Other Music Magazines
Fri, Feb 17 2012, 2:38PM
For only about the second or third time ever I bought earlier this week a copy of Classic FM magazine (as it hails from the same stable as Gramophone I'll perhaps be allowed to mention it here). Not really the done thing for a Gramophone reader of course and I can't abide the radio station, but it was the cover discs which made me buy it: complete works - I'd always thought their cover CD contained only bits & bobs like the station itself. They were of course well enough known works but the performances looked interesting including Brahms 1, Karajan/VPO: Schumann concerto, Cliburn/Reiner/Chicago; and Strauss's 4 last songs, Lisa Della Casa/VPO/Bohm. I have very few Karajan recordings (but to digress to another thread do have his Boheme) but I hadn't heard his Brahms, and don't particularly want to again. Beautifully played of course but lacking drive and tension particularly in the first movement; not one for me. The Schumann is a good if not outstanding performance but Della Casa's Strauss, apparently the first commercial recording was for me the highlight.
The transfers are from LPs, obviously with some de-clicking and a bit of noise reduction but they've not been emasculated and are quite listenable.
I thought others might also wish to investigate.
Fri, Feb 17 2012, 4:02PM
#2
RE: Other Music Magazines
[33lp wrote:]
I have very few Karajan recordings (but to digress to another thread do have his Boheme) but I hadn't heard his Brahms, and don't particularly want to again. Beautifully played of course but lacking drive and tension particularly in the first movement; not one for me.
....and for many 33lp. Oddly enough the best Karajan, imo, is well away from Brahms and Beethoven. Yes, his Brahms has large gestures that don't fit well, depriving the piece from its inherent tension and focus. The Brahms' 70s cycle w/ BPO on DG is his best: the 4th is quite good, the best of the lot, but, even so, is not on par w/ the best: Reiner, Haitink, Schuricht, Kleiber.....
Fri, Feb 17 2012, 7:55PM
#3
RE: Other Music Magazines
I don't often buy Classic FM magazine as I find it less appealing than Gramophone, IRR and BBC music magazine and too full of soundbites. Admittedly I bought the latest issue for the cover disc too. I part company with you on the Brahms though. This is the performance I first encountered Brahms 1 so it holds a special affection for me and I prefer it to all HvK's versions with the BPO, rightly or wrongly. I can't help thinking that it sounds rather better on LP than the transfer here for some reason even though it is transfered from the LP if you see what I mean.
Fri, Feb 17 2012, 9:34PM
#4
RE: Other Music Magazines
I have enjoyed several cover discs recently (especially Horenstein's Mahler1). i enjoyed the cover disc under discussion. The Schumann was rattling around in my head nearly a week after listening to is, so something must have been good. I was pleasantly suprised by HvK's Brahms 1 - I had read lukewarm reviews somewhere in the past.
The Richard Strauss was good and in better condition than my old lp of the same recording.
P
Wed, Feb 29 2012, 3:23PM
#5
RE: Other Music Magazines
I hear that the April issue of Classic FM magazine will be the last. Not new news, as there were rumours flying about before now. I feel sorry for the contributors and editorial staff who worked on the magazine.
Wed, Feb 29 2012, 5:12PM
#6
RE: Other Music Magazines
....I feel sorry for the contributors and editorial staff who worked on the magazine.
Yes, indeed.
I've never been able to get on with Classic FM and the few copies of the magazine I saw left me with the same feeling. It always seemed like desperate attempts to popularize classical music for the sake of advertisers, somehow.
The advent of digital streamed radio from all over the world has thrown up some real gems for me. Try the Dutch AVRO Classical, for instance. The Swiss and French put out good stuff too. There's hundreds - and no endless adverts aimed at the age category I'm in denial about being part of.
Vic.
Wed, Feb 29 2012, 6:55PM
#7
RE: Other Music Magazines
Just after they started putting a decent cd on the cover!
I guess it was a last effort to attract circulation.
P
Wed, Feb 29 2012, 10:25PM
#8
RE: Other Music Magazines
Unfortunately, with the economic crisis, particularly in Europe, Classical Music will be affected, in one or the other way. I see the relevant magazines in France and Germany struggling for existence. Diapason is doing a bit better, but for how long, I'm not sure.
In Asia, in Japan and China in particular, despite the great interest in the emergence of Classical Music, the respective magazines (including a Chinese version of Gramophone) is not doing that impressively well either.
Parla
Thu, Mar 1 2012, 7:45PM
#9
RE: Other Music Magazines
caballe wrote
I can't help thinking that it sounds rather better on LP than the transfer here for some reason even though it is transfered from the LP if you see what I mean.
Yes I'm not surprised you find your own LP better. The transfer has obviously been subjected to some electronic noise reduction and as I have commented elsewhere on 78 transfers computerized noise reduction always in my opinion sucks out some presence and immediacy or the "life" out of a recording.
Mon, Mar 5 2012, 8:52AM
#10
RE: Other Music Magazines
When checking on the classic FM mag story I was surprised to read that it now came from the same stable as the Gramophone magazine that, so the decision to close - which I regret - was made for purely commercial reasons by a company that produces a large range of periodicals with this as only one out of many. I would hope that Classic FM itself regrets the demise of what obviously started out as a magazine to broaden the interests of a readership that was genrally new to CM. A bad day for CM anyway.
Mon, Mar 5 2012, 8:38PM
#11
RE: Other Music Magazines
I originally subscribed to the Classic FM magazine because of the CD's, however from April my subscription changes to Gramaphone, will there be any free CDs with the magazine, or will I be robbed of them?
Tue, Mar 6 2012, 7:00AM
#12
RE: Other Music Magazines
will there be any free CDs with the magazine, or will I be robbed of them?
On a point of order - how can you be 'robbed' of something that was 'free'?
Wed, Mar 7 2012, 8:21AM
#13
RE: Other Music Magazines
Does the demise of CFM magazine coincide with change of Gramophone design and editorship to reflect the absorbtion of CFM readers or is it coincidence?
Wed, Mar 7 2012, 10:23AM
#14
RE: Other Music Magazines
I can assure you that changes to Gramophone - be they design or editorship - have absolutely no link to the closure of Classic FM magazine (the most recent redesign and my appointment coming many months beforehand anyway). That said, we do hope many Classic FM readers will try, and enjoy, Gramophone – be that in print or online. Martin
Wed, Mar 7 2012, 11:40AM
#15
RE: Other Music Magazines
Now wouldn't it be fascinating to know how many of them go to Gramophone and how many to BBC MM? And more, what criteria lead them thence. There's the relative seriousness and depth of treatment on the one hand, and the coverdisc/download issue on the other.
If I were the publisher in a shrinking market (if it is), I'd be desperate to know.
Interesting.
Vic.
Yes I do buy the magazine , mostly for the cover CDs as there are some interesting LP transfers from time - and I agree the Strauss alone is worth the cover price! For my money, the magazine itself provides less value than its main competitors, but the articles are no more/less interesting than most of those that appear in Gramophone!