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January 16, 2015
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The year was 1974, in which Herbert von Karajan made two recordings of MADAMA BUTTERFLY. Actually he made one-and-a-half recordings.
In January he went to the Sofiensaal in Vienna and made the first, audio-only recording for Decca, with Luciano Pavarotti as Pinkerton. For some reason when time came ... more |
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September 30, 2014
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There are no encyclopedia entries on Gregorio Paniagua, but a Google search coughed up the tidbit that his matronymic (the second of the two Hispanic last names) was Axivil. Another site calls him "Gorio Paniagua Rodriguez" -- but if they got the first name wrong, can they be trusted with the last ... more |
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August 25, 2014
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I listened to the blu-ray of Karajan's 1962 Beethoven cycle in a single day several weeks ago, and am surprised that no one has posted a review. So let me dip my feet into the water and say--what a marvelous blu-ray in every way.
Forty years ago, when I was in graduate school, a friend of mine had ... more |
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March 22, 2014
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My review from amazon.co.uk --
I now have three performances of Palestrina's Missa papae Marcelli by the Tallis Scholars:
(1) The analog recording made at Merton College Chapel, Oxford in 1980, which appeared first on vinyl and then on a well-remastered CD. The work is well performed and well ... more |
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March 1, 2014
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In February of 1979, Karl Richter traveled to Japan and gave at least two concerts open to the general public and also broadcast. The radio company paid for his airfare and expense, and then retained rights to the recording, as the system worked and still works in Japan. Although Richter had ... more |
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November 13, 2015
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| That was an outstanding set, and the soloists in the Ninth were IMHO the finest on record. The two women had no trouble making themselves heard in distinction to one another and to the choir. ... more |
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October 30, 2015
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| I recently purged about 15% of my collection. The Ring cycles were hit particularly hard. Quite a number of cycles did not make the final cut, including most of the videos, which seemed avant-garde at the time and now look just pathetic. So I'm down to nine cycles now:
Furtwängler 1953 on SACD
Solti on SACD and BR Audio
Karajan on SHM-CD
Böhm ... more |
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October 29, 2015
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| Yes, it is wonderful.
The Naxos series has an irritating on-screen graffic like searchlights pointed at the viewer. But the sound quality is marvelous. Wit is widely praised for his contributions to this series, notably for his Mahler Eighth. He also has a couple of Chopin discs that deserve notice.
Of equal standing with the Wit blu-ray audio are ... more |
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October 27, 2015
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| Thanks for the info.
Hopefully their sets will be tuned to BBC, and that will put our best foot forward.
God help us if they are tuned to any of Berlusconi's channels. ... more |
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October 27, 2015
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| I'm glad you mentioned that.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but we are sending both light signals and radio signals to other worlds, and the former travel faster than the latter. So there will be a transmission delay. If the earth blew up, they would see it happen, but would continue to receive our slow-poke radio transmissions for some time ... more |
(5 of 5 found this review helpful) 
