Thanks Tony, and Happy New Year to you, and everyone else as well.

This has been a fun project, and l look forward to lots of posts in 2024.

Mozart's piano concertos are among the best stuff he, or anyone, has ever written, YMMV. And like potato chips, I can't stop at just one.



On CD.

The last few days I've been binging several of Alfred Brendel's performances, with typically unobjectionable accompaniment from the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Brendel's might not be the most "personal" of the Mozart Concerto cycles out there, but then Mozart's work has plenty of personality already written in.

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Yes. I don't know why Everest doesn't have the same reputation as e.g. RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence because a lot of it sounds spectacular.



On CD.

I got this CD used for a couple of bucks many years ago and was blown away by both the sound and the performance. Now the Everest catalog is available for streaming or downloads.

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A lot of Stravinsky is actually pretty accessible. Petrouchka is the second of the three works he wrote for Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes at the very beginning of his career. Sandwiched between Firebird (also very accessible) and Rite of Spring (which is a tough nut to crack). The Symphony in 3 Movements is from his middle, neo-classical period that also includes Pulcinella and my favorite Stravinsky piece, Symphony of Psalms. Funny story, it was written on a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Stravinsky dedicated the piece to "the glory of God and the Boston Symphony." And Koussevitzky never forgave Stravinsky for giving the orchestra second billing.



On CD. For me it is one of the great pieces of "sacred" music, not just of the 20th Century but of all time. YMMV. And the Czech Philharmonic and (especially) Chorus really play the bejesus out of it.

I didn't think I liked (most) Stravinsky for a long time, but he finally clicked a few years ago. I'm still not crazy about Rite of Spring, but in my world Stravinsky is gaining on Prokofiev and Bartok as my favorite 20th century composers.

2021 was the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky's passing. The kind of anniversary that record companies celebrate by releasing box sets, like Leonard Bernstein's recordings for CBS/Sony



On CD.

Lenny was good at a lot of stuff, and he was particularly good at Stravinsky. In fact this box went a long way to improving my overall appreciation, not to mention familiarity, with and for Stravinsky.

Today I listened to Oedipus rex, which is Stravinsky's riff on Opera Seria, the somewhat archaic form that Mozart famously described as "people so lofty they shit marble" in Amadeus. It is from the beginning of Stravinsky's neo-classical period, so it isn't dissonant, but I would call it abstract, and more about rhythm and sonority than about melody. It is pretty unique, and it took a couple of listenings before it clicked. But now I'm sold on it and think it is one of Stravinsky's most original and interesting pieces. YMMV.

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Thanks. I am too!

Home for a few days and made some changes.  Switched out my Zens to the Torii that is now hooked up to my Err’s.  Replaced my tired GL KT66 and  moved to the GL KT77’s.  

This is the first time I’m hearing the KT77’s in my system.  Even though they are breaking in, I can say  that I don’t foresee me ever going back to the KT66’s.  Needless to say I am playing all genres of music to test out the new tubes.  I’m enjoying the tone in the upper register that the KT77’s are bringing out.  More to come.

For now I am enjoying Stravinsky’s work that popped up as a recommendation in Roon.  Just looked back and saw CAJames CD of Stravinsky with Bernstein.  Going to switch over and give that a listen.  

James,

The Stravinsky violin concerto was surprisingly very good.  I am familiar Prokofiev but don’t listen to a lot of violin in general.  I enjoy the cello way more.  

Dom

I also found the Stravinsky Violin Concerto in my box set (conducted by Stravinsky, and with Issac Stern as violinist).  

The starting chord on the first three movements is pretty striking.  I looked up the composition on Wikepedia, and I wonder if that opening chord is what Stravinsky called the "passport to the concerto."  Per Wikipedia, the violinist that the work was commissioned for (Samuel Dushkin) initially thought the chord was unplayable ("to Stravinsky's disappointment"), but found it to be easy to play once he tried it.

Just some "color" for the discussion!

Extra fancy piano playing:



DSD rip from SACD.

Georges Cziffra plays Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies. They don't make them like this anymore.

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Indeed. I have one other, Bruckner. I kept thinking I should get more but never did...and then they were gone.

Regarding the EMI SACD sets, I have three others and there are some affordable copies available via discogs.com

https://www.discogs.com/label/758522-Signature-Collection

I'm not a big Bach person.

I actually studied the development of the gambas a few years ago. I'm aware of differences. I have actually heard a few different artists with differing gambas and own cds of others and have to say that I do llke the sound of those I have heard. The ones I've encountered performed and recorded are not bad sounding. What intrigues me most about them are the fact that they are fretted.

I have about 20 discs featuring gamba music. . . that's probably enough for me for some time!

I listen more to post Bach(s) music. Bach's music just has rarely "reached" me. Maybe I was too heavily influenced by its absence in my father's collection, other than the cello pieces he was not too interested.

No I haven't played one. I do know a musician in Austin who has one, I have seen several other performances, and maybe I am lucky but none of those that I have heard are "bovine" sounding in any way. I perhaps have not heard real period ones. Which is okay.

