CD-Charts Position 1

Georgy Sviridov: Three Choruses; Pushkin's Garland; Songs of Troubled Times; Night Clouds

Search: Song IV
from: Olympia

Release Date May 23, 1995

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Fischer: Brahms Piano Sonata No. 3; Bartók: 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs

Search: Song IV
from: BBC Legends

Release Date November 28, 2000
Your initial post: Mar 13, 2008 6:46 PM PDT

Preface: I wrote the following in response to Ryan Morris review. I'm adding some notes to that response.
T. R. Wilson says:
Dear Ryan Morris, RIGHT ON! That you should write so insightfully about Maestra Fischer is amazing, in that you never heard her live, and this was your "first expererience" with her playing. I did my undergraduate study with one of her very dear, close friends and colleagues, Edward Kilenyi, and the met Fischer in NYC, hearing her live many times. You are right, her Brahms sonata is simply the only recording of it that comes close to anything. This entire recording is just astounding, as was every one of the 9 or 10 times I heard her in person. I always ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Sibelius: The Tempest

Search: Song IV
from: Ondine

Release Date February 01, 1995
Your initial post: Mar 13, 2008 6:46 PM PDT

Preface: I wrote the following in response to Ryan Morris review. I'm adding some notes to that response.
T. R. Wilson says:
Dear Ryan Morris, RIGHT ON! That you should write so insightfully about Maestra Fischer is amazing, in that you never heard her live, and this was your "first expererience" with her playing. I did my undergraduate study with one of her very dear, close friends and colleagues, Edward Kilenyi, and the met Fischer in NYC, hearing her live many times. You are right, her Brahms sonata is simply the only recording of it that comes close to anything. This entire recording is just astounding, as was every one of the 9 or 10 times I heard her in person. I always ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Schoenberg - Gurre-Leider ~ 4 Songs, Op. 22 / Napier, Minton, Nimsgern, J. Thomas, BBC SO, Boulez

Search: Song IV
by: Arnold Schoenberg, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, Marita Napier, Siegmund Nimsgern, Jess Thomas, Yvonne Minton, BBC Singers, Gentlemen of the London Philharmonic Choir, BBC Choral Society

Release Date July 13, 1993
Relatively speaking, Boulez's 1975 Gurrelieder form London has second-rate forces. Except for the excellent chorus, we aren't hearing the foll-blown virtuosity that this work demands, fully as much as Eledtra or a major Mahler symphony. On the orchestral side this can be compensated for by Boulez's excellent conducting, but even there one wonders how committed he felt towards the work's ultra-lush romanticism. There's something too tentative going on. The real problem are th soloists. Jess Thomas makes for a bland Waldemar, and soprano Marita Napier simply hasn't the voice for Tove, and she, too is bland.

With at least three rivals whose performances are sweeping and exciting (Chailly on Decca, Ozawa on Philips, and Levine in a concert reading ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Boulez conducts Webern

Search: Song IV
from: Deutsche Grammophon

Release Date March 14, 1995

Boulez' masterful readings of Webern's early chamber and choral works are well worth adding to his complete survey of the composer's opus. All works are performed by the finest musicians including the pianist P-L Aimard renowned for his Debussy and Ravel recordings, two outstanding sopranos with pure-toned voice and BBC singers, each performance totally captivating and very imaginative. Beautifully recorded with details and realistic sound image.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Complete Webern

Search: Song IV
by: Anton von Webern, Clemens Hagen, David Finckel, Anton Webern, Pierre Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain, Mary Ann McCormick, Berliner Philharmoniker, Eric Schneider, Gianluca Cascioli, Krystian Zimerman, Oleg Maisenberg, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Christiane Oelze, Francoise Pollet, Lawrence Dutton, Gidon Kremer, Philip Setzer

Release Date May 09, 2000
I share the very positive sentiments of the other reviewers. I have heard both of the Boulez anthologies and prefer this one, although the other is excellent too. Compared to the classic Karajan Webern single CD with the same orchestra, which I also admire, the newer Boulez performances of the same pieces are marked by equally fantastic orchestral playing, and even better recording quality, which makes the extreme dynamics of Webern's writing more effective. If there is a better Opus 1 by any composer than Webern's Passacaglia, I would like to hear it. The Schubert and especially Bach arrangements on the first CD are first class. In my view, all the performances are successful - with special kudos to the soprano Christiane Oelze and the Emerson String Quartet. The ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Box Set

Search: Song IV
by: Kwik Way

Release Date November 28, 2006
I share the very positive sentiments of the other reviewers. I have heard both of the Boulez anthologies and prefer this one, although the other is excellent too. Compared to the classic Karajan Webern single CD with the same orchestra, which I also admire, the newer Boulez performances of the same pieces are marked by equally fantastic orchestral playing, and even better recording quality, which makes the extreme dynamics of Webern's writing more effective. If there is a better Opus 1 by any composer than Webern's Passacaglia, I would like to hear it. The Schubert and especially Bach arrangements on the first CD are first class. In my view, all the performances are successful - with special kudos to the soprano Christiane Oelze and the Emerson String Quartet. The ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht Op4; Pieces Op16/1-5

Search: Song IV
from: London / Decca

Release Date October 14, 1997
As the other two reviewers point out, this is a matchless bargain, containing as it does some famous Decca recordings that either have been out of print or were attached to larger productions (the Anja Silja vocal works were a supplement to Dohnanyi's Wozzeck). The Mehta contributions date from almost 40 years ago but are in remarkably voluptuous, up-close sound, even by current standards. Mehta is what the british would call a "positive" conductor, meaning that he eschews tragedy, I suppose. His three contributions are almost sunny, in fact, and I doubt anyone has made a Verklarte Nacht with less aangst. Karajan has more to say in the Variations, but Mehta's surface sheen is easier to listen to.

Dohnanyi's approach to Schoenberg is cooler, more detached, and carefully ... Read More: