Best Classical discs of 2005?

[musicbox]

What newdiscs have you bought this year that you thought were really good?

A lot of mine weren't strictly new, but re-issues on DSD remasters of some classic'50s and '60s recordings. Top of these would be

Bach - Cello Suites, played by Janos Starker onMercury Living Presence- just so much warmer than Heinrich Schiff

Brahms - 1st Piano Concerto Anton Rubinstein, Fritz Reiner and Chicago Symphony on Living Stereo - unbelievable 1953 early stereo recording, fantastic sounding and playing.

Of new recordings, not been too many that grabbed me but the following are worth a mention:

Brahms - Cello Sonatas, Natalie Klein & Charles Owen on budget CfP label, best performances of these I've yet heard and great recording.

Ravel - Gaspard de la Nuit, Pierre-Laurent Aimard on Warner. Really enjoyed this solo piano disc, though the Elliot Carter coupling largely escapes me.

Shostakovich - Symphony 1 & 5, Kurt Masur, London Phil Live. A stonking performance of the 1st symphony, great vivid live sound that leaves the rival LSO Live series trailing in the dust. The performance of the 5th is good too, but not in same league.

Elgar - Symphony 2, Richard Hickox & BBC NOW, Chandos.... at last a recording of this work that you can actually hear what's going on! Good performance too. Hope they do the 1st soon.

Mahler Symphony 6, Claudio Abbado and Berlin Phil. Best Mahler I've heard this year. Really swings along and keeps the narrative alive in the last movement, a lot of other performances don't.

Beethoven Syms 4 & 5, Osmo Vanska & Minnesota Symphony on BIS. Superb recording, cracking energetic performances, very fresh and no sense of tiredness about these old warhorses.

Berio - Transcriptions. Riccardo Chailly and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi (and that's as close to Italian Opera as we'll get in this list). Very interesting disc, Avant-garde isn't normally my thing but these transcription by Berio of other composers pieces are fascinating. Includes the absolutely glorious march of Boccherini's "Ritirata Notturna di Madrid", and Berio's take on the sketches for Schubert's Tenth symphony. But best of all is his orchestration of Brahms 1st Clarinet Sonata, which is a fantastic homage to the piece and done in a total caricature of Brahms' orchestral style which Ireally enjoyed.

 

[SSM]

Bach Cello Suites / Heinrich Schiff: enjoyably perky, with none of that warm fluffiness you find elsewhere

Brahms Piano Concerto #1 / Hélène Grimaud: not the most technically accomplished but quite an exciting live performance, enhanced by Ms Grimaud's impromptu animalistic sighs

Vivaldi The Four Seasons / London Chamber Orchestra, Warren-Green:My most-played "early music" CD this year :Not Sure:

Verdi Messa da Requiem /Berliner Philharmoniker, Abbado: liking this more and more

de Falla "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" / Thiollier(pn), Antoni Wit(cond):Love this. Sexy, in a low-key smouldering way. Tryspinning this at3 am, when you're just back from the clubs, settled on the sofa and your amour de nuit is sliding an ice-cube over your hot sweaty throat. Sweet torture, oooh yesss!

R.Strauss "The Love of Danae" / Botstein : one of the horniest scores I've ever heard

R.Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos / Giuseppe Sinopoli: Il Dottore's final opera recording and what a cracker it is too! Full, rich, flowing golden tones pour forth from the Dresden State Orchestra. The singers are also appropriately golden-voiced too. Listening to it is like drowning in a vat of hot chocolate. This ought to be default demo music for MF amplificationMy Record of the Year.

 

[Glens of Antrim]

Best of new this year would be Haydn's The Seasons/Rene Jacob - it has a swagger & joie de vivre totally in keeping with this life affirming work.

Best of new to me is Mozart's The Horn Concertos/Halstead/AAM/Hogwood - joyous dancing music played with theverve & sparkle it deserves. Fine recording too.

And Pucccini's Turandot Soloists/LPO Mehta - the Eastenders' scriptwriters should listen to this to find out what a real soap plot is. Terrific musical set pieces & Pavarotti's Nessum Dorma would make a statue's spine shiver with delight.

 

[Logan]

Some of these may not have been released in 2005, but that is when I bought them. In no particular order; the following gave particular pleasure:

Mahler - Symphonies 3 and 9; Chailly/RCO (Decca)

Mahler - Symphony 6; BFO/Fischer (Channel Classics). And everything else released by this wondrous ensemble.

