http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67940 (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67940)
:-\
without words
It's very good they do Schoeck - but Glazunov?
Yeah, really. I love the Glazounov, but........ :( :(
I wonder if some of these companys ever analyze who their customers are for certain products. People who want to buy the Glazounov likely have no interest in Schoeck. By the same token, folks who want to hear the Schoeck, probably already have several recordings of the Glazounov....
Jerry
I agree that Glazunov is not exactly unsung but how many recordings of this concerto has come out lately? Still this is way better than the dismay that was Vol. 13.... I for one am looking forward to this! Besides I have a soft spot for the Glazunov!
Quote from: erato on Thursday 15 November 2012, 22:22
It's very good they do Schoeck - but Glazunov?
No it isn't, because there are some proper recordings of the Schoeck. No need for another try.
What a disappointing series... "The Romantic Already-recorded-by-others Violin Concerto Series" :P
Well there are the other two pieces by Glazunov too, for whatever that's worth...
But I think people really tend to be too harsh here. It's called "Romantic Violin Concertos". not "Unsung Violin Concertos" or whatever else. And it's not as if the series has Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Brahms, and Mendelssohn (though another recording of the original version of the Mendelssohn E minor might be interesting since the BIS one is...very meh).
I've read many times that companies need to release discs that sell to subsidize ones they feel more personally about. Glazunov might be reletively popular, but it's hardly a warhorse compared to the above either - 52 recordings on Arkiv, but that includes many reissues, though not OOP ones on the flip side while Dvorak has 86 and the others over 200.
It'll be good to have the beautiful Schoeck VC in another recording - I only know of three, the best of which was made by Ulf Hoelscher (on Novalis - now deleted) in the nineties, so a new recording will be very welcome. Shame the coupling's the Glazunov VC, but at least you get another two shorter pieces by him on the CD
Well, as I am lacking both concertos this is a release that I will probably snap up. I do wish however that they had been able to find some unsung concertos to go with the Schoeck. The Paul Joun concerto seems interesting (but I have only heard the extracts at present). Or perhaps they should have recorded some of the Schoeck violin sonatas?
Violin sonatas wouldn't be a fit for this particular series. But I agree: it would be nice to have some Juon recorded.
Well they did put the Medner Piano Quintet coupled with one of the concerti in the RPC series.
Very true. But it's probably the exception that proves the rule. Probably.
Undoubtedly the exception. I do wish people would stop complaining when companies like Hyperion produce "duplicates". We should be grateful for the quite extraordinary quantity of riches in terms of unsung repertoire we have had from the record labels over the last 25 years - beyond our wildest dreams back in the 60s and 70s.
And another thing whilst I'm in censorious mode, far too many people think they know more than the record companies about what makes money. If the record labels weren't right 90% of the time they'd be out of business. If you think you can do better, start your own label; it's a very cold commercial world out there, I can tell you.
Right - end of headmasterly finger-wagging, and back to Schoeck & Glazounov. An odd coupling, I must admit. A concerto by Paul Juon would seem to have been a more logical coupling, or Suter's beautiful VC. But perhaps that's simply what the soloist wanted to record. Perhaps Chloe Hanslip said "I'll do the Schoeck if you let me record Glazounov..." Who knows?
Gareth's undoubtedly right. And I realise I've been guilty of whingeing (or whinging!) far too often myself about choice of repertoire. However, I do think that the RVC series is, relatively speaking, disappointing with regard to repertoire in comparison with the RPC series. I think it may have to do with the paucity of adventurous violinists on Hyperion's roster, but that may just be a reflection of the situation in general...
It doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that some collectors buy pieces for the performance as much as the piece itself. Hyperion like many other record companies have a very uneven record where performers are concerned. There may have been 50 or so recordings of a piece but how many are worth having for repeated listening? Hyperion have tried to balance unusual repertoire for the piano and violin concertos with the more established ones. Which soloist will settle for doing only the unknown?
Good point. To take just one instance (relating purely to my own interests and likes and dislikes) when Hyperion issue a recording of some chamber music then even if it is a very familiar piece (e.g. a Brahms piano trio or a Schumann quartet or whatever) and I already have more than a few other versions on my shelves, then I'll still almost certainly buy the new Hyperion because it will be so damned good! And in terms of performance, quality of recording, and programme notes.
And I don't begrudge Hyperion for issuing a new recording of a 'standard classic', but on the contrary sometimes feel deep gratitude to them for doing so. In the areas in which I'm interested I find it very hard to think of a Hyperion dud, and nearly always the availability of a new Hyperion further enhances my appreciation of a work and is therefore a valuable addition to my shelves. If the label is Hyperion I never catch myself thinking 'aw heck, yet another version of a Brahms quartet, humph could do without this one'.
Agreed. Hyperion's standards are uniformly high - so much so that almost any release in any category is worthy of consideration. I feel the same about Chandos.
