Anton Bruckner - The Collection from Profil will get an update

Four years ago, Profil issued a box set of 20 CDs called "Anton Bruckner - The Collection" (PH 13007) which included all the symphonies and some choral works and chamber and instrumental music by the great composer. 

In the not so distant future, this box set will get an "update" or "revision" as they like to call it (PH 16059). It will include 3 more CDs to become a 23-CD box set. These three CDs are Symphony No. 9 with completion by Gerd Schaller (CD13 & CD14) and Psalm 146 and Organ Works, also by Schaller and Philharmonischer Chor Munchen together with Philharmonie Festiva (CD15).

Apart from these addtions, there are changes to the recordings of 3 symphonies, the F minor ("00"), the D minor "Annulled" ("0") and No. 7. The first 2 were previously those of Georg Tinter's, with Royal Scottish National Orchestra and National Orchestra of Ireland, and the No. 7 was that of Ahronovitch's, with the Güzenich-Orchester Köln. Now they are replaced by those by Philharmonie Festiva conducted by Gerd Schaller. Other recordings are the same as the original box set.

If you already have Schaller's respective additions, which have been issued separately, to this "revised" box set, then the new box set may not be attractive to you at all.

A new, cute and immensely popular Bruckner-Ikonographie in Japan

The six composers in the new pins series designed by Kazuo Ozawa and issued by Bookunion in Japan

The popularity of Anton Bruckner among classical music fans in Japan has never been in doubt, but how immensely popular it is is sometimes out of everyone's expectation. The six pins shown above are to be issued on 1 December 2012, but pre-orders for the Bruckner pin are in so overwhelming amount that this item had to be de-listed soon after it appeared on HMV Japan's online shop. However, all the other 5 pins are still available at the time of writing. If we assume that all the six different pins are issued in the same quantity, then Bruckner appears to be more popular than Beethoven or Mahler here. And if we speak of the 3 B's, traditionally referring to Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, this pins series has taken the position to replace Brahms with Bruckner. This may only be a tongue-in-cheek explanation. The official introduction has given the reasons for the choice of composers: 3 "kings of composers", namely Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, and 3 "modern" composers popular in Japan, namely Bruckner, Mahler and Shostakovich.

These are small nickel plated pins measuring H26 X W13-16mm and 0.7mm thick. The listed price is 630 Yen (tax included). The designer/illustrator is the famous cartoonist on classical music in Japan, Kazuo Ozawa (小澤一雄). 

Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Arts Festival 2013

Riccardo Muti will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to play in the 2013 Hong Kong Arts Festival on 28 and 29 January, with the same 2 sets of programme he used for his 2013 tour to the Far East. Although no Bruckner was programmed for this 2013 tour, not too long ago Muti has expressed his wish to do a Bruckner cycle with the CSO. He has done the Second in 2009 and also the Sixth at the end of the 2011-2012 season on 22 June. He is scheduled to perform the First to conclude the 2012-2013 season.

A review of his concert on 22 June appeared in the Chicago Tribune and can be read here. This concert can be heard from this streaming link till 23 October.

What is worrying for the Orchestra is that the opening concert of the new season on 22 September was cancelled due to the musicians' strike. Here is an extract from the CSO's press release:

"The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance this evening, September 22 at 8 p.m. at Symphony Center, has been canceled. The musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra chose to strike rather than continue their negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The previous collective bargaining agreement expired at midnight on Sunday, September 16, 2012. Musicians and management had previously agreed to begin the 2012/13 season this week, as they continued the contract negotiations that began this summer. Rehearsals and concerts took place as scheduled earlier this week. However, during today’s meeting, the musicians left the negotiating table and proceeded to strike."

I hope that agreement can be reached in the near future.

BBC Proms 2012 at the Royal Albert Hall

Daniel Barenboim brought us a Beethoven Symphonies cycle in the BBC Proms 2012, conducting the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with which he had recorded a complete cycle for DG. When I listened to the recordings a couple of months ago, I felt a little disappointed with the Third Symphony, a rather lacklustre performance. However, on the night of 21 July, the Eroica was excellent, with captivating musical flow and momentum.

The following are a few pictures of the Royal Albert Hall at that time:

The full glory of the Royal Albert Hall during the day

The BBC Proms 2012 signage

Inside the RAH

Barenboim and the orchestra

A view of the RAH after the concert

The 2012 Summer Olympics is held in London. The Tower Bridge is decorated with the five Olympic rings as shown below.

