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Ron Dough
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« Reply #510 on: 23:55:11, 29-11-2007 » |
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You didn't think I'd let the evening go without a visit to Maxim's No.4, now, did you? It is, as is the rest of the set, live, and has the applause at the end to prove it (which No.2 doesn't.) It has the immediate advantage of a clear open recording with apparently minimalist miking and no obvious fiddling with levels, despite which audience noise is hardly perceptible. It's obviously well prepared, with phrasing detailed more scrupulously than on any other recording I can think of, and in the main very well played. Tempi are again well judged, and the commitment invites involvement on the part of the listener.
A couple of niggles though: a strange hiatus before the mad fugue in (i), and evident tiredness by the climax of (iii): Maxim doesn't attempt to attain the metronome marking at this point, and the heartbeat pulses are sadly untidy throughout: you'd never know that the harps and double basses (on opposite side of the stage) were intended to be unison; the whole winding-down is soggy and sagging. On the other hand, there's much here which is far clearer than any of the other recordings I know (listed below, with timings). I even had to dig out the score and check some points after which weren't as I'd expected. Even the celesta's ladder of thirds seemed wrong, too loud (which the score confirmed) but apparently missing a note - the last Eb before the high G which ends the phrase. It just wasn't there. i'm rather staggered to discover it's not in the score either: has my brain been inserting this extra note every previous time I've heard the piece, or is there a variant edition? More research needed, I fear.
So: revelatory in places, but ultimately unlikely to topple KK (though which?) from my affections.
Comparative Timings
Kondrashin, 1962:............. i: 25'34 ii: 08'30 iii: 25'26
Kondrashin (Live), 1963:.... i: 25’57 ii: 08’02 iii: 25’20
Kegel (Live), 1969:............ i: 26'29 ii: 07'59 iii: 26'37
Kondrashin (Live), 1971:......i: 24'44 ii: 08'18 iii: 24'48
Previn, 1976:.....................i: 26'06 ii: 08'30 iii: 25'53
Haitink 1979:.....................i: 28'51 ii: 09'06 iii: 29'36
Rozhdestvensky, 1984:........i: 27'35 ii: 09'25 iii: 28'44
Ashkenazy, 1989:...............i: 25'16 ii: 08'50 iii: 24'09
Rostropovich, 1992:............i: 28’35 ii: 08’33 iii: 27’09
Chung, 1994:....................i: 27’04 ii: 08’08 iii: 25’21
Rattle, 1995:.....................i:27’44 ii: 08’47 iii: 25’47
Barshai, 1996:...................i: 27'15 ii: 08'45 iii: 26'04
Rostropovich (Live), 1998:...i: 27'58 ii: 08'35 iii: 27'30
Shostakovich (Live), 1998:...i: 27'31 ii: 08'34 iii: 28'51
Sinaisky (Live), 2000:.........i: 27'01 ii: 08'53 iii: 27'56
Jansons, 2004:...................i: 28'03 ii: 08'43 iii: 27'23
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #511 on: 00:09:52, 30-11-2007 » |
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Thanks for that tempting foretaste, Ron. Mine was dispatched, according to the email, on Monday, but no sign as yet. I expect that Parcelforce will do one of their Sunday 'catch up' deliveries!
I especially look forward to hearing that No.2 with its wind-up siren.
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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Bryn
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« Reply #512 on: 12:22:11, 03-01-2008 » |
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It's a while since anything was added to this thread, but on opening my copy of the latest Europadisc list this morning, the following caught my eye:
Shostakovich Symphony 15 for Piano Trio & 13 Percussion Insts, Piano Trios 1 & 2
This looks like one for the Dough. It's on Profil PH 08014 (£8.45).
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #513 on: 12:24:10, 03-01-2008 » |
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I saw that a couple of weeks back, Bryn, but I'm not that tempted right now....
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #514 on: 00:40:40, 04-01-2008 » |
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Also on the theme of the Symphony No.15, the January edition of Gramophone studies recordings of the composition in depth and the new Maxim S performance with the Prague Symphony Orchestra comes out on top.
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #515 on: 13:55:47, 14-01-2008 » |
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Shostakovich: Trio in E minor Op 67 is on aftternoon today. It is a good trio. It is dedicated to Sollertinsky who was called troubadur of formalists. I loved performance by Florestan trio.  I am glad I had time to listen. |
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« Last Edit: 14:03:23, 14-01-2008 by trained-pianist »
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time_is_now
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« Reply #516 on: 18:30:33, 14-01-2008 » |
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The lady in the middle doesn't have an instrument. Is she a singer then?
Why was he called 'the troubadour of formalists', t-p? I'm fascinated! ...
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #517 on: 19:02:18, 14-01-2008 » |
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The lady in the middle is a pianist.
Sollertinsky was director of Leningrad concerthall (I think). He was brilliant journalist and he loved Mahler (among others).
He was a friend of Shostakovich and in his articles promoted Shostakovich. That made his the troubadour of formalists for sure.
When you come accross some of the names people were called in News papers it sounds unreal and comical, but it was not funny then.
Someone has to make a list of the names for people and other things they used in News Papers.
For example, genetic was called a call girl of the imperialists.
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #518 on: 19:29:09, 14-01-2008 » |
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The lady in the middle doesn't have an instrument. Is she a singer then?
Arts Council cuts. She has to play the piano part on the spoons until money can be found for a piano. Tragic, but true. |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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time_is_now
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« Reply #519 on: 01:19:18, 17-01-2008 » |
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Anyone able to offer any thoughts on this set (which is on offer for £21 at MDT, although that doesn't seem to be much of an offer, given the current and presumably permanent Amazon price)? |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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C Dish
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« Reply #520 on: 01:29:55, 17-01-2008 » |
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Anyone able to offer any thoughts on this set (which is on offer for £21 at MDT, although that doesn't seem to be much of an offer, given the current and presumably permanent Amazon price)? The Borodins have been the go-to ensemble for me w/Shosti's sq's, but I'd be glad to find out more about the alternatives (are there any?) -- their enregistration of the Piano Quintet in G minor with Sv. Richter is a big favourite of mine. |
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inert fig here
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Evan Johnson
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« Reply #521 on: 01:37:25, 17-01-2008 » |
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Anyone able to offer any thoughts on this set (which is on offer for £21 at MDT, although that doesn't seem to be much of an offer, given the current and presumably permanent Amazon price)? The Borodins have been the go-to ensemble for me w/Shosti's sq's, but I'd be glad to find out more about the alternatives (are there any?) -- their enregistration of the Piano Quintet in G minor with Sv. Richter is a big favourite of mine. Borodins are my pals also, but there are alternatives -- there's a set by the Fitzwilliam Quartet that can be had ridiculously cheap if you hunt around (I've seen it on sale, shrink-wrapped, in stores for about ten dollars, for some reason). |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #522 on: 01:50:16, 17-01-2008 » |
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There is another very nice box of the Shostakovich SQ's by the Rubio 4tet, on the Brilliant Classics label, on five disks.
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #523 on: 15:27:21, 18-01-2008 » |
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It's worth looking out for the set on Regis (licensed from Olympia) by the Shostakovich Quartet: http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//RRC5001.htm - I picked mine up for about £10; I think it was in MDC.  |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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