I’m currently working through the 234 box sets and 3 composer retrospectives in this thread. The craziness started in early 2020 with the Stravinsky box and I’ve been lost to it ever since. The link takes you to the END, so you’ll need to scroll up. I will continue to…..
#NowSpinning Mahler Symphony No.2 with Rattle in Bavaria. Against a backdrop of divided opinion I always really enjoyed his 1987 CBSO version, even if it feels a touch slow. I never really warmed to the Berlin remake, though. So where will I end up with this one?
#JärviTelarc CD 14 Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain and the Prelude to Khovanshchina, all back in the usual Järvi technicolour. There isn’t anything particularly distinctive, but they sound gorgeous and the disc is very entertaining as a whole.
#NowSpinning Pappano’s Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony. It took a short while to get used to the slightly anaemic choral sound, as recorded, but the orchestra and soloists are caught with impressive clarity and definition. It’s important to keep this work moving and Pappano does just that.
#OrmandyColumbiaLegacy CD 47 Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite in a genuinely electrifying performance. The outer movements are incredibly swift and played with knife-edge precision. The middle two movements are altogether more chillingly atmospheric, with flickering half lights amazingly well caught. Superb!
The Eugene Ormandy Legacy on Sony. This set comprises the complete mono recordings Ormandy made with the Philadelphia Orchestra, for Columbia and RCA. I'll add comments as I listen to each disc.
#OrmandyColumbiaLegacy CD 46 Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with György Sándor. This is a very muscular performance, with both conductor and soloist converging into one approach nicely. Structures are all very clear and sharp and the impact is lucidity over emotional impact.