Please, stop these unfounded accusations on Bruckner

Anton Bruckner has been plagued by too many nasty stereotypes even till this day. Many of these labellings were based on a mixture, of varying proportions, of misunderstanding, misinformation, prejudice or simply a mindless spreading of the rumour. This will influence not only people's impressions of his personality, but also opinion and appreciation of his music. Fortunately many of these wrong labels have been disputed against in books and journal articles in recent years, but while we think that the situation is improving, here comes a remark by Norman Lebrecht linking Bruckner with anti-Semitism. 

On page 40 of his book published in 2010, Why Mahler?, Lebrecht writes: “Mahler calls Bruckner his 'father-in-learning', overlooking his repeated disparagements of Mahler’s Jewishness. It is the price he has to pay for having a mentor.”  The word "repeated" when coupled with "disparagements of Mahler's Jewishness" makes a very strong accusation. If this statement were quoted repeatedly in future, what it implies would have become "truth" to many. Some would say that it is no big deal, as Bruckner was already a dead man more than 100 years ago. If this is the case, where are the values we are holding dear to our heart: respect and justice?

Mr Ken Ward, Editor of The Bruckner Journal, has made great efforts to analyse Lebrecht's accusation in a scholarly manner and found that it is basically unfounded. I have high respect to Mr Ward who has taken so much time and trouble to bring us the evidence. His well evidence-based article, Bruckner, Mahler and Anti-Semitism, appears in the current issue of The Bruckner Journal and it can be read online here (hosted in Mr John Berky's website).

I sincerely appeal to you to read this article and help stop the rumour. We should treat Bruckner with the respect that he deserves.

My frugal photography gear for travel

Happy Father's Day.

We had a happy family gathering today involving three generations. The semi-buffet lunch was really nice. An occasion to take some pictures as well. My son Andrew just came back from the UK last night and he has recently taken up an interest in photography. However our choice of photography gear differs. He is a DSLR man (in Canon) through and through, although he can't afford more than 2 lenses (one used) at this moment. I have more diversified choices. We talked about what gear I used when I travelled to Jeju, Korea last month.

As I'm not young anymore, weight consideration is of paramount importance now. I remember quite well my heavy camera bag, weighing more than 10 pounds, in my younger days, an act often ridiculed by my wife. Now I become lazier and aim at light weight even if that means some compromise in image quality (IQ), or so it seems. I reckon that even if not all lenses are created equal with some better than others on measurement, what really matters is the quality of the pictures and it is not necessarily in direct proportion to the accepted quality or price of the lens one uses.

Although good lenses are never too cheap, I've always maintained that frugality is not impossible in one's choice of photography gear: I've never taken to the foolish habit of showing off one's exotic lenses -- the "see what I got" superiority complex. Andrew asked me to post my choice of gear for travel in this blog, and here it is in the following picture.

The list of gear from left to right in the picture above:

1) Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED (465g)

2) Nikon D5100 body and Nikkor 45mm f/2.8P (560g + 120g)

3) Panasonic Lumix G3 with Lumix Leica DG 25mm f/1.4 ASPH (200g for the lens)

4) Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 (761g for the G3 body + lens)

Total: 2106g

This 2.1kg set serves my purpose and pocket well. It covers the 35mm camera equivalent of focal lengths from 18mm to 36mm (zoom), 50mm (prime), 67.5mm (prime) and 90-400mm (zoom). And it contains 2 bodies. Low-light scenes can be tackled with the f/1.4 normal lens.

As Jeju is well known for its beautiful natural scenery, a good wide-angle lens is a must. This Nikon 12-24mm zoom was bought together with my D70 when they were first released many years ago, and has been a stellar performer as far as wide angles are concerned. I have thought of acquiring the Lumix 7-14mm f/4 ASPH before, but since no filter can be attached to it because of the bulging front lens and it is not cheap, I may as well use my well-tried Nikon zoom.

I chose D5100 because of its tiltable LCD and its middle of the road specifications and price. It also fits the DX format of the 12-24mm zoom. The 45mm f/2.8P lens is not only cute but also sharp and has the lovable "footprint" of old lenses. Although it is manual focus, automation in metering is still possible because it is a "P" lens. I may change it for an autofocus lens in my next trip, using the cheap but very good Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8G instead (not much heavier at 185g).

