It would seem Telarc has a golden opportunity to get into the original-jackets business more broadly by focusing on individual musicians like conductors or soloists. There should be a complete Slatkin-on-Telarc box. For that matter, there should also be a complete Previn-on-Telarc box too. That one would also include a few jazz discs as a bonus, as Telarc's jazz division started with the "After Hours" trio album with Previn, Joe Pass and Ray Brown back in 1989. For soloists, it would be great to have all of John O'Conor's recordings for the label. I listened to his Mozart concertos with Mackerras a few months ago and was blown away by their beauty. And of course, the jazz division would be ripe for this treatment too. A box of George Shearing's complete Telarc output would be divine! 😋
I kind of have to like Erich Kunzel. I grew up in Cincinnati, and in grade school (mid to late 1960s) they would occasionally bus us all downtown for symphony concerts. I have a vivid memory of having heard an excerpt from Bartok's "The Miraculous Mandarin" on one of these jaunts, and I was so overcome with its savagery that I came home raving (at least, as much as a 4th grader can rave) about it to my parents. I can't recall at this distance whether Kunzel himself was on the podium for these things, but I knew his name even back then, so I suspect he may have been.
David, thank you SO much for the Telarc nod here. I also was very pleased to see in your Strauss Four Last Songs that Telarc was in the presented collection. THAT is the copy I bought back in the day. You see, I became a HUGE Telarc fan in 1986 when I bought my first player and started with Telarc's sampler #2 That collection has continued through the years ENCLUDING my writing Robert Woods and receiving a lovely personal letter in return on genuine Telarc letter head AND embossed envelope also with their logo. Also have every Quarternote newsletter they mailed out ! It was a sad day when they closed up shop. Their recordings used minimal microphone techniques which has always been my preference. Thanks again and looking forward to your next presentation. Best regards. (from your resident pipeorgan tech ;-)
David, if you’re ever short of a topic I think a series of top 10 lists by conductor would be really interesting. Top 10 Bernstein recordings, and so on.
I stumbled across that Mackerras box of Mozart operas a few months ago for barely more than $20 and couldn't resist. I've listened to all of it and performances and sound are superb. The box and cardboard sleeves on mine are white, different than the ones in this video. I liked them so much I got Mackerras/SCO for Idomeneo and The Abduction of the Seraglio after the ideal Mozart opera talk. With regard to Robert Shaw, there is a very good show on him in the PBS series American Masters from the last year or two. His intensity and perfectionism was evident in the rehearsal footage and the stories some of the singers told. I saw Shaw once in person, conducting the B Minor Mass with the ASO a year or two before he died.
Can't wait for you to tackle the "Opera Without Singing," that was a genre unto itself in the LP era. Wish I could get Fiedler's mono "Opera Without Singing," never released on CD AFAIK. Then Kostelanetz's best-selling mono LaBoheme. At the bottom of the heap IMHO was that series on Kapp only three of which found their way onto CD via MCA's Double Decker budget line.
It's good to know that Telarc is still around, but it's too bad they aren't producing knew recordings. Without it's founder's vision maybe that's ok. The Telarc Mahler set - with various conductors and orchestras - is sonically hard to beat. I hope they release a box with the Beethoven symphonies from Cleveland, the concertos from Boston, and the Fidelio.
I put on Kunzel's 1812 album only the other day, and it's a fun disc that still holds up. I even enjoyed his performance of Wellington's Victory, which is more than I can usually say for that piece of schlock!
Thank you for bringing up Telarc. I have quite a few Telarc recordings and most were bought with the original owners based in Cleveland. The entire Telarc can be easily organized into boxes. Generally good/very good performances with great sound.
DH. I know you don’t care about all the various audio/CD formats. Telarc issued quite a few multichannel SACD’s. The multichannel Kunzel 1812 is something else. Cannons coming from all around you. Thank you for mentioning Telarc. Brings back a lot of memories. I hope Concord will hear you. You did discuss the Telarc Mahler recordings. Would could care to share an opinion of Beethoven Symphonies/Dohnanyi/Cleveland Orchestra. Thank you.
