Classical Music Chatterbox | Forum profile

Kaplan's "Resurrection" Mahler symphony on MCA [11011] was a revelation to me, and quite an astonishing presentation. Great orchestra (LSO) with soloists Forrester and Valente at their peak, I was pleased with the recording. It's not a symphony I hear frequently, and I cannot comment on Kaplan's DGG recording, which I did not intend to get, at least anytime soon.

According to Jeffrey (J+R's Classical Meastro) Hickox was very overweight but people he has corresponded with all believe that the Stress from the Opera Confrontations killed him, I would add the enormous burden of traveling to and from Australia, he's just like Stanley Kubrick who died after he had just finished Eyes Wide Shut...

I know all that, Feb. It's just that passion, the study of correspondence etc. does not make one a conductor just like that. Even with conducting classes and so on. I'd rather have a conductor conductor conduct than a businessman. It just doesn't go that way. Sadly.

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I don't know Koussevitzky's late recording of Sibelius 2, but his 1930s version for RCA Victor is the one I grew up with (my parents owned it), and I still think it's the most magnificent performance I've heard.

Lance wrote: Of course, honesty is the best policy. But if you love Robert Schumann as I do, I think his symphonies are masterworks of the first order. They are among the height of the best of any composer from the high Romantic period. I could not live without them. My favourite is No. 4 in D Minor (which wasn't really his last symphony, but only by virtue of its publication). I always remember Clara's words: "I hear D...

Can I be honest and admit that I'm surprised to see Schumann's name mentioned? I find his symphonies rather ordinary when placed beside those by some of the other great composers listed so far. Mind you, this could be because I tend to think of Schumann as a much better chamber composer than a symphonic one. FK

Yep, Mahler it is for me too. But then, I wouldn't want to part with the best of the rest, i.e. Brahms, Beethoven, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Vaughan-Williams, and all that glorious piano music from Bach/Scarlatti forward.....

John F wrote: Improvisation is part of the job description of a church organist, isn't it? Used to be, anyway, in those parts of the church service such as the taking of the collection and holy communion which vary unpredictably in length. Correct. However, noodling to fill time, while a skill all by itself, is not the same as improvisation in the grand tradition to which I was referring. I borrowed a CD when I was in Germany of Marcus...

Scott.. I use a criteria for music appreciation that's called tears. As much as I love Haydn, he never makes me cry when I hear his symphonies. Mahler almost always does.