Interesting Box Sets, mostly Beethoven

The Giulini Brahms is the set from the eighties, which went midprice in nineties, and has now been boxed apparently. If you don't have it yet (how could that have happened?) it's a must-have.

You could also consider a couple of those Dvorak symphonies Kubelik recorded with the Bavaria orchestra.

You should also try to get those live Bruckner symphonies Jochum did with the Concertgebouw on Tahra (the Fifth minimally). You are aware btw that the dollar - euro rate at the mo is not too hopping for you?

Herman

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the Giulini - Brahms. Is it the early 90's version? I picked up the 1st symphony a while ago but i'm afraid found it so soporific I was never tempted to venture further. The Bohm - Beethoven is a safe bet, without seeming to damn with faint praise. I especially love this 6th, but largely to do with association: I listened to a cassette of it whilst watching the sun set from the summit of Nemrut Dag in eastern Turkey once-upon-a-time.

Happy New Year BTW

duncan

Email: djcritchley at hotmail.com

[This message was edited by djc on MONDAY 05 January 2004 at 17:23.]

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Originally posted by herm:
The Giulini Brahms...If you don't have it yet (how could that have happened?) it's a must-have.

You are aware btw that the dollar - euro rate at the mo is not too hopping for you?

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I do not recall ever seeing the Brahms cycle, that's how. And that's why it's hard to resist.

As to the exchange rate, didn't the Euro just hit an all-time high today or Friday? Bad news indeed. I'm just wondering if Berkshire will get any of these boxes soon so I can pay even less. (They just got a shipment of the brand-new Handley Bax Symphony cycle on Chandos, which is going for $10. It may make sense to wait.) Oh, the decisions one must make.


"The universe is change, life is opinion." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

I have what is purportedly a Mengelberg Eroica on 'Rococo' LP. I go back and forth on it - I mainly listen to Toscanini, Furtwangler, Kleiber, Szell for the 3rd. The fact that there's no doc with the Rococo makes me doubt its claimed provenance as well, which influences my opinion...and now I wonder why I'm writing.

Oh, yeah, I know why. I like Bohm's 9th, but I generally experience him as a standard mittel europa conductor, which is sort of boring when there are conductors with more musical character (IMO) around. I haven't heard anything new and revealing from him about the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th.

Mengelberg, OTOH, has a rep for strong musical ideas, so his work attracts me....

So, what do you hear from Bohm that I don't?

Regards.

Phil

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Originally posted by Phil Barry:
So, what do you hear from Bohm that I don't?

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It's exactly that Mittel Europa / Kapellmeister thing that I get from him that I like. I like pretty much every Bohm recording I've heard, and I guess it's a combination of directness (read: few or no idiosyncratic touches), briskness, and concision that appeal most to me. His music is very Germanic without being plodding. I actually used to own his Beethoven 3/9 twofer, but I dumped it after getting some newer, “better” recordings. (This was long ago.) What was I thinking? Anyway, with the Ninth, in particular, I recall being able to clearly hear the main Ode to Joy theme build throughout the work more clearly than normal before it emerged in all its glory (and in a separately tracked “movement”). I’m gonna have to buy it again.


"The universe is change, life is opinion." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Those Böhm Beethovens may date from the early Seventies, which was when K.B. was perhaps getting a little less "brisk" - and quite understandably so.

I used to play the WAM 40 / 41 LP Böhm cut with the VPO just about every New Year's Eve back when I was in my early twenties, but perhaps his early Sixties recordings in Berlin display a little more of the requisite vigor.

The funny thing is I'm listening to the Jupiter just now (Harnoncourt ECO), and I listened to three late Mozart symphonies by Böhm and the BPO earlier today. I have to say the music is pretty cool.

So I'd really like to know what these Böhm Beethovens are like. I sure could use another Fourth Symphony.

Herman

Ross: "Herman, the fourth in particular is a highlight."

Oh, OK, I guess that's it. One more set before we move house.

I have to say Todd, these Italian guys don't look too bad, if they actually have all this stuff they're listing.

Herman