[fiddler]

Quote:

Have you ever heard the Perlman/Ashkenazy recording of them? Wonderful stuff.. the interaction between the two players is, to me, amazing.

Yes I have. To be honest with you, I don't really like Perlman all that much. His technique and facility on the instrument is truly remarkable... It's amazing that he can play in tune with the sausages he has as fingers! However, often his interpretations are shallow, lacking in imagination. At times he can even be out-of-style and tasteless with his cheap slides. I've never been profoundly touched by Perlman's playing. I find Zukerman to be a much better musician... He knows how to bring the audience to tears. And I found Stern's Beethoven sonatas to be much more exciting to listen to than Perlman's.

 

[BlindSeer]

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll have to check out that Stern recording... I'm a pianist and a big Ashkenazy fan, so I listen to the piano as much or more than I do the violin.

Although this is the only version of the Beethoven sonatas I've heard, I do feel that Perlman and Ashkenazy are well suited for each other; neither is known for particularly revolutionary interpretations. However, especially on these, the perhaps understated compassion they both put into their playing really gets through to me. Neither ever tries to steal the show, and they present these pieces as the wonderful chamber works that they are. I'm sure that Stern does a great job with them too though. I have (I think) almost all of the recordings done by the Stern/Rose/Istomin trio and love them.

 

[myke]

Quote:

Originally posted by XXhalberstramXX well, pretty hard to beat unless you want the whole opera. Aria compilation CDs for me are like compilation CDs of rock or pop: some like 'em, i don't. I think (especially for Wagner) it doesn't make sense to break up the work into peices. Wagner's music seems to be best described as a constant stream of ideas, building and changing and crashing together. Isolated, each part loses it's relevance and meaning.

There's not a lot of devout opera/classical fans out there. No one's going to sit through 4 hrs of Tristan und Isolde just so they can listen to Isolde's liebenstod at the end of the opera.

I remember going to an high end audio store to audition a pair of speakers and what I brought with me was a old 1970s DG recording (on CD) of Arthur Honnegger symphonies with Karajan conducting and the salesman commented how horrible the sound (and the music, as well) was. But 99% of my classical CD are old 70s' recording (and with the exception of Deccas and a few EMIs, most of'em are non audiophile approved). He pulled out a Chesky recording of some piece that I might as well forget. It sounded great but that's about it.

But I guess you start somewhere- and if audiophile recording makes classical music accessible to you, maybe later on you discover that there is so much more to classical music than just the right placement of the microphones and the recording techniques.

 

[KR...]

A little update:

the
Artist: Cleveland Quartet
Recording: Beethoven:String Quartets Op. 127 in E-Flat Major, Op. 131 in C-Sharp Minor
Release# CD-80425
Label : Telarc

order was cancelled, I guess they ran out of stock.

I did get

MEPHISTO & CO.
Release# RR-82HDCD
Label : Reference recordings
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/music/re_mephisto.cfm

And it gets the thumbs up from me!

Remember people, this is music we are talking (writing) about, there are no right answers. Just like art, which is what music is to me. Buy and listen to what you like, and be happy.
That's what it is all about.