Looking forward to hearing more about the Telarc boxes. Some really fine recordings there. I was especially interested in your take on the Robert Shaw box. It’s a shame his fabulous Verdi Requiem was not included and also his Schubert masses and Poulenc a cappella disc. I totally agree with you on Shaw’s Glagolitic Mass, keep the CD for the Dvorak Te Deum-a tremendous performance and one of my favorites for that work. Many thanks for your talk!
Maybe Telarc will do a Slatkin/St. Louis box...great stuff. Wish they had included the Kunzel Copland disc with Lincoln Portrait, Tender Land, Outdoor Overture and the Old American Songs. A wonderful disc.
LOVE Copland and just bought the Lincoln Protrait a SECOND TIME, as I somehow misplaced my first copy from years ago. The Old American Songs are sung so nicely too! As an alternative, I have many of the Slatkin Copland recordings on Naxos. I met Maestro back stage at Tanglewood some years back just after a performance with the BSO, and congradulated him on the fine Copland release on Naxos, a very pleasent fellow indeed!
I keep hoping for a COMPLETE Telarc set of Frederick Fennell's glorious recordings with the Cleveland Symphonic Winds. For some reason - I'm guessing timing issues on the average 80 minute disc - they left out items when they transferred them to CD. The original vinyl LPs were such exciting recordings and you could blow out your speakers with the bass drum in the Holst suites. Thanks for this talk Dave. PS: Those "Opera Without Words" discs are to die for; Such radiant sound and melodies.
Craig, I picked up a Fred Fennell LP a few years back at a 'vintage vinyl' shop not far from me. Being a Telarc fan for over 35 years now, I have very little of their vinyl. So, I bought it and to my great surprise, whom ever owned the record before was involved with NPR and there, in the gate fold was Mr. Fennell's signature with his pointing out the NPR group and the date, all hand written by him! What a find, and the LP is in Very Good ++ shape (O:
@@garysmith8455, what a great find! I'm a huge concert band, wind ensemble & wind orchestra geek. I'd have been in Heaven if I came across that. I hope you got a good deal. Most folks wouldn't know who Fennell was.
I always considered John Williams to be Kunzel’s friendly rival. Fiedler was at the end of his career when Kunzel started recording for Telarc. IMO, Kunzel took the Pops mantle in the 80s. His movie soundtrack discs were far more fun and imaginative than the BPO’s in the same era. So were his more classical releases like those in the box you reviewed.
Hi. Can you do a review of the classical music situation on streaming services? Catalog, search options, sound quality and so on... Talk about mess and tanking and packaging... Music for valentine, erotic classics, music for yoga, meditation... 😂
I've been very happy with Primephonic classical streaming service. It's like Spotify, but only for classical music, and is organized accordingly. Also has radio and curated playlists. Idagio is a similar service that I don't know much about.
I'm more into downloads but, where I can't find one - or find a special offer CD cheaper than a download - I use Presto Music. They also have "Presto CDs"; high-quality, licensed copies of CDs made on-demand for titles no longer in the catalogue, which can be quite handy. I'm UK-based, though, so your mileage may vary... as may your shipping costs :)
There's also a "Classic Opera" box (what the blazes does THAT mean?) that collects six discs of opera with of Martin Pearlman and the Boston Baroque; it's an interesting set, but I would have much rather have seen Maazel in Cleveland, Fennell on Telarc, or a complete Robert Spano or Yoel Levi box. But hey, maybe that's just me.
