I have just received Eric Whitacre's two CD, the BYU and the Polyphony versions. I have bought the Glenn Gould Goldberg Varations, Sibelius Symphony No. 1-3. Thats it for now...

Nothing to apologise for, truly! I was just mentioning (in the inconsequential way one might observe that the weather is cloudy, or that my dog is hungry - not that I have a dog, you understand, though I do have weather) that I'm still waiting for it to arrive. It didn't come this morning either, alas. I believe we're the victims of a joint conspiracy by the SPDS (Society for the Prevention of the Dissemination of Shostakovich) and the CLNB (Confederation of Liner Note Burglars).

However, despite the Shostakovichian disappointment mentioned above, the postman didn't arrive empty-handed this morning. He brought this:



This is the outcome of a rather sad tale, I'm sorry to say. I have tickets for a performance of Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi in November, but it's an opera I didn't know, so a few weeks ago, on the recommendation of the Gramophone Guide ("the sound reflects a true opera-house balance"), I bought the EMI set (see below), which had the added advantage of being inexpensive:

It was a mistake. It's a long time since I've been so disappointed by the sound quality of a recording. I tried really hard not to mind the curious thinness and lack of weight to the sound, but I couldn't get past the harsh steely edge of the female voices at higher levels, as if they were accompanied by a distant chorus of knife-grinders. It was so unpleasant that I thought there was something wrong with my system, until I played a bit of the Mirella Freni boxed set which reassured me that there wasn't.

So after three attempts I decided to cut my losses and try a different recording. Hence this CD set that arrived today. I love Kasarova's singing (her Marguerite in the 1999 Berlin Damnation of Faust DVD is one of the finest things I know), so I have high hopes.

I don't purchase many CDs; I buy mp3s online.

My latest CD purchase is



As far as I know, this is the only complete recording of the 5 concertos, so I had to buy it.

My favorite has to be the 5th.

Well, here's a sorry tale. The CD I ordered of the Shostakovich/Haitink/symphs 5&9 is the 2002 reissue of the same recording you have, i.e. this one:



It arrived today, and ... there are no liner notes! I mean, simply, nothing at all except the most basic information. All rather disappointing, but there it is. I presume the original 1993 version did have notes?

I can't be sure, but I don't think think I'm going to find myself a Shostakovich fan. Too soon to tell, really - it takes me three listenings to make any headway at all with a major new work (I'd have been hopelessly inadequate in the days before recordings). But after a first listening I have the kind of feeling I might get after listening to a brilliant conversation about a subject that I'm not really all that interested in. But things may change.

Interesting comparison, Elgarian. I have the same feeling while listening to Bartok.

I'm after Shosta too, waiting for Karajan's 7th symphony and Rostropovich's 10th to arrive. In my case, same as with Prokofiev, it wasn't love at the first listening with Shosta, may be except his famous 2nd Waltz - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYhZVqODYsI. Then his piano & trumpet concerto started growing in me followed by his symphonies especially the popular 5th and 7th. I found the beauty, sorrow and anguish under that shocking, mocking and chilling surface are powerful.


Just remembered an article I read lately about the 10th symphony:
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/nso/Shosta10.htm

Thanks for your comments, and the link to the article, Isola. I completely understand what you say about the 'beauty, sorrow and anguish', and I think one of the most valuable qualities of art is that it can help us to come to terms with such paradoxes. I'm reminded of a wonderful quote by Ted Hughes, but instead of quoting it here (where it will get buried among new purchases), I thought it was worth starting a separate discussion about it. See here:

Beauty, sorrow, and anguish in music.

Seems to me that the 'Shostakovich experience' is in there, somewhere.

Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major
Robert Shaw/Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus/Atlanta Boy Choir/Ohio State University Chorale/Ohio State University Symphonic Choir/Master Chorale of Tampa Bay/Members of the University of South Florida Chorus
Deborah Voigt, Magna Peccatrix; Margaret Jane Wray, Una Poenitentium; Heidi Grant, Mater Gloriosa; Delores Ziegler, Mulier Samaritana; Marietta Simpson, Maria Aegyptiaca; Michael Sylvester, Doctor Marianus; William Stone, Pater Ecstaticus; Kenneth Cox, Pater Profundus

That's a rather big cast... I'll post my impressions once I can get to listening to it!