Rachmaninov - Concertos and Rhapsody; (Hyperion) Hough/Litton/Dallas SO

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde; (EMI) Stemme/Bar/Pape/Pappano/ROHCG, and some tenor whose name escapes me.

Lambert - Summer's Last Will and Testament; (Hyperion) Lloyd Jones/ENP

Bliss - Checkmate (Naxos); Lloyd Jones/RSNO

Strauss - Don Quixote; Tortelier/Kempe/BPO (Testament)

Saint-Saëns - Symphony 3; Munch/BSO (RCA Living Stereo)

The last two are excellent reissues of favourites from my musical infancy.

Merry Christmas.

 

[SSM]

Logan wrote:

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde; (EMI) Stemme/Bar/Pape/Pappano/ROHCG, and some tenor whose name escapes me.

Yeah, I wonder who that moo-er is...

Merry Christmas!

 

[earl of sodbury]

Arvo Pärt : 'Lamentate'

ooops... sorry it´s not a reinterpretation of the same tired-old 'classics'... :minikiev:

 

[musicbox]

Do you think... in fifty years will it have joined the ranks of the "same tired old classics"?

Or will it be completely forgotten when all of the above are still being performed?

 

[earl of sodbury]

musicbox wrote:

Do you think... in fifty years will it have joined the ranks of the "same tired old classics"?Or will it be completely forgotten when all of the above are still being performed?

No I don´t, because it seems to take contemporary composers nearer a century to (re)gain market credibility, but I do think Pärt will re-emerge, unlike most of the minimalist school (which BTW I also like), and I think this work is his best so far.

 

[kennyk]

Deutche Harmonia Mundi re-issued the Collegium Aurem recording of the Bach Brandenburg Concertos. have cherished my 1972 BASF orange label vinly set, so it was a welcome re-issue for me. it's my favourite recording of the set, which dates from the 60s, on period instruments. I bought the Pinnockversion, but don't like it as much as this version.

glad to have the cd as it's difficult to cue up the lp at 11.30 at night with a screaming weeks-old baby in your arms. she seems to enjoy the cd anyway.

 

[musicbox]

earl of sodbury wrote:

...but I do think Pärt will re-emerge, unlike most of the minimalist school (which BTW I also like), and I think this work is his best so far.

I hope you are right, on your recommendation Ibought this disc today! Not listened to it yet.

I do like Part'smusic, but not most of the other holy minimalists whose musicIfind is good the first time then gets less interesting the more you hear it - should be the other way around. Other minimalists I can leave behind too, except John Adams who isgenius and shouldnot be classified with them anyway. Nothing minimalistic about his music.

 

[musicbox]

Well, there are some works of Part's that I think will endure, for meSpiegel im Spiegel, Fratres, Te Deum and theBerliner Mass.... and Lamentateis not one of them.

The opening is quite arresting, distant trumpets and drums etc,but most of it is simplistic fake naive sentimental meanderings that do very little.

The short choral piece that opens the disc is much better. Shame it only lasts five mins.

If you don't want the same tired-old music by long-time dead people, then there is other stuff out there that challenges and has meat to getone's teeth into - Maxwell Davies, MacMillan, Corigliano, Adams and others to name a few.

 

[earl of sodbury]

musicbox wrote:

Well, there are some works of Part's that I think will endure, for meSpiegel im Spiegel, Fratres, Te Deum and theBerliner Mass.... and Lamentateis not one of them. The opening is quite arresting, distant trumpets and drums etc,but most of it is simplistic fake naive sentimental meanderings that do very little.

The short choral piece that opens the disc is much better. Shame it only lasts five mins.

If you don't want the same tired-old music by long-time dead people, then there is other stuff out there that challenges and has meat to getone's teeth into - Maxwell Davies, MacMillan, Corigliano, Adams and others to name a few.

Oh dear - looking at your response, and your list of composers (with the most honourable exception of Adams) I suspect our tastes coincide very little. Give Lamentate time before permanently banishing it, as structurally it has some significant traits in common with some of his earlier short pieces, and while not breaking down any doors develops its theme with typically Scandinavian directness - I don't (IMHO) think that this is "fake naiivity" at-all, it is a simple musical ode to the work of another, and succeeds (for me) in its portrayal. That said I'm no muso, so can't make a good technical argument for it, and to be fair to all I'll bear your comments in mind next time I listen.

churz, eofs

 

[porridge]

musicbox wrote:

What newdiscs have you bought this year that you thought were really good?A lot of mine weren't strictly new, but re-issues on DSD remasters of some classic'50s and '60s recordings. Top of these would be

Bach - Cello Suites, played by Janos Starker onMercury Living Presence- just so much warmer than Heinrich Schiff

Im fairly new to Classical Music and am no expert.