However, to return to the RVC series, I do feel that there is a problem - not one of quality of performance or choice of repertoire, but one which concerns the availability of violinists. Given that there are far fewer solo violinists of international calibre than there are pianists, it would seem that, in effect, the classical labels are exploiting a much smaller pool of soloists who might be interested in learning and recording neglected or forgotten concertos. Thus it is probably unreasonable to expect Hyperion to dominate the unsung romantic violin concerto market in the same in which they have cornered the market in unsung romantic piano concertos.
Does this make sense?
And one certainly can't begrudge Hanslip, who recorded two Godard concerti as well as two Hubay concerti (and two other pieces), not to mention a disc of Bazzini music (for violin and piano, but still)...and even Corigliano and Adams. Hell, the other other popular concerto that's listed on Arkiv for her is the Bruch 1.
Guess we need to keep in mind that we all have our own reasons for collecting and individual criteria for doing it. I'm not a collector of different performances and just don't buy additional copies of a given piece unless there is something I just can't live without coupled with it. Or unless someone here, for example, sez it's a blockbuster performance that one shouldn't live without.
In this case, I have both concertos - several of the GLazunov as it's probably my favorite - but as a retired old guy, I do have to limit my music spending. Sad but true.
Jerry
I was very pleased to read Gareth's post on this subject. As someone who has collected beyond the basic repertoire since the 1960s, it is so obvious to me that collectors are now living in a golden age of availability. When I started, the record market was basically dominated by the major labels who usually gave us multiple recordings of everybody's favorite masterpieces and sometimes threw a few bones in the direction of out-of-the way works. These "bones" were usually deleted in a relatively short time. I remember in those years compiling lists of unrecorded symphonies and concertos that I fantasized might be recorded some day but knew I was probably only daydeaming. Looking back on these lists, I'm pleased to say that the vast majority of these works have not only been recorded (often in multiple versions), but remain available over the course of many years. So guys, let's do less carping about occasional repertoire duplication that one doesn't like, and express more appreciation for what these wonderful independent record companies have offered us in recent years.
This is going to be a lovely release...
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67940&vw=dc (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67940&vw=dc)
Mykulh - I agree.
(I need to be less lazy and see if anyone's mentioned that either the late Ted Perry or someone else at Hyperion claimed in re the violin concerto series that it was - by nature ?? - more performer driven when it came to repertoire, so that they needed to choose works based on what violinists and orchestras already had under their fingers (embouchures-etc.-etc.) So besides additional factors, much as I'd like to see a disc of the 2 Huber violin concertos for example in this series, it would have to be in the concert hall first before it ever showed up here.)
Glad you agree. I wish the "tribe" of collectors (to which I've long belonged) would just sit back and enjoy the bounty of repertoire that has come our way in recent years. Of course we could also keep wishing for more and, undoubtedly, more will come, but not all at once!
Slightly off-topic?...
Several times back when I had a portable radio (I think I may still, but I don't use it anymore- no good classical radio stations in broadcast range up here, I think- TV station, yes- anyway... ...) I'd tune in to the middle of a violin concerto, half-recognize it, but only right a minute or so from the end of the finale, when that happened (if you know the piece, no further explanation will be needed; if you don't, hear or read the score once and no further explanation will be, I do think...) - and I would think "Oh! The Schoeck!" - ...
I seem to be suggesting that otherwise it's a sort of thematically undistinguished piece. No , if I heard it a few more times I think that problem for me will be rectified. ;) it's more that my memory is an on-and-off thing, but that surprise is simple, effective, very memorable (and neat. :) )
I also agree (wholeheartedly!) with Mykulh's well expressed point. There is no reason at all for failing to celebrate the enormously variegated bounty of repertoire provided by a large number of record labels. When I started to collect records there were few labels (just about all my early LPs were produced by EMI, Decca and Philips, and Chandos, Hyperion, CPO, Dutton, Nimbus etc didn't even exist), and in those early days of LPs that small number of companies were intent (for obvious enough commercial reasons) on churning out mainstream works. Once in a blue moon something 'unusual' appeared, and was promptly deleted a few months later after its initial run was exhausted (hence the number of shops specialising in S/H and 'deletions' in which I guess some of us oldies spent many happy hours searching through the racks and, on a good day, emerging with a whoop of triumph).
Compare that with the situation which prevails now! True, each of us has a long list of works that we'd love to see recorded. But that doesn't cause me any despair, for the joy that comes about when you read that a company has decided to record such and such can be immense. And to be honest, each month seems to produce at least 3-4 items sufficient to produce in me exclamations of excited gratitude. On top of that there is a regular supply of works by composers who I've never previously encountered, whether it is Georg Schumann or Henry Cotter Nixon or whoever. Little wonder I go about with a smile on my face. Besides, imagine that if on each occasion you wished that such and such was recorded the clouds promptly parted and a brand new Hyperion fluttered down and landed safely in your outstretched hands......well, in such circumstances I guess we'd all expire with boredom.