My other EMI Classic SACD:



DSD rip from SACD.

I haven't listened to this recording in years. Not since before I discovered Decware and was still spinning physical SACDs. It sounds way better now. Way way better.

Trying to expose my daughter to more classical music.  This one is good because it’s more mainstream.  Currently streaming this in Roon that was pulled from Qobuz.  

James…yes it’s really good.  Lot of favorites on here and of course Swan Lake and the Night of Bald Mountain always stands out.  Going to give Ferenc Fricsay’s album listen tomorrow.

Beethoven's Cello Sonatas are divided across his 3 periods. 1 and 2 from the early "classical" period, 3 from the middle "heroic" and 4 and 5 from the late "introspective." The cello is a peculiar solo instrument because its sound tends to get swallowed up by e.g. an orchestra or modern grand piano. So the recording studio is often better than a live concert in this regard. I was listening to my favorite cellist, Janos Starker play Sonatas 2 and 3 from the Warner Icon box.



On CD.

This is a great collection of (mostly) standard repertoire and some encores or bon-bons.

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The Nutcracker is so ubiquitous it is almost hard for me to think of it as "classical" music, although it most certainly is.

I'm curious what your daughter thinks of classical music at this point? Its funny to me that in popular culture it seems like it is usually the woman who drags her man to the symphony or ballet, but in my experience girls were more interested in going to a ballgame than the symphony with me. They would go, but more as an opportunity to get dressed up and go out to dinner rather than for the music. But I digress...

I don't necessarily recommend Bruckner as "classical music for people who don't think they like classical music" although I was hooked on it the first time I heard it.



DSD rip of Sony Japan SACDs.

And even among Bruckner fans Sergiu Celibidache is pretty far out there. He is (in)famous for taking agonizingly slow tempos, which I think works for him in Bruckner, but pretty much no where else.

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Hi Tony. Often the Japanese remasterings (like this one) are only available on physical media. I looked for it on the places I usually get downloads and it isn't available, so I bought it on Amazon from a seller in Japan. I can't play SACDs anymore (long story) so I rip them and play the files. That also saves shelf space.

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Good question, and the answer depends on the context, but generally each is in fact a complete work. In some cases "No.s" can refer to complete symphonies or sonatas or concertos. E.g. Bruckner symphonies No.6-8 (out of 9 total). Or Mozart Piano Concertos No. 23 and 25 (out of 27 total). Or a grouping of similar works: Rachmaninov's Preludes No.s 3,6,12 and 18 (out of many he wrote over his lifetime). Or, it can refer to the numbers used when a work is published. Each published "work" is given an Opus number, but if several similar works are published together they can be given the same Opus and identified by Number. For example Beethoven published his 3 Razumovsky Quartets as Opus 59. No.s 1-3, but they are No.s 7-9 of his 16 total string quartet output.

HTH.

That's cool Dom. 7th grade was when I got serious about music, playing in band every day. And I met some of my best friends to this day there.  I started playing in youth orchestra around 9th grade. My parents insisted on me taking piano lessons before that, but that wasn't really my thing. I think playing more than one note at time  was too confusing, and if you play the piano they sort of expect you to be able to sing.

Bartok, like Prokofiev, was a virtuoso pianist and also like Prokofiev his piano concertos are among the most difficult ever written. His first and second can be a little offputting on the first or second hearings, although they are very rewarding. The third however is both rewarding and very accessible, and should be much more popular than it is. In general pianists won't record them unless they are "all in" so most of the recordings are very good.



On CD.

Probably my favorite is Geza Anda and Ferenc Fricsay, from the big Fricsay box.

More Ravel. Piano concerto in G major.

I love the French Romantic/impressionists. Ravel, Debussy, Saint-Saens, Faure, etc. Just can’t get enough.

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  Very cool box set!!!

Of course no discussion of 20th century piano concertos would be complete without Gershwin. Ravel was a big fan and so am I.



DSD rip from SACD.

The fact that Rhapsody in Blue has the best clarinet part ever written has (almost) nothing to do with my enthusiasm.

I plan on going thru the Beethoven anniversary box set with the new second system. Actually this thread along with another post sparked me to patch the system together strictly for classical music.
The box set still needs cleaned. Played box IX fist album yesterday for a test and was impressed on how well it sounded in the family room!

Cheers!

Yes, CAJames, that is the set. Found the complete box set last spring in very good condition. It is the US pressing I believe. Some say that the German one is better.

Interesting how this all came about. Last winter I posted on this forum how should my remaining 2023 audio budget be spent. You and a couple others said spend it on music. Took that idea and went wild purchasing tapes, 78s, and vinyl. Ended up with over 1500 pieces. Even spent some of this years audio mad money on equipment to play it on. Then.....I was updating the family room with memorabilia of 2023's acquisitions....a thread was posted titled "another new system"....the coffee table looked bare and the thought came that it needed a table book....hmmmmm....the Beethoven box set has a nice table book, the entertainment center in the family room is void a TV, there should be enough equipment idle around here to patch a system in that space. Soooooo....$200 and two days -wala a new system is born to play classical muse.

Thanks all!
John