__________________
"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

Filling a significant hole in my collection, I took a '20% off' Barnes & Noble coupon and purchased



It's the first time I've had these works in my collection since I had the 'freebie disc' "Point Classics" version of these pieces (said disc was "donated" to my brother upon my move to the Philadelphia region).

If I feel like I've really been missing something, I may pick up the Solti/Chicago Messiah. Yeah, I know that period performances are the latest fashion... but my personal history of sentimental boosterism will probably overcome the 'fashion-sense.'

__________________
The hardest knife ill us'd doth lose his edge. Shakespeare- Sonnet 95

Strauss' "Four Last Songs" is one of my favorite works in all of music. This new Fleming disc is the fifth recording of it I have (also Have Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Gundula Janowitz, Jessye Norman & Kiri Te Kanawa). Beautiful interpretation, and it includes also some lesser known Strauss songs plus arias from "Ariadne Auf Naxos" and "Die Agyptische Helena" which makes for a slightly odd programme, but it works very well IMO even though anything that follows those incredible "Four Last Songs" is inevitably a bit of an anti-climax in comparison. Compliments also for Renée's pronunciation. It's easy to understand her even without looking at the booklet and her German is very good.

Interesting choice - I've wondered about getting this myself. I have Kiri Te Kanawa's recording, and although I can sense the greatness of the Four Last Songs, I do find them difficult to listen to - so I've often wondered about getting a different perspective, as it were.

If you had to reduce your collection to just one, which would it be?

I guess I would choose the Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/George Szell recording.

Is there any way you could describe, simply, the difference between the Schwarzkopf and the Fleming? To give you some idea of where I'm coming from, I find Schwarzkopf's famous Rosenkavalier recording quite cold and unemotional - would I find the same 'detached' quality in her Four Last Songs do you think? This is why I've wondered about the Fleming - I'd expect a warmer approach from her. (I realise that I may be asking you to do the impossible - I'm finding it hard enough expressing my question adequately.)

OMG - I'm terrible at that sort of thing, but I will try. I think there are some similarities between Fleming's and Schwarzkop's approach actually in that they sing these songs 'word by word', giving a different vocal colour to each phrase, word or note - whereas Kiri's approach is maybe less detailed but very warm and you can just wallow in the sheer beauty of her voice. Maybe you are right that Schwarzkopf is more detached and has a more intellectual take on these songs (or anything she ever sang really) than any of the others, but her recording nevertheless sounds sensuous to my ears and she brings the melancholy content out of them superbly. But of course - if you in general don't really like her, chances are that you won't like this one either. Actually - Fleming is somewhere between Schwarzkopf and Kiri I think. I LOVE all of these recordings though. The Jessye Norman I like just a tiny bit less than the others because her voice is a bit too heavy, too dark for my taste in this music. But many people swear by that version - so what do I know? I hope all this makes any sense to you. Probably not, but I did my best.

Best to listen yourself. You know the Kiri, I didn't find the new Renée - but here are the Norman, Schwarzkopf and Janowitz recordings...


Norman/Masur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53n9t3qK-i0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju2qBGFtOGU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O75CnnsFonM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BzpoSJ42pM


Schwarzkopf/Szell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2AwvM4Srkk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=621jCd-i6G8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw2eYc3RThM



Janowitz/Karajan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjWc5oZ9GCQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkc7VUxd7wQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3gI7qiByrk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YD_8E4ZVxY

No, you're not terrible at it - I assure you I've found what you said really helpful (and not quite what I expected). From what you say, it sounds as if Kiri's may have actually been the best first choice for me.

But also, you did all the hard work for me by unearthing all those youtube links! It's pretty feeble of me not to have tried that particular source - but thank you so much for doing it on my behalf, and I'm working my way down the links as I write this. I'll comment again when I've heard them all.
Cheers!