The micro 4/3 system is chosen for its light weight. The IQ of the "Leica" 25mm f/1.4 lens is excellent. The tele-zoom is particularly handy given its feather weight compared with similar zooms for any DSLR system. For comparison the NIkon AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED weighs 745g alone, almost as much as this micro 4/3 lens together with the G3 body. The much coveted AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VRII is 1540g in weight and costs significantly more.

The total cost of this set is still less than what one would pay for the new D800 body alone.

Oh I forget to mention that this set has an all-weather mini backup in the form of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 which my wife carries. This camera has proven to be very handy both in rain and in snow.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year.

Let me share with you the firework display in Hong Kong. I filmed this with a handheld DC and so the quality is just so-so. It is a view from the Viewing Deck, Hong Kong Cultural Centre on the Kowloon side. This video clip only records about 1 minute of the 4 minutes plus show.

Music once again

I was so busy in the last two to three weeks that I could not pay much attention to this blog and, sadly, to music as well. However I didn't miss out on ordering some CDs for Christmas. Just-arrived items include the Audite RIAS box-sets of Klemperer and Knappertsbusch, Venzago's Bruckner 0&1, Blunier's Bruckner 8 and Bünte's Bruckner 7. Those in the mail include Abbado's 3 Pergolesi discs on DG Archiv (not new, but nonetheless eagerly awaiting) and Nezet-Seguin's new Bruckner 4. Now I can listen to music to my heart's content over the weekend.

I returned to the string orchestra version of Beethoven's op. 131 as my first sublime sojourn, one disc by Bernstein and the other by Previn. Then perhaps I can post some more blog entries.

It seems that record companies are quite desperate to make the most of money from their archives. Hot on the heels of EMI's Celibidache Munich recordings comes Wand's Berlin Philharmonic Bruckner packaged in a box-set to be released next month. Price-wise both are really attractive for those who haven't got them. The cover art is quite stylish.

Again, as I said before, Wand is truly ubiquitous.

Another happy thing is that this morning I got a ticket for a March 2012 BRSO concert of Bruckner 5, conducted by Daniel Harding, in the Hong Kong Arts Festival when counter booking first opened today.

For the past 10 days or so, I was fully occupied in various tasks and no spare time could be squeezed out to listen to music. Finalising the schedule of a certificate course and performing the standard setting (complicated and tedious calculations) for a postgrad examination -- alas they are not doing well this year -- are time-consuming yet no mistakes can be entertained. Even today I have to drive some 40 km to the airport as my son is going back to the UK for the new term. Just returned home feeling lost and tired, I really need a good sleep. Thinking of starting to write something tomorrow, on the many discs I've listened to for the past month, e.g. the Dudamel B9, the TMSO's B5s, the Tahra SACD of Furtwangler's wartime Eroica, the rumours I heard about the contemporaneous release of Keilberth's 1960 Salzburg Festival concert (with B9) on Testament and Orfeo, etc. Can I finish all these? Can I resort to the overused and straddling term "cautiously optimistic"? Just senseless babble in a hypnagogic state.

What I'm waiting for in the second half of 2011

As far as Bruckner recordings are concerned, there are some which I'm eagerly waiting for. Most of them are next installments in their respective ongoing projected cycles.

Blomstedt's on Querstand will have the Third (1873 version) issued in Germany next week (VKJK 1017). After that the Fourth (version 1878/80) (VKJK 1018) should be available in the ensuing months. Blomstedt already had one Gewandhausorchester Leipzig Bruckner Third, with the same 1873 version and recorded in 1998, issued earlier. But that was only available within a box-set of 5 CDs and not separately. It was an excellent live performance of the 1873 version of B3 and it has occupied a firm place in my favourite recordings list. I'm holding my breath for the new one.

I guess Järvi's memorable Bruckner Seventh and Ninth might be followed by the enticing Eighth, which he is going to perform on 29 and 30 September in Frankfurt followed by concerts in Innsbruck, Vienna and Prague. It is just logical to deduce that the next CD in his cycle should be the Eighth. Although he performed the Second in a concert with the hr-sinfonieorchester on 31 March and 1 April this year, this less popular symphony may not overtake the Eighth in the issuing schedule.

Janowski's cycle already had Symphony Nos. 5-9 issued. It is indeed coincidental that he will perform the Third (1889 version) on the same nights as Järvi did for the Eighth, i.e. 29 and 30 September. He will come to the Fourth in January 2012 with a number of performances in Europe.

