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CAJames

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Re: Classical Music Thread
Reply #900 - 04/23/25 at 15:25:43

Quote:

Posted by: Geno Posted on: Yesterday at 12:11:54

My favorite classical page on YouTube is called, Classical Music/ /Reference Recording...

That is a fascinating channel. Some of the recordings there are very familiar, others are by artists and/or composers completely unknown to me. Thanks for the tip, I imagine I'll be spending quite a bit of time there.

One of the first things I noticed on the channel was Furtwangler's cycle of Beethoven symphonies on EMI. Which is unfortunate because it is (mostly) not his best work, not by a long shot. These are (mostly) studio recordings and while the sound is pretty good the interpretations are (mostly) missing the "Furtwangler magic." The exception is the 9th, recorded live at the reopening of the Bayreuth Festival after WWII. It is, along with Tristan, probably the best known of Furtwangler's recordings and clearly shows what the shouting is all about. And the sound is pretty good, way better than the WWII 9th.

On CD.

It is one of the first Furtwangler recordings I bought after I discovered him on a NPR radio show driving to work one morning.

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CAJames

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Re: Classical Music Thread
Reply #901 - 04/23/25 at 16:14:46

Since we're at the top of a new page and need Beethoven's 7th, I give you Wilhelm Furtwangler.

On CD.

It was a morning like most other mornings in 1985. I was driving to work on the 405 freeway and turned on the local classical music station to hear the most amazing Beethoven's 7th I had ever heard in my (relatively) young life. The 7th was at that time my favorite Beethoven symphony, or classical piece of any kind, and while I had heard several recordings, none of them ever seemed exactly right, until that one. When it was over and the announcer said it was a new reissue of Wilhelm Furtwangler on CD I knew I needed to learn more about this guy and picked up this CD on the way home.

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Geno Seasoned Member Without music, life would be a mistake. Posts: 2219	Re: Classical Music Thread Reply #902 - 04/24/25 at 17:29:10
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CAJames

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Re: Classical Music Thread
Reply #903 - 04/24/25 at 21:59:09

I got this recording more for Schwanda the Bagpiper than the Prokofiev or Bizet, although they are all really good.

16/44 FLAC download.

These are late 40s recordings, and while they are good for the time they don't really do the music or the performances justice. You can certainly hear virtuosity of the Philadelphia Orchestra, but you might need to squint. These pieces really deserve a great recording.

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CAJames

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Re: Classical Music Thread
Reply #904 - 04/25/25 at 20:22:31

I feel like "Preludes" are classical music's pop songs. They are short, simple (in construction, definitely not simple to play) and tuneful. A lot of composers, esp. pianist-composers, wrote them but the ones that have stuck in the standard repertoire start with Bach (plus bonus fugues) and include Chopin, Debussy and of course Rachmaninoff.

16/44 FLAC download.

The c-sharp Minor Prelude is probably the closest competition to the Moonlight Sonata for "most popular piano piece" but the composer hated it. Presumably because that is all anyone wanted him to play. But all 24 of them are well worth knowing.

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CAJames

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Re: Classical Music Thread
Reply #905 - 04/26/25 at 15:17:59

Mahler's 9th is just flat out genius, YMMV. From the delicate opening to the virtuoso middle that is at times ironic, creepy and psychedelic to the unearthly quiet as the last bars fade away into the void it is as good as music can be.

On CD.

Jesus Lopez-Cabos and the Cincinnati Symphony aren't on anyone's short list for great Mahler tradition but they should be. This is a leisurely performance that never seems slow and explores every nuance of the score, abetted by typically TOTL Telarc sound.

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CAJames

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Re: Classical Music Thread
Reply #906 - 04/27/25 at 16:32:52

A lot of people say Beethoven's Diabelli Variations is the composer's greatest keyboard composition. It certainly is an impressive tour du force of imagination and technique, but I struggle to make sense of it musically.

16/44 FLAC download

Stephen Kovacevich does a great job of presenting it as more than just the sum of its parts.

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CAJames

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Re: Classical Music Thread
Reply #907 - Yesterday at 15:27:03

I've spilled a lot of virtual ink on Wilhelm Furtwangler lately, and now my other favorite conductor, Ferenc Fricsay. Unfortunately he died much too young and his recordings remain mostly on the fringe of the classical listening world, but many of them are remarkable.

On CD from the Ferenc Fricsay box.

Schubert's Unfinished Symphony is one of the most recorded works in the repertoire, and I have a bunch of them, but this is my favorite. Recorded in good mono sound it is a journey from darkness to light like no other.

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CAJames

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Re: Classical Music Thread
Reply #908 - Yesterday at 21:29:37

The current fashion is to play Bruckner's monumental 8th symphony with the reverence and solemnity typically reserved for Bach's Passions. But that hasn't always been the case.

On CD.

A couple generations ago conductors like Eugen Jochum took a more lyrical approach to the 8th. While the big moments certainly get their due, the overall effect less prayerful, more picnic. And the early stereo sound on this CD is excellent.

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