The MTT Rite of Spring from Boston is the only vinyl album I still own, framed and hanging on the wall. The day after our very first date my future wife and I listened to it. She was a classical ballet fan, but had never heard of the Rite before. I picked it up at the used record store during college with no idea if it was good or not. A wonderful performance AND a piece of family history! We eventually heard MTT conduct the work a couple of times in San Francisco.
I only saw him once. It was a free concert at Stern Grove Park in San Francisco in 1996. I underestimated how difficult parking would be and parked about a mile away. He played West Side Story selections, Prokofieff Romeo and Juliet selections, and Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony. To everyone"'s dismay, he didn't play the most popular part of Romeo and Juliet, you know which one it is. So when the concert was finished, people down in front were complaining that he didn't play it. So he went to the microphone and asked us if we wanted to hear it. So of course we all yelled out "Yes!" and cheered. So he played it for us as an encore!
Love that the "Defining Dahl" cd is getting reissued here. If you aren't familiar with Ingolf Dahl's writing, you're in for a treat. Head to the saxophone concerto and listen to the 2nd movement. Such an incredibly moving, quasi-Romantic, earth-shattering climax. Great music all around
Tilson Thomas-brilliant conductor, pianist as he is has also a remarkable pedigree-Boris Tomashefsky, the great Yiddish Actor in Second Avenue theatre back in the day, was his grandfather.
The Tchaikovsky 1st symphony is a prized recording in my collection. The horns and strings at the climax of the second movement are heart wrenching and utterly sublime. The crash cymbals and bass drum in the 4th movement have so much clarity and impact that all my other recordings pale in comparison.
MTT Feldman CD was my introduction to his music and it was love at first bar. Btw. Elvis Costello did a fantastic song cycle with the Lindsey quartet called Juliette letters. Very very very good.
I heard with my parents MTT conduct the BSO live in the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as part of the 1971-1972 National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) subscription season. The program was Symphonies of Wind Instruments by Stravinsky, Borodin Symphony No. 2, and Beethoven's First Piano Concerto with Misha Dichter as soloist. I was impressed as a young listener learning to discerningly appreciate an orchestral concert as to how much cleaner and more precise the BSO sounded compared to the National Symphony Orchestra at that time. The first recording of MTT that I heard was the DG BSO Stravinsky Rite of Spring, which has remained my favorite recording of the piece for the virtues of crisp orchestral playing, spot-on "let the music play itself" interpretation, and the resonant recorded sound in what is perhaps, in my opinion, the best sounding DG recording of the BSO from that era. In the fall of 1976, during my first year of college, I purchased the DG LP of the Debussy Images for Orchestra and Prelude of the Afternoon of a Faun with MTT and the BSO, and while that recording was not a sonic blockbuster at the same level as MTT's BSO Rite of Spring, nevertheless, it exhibited similar virtues and also has been my favorite recording of these Debussy pieces. Now, I believe I have all the MTT DG BSO performances through various issues, except the Ives Three Places in NE, and none are duds. When I moved to Pittsburgh for my working years, I heard MTT guest conduct the PSO many times, including two different performances of Mahler's Third, the second being considerably better on MTT's part.
His Ein Heldeleben with London Symphony is wonderful, So is the Boston Symphony with him conducting Sun-Treader of Ruggles--perfect intonation, ensemble, and balance.
I saw/heard MTT conduct the BSO in 1969, filling in at the last minute for the oft-ailing William Steinberg. Bizet's Symphony in C and Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique. I was in college at the time and I thought it was splendid.
Thank you so much for this wonderful review. Tilson Thomas is a great musician and a very good commentator, as Bernstein was, but quite unknown here in Europe I believe. I love his documentaries about works of Shostakovich and other composers. Regarding your opinion on "A Quiet Place", could you please make a video review of Bernstein work's best versions. I mean aside from his own. Thank you again.
Ingolf Dahl's Sinfonietta is still treasured by band music aficionados. Though, it's difficult to actually call it band music, as he treated the ensemble like a large chamber group.....not typical band scoring at all. One of the best works ever written for the genre.
My first contact with Dahl was his "Music for Brass Quintet", the second movement of which served as the theme for the WQXR program "First Hearing" back in the 70's. I still have the LP I bought when I figured out what that music was.
MTT is also a capable composer. While a recent work of his (from a few years ago) like "From the Diary of Anne Frank" isn't IMO a masterpiece, it's a very capable, serious, emotionally evocative work (and one that really respects the subject of the composition). I encourage people here to listen to it.
I'm not familiar with this entire set, but I have to say that I generally agree. My first recording of Rite of Spring was Dorati with LSO, but when I heard MTT's Rite of Spring many years later, I immediately recognized how good of a recording it was. I think it can be very tempting for conductors to bludgeon modern music without really bringing interpretive insight, which MTT never does. I'm curious if MTT ever recorded William Schuman 3rd Symphony as I struggle to find a recording of it that I really like.
