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October 7, 2007
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I have greatly enjoyed Jacobs' recordings of the two other Da Ponte opera for his creative reimagining of the dynamics and balances, as well as use of the continuo. Jacobs, though, began to loose his way in a recent recording of the 41st symphony where tempos were micromanaged for the sake of trying ... more |
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August 26, 2007
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This is not really a bad recording of the 4th, but it brings little to the catalogue.
Eschenbach's big 'innovation' is to play the first movement slow. And it's not just that the near 20 minute timing of the movement reflects its slowness -- it sounds and feels it. Everything is drawn out. ... more |
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July 5, 2007
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Gruber is a difficult composer to summarize. Each of his compositions vary quite a bit. He doesn't compose by a harmonic and tonal creed, but instead does whatever best suits the music. If there is an underlying element that connects much of his music, it's his fascination with jazz, much in the ... more |
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May 31, 2007
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In the pantheon of Gershwin recordings, the Piano Concert and Rhapsody receive fine performances, but ultimately nothing that rivals what's already currently available in any format. The most noteworthy performance on this disc is the Cuban Overture, so I'll focus on that.
Rather than trying to ... more |
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March 30, 2007
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I suppose that it was only a matter of time until the Zinman/Tonhalle recording machine tackled the Mahler symphonies. I personally am not a fan of their Beethoven recordings. I feel that many other people have done the semi-HIP approach more successfully, most notably Mackerras on EMI Budget. ... more |
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July 1, 2008
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| With an orchestra, the issue is that you achieve two very different sounds, texture, balance, etc, when you double the number of strings or remove half the strings, but play the music at the same loudness. ... more |
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July 1, 2008
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| Conductors definitely adjust their interpretation to match the acoustics of concert halls -- acoustics greatly affect balance, tempo and dynamics.
I'm sure that in the course of the 20th century, touring orchestras, when moving between concert halls that seats 2500+ to 1500, have made changes to the number of strings.
A few years ago I saw ... more |
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July 1, 2008
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| Why?
1. What's "lovely" is subjective. When played a certain way, I think that gut strings can have a very nice sound.
2. You can achieve different balances with a thinner string sound. ... more |
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July 1, 2008
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| I think a lot of it is dependent on the acoustics of the hall. ... more |
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June 30, 2008
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| You're comparing apples and oranges with your BSO example.
One of the points of the HIP movement, is to contextualize where the music was performed. As the liner notes say, "The theaters, halls, music rooms and salons in which Mozart performed his symphonies were small compared to most modern concert halls. His orchestras were correspondingly ... more |
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