[rroseperry]

Quote:

This is pretty spiffy: Du Pré performing Sonata #3. She has a fire I don't quite feel with Yo Yo Ma, which is appropriate for Beethoven.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKgoq16TJLw&feature=related

Thank you for that, great playing. And I think I agree with you about Ma.

 

[juman231]

Quote:

This is pretty spiffy: Du Pré performing Sonata #3. She has a fire I don't quite feel with Yo Yo Ma, which is appropriate for Beethoven.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKgoq16TJLw&feature=related

Must agree to this. I was talking to my buddy about cello, and he lended me a documentary type DVD called "Jacqueline du Pre in Portrait." I could definitely feel the fire you're talking about.
 
Also, as I keep listening to performances by other cellists, I am beginning to understand why some people think Yo-Yo Ma's playing style is clinical.
 

 

[Brent Hutto]

I've ordered up some examples of Rostropovich's cello playing. I'm getting the complete Beethoven works for piano and cello with pianist S.T. Richter. That will be interesting because I have the exact same collection of works played by Rostropovich's pupil David Finckel and Wu Han. Also the solo Bach suites as well as two CD's of Rostropovich with Benjamin Britten. And the Brahms with R. Serkin, my favorite piano soloist, which is also a parallel with a Finckel/Wu Han CD I got last week. Interesting comparisons, I hope.

 

[DCofficehack]

Please write up those comparisons, when you get a chance. This thread has strayed far from headphones, but I like it!
 

 
Quote:

I've ordered up some examples of Rostropovich's cello playing. I'm getting the complete Beethoven works for piano and cello with pianist S.T. Richter. That will be interesting because I have the exact same collection of works played by Rostropovich's pupil David Finckel and Wu Han. Also the solo Bach suites as well as two CD's of Rostropovich with Benjamin Britten. And the Brahms with R. Serkin, my favorite piano soloist, which is also a parallel with a Finckel/Wu Han CD I got last week. Interesting comparisons, I hope.

 

 

[melomaniac]

this morning got to listen to a solo cello CD by Mario Brunello, "Alone" - a fantastic recording of music by Sollima, Ligeti, Cassado, Dallapiccola, Ysaye - all works I was not yet familiar with, but boy do they bring out excellent cello sounds!
 

 

[rroseperry]

One of the NPR stations recently had a live performance from Wendy Warner and Irina Nuzova. They've got a new recording coming out that I'm planning to buy on payday.

Here's the link.
 
 

 

[shane55]

 
Quote:

One of the NPR stations recently had a live performance from Wendy Warner and Irina Nuzova. They've got a new recording coming out that I'm planning to buy on payday.

Here's the link.
 
 

Fantastic! Thanks for the link. This is wonderful stuff.

 
 

 

[c12mech]

I always find it interesting how the instrument itself can make a difference.  This is an exert from the wiki about Ma's cello.  I admit Ma's work does seem to lack emotion at times. With Du Pre and Rostropovich there is a lot of emotion all the time. 
 
The cello was sold in Paris in 1888. In 1928 it was purchased by Herbert N. Straus, an American business executive. When he died, his widow asked New York City musical instrument dealer Rembert Wurlitzer to sell the instrument for her. In 1964 the Davydov cello was purchased for US$90,000 by Ismena Holland who in turn presented the instrument to her goddaughter, the English cellist, Jacqueline du Pré. Upon receiving the Davydov, Du Pre's instructor, William Pleeth, declared it as "one of the really great instruments of the world". Practically all of du Pré's recordings from 1968 to 1970 were made on this instrument. By 1970, du Pré began using a different cello (fabricated for her by Sergio Peresson and purchased by her husband Daniel Barenboim), as she was bothered by the Davidov's "unpredictability." Yo-Yo Ma later commented, "Jackie's unbridled dark qualities went against the Davydov. You have to coax the instrument. The more you attack it, the less it returns". The Peresson was her primary instrument for the remainder of her career.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davidov_Stradivarius
 
As for the Casals recordings of the Bach suites they have been so popular over the years that they have never gone out of print.  If you want to know more about Casals and Bach get the book The Cello Suites.  Excellent reading especially while listening to Bach.

 

[HP CP]

Some beautiful cello and violin, tell me what you think
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wADVgCg_60

 

[Brent Hutto]

Some beautiful cello and violin, tell me what you think
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wADVgCg_60

Honestly, it's so drenched in reverb and other processing that I can't tell much about the instruments that went into it. If my ears aren't mistaken they are either dubbed over repeatedly or copied and flanged or something like that. It's a cool sound but not really the sound of a cello and violin per se. Could just as easily all be done with electronics.

 

[rroseperry]

Quote:

Quote:

Some beautiful cello and violin, tell me what you think
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wADVgCg_60

Honestly, it's so drenched in reverb and other processing that I can't tell much about the instruments that went into it. If my ears aren't mistaken they are either dubbed over repeatedly or copied and flanged or something like that. It's a cool sound but not really the sound of a cello and violin per se. Could just as easily all be done with electronics.

I like Harold Budd, but have to agree with Brent Hutto. The sound is lovely, but not really about the instruments' performance.
 

 

[Maverickmonk]

I have no standard of comparison, but I'm enjoying some cello music right now on my modded SR-60's. The gear doesn't have to be that high tech. It's the music that matters the most. But despite that, I have little standard of comparison (a sony mdr-v6), am I missing something?

 

[DCofficehack]

No, I don't think you're missing anything.
 
By the way, I just picked up a copy of Du Pré/Barenboim's Beethoven Sonatas, and these are now my favorite rendition. Yo Yo Ma/Ax are perfect, but Du Pré/Barenboim have just the extra touch of passion that this music needs. How I would have loved to have been in the audience when they recorded these disks.

 

[Brent Hutto]

One way to guarantee you will miss something is to worry too much about the possibility that you might be missing something...

I've been going through a round of listening equipment upgrades lately and already I can feel myself getting sucked in to trying to hear this or that difference or little subtle detail that I might have missed before. Bollocks! I spent money on new gear so I could enjoy listening to music. No need to ruin it by spending all my listening time "listening to my equipment".

Just a friendly warning I'm sure your SR-60's will let you fully enjoy 99.9% of the music you're listening to. So don't sweat the other 0.01% that you might in theory be missing.

 

[labrat]

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