It depends WHERE in Grand Central. Track 113 has especially nice acoustics, and I go home from there regularly. The Oyster Bar isn't bad either, but I wouldn't recommend the men's rest room on the lower level.
The Tilson Thomas Ives/Ruggles was the first „modern“ music LP I bought. Sheer luck: I was 15 or so, wanted to check out some modern stuff and it was the only one available at the record store in the North-Iceland fishing village (population 2.500) where I grew up.
And relatively affordable! I'm going to jump on this one. The repertoire is not your run-of-the-mill. Besides being an outstanding musician, MTT is also an excellent educator, as his Keeping Score videos abundantly show (actually, I can only speak for the Early Mahler and Stravinsky videos.)
His time in S.F. went on way too long, and he became a rather awful person in his interactions with sycophants who came to see him, talk to him, and get an autograph, as well being haughty and ridiculous towards myself and my entire staff at the Tower Records Classical Annex in S.F. It's very hard for me to be impartial. My staff bent over backwards to try keep the 'maestro' happy and engaged with people. That I could not forgive him for. The symphony and KDFC people were embarrassed and apologized to me. I told them, of course, that these instore appearances weren't working. Enough of that. I do like his early DG material very much, as well as a his Argo material. I think his S.F. Mahler cycle is very over-hyped and quite mediocre compared to so much other competition. Worse, they kept hammering at Mahler over and over and over and over. The best performance of the Mahler 8 I saw him do 'live' was in 1991. "Lulu" with Karita Mattila was happening across the street at the S.F. Opera, on the very same weekend! The M8 they recorded years later paled in comparison. I'm sorry to add that I had trouble with his 'stage door' mother years earlier in San Mateo (1980's).
The Ruggles Suntrader and the Schuman violin concerto CD kicks serious ass
The MTT Rite of Spring from Boston is the only vinyl album I still own, framed and hanging on the wall. The day after our very first date my future wife and I listened to it. She was a classical ballet fan, but had never heard of the Rite before. I picked it up at the used record store during college with no idea if it was good or not. A wonderful performance AND a piece of family history! We eventually heard MTT conduct the work a couple of times in San Francisco.
I only saw him once. It was a free concert at Stern Grove Park in San Francisco in 1996. I underestimated how difficult parking would be and parked about a mile away. He played West Side Story selections, Prokofieff Romeo and Juliet selections, and Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony. To everyone"'s dismay, he didn't play the most popular part of Romeo and Juliet, you know which one it is. So when the concert was finished, people down in front were complaining that he didn't play it. So he went to the microphone and asked us if we wanted to hear it. So of course we all yelled out "Yes!" and cheered. So he played it for us as an encore!
I wish our
Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas
All The Blessings of The Universe.
I grew old with his magnificent album 💿 z🎶💎🫡🏹♾️
Love that the "Defining Dahl" cd is getting reissued here. If you aren't familiar with Ingolf Dahl's writing, you're in for a treat. Head to the saxophone concerto and listen to the 2nd movement. Such an incredibly moving, quasi-Romantic, earth-shattering climax. Great music all around
Tilson Thomas-brilliant conductor, pianist as he is has also a remarkable pedigree-Boris Tomashefsky, the great Yiddish Actor in Second Avenue theatre back in the day, was his grandfather.
The Tchaikovsky 1st symphony is a prized recording in my collection. The horns and strings at the climax of the second movement are heart wrenching and utterly sublime. The crash cymbals and bass drum in the 4th movement have so much clarity and impact that all my other recordings pale in comparison.
This is the best version of Tchaikovsky 1 out there. Bar none.
Happy that all the BSO material is all in the big BSO box. Thanks Dave.
MTT Feldman CD was my introduction to his music and it was love at first bar. Btw. Elvis Costello did a fantastic song cycle with the Lindsey quartet called Juliette letters. Very very very good.
I heard with my parents MTT conduct the BSO live in the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as part of the 1971-1972 National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) subscription season. The program was Symphonies of Wind Instruments by Stravinsky, Borodin Symphony No. 2, and Beethoven's First Piano Concerto with Misha Dichter as soloist. I was impressed as a young listener learning to discerningly appreciate an orchestral concert as to how much cleaner and more precise the BSO sounded compared to the National Symphony Orchestra at that time. The first recording of MTT that I heard was the DG BSO Stravinsky Rite of Spring, which has remained my favorite recording of the piece for the virtues of crisp orchestral playing, spot-on "let the music play itself" interpretation, and the resonant recorded sound in what is perhaps, in my opinion, the best sounding DG recording of the BSO from that era. In the fall of 1976, during my first year of college, I purchased the DG LP of the Debussy Images for Orchestra and Prelude of the Afternoon of a Faun with MTT and the BSO, and while that recording was not a sonic blockbuster at the same level as MTT's BSO Rite of Spring, nevertheless, it exhibited similar virtues and also has been my favorite recording of these Debussy pieces. Now, I believe I have all the MTT DG BSO performances through various issues, except the Ives Three Places in NE, and none are duds. When I moved to Pittsburgh for my working years, I heard MTT guest conduct the PSO many times, including two different performances of Mahler's Third, the second being considerably better on MTT's part.