It would seem Telarc has a golden opportunity to get into the original-jackets business more broadly by focusing on individual musicians like conductors or soloists. There should be a complete Slatkin-on-Telarc box. For that matter, there should also be a complete Previn-on-Telarc box too. That one would also include a few jazz discs as a bonus, as Telarc's jazz division started with the "After Hours" trio album with Previn, Joe Pass and Ray Brown back in 1989. For soloists, it would be great to have all of John O'Conor's recordings for the label. I listened to his Mozart concertos with Mackerras a few months ago and was blown away by their beauty. And of course, the jazz division would be ripe for this treatment too. A box of George Shearing's complete Telarc output would be divine! 😋
I kind of have to like Erich Kunzel. I grew up in Cincinnati, and in grade school (mid to late 1960s) they would occasionally bus us all downtown for symphony concerts. I have a vivid memory of having heard an excerpt from Bartok's "The Miraculous Mandarin" on one of these jaunts, and I was so overcome with its savagery that I came home raving (at least, as much as a 4th grader can rave) about it to my parents. I can't recall at this distance whether Kunzel himself was on the podium for these things, but I knew his name even back then, so I suspect he may have been.
David, thank you SO much for the Telarc nod here. I also was very pleased to see in your Strauss Four Last Songs that Telarc was in the presented collection. THAT is the copy I bought back in the day.
You see, I became a HUGE Telarc fan in 1986 when I bought my first player and started with Telarc's sampler #2 That collection has continued through the years ENCLUDING my writing Robert Woods and receiving a lovely personal letter in return on genuine Telarc letter head AND embossed envelope also with their logo. Also have every Quarternote newsletter they mailed out !
It was a sad day when they closed up shop. Their recordings used minimal microphone techniques which has always been my preference. Thanks again and looking forward to your next presentation. Best regards. (from your resident pipeorgan tech ;-)
David, if you’re ever short of a topic I think a series of top 10 lists by conductor would be really interesting. Top 10 Bernstein recordings, and so on.
I stumbled across that Mackerras box of Mozart operas a few months ago for barely more than $20 and couldn't resist. I've listened to all of it and performances and sound are superb. The box and cardboard sleeves on mine are white, different than the ones in this video. I liked them so much I got Mackerras/SCO for Idomeneo and The Abduction of the Seraglio after the ideal Mozart opera talk. With regard to Robert Shaw, there is a very good show on him in the PBS series American Masters from the last year or two. His intensity and perfectionism was evident in the rehearsal footage and the stories some of the singers told. I saw Shaw once in person, conducting the B Minor Mass with the ASO a year or two before he died.
Can't wait for you to tackle the "Opera Without Singing," that was a genre unto itself in the LP era. Wish I could get Fiedler's mono "Opera Without Singing," never released on CD AFAIK. Then Kostelanetz's best-selling mono LaBoheme. At the bottom of the heap IMHO was that series on Kapp only three of which found their way onto CD via MCA's Double Decker budget line.
It's good to know that Telarc is still around, but it's too bad they aren't producing knew recordings. Without it's founder's vision maybe that's ok. The Telarc Mahler set - with various conductors and orchestras - is sonically hard to beat. I hope they release a box with the Beethoven symphonies from Cleveland, the concertos from Boston, and the Fidelio.
I put on Kunzel's 1812 album only the other day, and it's a fun disc that still holds up. I even enjoyed his performance of Wellington's Victory, which is more than I can usually say for that piece of schlock!
Thank you for bringing up Telarc. I have quite a few Telarc recordings and most were bought with the original owners based in Cleveland. The entire Telarc can be easily organized into boxes. Generally good/very good performances with great sound.
DH. I know you don’t care about all the various audio/CD formats. Telarc issued quite a few multichannel SACD’s. The multichannel Kunzel 1812 is something else. Cannons coming from all around you. Thank you for mentioning Telarc. Brings back a lot of memories. I hope Concord will hear you. You did discuss the Telarc Mahler recordings. Would could care to share an opinion of Beethoven Symphonies/Dohnanyi/Cleveland Orchestra. Thank you.
Thanks, but not now.
Looking forward to hearing more about the Telarc boxes. Some really fine recordings there. I was especially interested in your take on the Robert Shaw box. It’s a shame his fabulous Verdi Requiem was not included and also his Schubert masses and Poulenc a cappella disc. I totally agree with you on Shaw’s Glagolitic Mass, keep the CD for the Dvorak Te Deum-a tremendous performance and one of my favorites for that work. Many thanks for your talk!
