Some more Naxos titles to consider
Posted by: Todd A on 28 January 2002
Over the last week I picked up the first two volumes of historical recordings of Benno Moiseiwitsch at the piano. The recordings span from the late 20s through the early 40s. The transfers contain a pretty high level of noise, but as compensation the piano tone is excellent considering the vintage of the recordings. The playing, of course, is the reason to buy these discs.
Both of the first two discs (out of four available so far!) focus on solo works. The first volume has a quite enjoyable - hell, outstanding - Schumann Kinderszenen, some works by Brahms including the Handel Variations, and the highlight of the disc, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Despite the cuts needed to fit it to 78s, the performance is definitely worth owning. Spectacular control and phrasing are on offer. I enjoyed it as much as Byron Janis's version, and that's my favorite version. All told a great addition to my collection.
The second disc has a wide assortment of shorter pieces by a variety of composers. The badly cut Second Rhapsody by Liszt is still a joy, revealing playing of a different, more romantically inclined age. (Seems to me that is appropriate in Liszt.) The Liszt transcriptions of Wagner works are also superb. Do try to hear one of these discs.
Posted on: 28 January 2002 by herm
More Kubelik?Hi Todd,
after the extensive breakdown of Ma Vlast recordings this may be a good place to ask if Kubelik's Dvorak discography has a similar intricacy.
I have a couple of Dvorak symphonies with the London SO & Istvan Kertesz - 5, 7, 8 & 9 - and I'm kind of wondering whether the Bavarian Kubeliks are a good addition, especially since there's a bunch of Dvorak symphonies I don't have.
Of course everyone is welcome to give his (or hers) Dvorak preferences. (As if there's one she / her on this forum!)
Herm
Posted on: 28 January 2002 by herm
emerson / shostakovich & uchida / schoenberg (naked)So these were two recordings I purchased after recommendations in The Music Room.
I have to say the Emerson recording of the Shostakovich String Quartets has, so far, not beaten the 70's recording of the Borodin Quartet as issued on the Melodiya label.
On thing that strikes me is how much more immediate the older recording sounds - and this behind the Iron Curtain 
DG recorded the Emerson performances in rather dry & congested way, making Shostakovich a more cerebral composer than he is; I mean, these were his private musical thoughts!
The playing is excellent, I'm sure it's the Shostakovich for a new generation (and I don't mind the aesthetic approach to Shostakovich at all: it's better than beating the anti-stalinist drum forever). I'd just like a little more passion & sheer going crazy. (somehow I think switching primarius roles doesn't help either in this matter.)
Uchida's recording of the Schoenberg piano concerto is astounding. Great piano playing (and recording) and the orchestra (Cleveland / Pierre Boulez) - I'm having such fun thinking folks out in Europe think they've got the great orchestras. This is amazing playing.
I used to go there a lot, this hall in the midst of inner city devastation, and it's great to hear them at their utter best. It's got to be one of Boulez' late great recordings too.
Totally recommended
Herm
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by herm
quirky & ham-fistedShostakovich Preludes; frankly I haven't read the Gramophone piece, but perhaps they mean that Nikolayeva plays the Preludes as if they're Bach, very very serious, whereas Ashkenazy plays them as if they're, well, Ashkenazy.
The Ashkenazy recording is not awful; it's just not as compelling as the Nikolayeva. Ashkenazy just wants to record every single piece that's ever been composed, that's all.
Actually I'm not all that sure the whole op 87 set is that compelling, start to finish. The String Quartets are Shostakovich's deepest broodings to my mind (and the late sonatas). Perhaps some of the piano pieces are just glorified doodlings. Nothing wrong with that. (I better take cover now!)
Mustonen: is that the one where he backs & forths between Shostakovich (op 34) and J.S. Bach? Does it work? I have a couple of his recordings, such as the Beethoven Diabelli Variations, and they are very quirky. Very non-legato and kind of latter-day Gould sometimes.
