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Date: | Thu, 15 Jan 2004 16:33:01 -0800 |
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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]>
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