New page, next Beethoven symphony: no. 2. Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra are another "historically informed" performance on modern instruments. Not my favorite thing on the menu but their second symphony is really good.



DSD rip from SACD

No surprise the BIS recording is outstanding.

Angela Hewitt is a relatively recent discovery for me, and the more I listen the more I like. It seems like it is impossible for her to make a record that is not beautiful, and Volume 2 of her Scarlatti Sonatas is very beautiful indeed.



16/44 FLAC download

Pictures at an Exhibition, in Ravel's orchestration, is one of the most recorded pieces in the repertoire, and I have several versions. Bernstein with New York is a dazzling performance and Reiner's with Chicago is an amazing example of both corporate orchestral virtuosity and RCA "Living Stereo" sound. On a slightly lower step on the podium is Zubin Mehta's and the LA Phil. Spectacularly recorded by Decca in Royce Hall at UCLA.



On CD

On the same disc is a youngish Vladimir Ashkenazy playing Mussorgsky's original piano version.

I'm an old guy, pass the candle. And I won't make excuses for thinking that most of the (classical) music worth listening to was recorded 30 or more years ago. (Of course no one should make excuses for her or his preferences, but I need to say that for the bit I'm doing). But there are exceptions, and Behzod Abduraimov, a recent acquisition, is most certainly one of them. His 2021 recording of Debussy, Chopin and Mussorgsky is one of the most spellbinding recordings of anything I've ever heard. At turns dazzlingly virtuosic and meltingly poetic, Abduraimov (who is 35 years old) seems to be blessed with both unlimited technique and deep musical intelligence. And that is rare in any era.



16/44 FLAC download

More stupefyingly fantastic pianism: Martha Argerich's early recordings of Chopin and Prokofiev's fiendishly difficult Sonata No. 7. Recorded live at the Concertgebouw.



16/44 FLAC download

Quote:


We all did.

As the music director of the Berlin Philharmonic Herbert von Karajan stylized himself as the keeper of the "Standard German Repertoire." But what he was really good at was Russian music, like the Prokofiev 5th. His late 60s recording is, IMO, on the short list of his very best and is one of the classics of the gramophone. He does a masterful job of managing Prokofiev's ever shifting kaleidoscope of colour and texture, and, of course the orchestra plays like the superstars they are.



DSD download from HDTT

The DG recording is nothing special, but the HDTT transfer makes the best of it.

If you're old enough to remember the early days of CD, you might recall how some (many) of the early ones came with a label warning you about the "extreme dynamic range" of the digital recording and possible speaker damage. Of course that was mostly a joke, and long gone by 1991 when  Jesús López-Cobos and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra recorded the Bruckner 6th for Telarc.

But this is a recording actually worthy of a warning label. If you play it loud enough to hear the whispering woodwinds, then the blazing brass climaxes are going to be a serious test of your amp, speakers and perhaps your neighbor's patience.



On CD.

No surprise that 5 Decware watts and single 6 1/2" driver stand mounted Omega monitors pass with flying colours.

John Eliot Gardiner's 1990 recording Beethoven's towering Missa Solemnis was a major revelation. It showed that the "period performance" movement in general, and JEG in particular was ready to have a serious conversation about a work that is my personal favorite piece ever written, and one of the most profound and subtle creations of the human intellect.

His second recording, from 2013 is even better.



On CD.

It burns white hot, but also glows with a soft inner light. And while the notorious acoustics of London's Barbican don't do it any favors, both the chorus and soloist sound phenomenal as they negotiate Beethoven's diabolical vocal parts.