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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:23
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quote:
Originally posted by monkspider
Bollocks, Johann composed "Die Fledermaus ". 
What do you think is the best classical music record label Bori? |
Depends. Overall, Deutsche Grammophon is consistently excellent and anything with the label is guaranteed to be of good quality. Decca is best for opera, IMO. EMI also has an excellent classical label.
The ones to avoid are the cheapies like Naxos. Blech.
The best budget brand is Phillips, I think. They have some stellar recordings at relatively inexpensive prices, including 2-CD sets that sell for the price of 1.
I tend to rank my CD purchasing choices by the following criteria:
1) Artist. First and foremost, you want a great interpretation. Label means jack if the artists are mediocre. This includes Conductors, Singers, Soloists, etc.
2) Orchestra. Certain orchestras are bound to be exceptional. The Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics continue to be the 2 best in terms of symphonic repetoire. However, even lesser-known orchestras can turn out great recordings.
3) Historical recordings. Certain recordings are legendary and must-haves for a collection. EMI is currently doing an entire series of such recordings. Examples are Otto Klemperer conducting "Ein Deutsches Requeim" and Andre Previn conducting Carmina Burana." It's important when getting historical recordings to consider digital remastering. The analog recordings can be remastered to an incredible sound level, as the above CDs show. Perhaps the most amazing remasterings I have heard are the RCA Victor's set of Toscanini conducting the NBC orchestra in 1950. These are astoundingly good, and with the exception of very slight tinniness from the strings, sound like they could have been recorded last year. It helped that Toscanini insisted on using a studio with no reverb whatsoever.
4) Then consider label. The labels listed above are the most likely to produce quality recordings with superb sound. Their remasterings are usually the best.
5) Then price. As much as I may want to have that complete set of Abbado conducting the 9 Mahler symphonies, I'm not paying $85 for it.
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Ethelred
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Voted for Beethoven but I really can't pick one as the best.
I would go for
Johann Sebastian Bach
Beethoven
Stravinsky.
I too love the rite of Spring. My first LP was the Rite of Spring Stravinsky conducting. He can handle that mess of horns better than most, which at points, can run together with many conductors even when I like the overall performance.
And to me classical includes some of the Film Composers.
Bernard Herrmann
Jerry Goldsmith
There are other good film composers including Prokofiev but those two are by far my favorites. Its amazing some of the sounds Bernard Herrman achieved.
Prokofiev is a favorite of mine but he comes after these others and Aleksander Nevsky is not his best so he doesn't get up for film. I grew up with Prokofiev on an LP that had a the Illiad and Greek myths for for children and I guess they didn't have to pay Prokfiev. I remember there was lot of Love of Three Oranges in it.
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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:23
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quote:
Originally posted by monkspider
Aww man, you don't like Naxos? I actually like them a lot more than some of the more name-brand type stuff like Sony Classical. They are dirt-cheap, plus they seem to have a pretty huge catalogue, including lots of more rare, exotic stuff.
They admitteldy seem to be lacking in terms of historic recordings, like the Furtwangler/Brahms recordings you mentioned a while back.
Are there any good stores in particular you can reccemend? Thus far, I have only done my shopping at Barnes and Nobles type places. |
The Naxos lose sheerly on recording quality. The sound ranges from passable at best to terrible. Good luck finding any decent remasterings on that label. The best thing I can say for it is that they do give exposure to a lot of relatively unknown but still talented artists and orchestras.
Tower records is an excellent resource in most regards. Of course, I have the luxury of being in a city with access to pretty much anything available. I frequent a used CD store on 17th street where you can listen to the CDs on discmans in the store. I was in there briefly a few nights ago, and they had 2 shelves worth of Furtwangler recordings... 
Generally, here are the conductors and orchestras to keep an eye out for:
Contemp:
Abbado/Vienna Phil
Kleiber/Berlin Phil
Solti/Chicago Symphony
Ozawa/Boston Symphony
Szell/Cleveland Symphony
Ormandy/Philadelphia Symphony
Bernstein/New York Phil
Mackerras/Scottish Chamber Orch
Dutoit/Montreal Symph
Sawallisch, London Phil
Historic:
Furtwangler/Berlin Phil
Toscanini/NBC Symph
Reiner/Royal Phil
Klemperer/Philharmonia Orch
Walter/Columbia Symph
Leinsdorf/Vienna Phil
Bohm/Vienna Phil
Mitropolous/New York Phil
Stokowski
Knappertsbusch/Vienna Phil
Sanderling/Dresden Staatskapelle
Weingartner/London SO
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MRT144
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Seattle Washington
Oct 2002
time: 21:23
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bach...by far for me
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Ethelred
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quote:
Originally posted by Boris Godunov
He doesn't have the kind of control over an orchestra needed for his own works, and his tempos are very sloppy at times. |
Could be. Its an LP and I haven't listened to it in well over a decade. It was specificly a particular stretch horns that I have heard others get muddled. In fact it was my brother that pointed this out to me.
I had been mostly listening to the CD I have because that poor LP had been listened to many dozens of times. If I had let someone else touch my LPs it would have been scratched to hell and gone. Even with utmost care the thing was showing signs of wear. I had it since 1969 and that is long time before CDs. Might have 1970 but I think I got it for Christmas in my first year in College. I annoyed everyone by shaking the walls with it few times. After that I only played it when there was no one to disturb.
