New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Recommended Classical Recordings
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Welcome to the Graham Slee Audio Products Owners Forum

 

Open to all owners plus those contemplating the purchase of a Graham Slee HiFi System Components audio product and wishing to use this forum's loaner program: join here (Rules on posting can be found here)

This website along with trade marks Graham Slee and HiFi System Components are owned by Cadman Enterprises Ltd


Recommended Classical Recordings

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1234 22>
Author
morris_minor View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 27 Mar 2012
Location: Surrey
Status: Offline
Points: 6015
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Apr 2015 at 5:53pm
Ah, yes, Bruce! Switched on Bach Smile

I loved this. It had a kind of fairground flavour to some of the tracks. The 'cadenza' in the Brandenburg was a thrilling listen. The follow up 'Well-Tempered Synthesiser' was almost as good, and Carlos' soundtrack to 'A Clockwork Orange' pushed the boat out for electronic music making in those pre-MIDI days.
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links
Back to Top
tg [RIP] View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Location: Sydney
Status: Offline
Points: 1866
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tg [RIP] Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Apr 2015 at 6:06pm

My browser gets a UK only page on the BBC link - probably international copyright issues.

Neville Marriner and the London Strings with Igor Kipnis for the 4 record set of Bach harpsichord concertos.

Neville Marriner  and the Academy of St Martin in the fields with Alan Loveday violin for Vivaldi the Four Seasons.

Helmut Walcha for the Art of the Fugue on DG Arkiv (stereo or mono) 2 lps


Tony G
Back to Top
morris_minor View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 27 Mar 2012
Location: Surrey
Status: Offline
Points: 6015
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2015 at 8:32am
Originally posted by tg tg wrote:

My browser gets a UK only page on the BBC link - probably international copyright issues.

Neville Marriner and the London Strings with Igor Kipnis for the 4 record set of Bach harpsichord concertos.

Neville Marriner  and the Academy of St Martin in the fields with Alan Loveday violin for Vivaldi the Four Seasons.

Helmut Walcha for the Art of the Fugue on DG Arkiv (stereo or mono) 2 lps

Pity about the link, though not surprising.

Marriner/ASMF are recommendable in most repertoire I find. Though by no means mainstream, their Argo recording of string music by Sir Michael Tippett is glorious. The 'Concerto for Double String Orchestra' is stunning on all counts, and very approachable for 'modern' music.


Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links
Back to Top
Graham Slee View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar
Retired

Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Location: South Yorkshire
Status: Offline
Points: 16298
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2015 at 9:33am
Moved this topic to the new Classical forum at 09:33 28/04/2015
That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps
Back to Top
discrete badger View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 14 Jul 2009
Status: Offline
Points: 479
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote discrete badger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2015 at 10:07pm
Aha - Switched on Bach and the Walcha Art of Fugue...

Walcha was blind and absorbed the entire Bach keyboard canon into his memory from the Braille. Most people with an excellent recall would struggle to memorise the *names* of the hundreds of works, let alone the many hours of music of the most profound depth, complexity, and technical difficulty.

Bach works on pretty much any instrumentation because the music has such fundamental qualities that it can transcend the medium in which is presented - hence the success of Switched On Bach. Bach played on via a MIDI file on a pure sine-wave generator through a cheap hi-fi makes excellent music. 

Somewhat paradoxically, though, at the same time, the music loses some of its qualities when the instrumentation departs from Bach's intentions. A good example are the trio sonatas, music of peerless quality on much the same level as the Art of Fugue, and, like that work, devised for teaching purposes! One might think that using a "real" trio, of three separate instrumentalists, as some arrangers have attempted, would somehow lead to a better result than the intended "compromise" of one performer playing all three parts simultaneously, but this is not the case. 

These sorts of paradoxes are part of the enigma of Bach. Anyone who wants to get to know music of the very highest quality should give him a chance. 
Back to Top
RichW View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 21 Jan 2013
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Points: 1471
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RichW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Apr 2015 at 2:26pm
Holst's Planet suite is an outstanding work of great contrasts.
The two versions I own sound quite different - LSO/Previn on LP (HiQ) & a CD of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra/William Steinberg on DG.

The LSO Mars is slow & menacing, the BSO version quicker with a brighter sound & magnificent
reverberation, notably the brass. A very powerful sound.
The LSO Mercury is quick & superbly balanced, the BSO version less lively.
Favourite is BSO Saturn with its almost despairing slow bass introduction &
the fading women's choir at the end of Neptune - & of course the whole piece -
is mesmerising.
Overall the BSO version edges it for me & I never tire of playing it after many years!




Edited by RichW - 30 Apr 2015 at 4:14pm
Majestic/Enigma, Accession MM & MC.
Back to Top
morris_minor View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 27 Mar 2012
Location: Surrey
Status: Offline
Points: 6015
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Apr 2015 at 3:17pm
I've 11 different recordings of The Planets and Previn's version is not one of them! Shocked How did that escape? LOL

I like the Steinberg but prefer Boult with the London Philharmonic and Handley with the Royal Philharmonic. 

A good also ran is the oft-played "hifi" Decca version with Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Phil.

Before I really "got" classical music in my teens I could never understand why you'd possibly want more than one performance of a piece of music. It's obvious when you follow a score and see the liberties than some "maestros" take in order to make the piece their own. That's apart from the way a performance makes you feel . . .

It's a good job there's no absolutely definitive way of performing a classical piece; the whole industry depends on this not being the case! Wink
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1234 22>
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.01
Copyright ©2001-2018 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.094 seconds.