassessment of Brautigam’s Schubert impromptus, now played on my new Melco N50 (connected to Accuphase preamp over high quality USB). The Melco is one of the best digital sources I’ve yet heard and it adds that last bit of realism to this record to transform it from OK to truly excellent.

Cheers
EJ

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Thanks for responding - no offense taken! There probably are better Schumann recordings, but I think it is hard not to love a recording that you grow up with, even with its flaws. It’s like spending time with an old friend. In my case my grandfather was a huge Bernstein fan and my first hearings of a lot of things were Bernstein recordings on my grandfather’s turntable. So, Bernstein recordings of Schumann, Mahler, Dvorak, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Sibelius, Copland and many others are a happy part of the fabric of my musical experience. I find that on this board I am often the one who recommends Bernstein alongside all the Kleiber, Haitink, Karajan, Furtwangler, etc. recordings!

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Aapo Häkkinen and Pierre Hantäi in small scale, unadorned performances of Bach’s concertos for two keyboards. I like Bach to be performed with soul, and when it comes to the harpsichord concertos, Häkkinen is the player to beat.

Cheers
EJ

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For my parents, and probably their generation, it was basically Bernstein vs Karajan, wasn’t it? My folks also were in the Bernstein camp. Didn’t really rub off on me, as I was largely steered by the record shop where I spent hours every week, feeding my addiction to opera. Symphonies came much later, first Bruckner and Sibelius and only now (decades later) discovering Brahms and Schumann, Shostakovich and Mahler. Without a lot of conductorial bias :slight_smile:

Cheers
EJ

Clemenza di Tito, with its at-the-time old fashioned structure and modern sound, remains the odd one out in Mozart’s mature opera lineup, but it’s really a great listen. This recording from a few years ago is all round excellent: the ladies in particular sound like they just strolled in from Cosi, and Nicky Spence, for once, has the right voice (but not quite the agility) for Titus.

Cheers
EJ

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I have just downloaded this very complete set of the Bruckner symphonies, including different versions of some, in high res 48Khz quality from Qobuz, cost £21.76! I think many of these performances have been highly acclaimed. The 18 CD set is on sale for £87.00 via another source, so this would seem to be an incredible bargain.

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Update on this Bruckner download. I’ve had the chance now to look at the metadata which is all to pot. I’ll need to do a lot of editing so they play in sequence. I am using Jaikoz for this purpose. OK it’s a lot cheaper than buying the CDs but there’s work to do before I can play them. I hope anyone else who downloads this has better experience. Do please provide feedback.

I think I will have to store them for each individual performance rather than as a complete set. That should solve the problem.

I’m a big fan of Dave Hurwitz on YouTube. His knowledge of classical music recordings is extraordinary.
He’s reviewed several of Poschner’s Bruckner Symphonies on his channel.
You may be interested in having a look -

https://www.youtube.com/@DavesClassicalGuide/search?query=bruckner%20poschner

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Sometimes I have a very bad experience with this big sets and it requires an exceptional amount of time to get it right. This one was pretty ok for me. As always I also put in the original covers etc, so it’s nicer presented and better sorted for my purposes. Currently playing the Nullte……thanks for the tip…

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Thanks pete84. Dave Hurwitz is always entertaining and says it as he sees (hears?) it. I’ll try to catch some of these reviews later.

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Järvi’s second recording of Bruckner’s 9th.

Cheers
EJ

And how is it better or worse than his first recording…