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Messages - Alan Howe

#1
Harsh, but spot-on.  ;)
#2
It's more trenchant throughout, though less refined. The Sterling is very fine, but the new Dux is more exciting.
#3
Just out on Dux, coupled with Henryk Wieniawski's VC1:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9599182--polish-romantic-works

..and I've got to say that this is easily the most exciting version of Noskowski's 'Elegiac' Symphony that I've heard. The playing of the Arthur Rubinstein Łódź Philharmonic (Łódź is in central Poland) under conductor Paweł Przytocki is fiery, disciplined - just what this relatively concise but incident-packed symphony requires.

I reckon that some of the most stunning recordings of unsung music are coming out of Poland these days. The orchestra involved here may not be the most tonally glamorous, but they simply give all they've got in the service of their compatriot's fine score.

This is just fabulous. Its magnificence has knocked me sideways this afternoon...
#4
Thanks for the review - very encouraging.
#5
Excerpts are now available at Presto:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9631207--albert-dietrich-symphony-in-d-minor-violin-concerto-overture-in-c-major

...and I'm not sure I like everything I hear. The opening of the VC sounds rather sluggish to me and the strings don't come across very well (maybe because I've been used to the fuller sounds on Koch and cpo). However, as I suspected, the violinist sounds very fine indeed. The symphony has some excitingly recorded timpani, but again the strings don't really 'dig in' as a larger orchestra would - and they're not good in the scherzo either.

I'll be buying this for the VC, but I think it's a missed opportunity as the Symphony's just not as well done as on cpo. If you don't know the music, I'd stick with the excellent cpo recordings.
#6
Schade! Let's indeed hope that it will performed later in the year.
#8
I'm less bothered about the VC provided that the soloist doesn't go full HIP and forego all use of vibrato. Maile, by the way, is the superior soloist - so far! However, I've always liked the extra time taken by Kufferath in the first two movements. To have a third recording will be luxury indeed, although given that this is, in my opinion, Dietrich's most fully realised large-scale orchestral work, the fact that it hasn't been more frequently recorded (or even performed) is a scandal. It would make a great coupling for any of the more famous VCs - or, perhaps, for the Goldmark or Raff's VC1.
#9
Presto now has the timings for the Naxos release. Here's a comparison with the cpo recording of the Symphony:

  Naxos             cpo

I   13:16          13:07
II    9:10            9:11
III   9:45          10:21
IV 10:16          10:49
TT 42:27         43:32

Not a great deal of difference between the two...

#10
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Bottesini: Ali Baba
Wednesday 29 May 2024, 09:57
Here's an introduction (discussion) to the opera:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwHmdVj0N9k

The overture is included in the brilliantly played collection of Bottesini's music:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7975662--bottesini-collection-volume-2
#11
According to their respective websites, the orchestra on the forthcoming release is approx. 60-strong whereas the orchestra on the cpo release is 70-strong, so the major difference will surely be to do with matters such as string vibrato, tempo and general articulation. Muscularity shouldn't be an issue - however, listening to excerpts of the Luxembourg orchestra's Farrenc symphonies, some of the tempi chosen make for less clear articulation than is ideal.
#12
You may well be right, Ilja. I'll certainly be buying this anyway - and the violin soloist sounds really fine from the various excerpts available on YouTube. Speaking purely personally, I like lean and muscular Schumann and Brahms, but not scrawny and small-scale. Just saying...

Rumpf's recording on cpo is pretty standard stuff (well done, though), so there's certainly room for a more muscular alternative.




#13
Very neat, I'd say. Thanks, Eric.
#14
It's good to revisit recordings that made an impression on first hearing some years back. This is one of those CDs that remains a favourite of mine - yes, it's expensive (the Goetz PC2 being coupled on a 2-CD release with Brahms' PC1), but the Goetz is given such a warm, expansive performance that it's hard to resist. And it sounds like a major contribution to the repertoire in this recording. George Bernard Shaw championed Goetz's music - no doubt his was an eccentric choice, but it's hard not to agree...
#15
Errors in documentation are a real nuisance.

IMSLP is probably the best resource I know of:
https://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Ludomir_R%C3%B3%C5%BCycki