What are you listening to now?

[Harvey]

This is the same recording, and the notes are still missing. I didn't mention it because it is a well-known issue with these discs (among others), but it's a good point to remember if these are the only recordings of these pieces a person may have.

There's no way this was an artistic decision, of course. Legitimate artistic decisions do not include omitting entire chords, especially ones written by one of the greatest composers in history. And even if they did, this one makes no musical sense at all. Obviously it's an editing error. And a major one at that. How do you screw up the very first notes of the entire project!?

Same problem with my 1st on the 87 CD set. Clearly not artistic decision. Bad decision or mistake maybe, but not artist decision.

This appears to be sloppy editing, but I have purchased other CD sets that really should have been better edited. My Gunter Wand nine symphonies has one track change in the 5th and one in the 6th that occurs in the middle of a note. I fixed my mp3 files with the freeware Wavepad music editor but the original CD can't be fixed. Can burn a music disc though. But should not have to do this.

[Michael]

This is the same recording, and the notes are still missing. I didn't mention it because it is a well-known issue with these discs (among others), but it's a good point to remember if these are the only recordings of these pieces a person may have.

There's no way this was an artistic decision, of course. Legitimate artistic decisions do not include omitting entire chords, especially ones written by one of the greatest composers in history.

Then again, the conductor is merely attempting to correct an error made by the composer. The symphony is supposed to be in C but Beethoven made a complete mess of it and began in F!

[Michael]

Same problem with my 1st on the 87 CD set. Clearly not artistic decision. Bad decision or mistake maybe, but not artist decision.

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There are a lot of other weird mistakes in this set (mostly in the piano sonatas) but it is still an incredible bargain -as long as you have an alternative set of the symphonies and sonatas. The string quartets are fine - played by the Kodaly, if I remember rightly, and there is a wealth of other material not easily found.

[Sorrano]

This morning:

Grieg: Old Norwegian Romance With Variations, Op 51

[Harvey]

There are a lot of other weird mistakes in this set (mostly in the piano sonatas) but it is still an incredible bargain -as long as you have an alternative set of the symphonies and sonatas. The string quartets are fine - played by the Kodaly, if I remember rightly, and there is a wealth of other material not easily found.

I compiled a lot of notes from various web pages where it has been discussed. Too bad but then knowing that I still would have bought the set at that price. I have two complete symphony cycles: Walter and Wand. The set has the best 1805 Leonora too (think it's Blomstedt); the Gardiner one on the DG complete set is ruined by use of a narrator for the spoken parts.

[Michael]

I compiled a lot of notes from various web pages where it has been discussed. Too bad but then knowing that I still would have bought the set at that price. I have two complete symphony cycles: Walter and Wand. The set has the best 1805 Leonora too (think it's Blomstedt); the Gardiner one on the DG complete set is ruined by use of a narrator for the spoken parts.

Here is the same set in a wooden box. Just look at the prices! One seller is looking for over 900 dollars!!
(By the way, sorry for slightly derailing this thread.)


http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Comp.../dp/B00104XYGW



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[Chris]

On with the Cascade set today:

Romance for violin and orchestra nos. 1 and 2
Violin concerto
The Creatures of Prometheus

Performances and recording quality are quite good on these discs.

[Harvey]

A wonderful live performance of Handel's Israel in Egypt. It is Akademisk Orkester, Akademisk Kor, conducted by Morten Topp. Label is Scandinavian Classics.

[Sorrano]

This morning:
Ives: "Runaway Horse on Main Street"
Haydn: Lira organizzata Concerto #3 in G, H VIIh:3

Happy birthday, Haydn! He is another composer that might be included on my "top 5".

[AeolianHarp]

Chopin's Own Piano CD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvF4veVCsQo

[AeolianHarp]

Now Classic FM radio- Beethoven Only is not working again...

[Rocco]

Now Classic FM radio- Beethoven Only is not working again...

Not working here either. I thought maybe it was just for me, but I guess not.

[Harvey]

Right I could not get it to work either.It plays the ad (30 seconds) then goes to pause, if you click play, it goes back to pause. And I could not get the CD sample clips to keep running on another site.

[AeolianHarp]

Let's hope it comes back on air soon- maybe they are adding some more music to it.

[Chris]

More Cascade set:

Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14

The biggest problem I've found with these discs so far is the lack of consistency. There are recordings by different pianists here, newer recordings and older ones (Richter). The performances range from good to excellent so far, but the recording conditions vary widely. Some of the newer ones sound great, but then the Richter ones sound like they were recorded in a bathroom. This is fine if you know you are listening to historic recordings. The excellent performances are certainly worth the relatively poor recording quality, and even that is better than might be expected considering these are live recordings (not too much audience noise, etc.). But having the modern recordings and the historic recordings mixed together on the same discs creates a jarring listening experience. This doesn't matter too much if you take each piece on its own. But some consistency in this respect is nice if you are trying to examine the entire output of a genre. Even pieces within the same opus are mixed this way (Op. 2, for example).