Hi Allen,
Now that's an offer I cannot refuse! Would love to listen to a few for sure. I'll shoot you an email with my phone number and we can discuss further.
Thanks a lot.
Classical Music Only | What You're Listening to Now, Or Very Recently | Any Mediums :
- Thread starter NorthStar
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Hi Allen,
Now that's an offer I cannot refuse! Would love to listen to a few for sure. I'll shoot you an email with my phone number and we can discuss further.
Thanks a lot.
Most certainly Allen! I'm no expert but do love this music I'm uncovering for myself and am glad to share.
One of my all time favorites is the Mozart No.21 and though I have at least one of the Decca Stereo versions, am looking forward to hopefully finding one (or more) of the 21's in mono format too.
Haydn No.95 & No.96, LPO Eugen Jochum - DG 2530-420:
The soaring (and oft times sawing) strings combined with the woodwind and horn complements so common to the numerous Haydn symphonies are the first thing that grab my attention to let me know it is Haydn. Then....come the delicate and gentle strings (sometimes plucked) and usually backed by a startling burst of some kind. Yes, I love the music of Haydn.
The tempo of the Haydn symphonic compositions are so sweet to my ears.
The soaring (and oft times sawing) strings combined with the woodwind and horn complements so common to the numerous Haydn symphonies are the first thing that grab my attention to let me know it is Haydn. Then....come the delicate and gentle strings (sometimes plucked) and usually backed by a startling burst of some kind. Yes, I love the music of Haydn.
The tempo of the Haydn symphonic compositions are so sweet to my ears.
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Look at him long enough and I see a wan smile and a twinkle in his eye. WK can be both sublime and lighthearted, sometimes the latter a wee more so than my taste, which is where I found his LvB 4th Piano Concerto: a solid second to Gould w/ Bernstein. How fortunate you are to have an artist as your spouse.
Brahms Violin Concerto in D. Op.77, Heifetz, Reiner CSO - RCA LM-1903:
Brilliant playing by the great Jascha Heifetz on this older RCA Shaded Dog. These older Shaded Dog's with the dark maroon label generally have a very quiet background. Highly recommended even if they are only mono.
Brilliant playing by the great Jascha Heifetz on this older RCA Shaded Dog. These older Shaded Dog's with the dark maroon label generally have a very quiet background. Highly recommended even if they are only mono.
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Mozart Sonatas for Piano & Violin in F Major, K.377, in B Flat Major, K.454 - Seemann & Schneiderhan- Decca pink label promo DL-9862:
A very intimate recording of these Mozart sonatas whereby the piano plays off the violin and the violin plays off the piano. Light hearted and beautiful yet serious and beautiful.
A very intimate recording of these Mozart sonatas whereby the piano plays off the violin and the violin plays off the piano. Light hearted and beautiful yet serious and beautiful.
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Stringreen
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Heifitz is a wonderful violinist, but all too often his performances lack the soul of what the composer is saying. I just heard a performance of the Brahms from a local violinist that was wonderful...got to the meat of the music. The ability of managing the instrument goes without writing.
I agree that at times he can be focused on the technical playing to an extent, but not so sure his playing lacks soul of the composition.
That's great!
What?
Schmidt-Isserstedt had an interesting back story to how he became conductor of the NWDR (formerly Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra). In the days before WWII, Schmidt-Isserstedt sent his Jewish wife and son to England to protect them. After the war, since he had not been a Nazi sympathizer (as was claimed for Furtwangler, Karajan and others), the Allies had Schmidt-Isserstedt appointed to assemble and direct the Hamburg Orchestra. Hamburg Radio was the only radio station still functional after the war. In England, his son took the name Erik Smith and grew up to be first a producer for Decca, and then moved to head the Artists and Repertoire for Philips, where he elevated them to a new level. In the first decade of stereo, Erik produced many of his father's recordings for Decca, including the complete Beethoven symphonies.
Connecting with the Brahms Violin Concerto thread, my favorite recording, with violinist Ginette Neveu, happens to have Schmidt-Isserstedt conducting the NWDR, back in 1948, when they were still the Hamburg Radio SO. It is a passionate performance in surprising good sound, by a woman whose life was cut short only a year later in a plane crash, at the age of 30. When she was 16, in 1935, she entered the renowned Wienawski Violin Competition winning first prize over 180 competitors, including the heavily favored 27 year old David Oistrakh who came in second. For many years, publications from Soviet Union would credit Oistrakh with winning the competition!
Shortly before her 1948 Brahms performance, she wrote "I am aware of a new evolution taking place within me. May it lift me higher in my art."
I have two copies of the recording, one on Educational Media Associates RR-550, a two record set, including the Beethoven Violin Concerto, recorded in a broadcast in 1949, only a month before her death. The other, which I prefer, is on STIL 0305 S48, a rare French label. Both are mono, of course, released in 1980 and 1981, from tapes taken of the broadcasts. There is another, earlier recording of Neveu playing the Brahms, one of many studio recordings she did for EMI, but this one with Schmidt-Isserstedt is the one to get. I checked on the web and there is a CD version on Acanta. I have copied part of the review of it from Fanfare Magazine.
"BRAHMS Violin Concerto • Ginette Neveu (vn); Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, cond; North German RSO • ACANTA 233585, mono (40:05) Live: Hamburg 5/3/1948
This is an absolutely splendid reissue of Neveu’s May 1948 performance of the Brahms Concerto. Those already familiar with this version don’t need to be told of its virtues, which include a wonderful singing tone, impassioned playing without any rough bowing, and an almost transcendent luminosity to Neveu’s phrasing, but it should be pointed out that this live performance is even more spacious and, in places, more intense than her 1946 studio recording... The sound on this Acanta release borders on the spectacular for a 1948 broadcast: spacious, clear, and warm all at the same time. It doesn’t sound so much as if she is in the room with you than as if you are at the concert hall listening to her play. Seldom has Neveu’s sound been captured so realistically, thus for her many fans this should be a must-get item. My lone complaint is that, at 40 minutes, it’s a pretty short CD for the money."
Larry
Hi Larry,
Thank you for your contributions and historic-fill throughout this thread. It's not only interesting material that you're providing, but educational in a focused fashion.
I've always been a poor learner when educational subjects don't interest me but as I delve into and listen to the various pressings within this "classical" music LP library, I find myself yearning for the back stories and history of not only composers, but the artists performing these works as well. The liner notes (or back of the album cover notes) of these older mono recordings are a fascinating read very much like your additions here.
Though the Schubert No.5 Schmidt-Isserstedt referenced above is likely not in the same league as the Brahms you've shared above, it too is a good example of his capabilities with the orchestra. It would appear that Schmidt-Isserstedt was a fine director with a vision himself.
Please continue your contributions here Larry, I for one enjoy the history lesson.
Thanks.