No..I used to find Stravinsky challenging but through perseverance I’ve managed to really love some of his music. Same for Shostakovich. And I adore Rachmaninov. Took retime to surmount some prejudice around his music.
Classical has never hit the spot for me with the exception of Beethoven’s late string quartets (don’t know why they have an effect) and his 7th Symphony, which is clearly a piece of rock music to my ears.I like and listen to jazz but not yet caught a passion for it as I did with classical.
My father loved Italian opera, his parents had a gramophone and many 78s. Pucinni, Mascagni etc but he was forced to listen on the radio in the kitchen because the rest of us were watching the telly or my older brothers would be playing Hawkwind, Black Sabbath or the Incredible String Band on the mono record player (later Pye Black Box, Sanyo music centre).Any more stories of where your musical tastes came from?
Very similar to me. I’m the same for Domingo.He sings Otello as an aristocrat. Give me Vickers or Domingo any day of the week and Serafin, De Sabata or Toscanini to light the way. Pavarotti has those very individual accents. He is greater than often perceived, as is Tebaldi. Her flaw was Callas. Varady and Ferrier are more my cup of tea.Something more human, sincere and communicative in their voices for me. I also love Scotto and Tebaldi. Von Otter leaves me cold. I saw her in Das Lied in Glasgow. Gergiev conducting and the brilliant Ben Heppner stealing the show. It was a clash of styles.
What would I take with me if I could? Hard to say really.Maybe something for another thread!
Nice recording. I have favourites but the one I return to most is the Bernstein with Fischer Dieskau and James King. There is something very authentic and elemental with this white hot performance. A great companion piece to the 6th from this era. The Glasgow performance I saw was strangely inert. Von Otter looked uncomfortable from the start and Gergiev appeared disinterested though he isn’t an obvious Mahlerian. Only Heppner turned up, thank goodness.Das Lied in Glasgow? I went to see the RSNO perform Das Lied in Glasgow last year in March, just before things went pear shaped, and it was a great night. As for recordings, my favourite Das Lied is this one by Kubelik with Janet Baker and Waldemar Kmentt on vocals. It's a live recording and somehow a tremendous sense of intimacy permeates the recording from start to finish. Sure, Kmentt ain't no Wunderlich, but who is!