A performance on DVD from a 1992 BBC transmission of Shostakovitch's 24 Preludes & Fugues, Op 87 by Tatiana Nikolayeva.   She thrilled us at the Wigmore Hall, a couple of years earlier, and received the rare accolade of a standing ovation.   A lovely warm presence, too.  Reminded me so much of the distinguished Russian actress, Maria Ouspenskaya ((1876-1949) who brought the same majestic presence and a sense of earthy wisdom to so many Hollywood epics in the late 30s and throughout the 40s:  "The Rains Came" (1939) and "King's Row" (1941).

The DVD is on the Classic archive label.   The recital is timed at 150 mins and the bonus material from the label's archive includes:

       Michelangeli (1981)       Beethoven Piano Sonata, No 12, Op 26
       Richter  (1989)             Chopin Etude Op 10, No 2   
       Weissenberg (1965)       Stravinsky Petrushka  Danse Russe

Exceptional value at less than £10 from hmv.online


 

Thanks, Bryn.   I naturally defer to your technical proficiency and the quality of the sound recording fully complements Nikolayeva's mastery and, yes, wit!   We've had had to wait some time for the right mix of picture and sound and this DVD is certainly a step in the right direction.  A most compulsive experience.

48k samples per second. I don't approve of the use of Hz for sample rate. It is a unit of wave motion frequency, is it not?

A rather isolationist stand surely, though, when the industry has adopted Hz (whether or not it's strictly accurate)?

Brahms, Symphony no.4/Vienna PO/Carlos Kleiber. probably the best recording of this fine work?

Since Coro was so persuasively recommended by a couple of members I trust, and I'd never quite got round to it, I found this alternative recording - live from the second performance before the piece was revised - at a good price. An added advantage is the virtuoso performance of the amazing Cathy Berberian in Epifanie, proving beyond all doubt that here was a singer who needed no studio artifice to deliver the most demanding of vocal lines. Excellent sound, a well-filled disc, both works revealing a rich and communicative aural imagination, emotional power and frequently beauty: the only drawback I can think of is that it's already sent me surfing to find the commercial recordings.

 Thanks, guys.

An endearing 2CD disc from Albion Records for less than a tenner; hmv.online.

             Ralph Vaughan Williams:  Music in the Heart

             Serenade to Music; RFH, Nov 1951.    Liverpool P.O. conducted by RVW.
             Stiles Allen, Isobel Baillie, Elsie Suddaby, Muriel Brunskill, Astra Desmond, Mary Jarred,
             Heddle Nash, Norman Allin, Robert Easton, Roy Henderson & Harold Williams  - all from
             the first performance conducted by Sir Henry Wood in 1938.   The new team included
             Ena Mitchell, Gladys Ripley, William Herbert, Richard Lewis and Stephen Manton.

             The Pilgrim's Journey - A Cantata (arr by Roy Douglas); a 54 minute extract, recorded 
             at Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, New York City, on 4 April 1965.

 
             The bonus disc - a real highlight - is a 28 minute talk by RVW on The Teachings of Parry
             and Stanford, edited from a broadcast on 17 November 1955.   So humorous
             and affectionate; lovely to hear his voice again.

             Finally, a brief excerpt from the Funeral Service of RVW at Westminster Abbey,
             19 September 1958.
             
             

           
             

I've spun this a few times over the last three days; it's incredibly good and makes the old credit card itchy for the imminent release of Nos.3 & 6!