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The Vagabond
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of realpolitik and counterpropaganda
Jan 1970
time: 05:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Boris Godunov
... Russia's undisputed greatest opera, Boris Godunov |
I am not a particular opera connoisseur, but I know some and even like some arias and chorus. It remains beyond me what you found in "Boris Godunov".   There are much better Russian operas out there, with great arias and chorus. F.e. "Sadko", "Evgeny Onegin", "Life for the tzar" (renamed "Ivan Susanin" for political reasons), "Prince Igor". As for "Boris Godunov", I don't recall a single good aria. Under the influence of your nickname , I even found Boris aria online, but remained unimpressed. Well, I believe your tastes are too exquisite, Boris.
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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:23
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quote:
Originally posted by The Vagabond
I am not a particular opera connoisseur, but I know some and even like some arias and chorus. It remains beyond me what you found in "Boris Godunov". There are much better Russian operas out there, with great arias and chorus. F.e. "Sadko", "Evgeny Onegin", "Life for the tzar" (renamed "Ivan Susanin" for political reasons), "Prince Igor". As for "Boris Godunov", I don't recall a single good aria. Under the influence of your nickname , I even found Boris aria online, but remained unimpressed. Well, I believe your tastes are too exquisite, Boris. |
Boris Godunov is not the most tuneful of opera, but music isn't always about catchy tunes. What makes Boris the epitome of Russian opera are several things:
1) Scope. The scope of the opera is epic. When it is over, you feel like you have witnessed a part of Russian history. Rarely, if ever, has a staged work outside of Shakespeare been able to give such an impression.
2) It is uniquely Russian. All the operas you mentioned, while indeed great, are also very Westernized in influence and sounds. Mussorgsky, being a mostly self-taught composer, relied on the traditional Russian folk music for his inspiration. The opera is replete with Russian folk tunes, and Mussorgsky's orchestrations are unique to opera, incorporating traditional instruments and sounds.
3) Characterization. Even the smallest characters in the opera are given full musical treatment that makes them real, flesh-and-blood people. There are no stock characters here. Mussorgsky had a gift for portraying people through music. We feel the crushing weight of Boris's guilt, the vanity of Marina Mnshek, the piety of Pimen. The chorus is a character unto itself, moreso than in any other opera. They equal Boris in terms of importance, making the Russian people a hero of the opera.
4) Yes, the music. Mussorgsky was not interested in the traditional aria-chorus-recitative etc. mode of opera, wherein there are all those catchy set-pieces. He was moving into the Wagnerian mode of music drama, wherein a continuous musical story is told. He also modeled much of the vocal lines on the patterns of Russian speech.
There are some knock-out selections in the opera, though the individual arias aren't really the kind for concert pieces like one would find in Puccini. In fact, removing the arias from the dramatic context would be a bad idea, since that's not what Mussordsky intended. Still, the Coronation Scene is one of opera's biggest and best numbers. It is in the chorus moments where Mussorgsky really pulled out the stops. The Kromy Forest scene and the St. Basil scene also stand out for them. Boris's best moments are the Clock Scene (in the right hands, perhaps opera's most frightening mad scene) and his Prayer and Death. I can think of few instances in opera where death was so effectively portrayed than in his final moments. Other standouts include Pimen's Tale and Varlaam's Song, Marina's Aria and the spectacular Love Duet between Marina and Dmitri (easily in the top among operatic duets).
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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:23
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quote:
Originally posted by monolith94
"Drop Grieg, Saint-Saens and Rimsky-Korsakov and replace them with Mussorgsky, Monteverdi and Bizet."
Don't you DARE drop Rimsky-Korsakov!!!
He's number 1 in MY book!
I hate flight of the bumble bee though…
The main reason is, I could literally listen to Scheherzade for hours on end… It could be the soundtrack to my life… |
Rimsky was fun, yes. His claim to fame, IMO, is that he was a master orchestrator, and his role in teaching Stravinsky was significant. He is certainly one of the greats of Russian music. But as a composer, his contribution was not that significant. A lot of his music is pretty standard and (dare I say it) dull. He could whip out some great tunes.
Another thing to his credit is his rigorous collection and notation of Russian folk music. This was perhaps his most invaluable contribution to musicology.
I'd put him in a tier below the "greats," in the "Very Goods." Among the Russians, he holds a place below Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.
I'd also like to mention Shostakovich. He certainly was significant, and he does hold the honor of the single greatest string quartet of the 20th Century, the No. 8 in C Minor.
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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:23
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Two bits, four bits, six bits a peso
All who're for Zorro, stand up and say so!
Sorry...hehe
Grieg was a great composer, undeniably. But they can't all be number 1, and in terms of musical significance, he is a blip next to Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc.
Monolith:
Scheherazade is certainly the most notable of Rimsky's compositions. I personally can't tolerate the Bumblebee thing too much. Another piece of his I enjoy a lot is the Russian Easter Festival Overture, which also incorporates some Russian liturgical music. The Capriccio Espagnol is another fun piece.
I guess that's the best category for Rimsky--fun compositions that aren't taxing on the brain. Did they expand the musical language any? No. Were the masterpieces of form? No. Were they really important within the context of musical history? Not too much.
But who cares? You enjoy it, so that's all you need. Music touches everyone in different ways for different reasons. Whether or not a work is "significant" in the history of music should be absolutely irrelevant to your enjoyment of it. I am personally separating my personal tastes in music from my opinion on musical significance in this thread, which is why I picked Bach over Brahms. In fact, I would have to pick a lot of these guys over Brahms in that regard, including Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart and Wagner. But i still enjoy listening to Brahms more than any other composer.
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17-10-2002 03:08
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