Great, thanks for lifting the veil on this. It had passed me by.
Thanks for bringing these to my attention David.
Maybe Telarc will do a Slatkin/St. Louis box...great stuff. Wish they had included the Kunzel Copland disc with Lincoln Portrait, Tender Land, Outdoor Overture and the Old American Songs. A wonderful disc.
LOVE Copland and just bought the Lincoln Protrait a SECOND TIME, as I somehow misplaced my first copy from years ago. The Old American Songs are sung so nicely too! As an alternative, I have many of the Slatkin Copland recordings on Naxos. I met Maestro back stage at Tanglewood some years back just after a performance with the BSO, and congradulated him on the fine Copland release on Naxos, a very pleasent fellow indeed!
Thank you so much. I want them so much, for Mackerras stuff
I keep hoping for a COMPLETE Telarc set of Frederick Fennell's glorious recordings with the Cleveland Symphonic Winds. For some reason - I'm guessing timing issues on the average 80 minute disc - they left out items when they transferred them to CD. The original vinyl LPs were such exciting recordings and you could blow out your speakers with the bass drum in the Holst suites. Thanks for this talk Dave.
PS: Those "Opera Without Words" discs are to die for; Such radiant sound and melodies.
Craig, I picked up a Fred Fennell LP a few years back at a 'vintage vinyl' shop not far from me. Being a Telarc fan for over 35 years now, I have very little of their vinyl. So, I bought it and to my great surprise, whom ever owned the record before was involved with NPR and there, in the gate fold was Mr. Fennell's signature with his pointing out the NPR group and the date, all hand written by him! What a find, and the LP is in Very Good ++ shape (O:
@@garysmith8455, what a great find!
I'm a huge concert band, wind ensemble & wind orchestra geek. I'd have been in Heaven if I came across that. I hope you got a good deal. Most folks wouldn't know who Fennell was.
Ok, we need you to crash that gong. ;) great video, as always!
I always considered John Williams to be Kunzel’s friendly rival. Fiedler was at the end of his career when Kunzel started recording for Telarc. IMO, Kunzel took the Pops mantle in the 80s. His movie soundtrack discs were far more fun and imaginative than the BPO’s in the same era. So were his more classical releases like those in the box you reviewed.
I agree.
I miss Telarc 😔
Hi. Can you do a review of the classical music situation on streaming services? Catalog, search options, sound quality and so on... Talk about mess and tanking and packaging... Music for valentine, erotic classics, music for yoga, meditation... 😂
I've been very happy with Primephonic classical streaming service. It's like Spotify, but only for classical music, and is organized accordingly. Also has radio and curated playlists. Idagio is a similar service that I don't know much about.
Telarc may offer a Dohnányi Box?
Which websites do you recommend for buying CDs? I have just been using Amazon, but I have been disappointed recently with their stock and prices.
I'll let others make suggestions.
I'm more into downloads but, where I can't find one - or find a special offer CD cheaper than a download - I use Presto Music. They also have "Presto CDs"; high-quality, licensed copies of CDs made on-demand for titles no longer in the catalogue, which can be quite handy. I'm UK-based, though, so your mileage may vary... as may your shipping costs :)
Amazon has it for about 30 dollars via rarewave imports
Presto Music in UK and JPC in Germany have special offers and reasonable international shipping costs.
Thank you for all of your responses. I’ll check them out!
You missed the chance of singing " I'm a stranger in paradise"
You do have to credit DH for making the case for opera without words, however... :)
There's also a "Classic Opera" box (what the blazes does THAT mean?) that collects six discs of opera with of Martin Pearlman and the Boston Baroque; it's an interesting set, but I would have much rather have seen Maazel in Cleveland, Fennell on Telarc, or a complete Robert Spano or Yoel Levi box. But hey, maybe that's just me.
There is also a "Classic J.S. Bach" with Pearlman/Boston Baroque, 5 discs with the Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites and B Minor Mass.
Good to know; the Suites are excellent, as I recall.
Record companies are a joke. They don't care about the consumer, at least over the past decade or so.