John Smyth wrote:

>I finally found London's good 'ole Phase 4 Scheherazade, remastered
>by Cala, in a Tower Records. ...
>
>The performance is just as exciting as I remembered it to be.  May
>I blaspheme though?  The Phase 4 recording: The soloists step out
>of their chairs, walk into the audience and sit in your lap to
>play.  Some of the harp glisses actually startled me, spot-lit as
>they are.

Why imagine this is blasphemy.  Phase Four recordings have long been
(in)famous for their almost cinematic production.  In fact I think a
number of critics would consider the recordings themselves blasphemous.

And Stokie approached this at times: the first time I heard the opening
of the last movement of his Beethoven 9 (as reorchestrated by LS) I
nearly fell out of my seat and from far away I imagined I heard the faint
rumbing of Ludwig turning in his grave...

Speaking of which, anyone else familiar with Mahler's version of B9?
I've been listening to a live performance of this recently and again
jumped several times; the amazing thing is that Mahler didn't add any
notes, but his "retuchen" really make certain things (especially
counterpoint) stand out.  Sort of Phase 4 orchestration...:-)

Deryk Barker <[log in to unmask]>