Tír Na HiFi

Seán wrote:Well Claudio Abbado has certainly opened my ears to the wondrous and fascinating beauty of Beethoven;s's fourth symphony. I haven't paid much attention to it until lately but now this recording is always the first one into the CD player, this is a daily occurrence:


Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 4
Berline Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado conducting

It is a funny thing that you should mention Beethoven's fourth symphony as I have been pondering it in recent times. I find it to be his most enigmatic work even after years of listening! I have even pondered a thread on the very subject so perhaps it is time to take that on at some stage; I might well be enlightened!

Some renaissance music performed by the Early Music Consort of London under the directorship of the the wonderful David Munrow....





....wonderful performances!

fergus wrote:

Seán wrote:Well Claudio Abbado has certainly opened my ears to the wondrous and fascinating beauty of Beethoven;s's fourth symphony. I haven't paid much attention to it until lately but now this recording is always the first one into the CD player, this is a daily occurrence:


Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 4
Berline Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado conducting

It is a funny thing that you should mention Beethoven's fourth symphony as I have been pondering it in recent times. I find it to be his most enigmatic work even after years of listening! I have even pondered a thread on the very subject so perhaps it is time to take that on at some stage; I might well be enlightened!

Fergus, I decided to start with Beethoven's fourth:


Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 4
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich
David Zinman conducting

Well this is a pleasant surprise, I didn't think that I would enjoy it as much as I do. I have listened to it twice now and I am greatly impressed with Zinman's approach to driving the orchestra at fast tempi throughout all four movements. Yet it doesn't sound forced. The orchestra are terrific, the strings and in particular the woodwinds are delicious: such gorgeous tones. The production quality is marvellous and as I said to my wonderful wife when she walked in on me when I was basking in this beautiful music: "this is why I have this equipment". It looses in translation perhaps but you get my drift.

Like you I have one Mahler cd and was less than impressed with the performance of the Titan and Blumine but I am up for a challenge and open to persuasion, so we'll see. The Tonhalle are very impressive outfit indeed.

fergus wrote:

Seán wrote:Well Claudio Abbado has certainly opened my ears to the wondrous and fascinating beauty of Beethoven;s's fourth symphony. I haven't paid much attention to it until lately but now this recording is always the first one into the CD player, this is a daily occurrence:


Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 4
Berline Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado conducting

It is a funny thing that you should mention Beethoven's fourth symphony as I have been pondering it in recent times. I find it to be his most enigmatic work even after years of listening! I have even pondered a thread on the very subject so perhaps it is time to take that on at some stage; I might well be enlightened!

I love the Fourth, it´s elegant and well argued. Maybe it´s not as popular as the 3rd, 5th and 6th because there is no agenda to it, and so much the better for it as Sir Thomas Beecham used to say. All these versions, Abbado and Zinman are very fine, but Brüggen will get my #1 vote.

I've been listening to lots of Jordi Savall lately.
Tonight it's his renditions of La Folia - wonderful playing and sound.

A recent purchase based on a strong recommendation from Pepe....





One of my favourite ensembles play breathtaking performances and give superb presentations of music from various composers. The music is really attacked but not in an overtly ostentatious way. Highly polished performances make this a jewel of a purchase!

fergus wrote:A recent purchase based on a strong recommendation from Pepe....





One of my favourite ensembles play breathtaking performances and give superb presentations of music from various composers. The music is really attacked but not in an overtly ostentatious way. Highly polished performances make this a jewel of a purchase!

Pablo Heras-Casado is the new darling of orchestras and opera houses around the World. Right now he is conducting Carmen at the MET, and has already made recordings with the Freiburger Barockorchester (Schubert symphonies) and of course this Maestro Farinelli. So, our predictions were correct: the new generation of conductors HAVE to conduct HIP according to repertoire. It was only a matter of time.

Countertenors are getting better and better all the time. Valer Barna-Sabadus is a young Romanian countertenor with a gentle lyric voice, easy at the top, warm in the middle. He is not as thrilling as Fagioli or Cencic, but he fits some roles that demand these qualities.
This lovely Glück and Sacchini recital is very well done, built around the famous castrato Giuseppe Millico for whom these composers wrote some gorgeous music, including the heavenly aria Le Belle Immagini from Paride ed Elena. We may not have Manricos or Tristans in this decade, but boy, do we have countertenors.

Another fine album from Jordi Savall - great sound and very atmospheric.

I have been recently working my way through Klemperer's monumental Beethoven cycle and finished tonight with a rather good Beethoven 9....