|
|
|
|
February 14, 2012
|
My twelve top Beethoven symphony sets (in chronological order, not order of preference) are:
Furtwängler SACD (the simultaneous CD release is not bad),
Karajan SACD (from the 1960s),
Kempe SACD,
Masur SACD (in multi-channel),
Bernstein LP/Laserdisc (not CD or SACD),
Gielen DVD,
Barenboim ... more |
|
|
|
|
|
December 12, 2011
|
People have been asking whether the 101 SACD releases from the EMI vaults are better sonically than the prior RBCD releases. I can answer now for several of the releases—Casals' pioneering recording of the Bach Cello Suites from the 1930's, Walter Gieseking's recording of Debussy's Preludes from ... more |
|
|
|
|
|
March 23, 2009
|
THE PERFORMANCE
Takashi Asahina was 92 years of age when he conducted the Osaka Philharmonic in his last Beethoven cycle. This was the major musical event of the year 2000 in Japan, and a worthy recapitulation of Asahina's long career, a little more than a year before his death. The approach is ... more |
|
|
|
|
|
March 23, 2009
|
This is a serious Beethoven cycle and probably best of the several recorded by Japan's pioneering conductor on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. The acoustically excellent Suntory Hall had opened in Tokyo only a few years earlier. This cycle appeared on LDC (Pioneer of Japan) laserdisc soon ... more |
|