It may be too early to think that Kent Nagano is about to finish a Bruckner cycle, but Sony will issue two Bruckner recordings of his, the 7th and the 8th (1887 version) two weeks later in Japan and then internationally in July, both with the Bavarian State Orchestra. Nagano has recorded the 3rd and 6th with the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra on Harmonia Mundi, and the 8th with the same orchestra on an Arthaus DVD. His recording of the 1874 version of the Fourth on Sony was a nice one and was discussed in an earlier blog entry:

http://multivariate-life.blogspot.com/2009/11/bruckner-fourths-1874-version-review.html 

He only has the 5th and the 9th to record to complete a partial cycle, albeit across labels.

Although I haven't listened to Gerd Schaller's Bruckner, I'm interested in the early versions he has chosen for his cycle. I'd take his as analogous to Inbal's pioneering cycle in the 1980s when the latter first recorded many early versions of Bruckner's symphonies. Whether he will create the sort of sensation which Inbal did at that time is something one can only wait and see.

Staatskapelle Berlin has a very distinctive orchestral timbre and palette. I have fond memories of Barenboim's Beethoven symphony and concerto cycles with this orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall, London. The web video streaming of his performance of Bruckner's 4th-9th shows what Barenboim is famous for in Bruckner: rich and deep sound, broad and romantic (http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/tag/barenboim/). I hope Accentus Music will issue this June 2010 partial cycle on DVD or Blue-ray, but when I emailed them their answer was that they didn't know if and when it would be released. Another wait.

Ruminations in a hot afternoon

Today is a public holiday in Hong Kong, thanks to the Dragon Boat Festival. I was still busy cleaning my old CDs, and the turn this afternoon is my Jochum's Bruckner collection. I took out the DG box-set and only now do I appreciate how well presented it is. Within the thin cardboard box are three jewel-cases housing the symphonies in ascending order, Nos. 1-3, 4-6 and 7-9. A further gem is the CD booklet, with essays by Constantin Floros and Eugen Jochum, in the original German followed by English and French translations. I've always enjoyed reading Floros' analyses. His book on Mahler symphonies is exemplary and has served as a guiding post for my understanding of Mahler's symphonies. His 'new' book on Bruckner, translated into English, is now waiting for a reprint, as the first printing was selling very well. I got this information from the publisher when I tried to order this book. Unfortunately many essays written by Floros in many other CD booklets were not translated into English. Many such essays were written by different authors in their native language and I've seen 4 different authors in a single booklet.

That brought me to think about DG as the leading recording company to issue Bruckner symphony cycles in the 1960s and 1970s to early 1980s. But that was just history after Karajan died. Abbado's early attempts to record a cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic were not continued. Together with the massive changes in the classical music market, that gives me a feeling that the glorious days of DG have almost gone to the winds. If there is any sign of a future DG Bruckner cycle it may well be Thielemann, but apparently his intended cycle with the Munich Philharmonic might come to a premature halt after the unhappy events with this orchestra, and he is going to Dresden anyway.

It is my usual practice to (largely) restrict my attention to official commercial releases only, as the recordings from pirate labels cannot reliably be assumed to be coming from the conductor, orchestra or even date as shown on the CD cover. And very often there is no way to substantiate their claims, at least as far as I am concerned. However I must confess that there were times when I gave in to temptations because the recording was (claimed to be) from a conductor I really care about. One example is Rafael Kubelik. His Bruckner Sixth is one example. As there is yet to be an official release, I could only turn to issues from suspect labels to quench my thirst for it. 

At another moment I was enjoying Kurt Sanderling's Bruckner 3rd. That brought my thoughts to one of his most famous recordings, the mono Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2 for DG. So I quickly searched through the piles of CDs in one of the cabinets to take it out for a listen. At the same time I took out his later recording of the same symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra for Teldec. This latter recording is special for a very broad first movement (26'09" !). Some may find the long cut in the last movement (in both of his recordings) off-putting, but there is no denying the intensity and passion of the readings. The music simply breathes. A really enjoyable afternoon.

 

Facelift

I've decided to give my blog a new design temple and a new colour scheme, in the hope of making it easier for the eyes. The cosmetic process only took about ten minutes. Any feedback is welcome.