Herm
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by herm
Pseuds Corner"Argh! Does something have to be deep to be compelling? I'm afraid that sounds as if it came straight out of Pseuds Corner."
Hi Nick,
I said Nothing wrong with that, didn't I? It's the reason I don't object as strongly to Ashkenazy's recording as some others do - because I think quite a few of the pieces are not as dark & deep as the Nikolayeva recording suggest.
And I think it's great you like the op 87 so much.
Herm
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by herm
sane as you areAnd that's Nikolayeva, right? Hyperion or Melodiya?
Herm
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by herm
Thanks Nick!Shostakovich' Second Piano Sonata! I was thinking all the time what do I want to listen to? I need some music, but nothing really works. One of those days. Your mentioning the 2nd sonata suddenly solved that problem.
It's the work I love best in Shostakovich' entire piano output. I should listen to Nikoleyana's recording some time, though I'm even more curious about a Gilels recording that is not available these days. (Anyone familiar with that one?)
Apart from a rather tepid Elisbeth Leonskaja recording I have a live recording (1983) by Youri Egorov - a member of Amsterdam's considerable colony of musicians, dancers and assorted weirdos who fled Russia / USSR - and this perfomance captures the violent mood swings of this work. It's on Channel Classics.
Herm
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by Todd A
My only complete cycle of Dvorak's symphonies are indeed conducted by Kubelik, but with the Berlin Philharmonic. In fact, I am not aware of many readily available recordings of Kubelik conducting these works with the BRSO. There are some floating around on some Orfeo discs, including a Sixth (one of my favorite Dvorak symphonies) coupled with Janacek's
Sinfonietta. It's on my list of works to buy (a long list, to be sure). There are some other straglers, too, like the Mercury set with the Chicago that may be worthwhile.
The Berlin set is superb. No, it's better than superb. It's wonderful. No one can really save the early symphonies (1-4), but starting with the Fifth, the cycle is impressive, indeed. Kubelik's Ninth is one of the best available, though some other contenders are out there. I do not own the Kertesz set, but my local classical station has seen fit to play the Seventh and Ninth in recent months, and I will concede that I find Kertesz perhaps slightly more attractive in the Seventh. He is too labored in the Ninth.
The approaches of the two conductors are distinct: Kubelik is more poetic and fluid, Kertesz more forceful and direct. Generally, I prefer the former.
I can report that the Slavonic Dances were recorded by Kubelik and the BRSO and the results are standard setters. Forget Szell and go straight for Kubelik.
A note on the sound for both sets - it's got that slightly-too-bright DG sound from the late 60s. Get over that and all is well.
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by herm
Kertesz - Dvorak 8Hi Todd,
My favorite of my (incomplete) Kertesz set is the 8th symphony. Yes, it's a very powerful interpretation. The development section is a riot. Yesterday I tried to get the Kubelik 6 on Orfeo, but it was gone.
Herm
[This message was edited by herm on TUESDAY 29 January 2002 at 20:18.]
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by Martin M
I can recommend the following from Naxos:
Vaughan Williams - Antartica Symphony c/w Symphomy 8. Well played RVW, menscing by his own standards. Enjoyable. Outstanding recording. One of my best. Superb recording of organ. Makes the DBLs growl convincingly. Room shakes. Neighbours complain.
Finzi - Clarinet concerto - Pastoral, English music. Beautiful. One for the expat. Recording is very good, but not the triumph the the RVW is. Very enjoyable music though.
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by Todd A
I was hoping for a cheap way out on the Shostakovich. I think shall avoid the Naxos set now.
And Ross, thanks for the word on Fischer's Dvorak. I was contemplating buying the 8/9 disc but will look elsewhere - I'm thinking Harnoncourt.
Posted on: 29 January 2002 by stephenjohn
Hi
I'm not a musician and certainly no expert. But I've owned the Naxos Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues for several months, played the CDs [its a double] dozens of times and enjoyed them imensely. It is also reviewed and recommended in the Rough Guide to Classical Music 3rd Edition [a book that I would recommend as an introduction to late 20th century composers].
