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NormanH

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    Norman, are you listening?

    in Other Topics

    Posted

    Delighted to see you in this thread. It started out between me and sweet17 because I didn't read my pms, [:$] so she got frustrated and started posting here, but all are welcome of course, just that it hasn't got a very obvious title.

    If you read back a bit you will see I have often posted links to Bach [:)]

    Norman, are you listening?

    in Other Topics

    Posted

    I have her version of the 48 on two boxed sets of CDs

    Shostakovich wrote a set of preludes and Fugues in homage to Bach after hearing her play and she recorded them

    http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A1004

    She had a stroke performing them in the USA and died nine days later (not quite on stage as the story goes).

    What a way to go!

    Other performaces on Youtube:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjv4ESS2LqY

    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=+Tatiana+Nikolayeva&oq=+Tatiana+Nikolayeva&gs_l=youtube.3..0l6.728047.728047.0.729021.1.1.0.0.0.0.359.359.3-1.1.0...0.0...1ac.2.vwqFY5fXbuQ

    Norman, are you listening?

    in Other Topics

    Posted

    Oh dear one of those forced Mediterranean tenors who sing as if they were a bull being castrated [:(]

    In contrast listen to the young Pavarotti before he too became like that, when he was still under the influence of musicians such as Richard Bonynge

    https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-TBbphDzPcwaExsMjNlemw1WDg

    There he understands the power of controlled piano singing in the upper register, rather than the sad con belto most of them do nowadays.

    Norman, are you listening?

    in Other Topics

    Posted

    I had never heard of the harp concerto. Thanks a lot [:)]

    If you are considering vintage performances and singers I came across this 1935 perormance of Cosi Fan Tuttè which completely belied my belief that prewar performances  of Mozart were heavy and too rich with heavy vibrato, although the voices do have the sweetness of bel canto

    Get beyond the very brisk overture (I imagine that the pace had something to do with the need to fit it on a 78 disc, although it also shows an extraordinary virtuosity on the part of the orchestra) and listen to Heddle Nash and John Brownlee in a a lively and sparkling Glyndbourne performance under Fritz Busch.

    Even the piano in the recitative is like the forte piano which has come back into fashion recently...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5d9Dp1q5KU

    There is also a Don Giovanni from 1936, but I like that less

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc2cnc5uCiE&feature=relmfu

    The Don Ottavio is magnificent however, and if you don't have time to listen to the other clips I urge you just to hear this one

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibbPaRa1S4

    Dalla sua pace la mia dipende;

    Quel che a lei piace vita mi rende,

    Quel che le incresce morte mi dà.

    S'ella sospira, sospiro anch'io;

    È mia quell'ira, quel pianto è mio;

    E non ho bene, s'ella non l'ha.

    Norman, are you listening?

    in Other Topics

    Posted

    Thanks for that, watched it last night. Beethoven has always been the composer of the time I have most problems with. A good friend of mine once said that he must have been very difficult to live with, and that isnt as trite as it sounds. He is a  a sort  of constant head-banger[:D]

    Yet there are moments of unalloyed joy...

    I like intimate more than grandiose so the big moments of the 9th or the Missa solemnis aren't quite my cup of tea.

    Yet I spent hours on the piano sonatas, and chamber music especially for violin and piano.

    I think it is interesting that you couldn't imagine Beethoven played on a recorder in the way  the same piece of Bach can be played on violin, keyboard or wind instrument.

    And talking of Bach, this seems to me ideal forces for one of my favourite cantatas

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqqFQGV-H54&feature=related

    Norman, are you listening?

    in Other Topics

    Posted

    I think that particular quartet manage the  emotional nuances which can easily be missed in some 'period' performances very well, with the added bonus of a clarity of tone, but I agree that sometimes  lesser performances can be a bit dry.

    I too am enjoying  the Barenboim orchestra, but I wish he would wear a tie [:)]

    PS thanks for the article...I am not convinced about Boulez though.

    Norman, are you listening?

    in Other Topics

    Posted

    A fantastically interesting programme. Thank you for the link it is not something I have seen before.

    After all these years in France I am amazed to see foreign leaders so articulate in English!

    Some how what they say seems more intelligent when they speak so well.

    Aung Yang Soo Kyi  is clearly one of those remarkably poised women who radiate inner tranquillity, yet one senses a iron spirit. Obviously she has to be measured given that the present situation in her country still hangs by a thread.

    Papandreo amazed me by saying exactly what I think about Europe. Listen again to the part where he talks of it being a Peace project, and the necessity for greater integration of banking financial and social systems

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