She makes everything look so effortless, huh?
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I wish to call attention to Nathalie Stutzmann, who is both a terrific conductor and an gifted singer. Here she is singing one of the most beautiful piece of music ever written. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQQSs4P2Rs. See also this performance, one of Bachās finest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeil9S2exIU&list=RDJeil9S2exIU&start_radio=1&t=3
Just happened to ck the thread notif. Well, the Mahler 2 IS hands down one of the most beautiful pieces ever written, and this solo is a highlight. Yes, she is very good. Thanks.
I recently subscribed to Primephonic and will be posting a short review here soon. (lots to discover!!)
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I use Tidal, but only because I share with my 13-yr old son, whose musical tastes are, well, shitty :). So I need something that has all sorts of music.
Tidal, in truth, has a great classical collection, but finding things can be a challenge. A big problem is that thereās a gigantic quantity of stupid classical music compilations, stuff like, āgreatest music to study by,ā or āgreatest romantic themese.ā They clog searches. And itās hard to find less well known things by a composer if they wrote something super popular. Again, because it clogs searches. For example, anything by Vivaldi other than the Four Seasons. Or getting past Handelās Messiah to all of his other work. Itās thereā¦
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I think you would like Primephonics search, then. I will get that review done soon and post it here and in the āhow do you get your musicā thread. They do have a 2 week free trial.
OK re PRIMEPHONIC. I have had it for about a month now and must say I am enjoying it a lot. It is all classical and you can search by piece, composer, performer/orchestra and more.Their Platinum tier is only $14.99/mo and is all CD or Hi Res up to 24/192. Display of bitrate planned for the near future, but many dacs do that too.They have a 14 day free trial.
I would recommend this especially for those wishing to explore classical music for the first time; they have a great section devoted to specific periods (Baroque, Romantic, etc ) with spoken intros and anecdotes and full length samples.
However, even experienced listeners will find a wealth of selections, both well-known and some more obscure but well done.
There are MANY categories and staff created playlists, and lots of info (metadata) about an albumās composer, performer, conductor etc. hint: scroll down! Some albums also have a pdf booklet with extensive liner notes!
You can find more info in the āaboutā section of their site, and a nice review done by Tech Hive. Also of note, they are one of few that support Chrome browser.
With all the money we spend on gearā¦for 50 cents a day I am thrilled to have Primephonic available!
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Sitting here listening to Dvorak Symphony 8 on Primephonic.
Jansons and BRSO (Bavarian Radio Sym. Orch,)
Wrote an analysis of this in college, so know it well. First, hearing it in cd qual. is greatā¦clean, depth, etc. Second, these Sundaras are awesome for classical, imo. The imaging is so good I can hear the spatial difference between the 1st and 2nd flutes on some pieces. Honest! Also hear instruments that are seated UP and back from the strings, etc. Really glad I got them.
One thing I love about streaming music online is that it encourages discovering new things, and itās amazing how after all these years Iām still discovering new music.
Anyway, one of these discovers is this amazing piece by Brahms. I have to admit I started watching because Iām crushing hard on the violinist, Veronika Eberle. That dress. But then I stayed for the music, which is glorious. And superbly well recorded.
Thereās this moment at about 8:20 where they seem to switch from Brahms to Ravelā¦itās like a burst of 20th century. Really gorgeous. Enjoy.
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I know Iām months behind in getting my 2cents/recommendationā¦ and I certainly canāt claim familiarity with every (esp recent) Beethoven Cycle, but I have heard a bunchā¦ for a complete cycle my own favorite is Nikolas Harnoncourt and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, 1991. Very well recorded, mostly āmodern instrumentsā ā that is, period-trumpets are used ā no valves! ā and with that historically-informed size and to some extent tempos, but still managing enough of the grandeur of the classic modern-orchestra versions. Intense stuff.
EDIT -
Hereās one professional review: https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/17/arts/recordings-view-harnoncourt-gives-beethoven-a-mild-jolt.html
The Grammophone review is a step more breathlessly positive, iirc.
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Sounds fascinating. I found a great Beethoven 5 and 7 on Primephonic recently. Honeck and Pittsburgh on Reference label. Also a few others by them, all originally done as SACDs.
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Several really well-done piano concertos on youtube. Yuja Wangā¦Rachmaninov, Schumann, etc. put up by Peter Chen. Wonder if thatās the computer guy sponsoring them. It is such fun watching her totally enjoy the fastest passagesā¦man, she can fly!
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I would love to hear that; thanks for the recommendation. Thereās a classic 5&7 pairing on DG, Carlos Kleiber conducting, that ends up on all the criticsā āTop 40 Beethoven recordingsā type listsā¦ that indeed is worthy. I think 70s, which has its own implications for sound and orchestral forces . (State of the art for the time analogue recording, lest I be confusing ā it is very good).
@wagstaff It amazes me how good some of those earlier recordings are, that Kleiber included. Decca and Deutsch Grammophone had it figured out even āback then.ā 
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Yeah itās a bit of a cliche to even sayā¦ but Iām not sure anything was better-recorded than Miles Davisā Kind of Blue, 1959ā¦ (subsequent masterings notwithstanding maybe). Classical recordings with their own canon of engineering marvels!
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Have to update my earlier post about Dvorakās 8th symphony with Jansons. Tho good, I found a better oneā¦both
the 8th and more popular 9th. Istvan Kertesz with London. Sounds like a 24/96 album of today, but was recorded in 1966.
Redone in 2006. Wow. By Decca of course!
I tried 5 different recordingsā¦ Kubelik, Fischer, Alsop, Solti and this is much better imo re interpretation and audio quality.
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I think recording was a mature art/science by the late 50ās and plenty of recordings from the early 60ās on lose nothing to modern equivalent if listening to music as opposed to listening for technical characteristics.
Many of my favourite artists (Szell, Gilels, Bohm, Argerich, Kertesz, Steinberg, Kleiber, Mravinsky etc) are to be found in older recordings and in most cases recording quality is not an issue and in some cases the artistic sensibilities of the recording engineers more than compensated for any technology limitations. And labels like Pentatone have done some wonderfully sympathetic remastered of old recordings, including releasing quadrophonic and multi-channel versions.
I find recording, mastering is a good example of how technology can be squandered. Digital recording offers amazing potential and is way superior to analogue. Yet things like loudness wars and mastering for car audio and BT speakers has led to hideously compressed recordings. Classical music has avoided the worst excesses of modern mastering and some modern recordings are outstanding but it is quite a sad indictment that so many modern recordings of other music genres are so bad.
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Fyi thing. Concertgebouworkest has been doing live concerts on youtube with an empty hall and musicians spread out. Ensembles and now full orchestra. Latest is Tchaikovsky 5th with Russian conductor Bychkov. Imo one of the best performances of it Iāve heard/seen. Iāve listened to many and have played it several times, but this one has special energy and expressiveness.
I watched it live in June and they usually leave them up for just
a month, so you have a few days left to catch it.
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I heartily recommend the Hochrhein Musikfestival youtube channel. Great performances, sure, but also fantastic audio quality.
This performance of one of Beethovenās cello sonatas made me cry. Also, I feel like my beloved HD600s were made for this.
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Any suggestions for downloadable (offline) sources for Chopin and Ravel works?
@SebastianAthea The standard res ones like youtube and spotify allow downloads for offline, tho only if you subscribe, and have a suprisingly decent number of classical pieces. I am using Primephonic (see above) which allows them too on their phone app. Not sure about Qobuz or Amazon hd.
Maybe other folks have more ideas. imo, Chopin is simply elegant!