# Bizarre Recordings



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I don't mean bizarre pieces of music. I mean music that is recorded with bizarre circumstances.

Today I was listening to a mvmt of a live performance given by the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of Dvorak's 9th symphony, the last movement. Suddenly to my surprise, I heard groaning in the recording! It seemed to be grunting roughly along at the very loud parts. I laughed my head off. :lol: You may think Gould is strange for doing that, this was equally constant, and perhaps even more strange. I think it was the conductor.

Listen to short 30 second clip below, you'll hear some of it. But if you listen to whole movement, it's very apparent.

http://www.amazon.com/Symphony-Minor-Op-95-World-Allegro/dp/B003Y5O0D6

Have you ever heard a recordings of music that had idiosyncrasies (even this extreme)?


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

*Celibidache* was of course famous for his shouting during performances, often yelling "DIII !! DAAA !! DIII !!" in the concert hall. The best example is probably the final bars of the Sibelius 5th Symphony on DG, which he turns into an operatic performance.

Even perfection-seeking *Telarc* made a mistake in their Vaughan-Williams Tallis Fantasia with Slatkin, where you suddenly hear him singing along for a while.

Another well-known case of intruding sound is the Berlin recording of the *Emperor Concerto with Gieseking/Rother*, where you hear the allied bombs explode in the background during WW II.

And there´s *Yudina´s recording of the Mozart Concerto 23*, described in Shostakovich/Volkov memoirs: Stalin mistakingly believed she had recorded it, and for fear of his reaction, the whole recording apparatus was set up, the work recorded during one night, and the record presented to him the next day. The performance (which is good) is on you-tube.

Continuing with Mozart, *Gulda/Swarowsky*´s recording was notorious in its days (late 50s) for Gulda improvising way beyond the score throughout the 21st Piano Concerto, in accordance with the actual performance way in Mozart´s own times. This has later been taken up by HIP performers, but not in the same degree as that recording.

And *Peter Breiner*´s overall very accomplished recording of the 20th Concerto includes jazzified cadenzas, which IMO work well.

In *Fiorentino´s version of the Appassionata*, issued on LP by Saga, the recording engineer was apparently not very well-acquainted with the work, so he made wrong edits in the introduction. The result is that you hear a very alternative version of the first bars with faulty notes beyond the score itself.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

joen_cph said:


> And there´s *Yudina´s recording of the Mozart Concerto 23*, described in Shostakovich/Volkov memoirs: Stalin mistakingly believed she had recorded it, and for fear of his reaction, the whole recording apparatus was set up, the work recorded during one night, and the record presented to him the next day. The performance (which is good) is on you-tube.


Supposedly, after Stalin received Yudina's recording (per Shostakovich/Volkov): "Soon after, Yudina received an envelope with twenty thousand rubles. She was told it came on the express orders of Stalin. Then she wrote him a letter. I know about this letter from her, and I know that the story seems improbable. Yudina had many quirks, but I can say this -- she never lied. I'm certain that her story is true. Yudina wrote something like this in her letter: "I thank you, Joseph Vissarionovich, for your aid. I will pray for you day and night and ask the Lord to forgive your great sins before the people and the country. The Lord is merciful and He'll forgive you. I gave the money to the church that I attend."

Yudina remained untouched.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

joen_cph said:


> *Celibidache* was of course famous for his shouting during performances, often yelling "DIII !! DAAA !! DIII !!" in the concert hall. The best example is probably the final bars of the Sibelius 5th Symphony on DG, which he turns into an operatic performance.
> 
> Even perfection-seeking *Telarc* made a mistake in their Vaughan-Williams Tallis Fantasia with Slatkin, where you suddenly hear him singing along for a while.
> 
> ...


The Gulda/Swarowsky recording of the Mozart concerti was certainly not notorious (i.e notable in a bad sense) neither was it bizarre, I just quoted it as being such a brilliant effort in a recent post.
In Toscanini's recording of Boheme he can be heard bellowing along with Jan Peerce who later told me that he felt like stopping and allowing the maestro to get on with it.
Szell can be heard continually sniffing in most of his recordings.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Yes, I am fan too of the Gulda/Swarowsky and promoted it in "current listening" etc., but I meant notorious in the sense of "manifestly against the mainstream"; I guess my English is probably imperfect or superficial at times ...

Funny to hear about Szell´s continuing sniffing, didn´t know that. The musicians must have been somewhat irritated now and then ...


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