Rameau - Suite No1 in A minor. Stephen Gutman. All 'good man'...

DWEEE - da - dadee.....
dweee - da - dadee.....

 

The things I do for fellow board members! During a recent conversation on Walton's First Symphony, which Alison has identified as a Ron 'specialism' (sic) she made me promise that I'd give the Haitink recording another try. I wasn't aware that it had been silvered, but found a copy in Gramex during my recent trip South. Sadly it never made its way into the bags that I left with, and a frantic phone call the following morning proved futile. It's been deleted, and there were none to be had from the usual sources, though I did eventually track down at the ever-wonderful Berkshire Record Outlet in the States. It arrived today.

Ali, when it started, I could for the life of me understand why it hadn't worked for me previously, because all seemed really excellent - until that gear-change halfway through the first movement, where he just sounds as if his brakes are stuck: I was squirming with frustration: he all but breaks the movement's back! Walton's piled-up tonalities are enough to keep the suspense screwing tighter, but this slow-motion replay is a stage of agony too much for me: it's a brave risk which just doesn't pay off AFAIC. The Scherzo's OK, but he plays the same trick again in the third movement. It's such a pity, because there is some wonderful playing going on, and some detail not often revealed. He does manage the same trick as Mackerras, placing the climax of the first movement really late, but because he's (for me) killed the impetus stone dead several minutes before, it's an empty gesture. Pity.

All is not lost though, with the coupling on the Double Forte set comprising the Second Symphony plus two overtures (Previn), and the Violin and Cello Concerti (Haendel and Tortellier respectively). The same Second Symphony and overtures turns up as the coupling on something else in the package: an EMI DVD-A of the JS-Q/LSO/Previn Belshazzar's Feast with the total programme twice: one side at 24/48 resolution, the other in Dolby 4.0 (the Belshazzar was one of EMI's SQ Quadraphonic recordings). The last goody in the order was something I never expected to see again: a DVD of a BBC2/WNET co-production of Albert Herring which was shown on one of the nights we were doing Twilight of the Gods at the Coli: we were packed into the Green Room for most of the supper interval, so saw most, though not quite all of it: I remember particularly how much the baritone playing Sid impressed everybody, and how it was predicted that he'd have a great career. I never knew his name until today: Stephen Dickson: he had a promising debut at the Met a few years later it seems, but died very young, just 40, in 1991. Although it's an American production (St Louis) there are two British stalwarts in the cast, Pauline Tinsley as Lady B and David Ward (now there was a dependable Wotan) as Sergeant Budd. It's a rather better master than some of the other opera recordings that have come from this source, and bearing in mind that the double CD set plus the DVD-A and the DVD including postage came to little more than £20, it was almost worth the mix-up in Gramex.

Bax.

The rhythmic similarity is undeniable but if a horn player starts Bruckner 4 with a DWEEE then I for one see myself as being under no obligation to retain a straight face out of respect for his/her sensibilities...

Sorry about the blurring, my score of it's really a bit big for my scanner.

A stomach-turning metaphor if I've ever heard one. Who is this Cooman? Does s/he have a first name?

Off I go, spinning Google...

Seems appropriate for this thread:

Carson Cooman's Foresight spinning for contrabass and ensemble

That does it, I'm converting to vegetarianism (re: increpatio)

But over 700 opus numbers at his age! That's a large herd of beef!

Mr Alistair Hinton is indeed acknowledged here:

http://carsoncooman.com/other.html#OTHER