I baught this and quite like it

The Cello Suites Yo-Yoma Inspired by Bach, 6 Suites for unaccompanied Cello.

Have you herd this and what do you think of it.

 

[Glens of Antrim]

porridge wrote:

musicbox wrote:

What newdiscs have you bought this year that you thought were really good?A lot of mine weren't strictly new, but re-issues on DSD remasters of some classic'50s and '60s recordings. Top of these would be

Bach - Cello Suites, played by Janos Starker onMercury Living Presence- just so much warmer than Heinrich Schiff

Im fairly new to Classical Music and am no expert.

I baught this and quite like it

The Cello Suites Yo-Yoma Inspired by Bach, 6 Suites for unaccompanied Cello.

Have you herd this and what do you think of it.

Hi Porridge & welcome aboard

Please join in & enjoy the fun - we don't bite

The Cello Suites are one of my favourite pieces. Have the Ma set on vinyl & liked it - was my introduction to these masterpieces. My present favourite is by Fournier. Great stuff.

GofA

 

[porridge]

Hi Porridge & welcome aboard

Please join in & enjoy the fun - we don't bite

The Cello Suites are one of my favourite pieces. Have the Ma set on vinyl & liked it - was my introduction to these masterpieces. My present favourite is by Fournier. Great stuff.

GofA

Thanks for the welcome Glens of Antrim, Im on the lookout for more classical music there is such a variety to choose from and it is obviouse that the personal taste of every individual is quite differant.

Im enjoying going through posts and seeing what turns people on

( music wise that is)

 

[Glens of Antrim]

P,

The Rough Guide(s) to Opera & Classical music are great primers for classical newbies. Covers all the main composers/schools/periods with good record suggestion. Don't forget the Penguin & Gramaphone guides as well.

And you get plenty of idiosyncraticadvice here

Welcome to the great adventure & lots of fantastic music.

GofA

 

[Blue Floyd]

porridge wrote:

Hi Porridge & welcome aboard

Please join in & enjoy the fun - we don't bite

The Cello Suites are one of my favourite pieces. Have the Ma set on vinyl & liked it - was my introduction to these masterpieces. My present favourite is by Fournier. Great stuff.

GofA

Thanks for the welcome Glens of Antrim, Im on the lookout for more classical music there is such a variety to choose from and it is obviouse that the personal taste of every individual is quite differant.

Im enjoying going through posts and seeing what turns people on

( music wise that is)

Hello Porridge,

I started listening to classical music years ago knowing nothing about it. It sounded strange and hard to understand. A bit like a foreign language heard for the first time.

There was something about it that I liked, so I persevered. I bought the symphonies of someone even I had heard of, Tchaikovsky. Once I got used to these I started to widen my choice. Beethoven, Brahms etc.

Then I tried the violin and piano concertos. All took some under standing but I gradually found myself listening to them more and more. Then came Mahler and since then classical music has become my first love.

There is a vast amount of recordings out there but persevere mate and you will find, as I have, you will be well rewarded.

 

[porridge]

Glens of Antrim wrote:

P, The Rough Guide(s) to Opera & Classical music are great primers for classical newbies. Covers all the main composers/schools/periods with good record suggestion. Don't forget the Penguin & Gramaphone guides as well.

And you get plenty of idiosyncraticadvice here

Welcome to the great adventure & lots of fantastic music.

GofA

I notice that The Rough Guide is book, Is there any Website versions of the same sort of thing, sometimes it is easier to read in a book rather than on the computer though.

 

[Glens of Antrim]

porridge wrote:

Glens of Antrim wrote:

P, The Rough Guide(s) to Opera & Classical music are great primers for classical newbies. Covers all the main composers/schools/periods with good record suggestion. Don't forget the Penguin & Gramaphone guides as well.

And you get plenty of idiosyncraticadvice here

Welcome to the great adventure & lots of fantastic music.

GofA

I notice that The Rough Guide is book, Is there any Website versions of the same sort of thing, sometimes it is easier to read in a book rather than on the computer though.

Sorry all the above are books. You can get some advice from the Gramaphone website & Amazon customer reviews; but I agree with you books are easier to read & dip into.

GofA