Oh no!!! My beloved Mom had the same thing!!! Wishing Maestro Tilson Thomas the best possible ;(
His Ein Heldeleben with London Symphony is wonderful, So is the Boston Symphony with him conducting Sun-Treader of Ruggles--perfect intonation, ensemble, and balance.
I saw/heard MTT conduct the BSO in 1969, filling in at the last minute for the oft-ailing William Steinberg. Bizet's Symphony in C and Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique. I was in college at the time and I thought it was splendid.
I recognised the cover photo; I have the Ives/Ruggles on LP. I haven't listened to it in a while, which I will now rectify!
That Winter Dreams was the first classical record I ever bought. It was new and I was about 18 or so.
Thank you so much for this wonderful review. Tilson Thomas is a great musician and a very good commentator, as Bernstein was, but quite unknown here in Europe I believe. I love his documentaries about works of Shostakovich and other composers. Regarding your opinion on "A Quiet Place", could you please make a video review of Bernstein work's best versions. I mean aside from his own. Thank you again.
This looks very good so thank you Dave
Ingolf Dahl's Sinfonietta is still treasured by band music aficionados. Though, it's difficult to actually call it band music, as he treated the ensemble like a large chamber group.....not typical band scoring at all. One of the best works ever written for the genre.
My first contact with Dahl was his "Music for Brass Quintet", the second movement of which served as the theme for the WQXR program "First Hearing" back in the 70's. I still have the LP I bought when I figured out what that music was.
MTT is also a capable composer. While a recent work of his (from a few years ago) like "From the Diary of Anne Frank" isn't IMO a masterpiece, it's a very capable, serious, emotionally evocative work (and one that really respects the subject of the composition). I encourage people here to listen to it.
I'm not familiar with this entire set, but I have to say that I generally agree. My first recording of Rite of Spring was Dorati with LSO, but when I heard MTT's Rite of Spring many years later, I immediately recognized how good of a recording it was. I think it can be very tempting for conductors to bludgeon modern music without really bringing interpretive insight, which MTT never does. I'm curious if MTT ever recorded William Schuman 3rd Symphony as I struggle to find a recording of it that I really like.
I got the Rite of Spring in Pentatone's remastered SACD version, and it sounded like it was recorded in Grand Central!
It depends WHERE in Grand Central. Track 113 has especially nice acoustics, and I go home from there regularly. The Oyster Bar isn't bad either, but I wouldn't recommend the men's rest room on the lower level.
The Tilson Thomas Ives/Ruggles was the first „modern“ music LP I bought. Sheer luck: I was 15 or so, wanted to check out some modern stuff and it was the only one available at the record store in the North-Iceland fishing village (population 2.500) where I grew up.
Amazing even that was available! When I was in Iceland I was dazzled by the Pringles potato chip selection at the Geysir gift shop/rest stop.
@@DavesClassicalGuide It was far easier to aquire some Ruggles than Pringles (any flavor) in Húsavík in the 80s
And relatively affordable! I'm going to jump on this one. The repertoire is not your run-of-the-mill.
Besides being an outstanding musician, MTT is also an excellent educator, as his Keeping Score videos abundantly show (actually, I can only speak for the Early Mahler and Stravinsky videos.)
His time in S.F. went on way too long, and he became a rather awful person in his interactions with sycophants who came to see him, talk to him, and get an autograph, as well being haughty and ridiculous towards myself and my entire staff at the Tower Records Classical Annex in S.F. It's very hard for me to be impartial. My staff bent over backwards to try keep the 'maestro' happy and engaged with people. That I could not forgive him for. The symphony and KDFC people were embarrassed and apologized to me. I told them, of course, that these instore appearances weren't working. Enough of that. I do like his early DG material very much, as well as a his Argo material. I think his S.F. Mahler cycle is very over-hyped and quite mediocre compared to so much other competition. Worse, they kept hammering at Mahler over and over and over and over. The best performance of the Mahler 8 I saw him do 'live' was in 1991. "Lulu" with Karita Mattila was happening across the street at the S.F. Opera, on the very same weekend! The M8 they recorded years later paled in comparison. I'm sorry to add that I had trouble with his 'stage door' mother years earlier in San Mateo (1980's).