# New (to me) Favorite Recordings



## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I got the 100 CD Membran Meister Konzerte box set today ($50 shipped from Amazon.de), and I just started ripping. I've barely started and I've already found a spectacular recording I had never heard of before... Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Maj by Taschner with Solti BPO (1952). Not only is the performance spirited and full of imagination, the sound quality is excellent. I don't know anything about Taschner, but his phrasing keeps it alive and interesting and his tone is downright beautiful. I don't know why I haven't heard of this one before. I can't wait to find more treasures in this box.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

He was a fine violinist, with a big technique. Concertino of the Berlin SO during the IIWW, he were the only member who accept the advice of Speer for escape in 1945 before the Russians. He made many fine recordings. Look for a double EMI "Portrait of a Legendary violinist", with several concerts. There's also a rare Archipel CD with Franck, Brahms and LvB sonatas with Gieseking at the piano.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I only have Taschner in the *Wolfgang Fortner *violin concerto with Furtwängler (also on you-t), but I haven´t heard it yet.





That set is tempting.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I just found another one! Berlioz Harold in Italy by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This is definitely pre-hifi (1946), but the sound is clear and full and the balance is impeccable. I wish modern recordings of complex music like this were organized as clearly as this. The big attraction of this recording is the band... The BSO are on freakin' fire in the orgy at the end. I've never heard anything like it. The BSO was a formidable enterprise! I've always thought Koussevitzky was the equal of any conductor of his day, but most people talk about Stoki and Toscanini as if they were the only big games in town. This recording has to be among Koussi's best.

The Le Carnival Romain by Victor de Sabata and the LPO (1953) sounds a little better, but the performance isn't in the same league.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Another! A live recording of Beethoven's 4th Piano concerto with Jochum/Symphonieorchester Bayerischen Rundfunks in 1951... The sound quality is very good, minimal audience noises. Fischer has a flowing yet clearly articulated technique that I really like. This isn't strident, staccato Beethoven- it's very smooth and beautiful. The balance of the piano is a little forward, but there's nothing wrong with that when the playing is so good. Jochum's support is perfect, as always. The orchestra comes forward and recedes around the piano parts as smoothly as Fscher plays the runs. Amazing. A recording to sink into like an easy chair.

The live Pathetique Sonata by Fischer that fills up the disk is great, with fine sound. It's noble and beautiful... Perhaps not as passionate as some versions, but worthwhile.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

bigshot said:


> Another! A live recording of Beethoven's 4th Piano concerto with Jochum/Symphonieorchester Bayerischen Rundfunks in 1951... The sound quality is very good, minimal audience noises. Fischer has a flowing yet clearly articulated technique that I really like. This isn't strident, staccato Beethoven- it's very smooth and beautiful. The balance of the piano is a little forward, but there's nothing wrong with that when the playing is so good. Jochum's support is perfect, as always. The orchestra comes forward and recedes around the piano parts as smoothly as Fscher plays the runs. Amazing. A recording to sink into like an easy chair.
> 
> The live Pathetique Sonata by Fischer that fills up the disk is great, with fine sound. It's noble and beautiful... Perhaps not as passionate as some versions, but worthwhile.


Is this Annie Fischer, if so one of the greatest Beethoven players. If you went to her concerts you saw shoals of other pianists in the audience.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

No, it's Edwin


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

bigshot said:


> I just found another one! Berlioz Harold in Italy by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This is definitely pre-hifi (1946), but the sound is clear and full and the balance is impeccable. I wish modern recordings of complex music like this were organized as clearly as this. The big attraction of this recording is the band... The BSO are on freakin' fire in the orgy at the end. I've never heard anything like it. The BSO was a formidable enterprise! I've always thought Koussevitzky was the equal of any conductor of his day, but most people talk about Stoki and Toscanini as if they were the only big games in town. This recording has to be among Koussi's best.
> 
> The Le Carnival Romain by Victor de Sabata and the LPO (1953) sounds a little better, but the performance isn't in the same league.


Interesting. It seems that Peter Gutmann agrees with you - I really like to browse at his website, great for armchair reading about classical music. He is one of the few writers who goes in depth concerning the canon of historical recordings:

http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics2/harold.html

His site made me buy the McInnes/Bernstein recording (EMI) and Riddle/Scherchen; I´ve also got the Zukerman/ Barenboim (cbs-Sony), as well as Liszt´s transcription for viola and piano, with Causse/ Duchable (Erato).

I usually connect with Berlioz as a cultural expression/curiosity rather than musically, but it is a work with a lot of history in it, also related to Byron and Turner etc., as Gutmann describes.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

bigshot said:


> No, it's Edwin


Edwin Fischer was born in Basle in 1888 and was a man of great character and humanity.he was considered one of the finest exponents of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
He appeared with all the great conductors such as Nikisch, Weingartner,Walter and Furtwaengler.
He particularly liked conducting a medium sized orchestra and playing little known works.
I have him doing this with the Philharmonia in Beethoven's Concero No.4 along with the "Pathetique "Sonata.
He also recorded a famous "Emperor"Concerto with Furtwaengler and the same orchestra.
I also have him playing the Schubert Impromptus which are delightful performances.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

The period between the end of the war and the introduction of stereo is an area I've neglected. I'm finding a lot to like inthe mono hifi era.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Concerning Edwin Fischer, I´ve likewise got a good deal of Beethoven, Bach and also the Schubert impromptus, plus him as a soloist in Furtwängler´s Piano Concerto (very poor sound though). The Beethoven 4th Concerto is an LP with him as a conductor too (of the Philharmonia), but I bet that Jochum will add with vigeur to the orchestral performance. 

I can´t say that Fischer delivers my favourite performance of any work, but the Bach Wohltemperiertes, Schubert Impromptus and Beethoven 5th with Furtwängler are among his best. He is often rather uneven in his playing, with some sketchy or faulty things going on, as well as fine lyricism.

He was very popular here in Denmark, where he gave a lot of concerts; there are also recordings with him playing Mozart concerti with Danish ensembles.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Anyone know anything about a violinist named Georg Kulenkampff? I have him here in Brahms' Doule Concerto with Enrico Mainardi and Schuricht conducting. Very good sound and string tone to die for. This isn't a version for people who like showy pyrotechnics. It's a beautifully phrased and balanced performance. Totally old school and great. I don't know why I've never heard of this guy before. He's better than anything today.

May be the best Double Concerto I've ever heard, and that's saying something.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Yes, I know him very well. First recording of Schumann concerto with Schmidt-Isserstedt (1937), and probably first Reger with Van Otterloo (1941). Kreutzer, a Mozart and the 3 Brahm's sonatas with Solti (1947/48). I have all those. But today he's forgotten and unknown, except to "archeologist" like me.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Totally undeserved. He is amazing. Did he die young, or was he old at the time he recorded? I'm sure he would have been a major player in the stereo era if he was around.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

1898-1948. died young at 50. I found I've also Bruch first with Joseph Keilberth (1941) and LvB with Schmidt-Isserstedt (1936).


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Ha! I just heard the Gershwin CD in this set and it really brought a smile to my face. It's Rhapsody in Blue and the Piano Concerto in F performed by Jerome Hanson with the New York Civic Youth Orchestra / Allan Morton 1957. Scrappy as hell. A million mistakes. But I've never heard a band have so much fun with music. The glissando at the beginning of Rhapsody is the most low down dirty version I've ever heard. I was laughing and cheering them on from the very beginning. I have a half dozen "perfect" versions of this. This one gets filed under "charming".

I'm sensing that this set isn't just random stuff. A record collector seems to have curated it for them.


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