New Year resolution for this blog

This is the time of the year to make summaries and resolutions. In fact I've had a number of blog drafts to be published in the pipeline, but never had time to finish them. So now I list my planned entries, including those I expressed a wish to elaborate in the past:

1) My Furtwangler collection,
2) Keilberth's Bruckner recordings, in particular the 6th,
3) Bruckner recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
4) Bruckner recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra,
5) Bruckner recordings with the Gewandhaus Orchestra,
6) Recent releases: Blomstedt's and Haitink's Bruckner 5th, Maazel's Bruckner recordings,
7) Continue with more frequency the "Enlivening path" series,
8) More when they come to mind.

Once again, wish you all a healthy and happy 2011.

Meryy Christmas and Happy New Year to You All

During this festive season, may I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy, peaceful and fruitful New Year.

P.S. And of course happy listening.

Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger)

Spent the first four days of Chinese New Year in Taipei. The bookshops there are impressive, and there is one which opens 24 hours a day. So it is natural that we spent quite some time in these bookshops. 

Didn't quite manage to buy any classical CDs. I didn't visit any of the specialist classical CD shops suggested by eaquson because of lack of time. Well, I don't mind, as I see it most important to spend some good time with my family on books, food and window shopping. Classical CDs are not the primary aim of this trip.

With the recent release of "Richter in Hungary", it's time I revisited his recordings and the book about him. It was the book by Bruno Mosaingeon that accompanied me on this trip. Reading it again did not change the feeling that it imparted on me when I read it first time round -- an unknown melancholy that permeated my whole body. Not very appropriate for the supposedly joyful atmosphere of the Chinese New Year, but then I like this book and this man and the stories told by him. That's what is really important.

My respected pianist, Fou Ts'ong, will play an all-Chopin programme in a recital in Taipei on 1st March. The poster of this recital is really nice.

This lightbox is at least 10 feet high.

Sorry for the barrel distortion of the lens.

Dining in Taipei is an enjoyable experience for someone like me who is not too demanding. Variety may not be as abundant as in Hong Kong. Food stalls in the streets remain an important attraction to tourists, but I'd like to say we have to be quite selective in choosing the type of food from them. I like plain food, and thus many of these local delicacies prove to be too exotic or salty for my taste.

The sausage is quite nice, but we all couldn't finish the cups of noodles.

One of the most famous dumplings restaurants in Taiwan. 

Being able to get a table is like some kind of a blessing. Must try.

We didn't miss the chance and had a feast.

 "High tea" within the 101 building. 

Recharge the tiring legs.

All in all, a pleasant sojourn in Taipei.

Exciting New Releases

Following the excellent first box-set of Günter Wand and the DSO, a second set is coming soon. It will include Beethoven 5th, Bruckner 6th & 8th, Mozart KV550, Stravinsky Firebird and others. After what was really a surprise from the first set, this second set will be very much eagerly awaited by me.

Another live recording which will be issued, so I heard, is Thielemann conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden in Bruckner 8th. It might just be the concerts he was asked at short notice to stand in for the ailing Fabio Luisi, on 13-15 September, 2009. If it is not the case, the last time he conducted this orchestra was in 2003. Another recording to look out for. He is still using the Haas edition of B8, quite rare among "young" conductors these days.

This year being the 200th birth year of Chopin, many new releases and also old commemorative re-issues will appear sooner or later. We will be spoilt, if not overwhelmed, with choices. It will also be a year when pianists will face the harsh reality of survival of the fittest.

Mary Wang introduced to me this beautiful cover art of a DG compilation disc.

 

It was designed by Olaf Hajek.

Gifts from Germany

 

Mary sent me a Christmas gift the other day. She ordered two sets of special-edition CDs from the German Amazon, as pictured above. They are very nice in packaging and document Horowitz's "legendary" concert on 18 May 1986 in Berlin. What is special about the first set is that it is packaged with carton papers and includes a replica of the concert poster. The second set is different from the international release found in Hong Kong in that it includes all the commentaries and interviews made during the concert and relayed for broadcast on that day.

Horowitz was said to be very satisfied with his performance, and you can understand why by listening to this recording. A truly legendary figure.

Thank you.

Jonas Kaufmann -- What a tenor! What a voice!

Gorgeous voice.

Looking forward to his Wagner performances or recordings.

Abbado is also superb here.

Thoroughly enjoyed.

Deutsche Grammophon -- The Story

At long last I received the long-awaited book this afternoon.

To share my joy with you, the unpacking process is shown here.

P.S. Thank you Dave.

Gold fish

Sixteen years ago