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I know not too many people like ballet music and especially Nutcracker, but I would love to have a SACD of complete ballet music some time. Also, we have two complete sets of Beethoven. Will we soon see complete sets of say Tchaikovsky? I want some new recordings of his symphony No. 1.
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Post by zeus November 22, 2003 (2 of 11)
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flyingdutchman said:
I know not too many people like ballet music and especially Nutcracker, but I would love to have a SACD of complete ballet music some time. Also, we have two complete sets of Beethoven. Will we soon see complete sets of say Tchaikovsky? I want some new recordings of his symphony No. 1.
I can't speak for the performance, but Swan Lake is already available on a Naxos recording:
http://www.sacdinfo.com/showtitle.php?title=1568
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Post by nucaleena November 22, 2003 (3 of 11)
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flyingdutchman said:
I know not too many people like ballet music and especially Nutcracker, but I would love to have a SACD of complete ballet music some time. Also, we have two complete sets of Beethoven. Will we soon see complete sets of say Tchaikovsky? I want some new recordings of his symphony No. 1.
dear dutchman, although it wasn't originally written as ballet music, the Tchaikovsky Seasons has been adapted for use as a ballet score, and there's an SACD of it in piano trio form on the Fidelis label, available through Elusive Disc (who have a good website) in the States.
The best Tch. ballet disc you'll hear in a long time was, fittingly, Pletnev's Sleeping Beauty with the Russian National O. on a DG recording of not-all-that-long ago ('99 or thereabouts). I say fittingly, because Pletnev's piano transcription and playing of that particular ballet was legendary (its on a budget Virgin twofer along with his stunning first recording of the Tch. 6th symphony , - one of the stellar baragins of the catalogue and sometimes available in HMV & Virgin store sales for half budget price). Anyway, i would think that DG are likely to re-release their Pletnev orchestral disc as SACD sometime in the next few years, - it had damned good sound.
As for the Tchaik. 1st Symphony, I'd reckon the best bet for re-issue is Dorati's marvellous mid-60's recording for Mercury. Now that we've had the first batch of Mercury SACDs, there must be a chance that this'd be in a second or third batch.
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Post by Dinko November 22, 2003 (4 of 11)
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zeus said:
I can't speak for the performance, but Swan Lake is already available on a Naxos recording:
http://www.sacdinfo.com/showtitle.php?title=1568
[start rant]
Yes, but did it have to be *that* one? With its disjointed playing (the Russian State Symphony may have been Svetlanov's orchestra but it sure doesn't play for Yablonsky the way it did for Svetlanov), its undernourished string section, its jarring tempi (slow, fast; slow, fast; slow, fast), and its weird sound mix (on CD at least - detailed in parts, muddy elsewhere, dry at the top, annoying reverb at the bottom)?
Couldn't some nitwit at EMI get confused and release the classy Sawallisch/Philadelphia Orchestra recording on SACD (or DVDA for that matter)?
Or better yet, since the first Conifer/BMG edition seems to be out of print, perhaps it's time for someone to get their hands on the masters of Mark Ermler's fiery Royal Opera House, Covent Garden recording, with stunning sonics courtesy of Tryggve Tryggvason (balance engineer) & Michael Woolcock (producer) and a virtuoso fireworks display by the ROH orchestra.
[/rant over]
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Have the Pletnev, have just about every cd of Tchaikovsky ballet out there. Don't have the complete Dorati, but then my opinion of what I do have is that he is just a bit stodgy.
Stephen,
You mention the Naxos discs but your site and others don't list any place in which to get them. Just where can they be bought?
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Post by zeus November 22, 2003 (6 of 11)
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flyingdutchman said:
You mention the Naxos discs but your site and others don't list any place in which to get them. Just where can they be bought?
All the Naxos SACDs to date have been released in Hong Kong (email order@naxos.com.hk). I went into my local retailer here in Australia and gave them the serial numbers of a few and they managed to get them in, though it took a while! It would appear that at least some of these will be released worldwide next year. The Planets will be available in Europe on January 5 ... follow the links.
Stephen
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Post by nucaleena November 23, 2003 (7 of 11)
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flyingdutchman said:
Have the Pletnev, have just about every cd of Tchaikovsky ballet out there. Don't have the complete Dorati, but then my opinion of what I do have is that he is just a bit stodgy.
Stephen,
You mention the Naxos discs but your site and others don't list any place in which to get them. Just where can they be bought?
I'll agree that in the later symphonies (which he recorded for Philips/Mercury collaborations) Dorati wasn't always the most emotive or exciting (he didn't do advanced neoroticism really well) but my memory of the earlier (first three) symphonies is that he got the blend of romanticism, balletic lightness and slavic angst and burgeoning self-pity just about right, - though my attitude and memories may well have been shaped by what was at the time quite marvellous sound. I remember finding his sorties into Beethoven variable, but I never found him stodgy in the Tchaik. ballets. Anyway, if they are re-released in SACD, I'd be very keen to test my 30-40 years memories of the first three symphonies against more recent performances and recordings. Personally, the Tchaikovsky piece I really want to hear on SACD is the wonderful, genuinely dramatic (as opposed to melodramatic) and sadly under-rated 3rd string quartet. Given Teldec's stance on SACD vs DVD-A I doubt we'll ever be given a re-issue of the Brodsky's splendid performance or the Borodins' marvellous 2-disc set (both on Teldec) but a new recording from a company with great chamber-music recording technique, like Opus3, would be wonderful.
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Post by nucaleena November 23, 2003 (8 of 11)
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zeus said:
I can't speak for the performance, but Swan Lake is already available on a Naxos recording:
http://www.sacdinfo.com/showtitle.php?title=1568
don't know why i forgot to mention this one, as its in my collection, but you might like to check out a very nice surround sound recording of the Tchaik. no. 1. Its not an SACD but a Delos 20 bit Dolby surround cd, coupled, for great value, with the no. 2 (the Little Russion). Gerard Schwartz conducts the Seattle Symphony, - maybe not the first conductor or orchestra you'd think of for Tchaikovsky, but a very good pair of performances with splendid sound. Its been around for eight or nine years now, but I think its still in the Delos catalogue. Delos make good records but they're a useless company to contact or deal with so I'd recommend you try amazon.
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nucaleena said:
don't know why i forgot to mention this one, as its in my collection, but you might like to check out a very nice surround sound recording of the Tchaik. no. 1. Its not an SACD but a Delos 20 bit Dolby surround cd, coupled, for great value, with the no. 2 (the Little Russion). Gerard Schwartz conducts the Seattle Symphony, - maybe not the first conductor or orchestra you'd think of for Tchaikovsky, but a very good pair of performances with splendid sound. Its been around for eight or nine years now, but I think its still in the Delos catalogue. Delos make good records but they're a useless company to contact or deal with so I'd recommend you try amazon.
nucaleena,
I have the Seattle SO recording on Delos too. It is quite excellent. Quite possibly one of my 2 favorites of the 1st symphony.
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Post by nucaleena November 23, 2003 (10 of 11)
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flyingdutchman said:
nucaleena,
I have the Seattle SO recording on Delos too. It is quite excellent. Quite possibly one of my 2 favorites of the 1st symphony.
dear dutchman, great minds ...etc..
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