So celebrate and do not complain! What especially makes my teeth grate are those 'completists' who suggest that a record label is somehow actually at fault (and perhaps even liable to ligitation!) for failing to record a work or to complete a series it has previously started. Let us remember any record label is a commercial enterprise, and sadly its function is not to meet the needs or cravings of a particular collector. To forget that is to indulge in a kind of egotism.
To return to the thread: yes, the Hyperion disc of the Glazunov and Schoeck concertos is happily awaited (especially since it is after all a Hyperion disc and will thus undoubtedly be good). I don't know the Schoeck concerto, but given all the other Schoeck works I do know I'm very confident I shall enjoy it. And yes, I already have two (good) Glazunov violin concertos on my shelves. But that's no cause for complaint at all - anymore than would be refusing to buy a ticket for a concert where the work was going to be performed on the grounds that I'd heard another performance of it by a different soloist, orchestra and conductor at a different concert sometime last year.
Quote from: petershott@btinternet.com on Sunday 16 December 2012, 17:51
What especially makes my teeth grate are those 'completists' who suggest that a record label is somehow actually at fault (and perhaps even liable to ligitation!) for failing to record a work or to complete a series it has previously started.
Quite so. It seems to be the sole occupation of certain list-compilers who no longer frequent this forum.
I'm not a list-compiler. That's Leslie Howard!
And sorry for complaining, but I'm German.
I most definitely did not have you in mind!
Ok ;)
If this release doesn't win new friends for the lovely Schoeck VC, I'll eat my proverbial hat. Sounds as though Hyperion have done it again. Worth buying for the Schoeck alone. Glorious!
To continue a point made by Alan in November. Hyperion have used in their piano concerto series some far from top notch pianists. It would be unkind to name them. Similarly they seem to have the same problem with violin soloists. They are out there but are frequently not given the opportunity.
One has to be very big indeed or to get a recording made these days. I know of a number of big names and orchestras who either pay for or subsidise their own recordings.
Ordered mine a couple of days ago from MDT who, at the moment, have enticing prices for UK customers. I'm very much looking forward to hearing the Schoeck concerto, for I confess I have never heard it before. (Incidentally wouldn't it induce happiness if Hyperion started on a complete series of the Schoeck songs, for they haven't been touched much since Fischer-Dieskau's recordings all those years ago. But that's just a pipe-dream of mine!)
Slightly tangential to the point raised by Giles since it doesn't concern 'big name' soloists and orchestras: in the world of chamber music I'm aware of a number of companies - and high end ones at that - who are now expecting string quartets or chamber ensembles to arrange their own recordings. They then undertake to manufacture and distribute the CDs. All very well for an ensemble attached to, say, a university or academy with its own recording studio, or for one with a generous sponsor. But very very hard for a young ambitous quartet to break in from the outside since it is unlikely ever to regain the initial costs of recording.
How about Jecklin's 10+ volume CD set (separately, not a box) of Schoeck's songs some years back? May be no longer available from Jecklin but some stores and libraries should have it...
I've always liked Schoeck's Concerto though it isn't the most fiery of violin concertos and is, I think, a bit too lyrical for its own good. I've got Emma Verhey's recording. She takes 14 mins 20 secs over the finale while Hanslip, I see, takes 8 mins 56 secs! In the slow movement, though, Hanslip takes a lot longer than Verhey. Either these are two very different interpretations or there is a disagreement over where the slow movement ends and the finale begins! Both seem unlikely so what's going on? No doubt, it will become clear.
It strikes me that the Schoeck is one of a number of fine VCs in the broad Germano-Austrian tradition written within a relatively brief time-span, e.g.:
Reger (1907)
Wolff E. (1909)
Schillings (1910)
Schoeck (1910-11)
Weismann 1 (1910-11)
Waghalter (1911)
Heger (1911)
Weingartner (1912)
I'm not a fan of lists, but I find it fascinating that these works should have been written so close together.
1935 (was it?) was- well, not for everyone, but certainly for me - a similar "annus mirabilis" for violin concertos... (well, Boyle, and also Berg, Bloch (I think), Sessions, Stravinsky, Brian, Schoenberg (35-36), Prokof. 2, and others :) ) Anyway, right.
Hyperion hasn't been giving any hints about the next viola, cello or violin entries I shouldn't suppose... (it's Hegar, isn't it? His enjoyable and passionate string quartet in F-sharp minor is up at IMSLP - thanks, SBB.)
Somebody else thinks this is glorious...
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Mar13/Glazunov_Schoeck_VC_CDA67940.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Mar13/Glazunov_Schoeck_VC_CDA67940.htm)
Eric: no, the VC I was referring to is by Robert Heger:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Heger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Heger)
Maybe you were thinking of Friedrich Hegar (1841-1927)? Hegar's VC dates from 1873.
yep, I was thinking of Friedrich Hegar, sorry. Ah, hadn't encountered Heger's music (whereas I have encountered several works by Hegar, who died earlier and whose works are mainly out of copyright, on IMSLP, including score and recording of his F-sharp minor string quartet.)