Steve
Posted on: 14 June 2002 by herm
Ross Blackman wrote about the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues Op 87:
Has anyone heard the Naxos recording of the Shostakovich preludes and fugues? There has been some suggestion that this is very good, and possibly better than the usual recommendations.
Also, did anyone catch that weird article about the preludes and fugues in the latest Gramophone, in which it was suggested that Nikolaieva was "ham-fisted" and that the Ashkenazy set (which is by many accounts awful) is the one to have.
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Yesterday I purchased the Melodiya (1987) recording of these pieces (three discs at twelve euros), and I have to say all praise heaped on it before is completely justified.
I was a fool to get the Ashkenazy recording a while back: it's dull and unimaginative. I've never managed to listen to more than four pieces without my attention wandering.
Nikaleyeva turns every piece in to a wonderful little world of sound and ideas. I hadn't expected this, frankly. It's got to be a more inspired performance than her Hyperion recording (which obviously has better sound), because that one never did it for me either.
With the Hyperion recording I used to think "kind of like Bach. I'll skip this part of Shostakovich' output." With this recording I'm thinking: "Schumann, Chopin in the preludes, and Bach in the fugues! " I'm thinking Yes! And they're practically giving these boxes away!
Herman
Posted on: 14 June 2002 by herm
Hyperion vs Melodiya
the Nikolayeva Hyperion version is an all-time favourite of mine....but the Melodiya sounds very attractive.
How much worse is the sound than the Hyperion?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Nick,
shouldn't this be "b*stard" or something? The sound is not bad. It's just not as good as the sumptuous late analogue sound in the Shostakovich' string quartets by the Borodin on Melodiya. And Hyperion recordings are always sublimely recorded.
Look, if you like the Hyperion this much, why bother? (Though on the other hand, they're so cheap!) By sheer coincidence I'll be visiting at my mother's this weekend, and she has the Hyperion recording, so I'll compare the interpretations one more time. I'll report later, c*ptain!
I could mention an interesting Naxos disc, though, by the ominously appalated Ad Libitum Quartet, performing the Ravel string quartet (of which there are a quazillion recordings) coupled with the one string quartet Gabriel Fauré wrote at the end of his life - and of this opus 121 piece there are about three very hard to find recordings available.
As in all late Fauré it's rather elusive music, you either love it or find it a snooze, and I do love it. What makes Fauré so fascinating, especially in the works over Opus 100, is the way he works within sonata form, but without the traditional contrasts between male - female themes. As a result everything has this kind of serene holy flow to it, the music just spins on all by itself, preferably in the tenor register (like Britten often does, too), carrying one along enchanted.
Herman
Posted on: 16 June 2002 by herm
Two Times Tatiana Nikolaeva
Shostakovich Op 87 Hyperion vs Molodiya
Well, I did some A B tests and I have to say I liked the Melodiya recording better - and I haven’t had this recording long enough to become exclusively attached to it.
The big difference is the way the instrument is recorded. The Hyperion is one of those recordings in which there are actually two instruments. The piano and the room. There's a fair amount of resonance. Personally I don't like that.
The Melodiya recording is a lot dryer. There's just the piano and you. That's the way I prefer it. After all, the room I want to hear is my room, not some ghostly recording space.
The advantage is Nikolaeva's playing sounds a lot more nuanced. Little shades of dynamics and rhythm aren't fuzzed over by the sound travelling through space.
Would I recommend this recording if you already have the other one, by the same pianist, only a couple years apart? Ultimately it depends on what your taste is in placing the instrument, but I'd even say Nikolaeva's playing is a tad more involved in the Russian recording. However, maybe it's just I get a better sense of what she's doing.
I was surprised by this outcome. I have a fair amount of Hyperion recordings (Domus Quartet, and the famous Schubert edition) and they are much closer to the way I want a record to sound.
Herman
Posted on: 16 June 2002 by herm
