What CLASSICAL music are you listening to right now ?

A good suggestion by tlkoo merits this effort. Please try to put in a SHORT opinion of the music as well, plus information on the quality and ESPECIALLY WHERE you bought it.

I start:


This is the Furtwrangler conducting Beethoven Symphony No. 9 I keep referring to in some of my posts. Incredible interpretation. But very limited recording. Note it is a 1942 wartime recording. It sounds better if you have a multi-curve phono preamp and can play using the 'London'/Decca equalization curve. Bought it from someone in the U.K. For this kind of LPs, I listen to the MUSIC first and foremost.

Georges Pretre and the Wiener Philharmoniker New Year's Concert 2008.

I know it is already 2011; still a lot of catching up:)

by tlkoo on Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:05 pm

carz wrote:Can those who post album write something about them, like which is the best tracks, why you like it etc; rather than just post without comments?

tlkoo wrote: good to have your wake-up call and to add on, if i may, i suggest to end this thread but to start a music repository based on genre!!! over a period of time, we would have a well built music repository sorted by genre rather than an archive in where everybody just plonks!!!

WongKN wrote:A good suggestion by tlkoo merits this effort. Please try to put in a SHORT opinion of the music as well, plus information on the quality and ESPECIALLY WHERE you bought it.

combination of some proposals, mr wong!
since then, i have stopped music postings at all




cheers

WongKN wrote:This is the Furtwrangler conducting Beethoven Symphony No. 9 I keep referring to in some of my posts. Incredible interpretation. But very limited recording. Note it is a 1942 wartime recording. It sounds better if you have a multi-curve phono preamp and can play using the 'London'/Decca equalization curve. Bought it from someone in the U.K. For this kind of LPs, I listen to the MUSIC first and foremost.

Coincidentally I posted a review of the very same recording on sa-cd.net here: http://www.sa-cd.net/showreviews/2516#8028

This is a SACD
remaster of a famous wartime recording of Beethoven's 9th symphony in
front of a live audience. I am well familiar with the RBCD as released
on Music & Arts (now out of print) although latterly I believe it is
also available on Naxos.

The reason why the recording is famous
is obvious - Furtwangler conducts with an unbearable intensity and
stretches his orchestra to the absolute limit. He dispenses with the
usual musician habit of making a "pretty sound" - instead, the violins
screech, the kettledrum is hammered within an inch of its life, and the
wind instruments howl like tortured cats. The effect is on unbridled
anger - when you listen, you WILL wince and you WILL cower in fear! The
opening Allegro is terrifying enough. After an hour of sheer assault, he
manages to summon up his reserves to deliver an overwhelming
conclusion.

This music can not be listened to too often. It will leave you an emotional wreck.

The
sound quality on the RBCD, sadly, is exceedingly poor. As you would
expect from a live period recording, there is no bass and no top end.
The microphone was frequently overloaded - when the orchestra plays fff
you can hear the sound compress, smearing detail of what the musicians
were doing, and introducing nasty clipping. The RBCD is all but
unlistenable on any system which has a bright sounding top end. In fact
it sounds best in my car, where the dynamic limitation of the recording
and the poor resolution of the car audio actually works to help rather
than hinder.

Unfortunately the SACD is not much better.
Remember, the engineers had to work off a very bad master. The SACD has a
less harsh top end than the RBCD, and perhaps more detail - but the
effect is subtle. The SACD is still nearly unlistenable on my home
system, but it is easier on the ears than the RBCD - just.

If
you are hunting for a copy of this famous recording, you would be better
off buying it on RBCD. I have not heard the Naxos recording, but it is
easily available and inexpensive. This recording is neither easy to get
nor cheap. And the liner notes are in Japanese.

5 for performance, not rated for sound.

Thanks for sharing WongKK. Nice to hear from another person who appreciates the Furtwrangler interpretation. This war-time recording is done, from what I understand, not voluntarily by Furtwrangler as senior members of the Nazi party (including Hitler) were attending and Furtwrangler doesn't like the Nazi's. I think some of his resentment was shown by his venting of it into the music. Indirectly though, Hitler has brought us this masterpiece.

Initially I thought were were referring to the Talhra SACD of the 1951 Bayeruth performance. That one is supposed to be the most balanced and from the re-master, the best sound. The japanese pressing I had sound quite acceptable in my system.

I am now looking for the 1954 version where Furtwrangler was supposed to be in a much more pensive mood as it seems he knew at that time he only had a few more months to live as he was very sick.

For classical music fans, the comparison between Furtwrangler and other famous conductors' interpretation; Karajan, Solti, etc have been a constant source of fascination. I will admit I have never been that deep in to go to that level. I have so far only been appreciating them only in their pure musical form.

I hope more people can share their classical music here.

Hi Classical Enthusiastic,

It seem like this section is a bit cold.

Let talk/share about it for those who want to know more about classical music like me.

What CD pressing or label do you think is the best for classical music.

Do you have any good classical CDs which you can share here.



Cheers.