Actually, I nearly bough the Tristan when I was in HMV (they had it for under £20, sans libretto, which I have twice anyway).... I expect now you're going to tell me I was stupid to pass that up However, I already have Solti and Furtwangler and am not really in a hurry for another.

regards, Tam

Tam

I really believe that C Kleiber's recording of Tristan is on a completely different level of achievement than just about any other piece of music recording that I've ever heard.

You'd have to buy it in its Originals format, which gives you -at last- one Act per disc. Then have a good meal, turn down the lights, open a good bottle of red wine and let the music flow over you. Poor old Wilhelm F sounds pedestrian by comparison, and the wash of sound that CK coaxes from the Dresden orchestra is utterly astonishing.

Graham

Okay. I could use a good evening's Wagner. I finally got round to watching Levine's Die Walkure on DVD at the weekend, he nearly sent me to sleep until the 3rd act when the acting was so comically bad I was in hysterics!

regards, Tam

Ooops, I thought this was a Schubert Thread! Sorry, Fredrik

Apologies for the hijack, Fredrik, this can now revert to Schubert.

I assume that any self-respecting Schubert lover has Beecham's GROC CD of the Third, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies?

Graham

That Beecham set I do indeed have. In fact a rather old issue, and not the latest Great Recordings set either! It should be got by anyone who enjoys Schubert, the few cuts in the music notwithstanding...

All the best from Fredrik

Dear Friends,

In my LP days I used to have the splendid set from DG of the whole lot with the BPO under Karl Boehm, and this has promted me (memory-wise) to investigate whether that venerable set is still to be had on CD. If so I shall go for it. All the really fine performances from Kleiber the Elder, Boult, Bruno Walter, Barbiroli, and Furtwangler which I went through over the years never actually displaced it as a whole, and only restoring the old London bass caused me to sell the set along with another 600 LPs! Still one great baroque bass was indeed more than compensation! There was another very fine performance of the Great C Major from Boehm on DG with the Dresden State Orchestra from right at the end of Boehm's career, which I never got, and that ought to available too... I heard the recording broadcast and never forgot it.

Fredrik

Fredrik

I have that Boehm set on LPs in the garage. My turntable has only recently returned from its 15 years' retirement in its box. So I'll have to hunt out the LPs and give them a spin.

I never did hear Boehm's late Dresden live recording of the Ninth, but I remember that it drew great praise at the time: did it ever make it onto CD?

Graham

Dear Graham,

I can only think there is an album of pleasue awaiting you! I remember the broadcast and the Desden set was special, and I don't know if it was issued on CD, but I'll find out this weekend, and get back...

All the best from Fredrik

Thought I'd dig up this old thread as I have just purchased the new Rattle/BPO. It won't be too everyone's liking, indeed, from what I've seen it seems to have aroused a fair degree of ire already. However, I found it to be rather a thrilling account. Rattle gives the work something of a 'romantic' treatment and, for my part, I find it works rather well.

I know CD review played the finale in the listening booth on Saturday, so anyone wanting a flavour can always head over to the Radio 3 website and listen again.

regards, Tam

Fredrik

Did you get the Bohm set on CD in the end? I got this set (if it's the same one) about a year ago for not very much cash. It was on sale somwhere for about £12 I think). Superb value for money and a truly marvellous set of recordings. Here's a link to Amazon where they're selling for £22!!)

Amazon Bohm/Schubert Symphonies

(Fredrik - I know you can't use the site, but it has the catalogue number on it)

Kevin

Dear Kevin,

I actually had a very quiet time spending over the last six weeks, and so have not bought a CD during that period, sadly! The Boehm set is on DG and with the Berlin Phil, and I remember it from LPs as being absolutely superb!

Really I should cope with a certain amount of unexpected bills now so I'll look into getting the set again. The set of Mozart Symphonies that were issued at the same time are very high grade as well, though somehow in these I seem to prefer the extra vitality of the Klemperer recordings. This was one of the last CD purchases, though not the complete set but Symphonies 35, 36, 38, and 39-41 on two discs. This set is tremendous value, and very fine, even if I still personally prefer the older EMI recordings for Otto Klempereer.

Happy New Year to you from Fredrik

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GFFJ,

Bohm gets my vote - I've got the 8th and 9th from the set, and I've never heard another performance that can compare with them. That said, I'd like to hear Rattle's attempt...

EW

Dear EW,

I don't think it is healthy to get too fixated on one specific recording of anything. Boehm's Schubert (and Mozart, among much else of course) is great, but certainly there many performances that compare, and some that are undoubtedly superior! But what do I know, heh?!

Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:
but certainly there many performances that compare

As I say, I'd like to hear Rattle...

EW

Dear EW,

More than me! I have heard too many Rattle led performances in Birmingham to ever want to hear his efforts again! I actually thought the news of his conductorship of the BPO was a spoof when I first heard it! As I say I am getting more and more out of touch with what motivates the modern world. No doubt Rattle will one day be lionised as a great musician to rank with Furtwangler, Walter, Kleiber ans so on! I simply don't care for his mannered sense of style at all...

All the best from Fredrik

It probably says it all about me as a musician, that the great musicians I mention above are all lower in my person preference than Otto Klemperer, Sir John Barbiroli and Sir Adrian Boult!

Fredrik

Which Kleiber? I seem to recall that you prefer Erich to Carlos: other way round for me!

Just imagine what might have been if Carlos K hadn't turned down the conductorship of the BPO after HvK died.

Have you bought those speakers yet?

Graham

Personally, I have something of a love hate relationship with Rattle: he's done some really excellent discs and also some pretty terrible ones (his Mahler 2 is outstanding and his recent Dvorak tone poems were very good too; on the other hand, the less said about his Beethoven symphony cycle the better). Given I didn't care at all for his Beethoven, I was a little worried I wouldn't like the Schubert either (and judging by the Radio 3 message boards there are plenty who don't - though how many of the commentators have actually listened to it all is open to question, but I digress), however, I found it very enjoyable, as stated above (though I suspect you might not Fredrik ). So I'd be guarded in recommended it, since Rattle's interpretations do seem rather to polarise people quite a lot these days.

Will he be likened to Furtwangler, perhaps, though I don't think that's quite the right comparison. I must say, I thought he did wonderful things with the CBSO and I can see why the BPO picked him (from what I can remember it was largely because they wanted someone who'd bring in a lot of recording revenue).

regards, Tam

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:
Which Kleiber? I seem to recall that you prefer Erich to Carlos: other way round for me!

Just imagine what might have been if Carlos K hadn't turned down the conductorship of the BPO after HvK died.

Didn't know Carlos K had done it, must look out for that one.

As to Kleiber having taken the BPO job, I think that would have required him to be a thoroughly different (and altogether less reclusive) person than he was. And we wouldn't have had the Abbado Berlin partnership, which would have been a shame.

regards, Tam

Tam

I've caused confusion. I see now that Fredrik was being specific to Schubert's Ninth, which I hadn't appreciated in my earlier posting. As far as I know, CK never even conducted the Ninth.

I agree that CK would have needed to be a very different person to have gone to Berlin. Personally, I'd have wanted him above all others and would have tried to get the musical equivalent of a season ticket for all their home games!

Graham